DATA COMMUNICATION

CONCEPTS
Dr. SHUCHITA UPADHYAYA BHASIN
Professor
Department of Computer Science & Applications
 CONTENTS

 Switching
 Multiplexing
 Spread Spectrum

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 SWITCHING
• Whenever we have multiple devices, we have the problem of how to
connect them to make one-to-one communication possible.
• One solution is to install a point-to-point link between each pair of devices
(a complete mesh topology) or between a central device and every other
device (a star topology).
• These methods are impractical for large networks (WAN’s).
• Switched Network is a solution to this problem.
• A switched network consists of a series of interlinked nodes, called
switches.
• Switches are hardware and/or software devices capable of creating
temporary connections between two or more devices linked to the switch
but not to each other.
• In a switched network, some of these nodes are connected to the
communicating devices. Others are used only for routing.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 • Data entering the network from a station are routed to the
Switched Networks destination by being switched from node-to-node.
• The switching nodes are not concerned with the content of
the data; rather their purpose is to provide a switching facility
that will move the data from node-to-node until they reach
their destination.
• The end devices (stations) that wish to communicate are
attached to switching devices (nodes), which are in turn
connected to each other in some topology by transmission
links.
• This collection of nodes is referred to as a communication
network.

Traditionally three methods of switching have been popular:

 Circuit Switching.
 Packet Switching.
 Packet Switching can be further classified into two sub-types, namely, Virtual Circuit (VC) packet switching
and Datagram based packet switching.
 Message Switching.

New switching strategies such as cell relay (ATM) and frame relay are also gaining importance.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 CIRCUIT SWITCHING • Subscriber: The devices that attach to the
• Circuit switching is a switching method which creates a network.
dedicated physical connection/circuit between two • Local loop: The link between the subscriber
devices (source and destination nodes) such as phones and the network subscriber loop.
or computers before any data transmission can take
place. • Exchanges: The switching centers in the
• The dedicated path is established, maintained and network.
terminated for each communication session. • End-office: A switching center/exchange that
• It has basically three phases: circuit establishment, data directly supports subscribers.
transfer and circuit disconnect. • Trunks: The branches between exchanges.
Circuit switching is primarily used in Telephone networks Trunks use FDM or Synchronous TDM for
and not in Computer networks. In circuit switching: higher efficiency.
• An End to end circuit (path) is first reserved using a
separate signaling protocol
• Data transfer proceeds only after the circuit
establishment phase
• All data of that session passes through the same circuit
• No other user can use this circuit till this session is
completed
• Circuit is released after data transfer Public Circuit switched network
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 The communication in a circuit switched network takes
How a circuit is established in a telephone network. place in three phases:

Circuit Switching in a Telephone Network  Circuit establishment or setup phase

 Data transfer phase
 Circuit disconnect or tear down phase.
Circuit establishment or Setup Phase

circuit switch The dedicated circuit or path is established through circuit

switches.
Circuit switched network
Circuit Switch: A circuit switch is a device that creates a
temporary connection between an input link and output link.
A circuit switch usually has n input lines and m output
Crossbar switch
lines i.e. number of input lines and number of output lines
may not be equal.
A crossbar switch connects n input lines (1, 2, 3) to m
output lines(I, II, III, IV) using circuit switches existing at the
crosspoints.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Example: When system A needs to connect to system M, it Data Transfer Phase
sends a setup request that includes the address of system • Actual data transfer between the source and
M, to switch I. destination takes place after the dedicated
Switch I finds a channel between itself and switch IV that path is set up between them. The data flows
can be dedicated for this purpose. are continuous between sender and receiver.
There may be periods of silence in between.
Switch I then sends the request to switch IV, which finds a Generally all the internal connections are
dedicated channel between itself and switch III. duplex.
Switch III informs system M of system A's intention at this • Circuit Disconnect or Teardown Phase.
time. In the next step to making a connection, an
acknowledgment from system M needs to be sent in the • When one of the parties needs to
disconnect, a signal is sent to each switch to
opposite direction to system A.
release the resources.
Only after system A receives this acknowledgment is the
connection established.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 Advantages of Circuit Switching
• The dedicated path/circuit
established between sender and
receiver provides a guaranteed
data rate.
• Once the circuit is established, data
is transmitted without any delay as
there is no waiting time at each
switch.
• Since a dedicated continuous
transmission path is established,
the method is suitable for long
continuous transmission.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
• Circuit switching designed for voice so
resources are dedicated to a particular
call.
• As the connection is dedicated it
cannot be used to transmit any other
data even if the channel is free.
• It is inefficient in terms of utilization
of system resources. As resources are
allocated for the entire duration of
connection, these are not available to
other connections.
• Dedicated channels require more
bandwidth.
• Prior to actual data transfer, the time
required to establish a physical link
between the two stations is too long.
• Inefficient approach for data traffic.
 PACKET SWITCHING
• Packet Switching overcomes the problem of non-availability of line to
users due to dedicated circuits in circuit switching.
• Packet switching is the process of transmitting data in small units
called as packets.
• The maximum length of the packet is established by the network.
• Each packet contains not only data but also a small header with
control information (source and destination address, sequence
number etc.).
• The packets are sent over the network node-to-node using the
control information present in the packet header.
• At each node, the packet is stored briefly then routed according to
the information in its header when the link is available.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 Packet Switching
• Data transmitted in small packets: Basic packet switching between a sender and a
receiver through a packet switched data network.
Longer messages split into series of
packets
• Control information: Each packet
contains a portion of user data plus
some control information; Routing,
addressing information
• Store-and-Forward: Packets are
received, stored briefly(buffered) and
passed on to the next node
There are two popular approaches to
packet switching:
• Virtual circuit Approach.
• Data gram Approach.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 Virtual Circuit Approach
• VC based switching is a method widely used
in computer communication, especially at
the data link layer, to switch packets
inside switched WAN networks.
• Popular protocols using VC based switching
include X.25, Frame-Relay, ATM and MPLS.
• Virtual circuit packet switched network
create a logical path through the subnet and
all packets from one connection follow this  Each packet contains a virtual
path. circuit identifier instead of
• Preplanned route established before any destination address.
packets are sent  No routing decisions required
• Call request and call accept packets establish for each packet.
connection (handshake)  No dedicated path.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Difference between Circuit switching and Virtual circuit

