DATA COMMUNICATION GENERAL BLOCK DIAGRAM

PHYSICAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SENDER AND RECEIVER

 ANALOG DATA AND DIGITAL DATA

Features Analog Digital

Signal Analog signal is a continuous signal Digital signals are discrete time signals
which represents physical generated by digital modulation.
measurements.

Waves Denoted by sine waves Denoted by square waves

Representation Uses continuous range of values to Uses discrete or discontinuous values to

represent information represent information

Example Human voice in air, analog electronic Computers, CDs, DVDs, and other
devices. digital electronic devices.

Technology Analog technology records waveforms Samples analog waveforms into a

as they are. limited set of numbers and records
them.

Data Subjected to deterioration by noise Can be noise-immune without

transmissions during transmission and write/read deterioration during transmission and
cycle. write/read cycle.

Response to More likely to get affected reducing Less affected since noise response are
Noise accuracy analog in nature

Flexibility Analog hardware is not flexible. Digital hardware is flexible in

implementation.

Uses Can be used in analog devices only. Best suited for Computing and digital
Best suited for audio and video electronics.
transmission.

Applications Thermometer PCs, PDAs

Bandwidth Analog signal processing can be done There is no guarantee that digital signal
in real time and consumes less processing can be done in real time and
bandwidth. consumes more bandwidth to carry out
the same information.

Memory Stored in the form of wave signal Stored in the form of binary bit

Power Analog instrument draws large power Digital instrument drawS only
negligible power

Cost Low cost and portable Cost is high and not easily portable

Impedance Low High order of 100 megaohm

Errors Analog instruments usually have a Digital instruments are free from
scale which is cramped at lower end observational errors like parallax and
and give considerable observational
 errors. approximation errors.

ANALOG DATA AND DIGITAL DATA

1. COMMUNICATION CHANNEL AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

 A communication channel refers either to a physical transmission medium such as a

wire, or to a logical connection over multiplexed medium such as a radio channel
telecommunications and computer networking
 A channel is used to convey an information signal, for example a digital bit stream,
from one or several senders (or transmitters) to one or several receivers.
 A channel has a certain capacity for transmitting information, often measured by
its bandwidth in Hz or its data rate in bits per second.

CHARACTERISTICS

 Power needed to achieve the desired SNR

 Transmission bandwidth of channel
 Amplitude and phase response of channel
 Type of channel i.e , linear or non linear
 Effects of external interference on the channel

CLASSIFICATION OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION CHANNEL

TWISTED PAIR

COAXIAL CABLE
OPTICAL FIBER

The fiber optic technology has been developed mostly for use in communication. fiber-optic
communication is transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses
of light through an optical fiber.

A technology that uses glass or threads to transmit data. a basic fiber optic system consists of
a transmitting device that converts an electrical signal into a light signal, an optical fiber
cable that carries the light, and a receiver that accepts the light signal and converts it back
into an electrical signal. fiber optics is a particularly popular technology for local area
networks.

Fiber Optic Transmitters and Receivers

 Transmitters: – The most commonly used optical transmitters

are semiconductor devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes.

 Receivers: – The main component of an optical receiver is a photodetector, which

converts light into electricity using the photoelectric effect.

TERRESTRIAL MICROWAVE
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

BROADCAST RADIO
2. TRANSMISSION MODES IN DATA COMMUNICATION

Basis for Simplex Half Duplex Full Duplex

Comparison

Direction of Unidirectional Two-directional, one at Two-directional,

Communication a time simultaneously

Send / Receive Sender can only Sender can send and Sender can send and
send data receive data, but one a receive data
time simultaneously

Performance Worst performing Better than Simplex Best performing mode of

mode of transmission
transmission

Example Keyboard and Walkie-talkie Telephone

monitor

Simplex
  In simplex transmission mode, the communication between sender and receiver
occurs in only one direction. The sender can only send the data, and the receiver can
only receive the data. The receiver cannot reply to the sender.
 Simplex transmission can be thought of as a one-way road in which the traffic travels
only in one direction—no vehicle coming from the opposite direction is allowed to
drive through.
 To take a keyboard / monitor relationship as an example, the keyboard can only send
the input to the monitor, and the monitor can only receive the input and display it on
the screen. The monitor cannot reply, or send any feedback, to the keyboard.

