UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

Department of CSE

IS 013

Fundamentals of Data Communications

 Instructor
Dr. Joseph Cosmas Mushi

Kijitonyama Campus
Block A,
Room No. A023
Tel.: 0684 697 697

joseph.cosmas@udsm.ac.tz
 DATA COMMUNICATIONS
• Data communications evolved from challenges faced
traditional Telecommunication technology.
• Telecommunication (includes telephony, telegraphy,
television, etc.) means communication at a distance (i.e.
tele is Greek for “far”)
• Data communications are the exchange of data between
two devices via some form of transmission medium such
as a wire cable.
• The word data refers to information presented in raw
form agreed upon by the parties creating and using the
data.
DATA COMMUNICATIONS
• Data is a raw source of information that comes in
different forms such as text, numbers, images, audio,
and video.
• Text and numbers are represented by bit-patterns
(sequence of 0s and 1s) obtained easily through process
called coding.
• Image, audio and video are also represented by bit-
patterns obtained through complex coding process that
normally lead to very large pattern compared to
text/numbers.
Components of Data Communications Systems
• A data communications system has five components.
1. Message: This is the information (data) to be
communicated. Popular forms of information
include text, numbers, images, audio, and video.
2. Sender: This is the device that sends the message. It
can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset,
video camera, and so on.
Components of Data Communications Systems
• A data communications system has five components.
3. Receiver: This is the device that receives the message.
It can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset,
television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium: is the physical path used by a
message to travel from sender to receiver. Examples
include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic
cable, and radio waves
Components of Data Communications Systems
• A data communications system has five components.
5. Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data
communications. It represents an agreement between
the communicating devices.
Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but
not communicating, just as a person speaking French
cannot be understood by a person who speaks only
Japanese.
Data Flow Mode
• Communication between two devices can be simplex,
half-duplex, or full-duplex mode
a. Simplex mode: Communication is unidirectional, as
on a one-way street. Only one of the two devices on a
link can transmit; the other can only receive.
Keyboard is a good example of simplex devices.
Data Flow Mode
• Communication between two devices can be simplex,
half-duplex, or full-duplex mode
b. Half-duplex mode: Sender and receiver can both
transmit and receive, but not at the same time. When
one device is sending, the other can only receive, and
vice versa .
The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road whereby
cars only travel in one direction while the other way
must wait.
Data Flow Mode
• Communication between two devices can be simplex,
half-duplex, or full-duplex mode
c. Full-duplex mode: Both stations can transmit and
receive simultaneously. The full-duplex mode is like
a two-way street with traffic flowing in both
directions at the same time.
In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction
share the capacity of the link with signals going in
the other direction.
Data Flow Mode
• The effectiveness of a data communications system
depends on four fundamental characteristics:
1. Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct
destination i.e. only the intended user device.
2. Accuracy: The system must deliver the data
accurately i.e. no alteration should be allowed during
transmission.
3. Timeliness: The system must deliver data on time
regardless of late delivery. Time delivery means
delivering data in the same order that they are
produced without significant delay.
Data Flow Mode
• The effectiveness of a data communications system
depends on four fundamental characteristics:
4. Jitter: Jitter refers to the variation in the packet
arrival time.
It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video
packets. For example, let us assume that video
packets are sent every 30-ms. If some packets arrive
with a 30-ms delay and others with a 40-ms delay, an
uneven quality in the video results.
Transmission Mode
• The transmission of binary data across a link can be
accomplished in two different modes:

1. Parallel Mode: Multiple bits are sent with each clock

tick.

2. Serial Mode: Every 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.

 Transmission Mode
1. Parallel Mode: Multiple bits are sent with each clock tick.
a) Advantages:
• High speed − It can transmit N bits at the same time.
• Quicker: A parallel interface can work N times quicker than an
equivalent serial interface.
• Match to underlying hardware: Internally, computer and
transmission hardware use parallel circuits.
 Transmission Mode
1. Parallel Mode: Multiple bits are sent with each clock tick.
a) Disadvantages:
• It supports short-distance communication between devices due
to crosstalk between parallel lines.

• It uses more wires compared to the serial interface and hence it

is costly and a bit complex to implement.
 Transmission Mode
2. Serial Mode: Every 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.
a) Advantages:
• High integrity: It ensures data integrity as it transmits the data
bits in a specific order, one after another.
• Low cost: It uses less number of conducting wires, hence
reducing cost of the interface
• It supports long distance data communication
 Transmission Mode
2. Serial Mode: Every 1 bit is sent with each clock tick.
b) Disadvantages:
• Slower: it supports a slower transmission speed because fewer
lines are used for transmission between devices.

• Wastage of bandwidth: It occupies overhead of about 20% other

than useful information.
 Serial Transmission Mode
• Serial Mode: The serial mode is divided into three
a) Asynchronous transmission
b) Synchronous transmission
c) Isochronous transmission
 Serial Transmission Mode
• Serial Mode: The serial mode is divided into three
a) Asynchronous transmission: Send 1 start bit (0) at the
beginning and 1 or more stop bits (1s) at the end of each byte.
 The timing of a signal is not important
 There may be a gap between
byte.
 Asynchronous occur at the byte level, but the bits are still
synchronized i.e. their durations are the same.
 Serial Transmission Mode
• Serial Mode: The serial mode is divided into three
b) Synchronous transmission: Bits sent one after another
without start or stop bits or gaps.
 It is the responsibility of the receiver to group the bits.
 The bits are usually sent as bytes and many bytes are
grouped in a frame.
 A frame is identified with a start and an end byte.
 Serial Transmission Mode
• Serial Mode: The serial mode is divided into three
c) Isochronous transmission: Used in real-time transmission, in
which uneven delays are not acceptable.
 Thus, isochronous transmission cannot have uneven gaps
between frames.
 The transmission of bits is fixed with equal gaps.
 Must guarantees that the data arrive at a fixed rate.