Circuit switching Virtual circuit

A dedicated path is established between No dedicated path is established. Each
two devices for the duration of session switch creates an entry in its routing
table for the duration of virtual circuit

Reserved resources: The link Shared links: The link that makes a route
(multiplexed/not multiplexed) that makes can be shared by other connections
the path are dedicated , and cannot be
used by other connections

Circuit switching can use multiplexing at Multiplexing at the switches

the end-user level; no multiplexing is done
at the switches

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 Datagram approach
• In datagram approach each packet is treated
independently with no reference to packets that
have gone before.
• It is also called connectionless packet switching.
• There is no signaling/call establishment phase in
datagram based switching. It has no connection
establishment and termination phases
• Packets are routed based on the destination
address present in the packet header
• Each packet of a flow/session need not follow
the same path between the source and
destination nodes and may take different routes.
• Each packet has header information and data
• Packets may also arrive out of order at the
receiver
• IP and Ethernet are example protocols using the
principle of Datagram based Packet Switching
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 Datagram Approach
Advantages Disadvantages
• Line efficiency: Single node to node
Link can be shared by many • Packets may go missing.
packets over time; Packets queued • Upto receiver to re-order
and transmitted as fast as possible.
packets and recover from
• Packets are accepted even when missing packets.
network is busy.
• Priorities can be used. • More processing time per packet
per node.
• Robust in the face of link or node
failure.
• Very simple to implement and
scales well, as there are no VC
tables required at intermediate
nodes
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 Virtual circuit approach vs Datagram approach

Issue Datagram subnet Virtual-circuit subnet

Circuit setup Not needed Required
Addressing Each packet contains the full Each packet contains a short VC number
source and destination address
State information Routers do not hold state Each VC requires router table space per
information about connections connection
Routing Each packet is routed Route chosen when VC is set up; all
independently packets follow it
Effect of router None, except for packets lost All VCs that passed through the failed
failures during the crash router are terminated
Quality of service Difficult Easy if enough resources can be allocated
in advance for each VC
Congestion Difficult Easy if enough resources can be allocated
control in advance
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin for each VC
 Comparison of Circuit Switching & Packet Switching
Circuit Switching Packet Switching
Dedicated transmission path. No dedicated path.
Continuous transmission of data. Non continuous/continuous transmission
of packets.
Path established for entire conversation. Route established for each packet.
Main delay is for call set up. Packet transmission delay.
Statically reserves the required bandwidth in advance (fixed bandwidth Acquires and releases as it is needed (dynamic use of bandwidth).
transmission).
Unused bandwidth on an allocated circuit is just wasted. Utilized by other packets from unrelated sources going to unrelated
destination.
Sudden surge of input traffic will not affect much. Sudden surge of input traffic may overwhelm a router; exceeding its
storage capacity and causing it to lose packets.
Routers do not provide speed, code conversion & error correction Routers provide speed, code conversion & error correction to some
(host/user responsible for message loss protection. extent (Network may be responsible for individual packet errors)
Reordering of packets can never happen due to sequential transmission Packets may be delivered in wrong order and hence reordering may be
on a dedicated path. required.
No overhead bits after call set up. Overhead bits in each packet.
Overload may block call set up; no delay for established calls; congestion Overload increases packet delay, congestion may occur on every packet.
occurs at setup time.
Busy signal if called party busy. Sender may be notified if packet not delivered