Half Duplex

 The communication between sender and receiver occurs in both directions in half
duplex transmission, but only one at a time. The sender and receiver can both send
and receive the information, but only one is allowed to send at any given time. Half
duplex is still considered a one-way road, in which a vehicle traveling in the opposite
direction of the traffic has to wait till the road is empty before it can pass through.
 For example, in walkie-talkies, the speakers at both ends can speak, but they have to
speak one by one. They cannot speak simultaneously.

Full Duplex

 In full duplex transmission mode, the communication between sender and receiver
can occur simultaneously.

 The sender and receiver can both transmit and receive at the same time. Full duplex
transmission mode is like a two-way road, in which traffic can flow in both directions
at the same time.

3. SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 In synchronous transmission, data moves in a completely paired approach, in the form

of chunks or frames. Synchronisation between the source and target is required so
that the source knows where the new byte begins, since there are no spaces included
between the data.
 Synchronous transmission is effective, dependable, and often utilised for transmitting
a large amount of data. It offers real-time communication between linked devices.
 An example of synchronous transmission would be the transfer of a large text file.
Before the file is transmitted, it is first dissected into blocks of sentences. The blocks
are then transferred over the communication link to the target location.
  Because there are no beginning and end bits, the data transfer rate is quicker but
there’s an increased possibility of errors occurring. Over time, the clocks will get out
of sync, and the target device would have the incorrect time, so some bytes could
become damaged on account of lost bits. To resolve this issue, it’s necessary to
regularly re-synchronise the clocks, as well as to make use of check digits to ensure
that the bytes are correctly received and translated.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 There are no spaces in between characters being sent.

 Timing is provided by modems or other devices at the end of the transmission.
 Special ’syn’ characters goes before the data being sent.
 The syn characters are included between chunks of data for timing functions.

EXAMPLES OF SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 Chatrooms
 Video conferencing
 Telephonic conversations
 Face-to-face interactions

4. ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 In asynchronous transmission, data moves in a half-paired approach, 1 byte or 1

character at a time. It sends the data in a constant current of bytes. The size of a
character transmitted is 8 bits, with a parity bit added both at the beginning and at the
end, making it a total of 10 bits. It doesn’t need a clock for integration—rather, it
utilises the parity bits to tell the receiver how to translate the data.
 It is straightforward, quick, cost-effective, and doesn’t need 2-way communication to
function.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 Each character is headed by a beginning bit and concluded with one or more end bits.
 There may be gaps or spaces in between characters.

EXAMPLES OF ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

 Emails
 Forums
 Letters
  Radios
 Televisions

5. BIT RATE AND BAUD RATE

Sr. Bit Rate Baud Rate

No.

1 Bit rate is transmission of number Baud rate is number of signal units

of bits per second. per second.

2 It can be defined as per second It can be defined as per second

travel number of bits. number of changes.

3 Bit rate focusses on computer Baud rate focusses on data

efficiency. transmission.

4 Bit Rate = Baud rate x the number Baud Rate = Bit rate / the number
of bit per baud of bit per baud

Bit Rate: Bit rate referes to Number of data bits transferred per second. Unit of Bit rate
is bits per second(bps). For example bit rate is 10kbps means 10,000 bits are transferred
within one second.

Baud Rate: Baud rate refers to number of signal or voltage level changes per second. Unit of
baud rate is bauds per second. For example baud rate is 9600 means 9600 signal level
changes are happening within a second.

NOTE:

Usually we say bit rate and baud rate are same but bit rate and baud rate are only same in
Binary signaling.
:

TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS

 In telecommunications, transmission is the process of sending and propagating

an analogue or digital signal using a wired, optical, or wireless
electromagnetic transmission medium.
 Transmission technologies typically refer to physical layer protocol duties such
as modulation, demodulation, line coding, equalization, error control, bit
synchronization and multiplexing, but it may also involve higher-layer protocol
duties, for example, digitizing an analog signal, and data compression.
  Transmission of a digital message, or of a digitized analog signal, is known as data
transmission.