Messages are not stored. Packets may be stored until delivered.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Charging based on distance and time. Charging based on both the number of packets (or bytes) carried and
connect time.
 MULTIPLEXING
• Whenever the transmission capacity of a medium
linking two devices is greater than the transmission
needs of the devices, the link can be shared.
• Multiplexing is a technique that combines data from
n number of channels and transmit that data over a
single communication channel for efficient
Bandwidth utilization of that transmission medium.
• Multiplexing in data communication is the set of
techniques that allows the simultaneous
transmission of multiple signals across a single data
link.
• Today’s technology includes high-bandwidth media
such as co-axial cable, optical fiber and terrestrial
and satellite microwaves.
• Each of these has a carrying capacity far in excess of
that needed for the average transmission signal. If
the transmission capacity of a link is greater than the
transmission needs of the devices connected to it,
the excess capacity is wasted.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 FREQUENCY-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (FDM)
• Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) is an analog
technique that can be applied when the bandwidth
of a link is greater than the combined bandwidths
of the signals to be transmitted.
• In FDM, signals generated by each sending device
modulate different carrier frequencies.
• These modulated signals are than combined into a
single composite signal that can be transported by
the link.
• Carrier frequencies are separated by enough
bandwidth to accommodate the modulated signal.
• These bandwidth ranges are the channels through
which the various signals travel.
• Channels must be separated by strips of unused
bandwidth (guard bands) to prevent signals from
overlapping.
• In addition, carrier frequencies must not interfere
with the original data frequencies.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Applications of FDM
• FDM is used for A.M. Radio & Radio broadcasting.
• FDM is used for T.V broadcasting.
• FDM is used in GSM digital cellular radio technology along with TDM
Advantages OF FDM
• Simple
• Inexpensive
• It allows maximum transmission link usage.
Disadvantages OF FDM
• In FDM there is need of filters, which are very expensive and complicated to
construct and design.
• Analog signals have only limited frequency range. Hence there is a limit on
the number of FDM channels that can be created imposing a restriction on
the number of users/stations that can be accommodated.
• Sometimes, it is necessary to use more complex linear amplifiers in FDM
systems.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM)
• A new and more efficient method to
implement FDM over fiber-optic cable called
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM).
• It uses essentially the same concepts as FDM
but incorporate the range of frequencies in
the visible length spectrum for fiber optic
channels.
• Here two fibers come together at a prism,
each with its energy in a different band.
• The two beams are passed through the
prism, and combined into a signal-shared
fiber for transmission to a distant Applications:
destination, where they are split again.
• As long as each channel has its own  SONET/SDH networks
frequency range, and all the ranges are
disjoint, they can be multiplexed together on  10GBASE-LX4 (Physical Layer Standard)
the long-haul fiber.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

TIME-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (TDM)
• Time-Division Multiplexing is a
digital process that can be applied
when the data rate capacity of the
transmission medium is greater
than the data rate required by the
sending and receiving devices.
• In such a case, multiple
transmissions can occupy a single
link by subdividing them and
interleaving the portions.
• TDM can be implemented in two
ways:
Synchronous TDM
Asynchronous TDM

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

Synchronous TDM • Synchronous TDM
• Synchronous TDM: Synchronous means that
the multiplexer allocates exactly the same time
slot to each device at all times, whether or not a
device has anything to transmit.
• Time slot A, for example, is assigned to device A
alone and cannot be used by any other device.
Each time its allocated time slot comes up, a
device has the opportunity to send a portion of
its data. If device is unable to transmit or does Disadvantages of Synchronous TDM
not have data to send, its time slot remains  The channel capacity cannot be fully utilized.
empty.
Some of the slots go empty in certain frames.
• Frames: Time slots are grouped into frames. A As shown in figure , only first two frames are
frame consists of one complete cycle of time completely filled. The last three frames have 6
slots, including one or more slots dedicated to empty slots. It means out of 20 slots in all, 6
each sending device, plus framing bits. slots are empty. This wastes the l/4th capacity
• In a system with n input lines, each frame has at of links.
least n slots, with each slot allocated to carry  The capacity of single communication line that
data from a specific input line. is used to carry the various transmissions
should be greater than the total speed of
input lines.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Asynchronous TDM
• Synchronous TDM does not guarantee that the
full capacity of a link is used. Because the time
slots are pre-assigned and fixed, whenever a
connected device is not transmitting, the
corresponding slot is empty and that much of
the bandwidth is wasted.
• Asynchronous TDM is designed to avoid this
type of waste. It is also known as statistical time
division multiplexing.
• Asynchronous TDM is called so because in this
type of multiplexing, time slots are not Advantages of TDM:
fixed i.e. the slots are flexible.  Full available channel bandwidth can be
• In synchronous TDM, if we have n input lines utilized for each channel.
then there are n slots in one frame. In  lntermodulation distortion is absent.
asynchronous TDM, if we have n input lines
then the frame contains not more than m slots,  TDM circuitry is not very complex.
with m less than n (m < n).  The problem of crosstalk is not severe.
• The multiplexer scans the input lines, accept Disadvantages of TDM:
portions of data until a frame is filled, and then  Synchronization is essential for proper
sends the frame across the link. operation.
•
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
SPREAD SPECTRUM
• Spread Spectrum refers to a system originally
developed for military applications, to provide
secure communications by spreading the signal over
a large frequency band.
• Figure represents a narrow band signal in the
frequency domain. These narrowband signals are
easily jammed by any other signal in the same band.
Likewise, the signal can also be intercepted since the
frequency band is fixed and narrow (i.e. easy to
detect).
• The idea behind spread spectrum is to use more
bandwidth than the original message while
maintaining the same signal power.
• A spread spectrum signal does not have a clearly
distinguishable peak in the spectrum. This makes
the signal more difficult to distinguish from noise
and therefore more difficult to jam or intercept.

By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin

 SPREAD SPECTRUM
• In spread spectrum (SS), we combine
signals from different sources to fit into a
larger bandwidth, but our goals are to
prevent eavesdropping and jamming.
• To achieve these goals, spread spectrum
techniques add redundancy. A signal that
occupies a bandwidth of B, is spread out to
occupy a bandwidth of Bss , such that Bss >> There are two predominant techniques to spread
the spectrum:
B . All signals are spread to occupy the
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS),
same bandwidth Bss.
which makes the narrow band signal jump in
• Signals are spread with different codes so random narrow bands within a larger bandwidth.
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) which
that they can be separated at the introduces rapid phase transition to the data to
receivers. Signals can be spread in the make it larger in bandwidth.
frequency domain or in the time domain.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
• The frequency hopping spread
spectrum (FHSS) technique
uses M different carrier frequencies
that are modulated by the source
signal.
• At one moment, the signal
modulates one carrier frequency; at
the next moment, the signal
modulates another carrier Figure shows the general layout for FHSS.
frequency.  A pseudorandom code generator, called
• Although the modulation is done pseudorandom noise (PN), creates a k-bit
using one carrier frequency at a pattern for every hopping period Th .
time, M frequencies are used in the  The frequency table uses the pattern to find the
long run. The bandwidth occupied frequency to be used for this hopping period and
by a source after spreading is BFHSS passes it to the frequency synthesizer.
>> B.  The frequency synthesizer creates a carrier
• FHSS is used in GSM and Bluetooth signal of that frequency, and the source signal
modulates the carrier signal.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
• Suppose we have decided to have eight
hopping frequencies. In this case, M is 8
and k is 3.
• The pseudorandom code generator will
create eight different 3-bit patterns.
• These are mapped to eight different
frequencies in the frequency table.
• The pattern for this station is 101, 111,
001, 000, 010, 110,011, 100.
• Note that the pattern is pseudorandom
it is repeated after eight hoppings. • The second k-bit pattern selected is
111, which selects the 900-kHz carrier;
• This means that at hopping period 1, the eighth pattern is 100, the
the pattern is 101. The frequency
selected is 700 kHz; the source signal frequency is 600 kHz.
modulates this carrier frequency. • After eight hoppings, the pattern
repeats, starting from 101 again.
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin
 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
• In DSSS, we replace each data bit with n
bits using a spreading code.
• Each bit is assigned a code of n bits, called
chips, where the chip rate is n times that of
the data bit.
• In figure the spreading code is 11 chips
having the pattern 10110111000. If the
original signal rate is N, the rate of the
spread signal is 11N.
• This means that the required bandwidth
for the spread signal is 11 times larger than
the bandwidth of the original signal.
• The spread signal can provide privacy if the
intruder does not know the code. It can
also provide immunity against interference
if each station uses a different code.
• DSSS is used in (CDMA, UMTS, 802.11,
GPS).
By Dr. Shuchita Upadhyaya Bhasin