Medium Wave Transmission

 Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used
mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with
limited sound quality. During daytime, only local stations can be received.
Propagation in the night allows strong signals within a range of about 2000 km.

 This can cause massive interference because on most channels, about 20 to 50

transmitters operate simultaneously worldwide. In addition to that, amplitude
modulation (AM) is prone to interference by all sorts of electronic devices, especially
power supplies and computers. Strong transmitters cover larger areas than on the FM
broadcast band but require more energy. Digital modes are possible but have not
reached the momentum yet.

 MW was the main radio band for broadcasting from the beginnings in the 1920s into
the 1950s until FM with a better sound quality took over.

 In Europe, digital radio is gaining popularity and offers AM stations the chance to
switch over if no frequency in the FM band is available. Many countries in Europe
have switched off their MW transmitters since the 2010s.

 The term is a historic one, dating from the early 20th century, when the radio
spectrum was divided on the basis of the wavelength of the waves into long
wave (LW), medium wave, and short wave (SW) radio bands

VSAT

 VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) is a satellite communications system that

serves home and business users. A VSAT end user needs a box that interfaces
between the user's computer and an outside antenna with a transceiver.

 The transceiver receives or sends a signal to a satellite transponder in the sky. The
satellite sends and receives signals from an earth station computer that acts as
a hub for the system. Each end user is interconnected with the hub station via the
satellite in a star topology.
 For one end user to communicate with another, each transmission has to first go to the
hub station which retransmits it via the satellite to the other end user's VSAT. VSAT
handles data, voice, and video signals.

 VSAT is used both by home users who sign up with a large service such as DirecPC
and by private companies that operate or lease their own VSAT systems. VSAT offers
a number of advantages over terrestrial alternatives.
  For private applications, companies can have total control of their own
communication system without dependence on other companies. Business and home
users also get higher speed reception than if using ordinary telephone service
or ISDN.

MICROWAVE TRANSMISSION

In the electromagnetic spectrum, waves within the frequencies 1GHz to 300GHz are called
microwaves.
A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in
the microwave frequency range to transmit video, audio, or data between two locations,
which can be from just a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart.

Features of Microwaves

 Microwaves travel in straight lines, and so the transmitter and receiver stations should
be accurately aligned to each other.
 Microwave propagation is line – of – sight propagation. So, towers hoisting the
stations should be placed so that the curvature of the earth or any other obstacle does
not interfere with the communication.
 Since it is unidirectional, it allows multiple receivers in a row to receive the signals
without interference.
 Microwaves do not pass through buildings. So, indoor receivers cannot be used
effectively.
 Microwaves are often refracted by the atmospheric layers. The refracted rays take
longer time to reach the destination than the direct rays. This causes out of phase
transmission, called multipath fading.
 Microwaves need unidirectional antennas to send out signals. Two types of antennas
are needed −
o Parabolic Dish Antenna − It is used by the receiving station. It is parabolic in
shape, which concentrates all energy to a small beam thus achieving a strong
signal with high SNR.
 o Horn Antenna − It has a stem with a curved head. In sending stations,
outgoing waves from the stem are broadcast by the curved head as a series of
parallel beams. In the receiving station, the rays are collected by the curved
head and deflected in the stem.

Applications
 Long distance telephone communication
 Cellular phones
 Television networks
 Satellites
 Wireless LANs

INFRARED TRANSMISSION

Infrared waves are those between the frequencies 300GHz and 400THz in the
electromagnetic spectrum. Their wavelengths are shorter than microwaves but longer than
visible light. Infrared propagation is line of sight.
They cannot penetrate walls and sun’s infrared rays interfere with these rays. So cannot be
used for long – range communication. As their usage is confined within closed space, they do
not need any government permissions for their applications.

Applications of Infrared Waves in Communications

 Remote controls for television, stereos and other home appliances.

 Wireless LANs
 Wireless modem, keyboard, mouse, printer etc
 Fire detectors
 Night vision systems
 Intrusion detection systems
 Motion detectors