Data Communications and Networking

Lecture 4
 Bandwidth is the volume of the data that can be
transferred on over a network. Expressed as
Megabits per second (Mbps).
 Bandwidth utilisation is the wise use of available
bandwidth to achieve specific goals.
 Efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be achieved
by multiplexing.
 Privacy and anti-jamming can be achieved by
spreading.
 Dedicated point to point connections are not
suitable for Wide Area Networks for obvious reasons

 Would require physical link between switches for

each connection
 Shared use of communication capacity
 Commonly used in long-haul communications, on
high-capacity fiber, coaxial, or microwave links
 Multiplexer (Mux) combines data from n input
lines and transmits over a higher-capacity data link
 Demultiplexer (Demux) accepts multiplexed data
stream, separates the data according to channel, and
delivers them to the appropriate output lines.
 Multiplexing is the placing two or more
simultaneous transmissions on a single
communications circuit, hence many-to-one

 For example:
 two or more voice calls sent over same circuit between
two different cities
 two or more data packets from different computers sent
over one link in a data communication network
 Multiplexing overcomes problem of too many
direct connections each potentially carrying low
volume traffic by channelling multiple data
inputs into one shared connection

 Primary benefit of multiplexing is more efficient

use of bandwidth and to save money, for
example on cabling.
 Frequency-Division Multiplexing 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 a different carrier frequency and as long
as the carrier frequencies are not too close then
the signals can be sent over the link at the same
time.
 At the receiving end the different carrier
frequencies are detected and so the individual
signals are re-produced.

 An example of FDM is cable television where we

have a number of television stations transmitted
simultaneously over the same link

 Another good example is commercial FM radio

FDM
 FDM
• FDM is an analog multiplexing technique that
combines signals.
FDM
 FDM
Example 1

Assume that a voice channel occupies a bandwidth of 4 KHz.

We need to combine three voice channels into a link with a
bandwidth of 12 KHz, from 20 to 32 KHz. Show the
configuration using the frequency domain without the use of
guard bands.

Solution

Shift (modulate) each of the three voice channels to a different

bandwidth, as shown:
FDM
 FDM Signal with Guard Bands

• Total bandwidth = sum of input bandwidths

+ guardbands
 FDM
Example 2

Five channels, each with a 100-kHz bandwidth, are to be

multiplexed together. What is the minimum bandwidth of
the link if there is a need for a guard band of 10 kHz
between the channels to prevent interference?

Solution

For five channels, we need at least four guard bands. This

means that the required bandwidth is at least
5 × 100 + 4 × 10 = 540 kHz
 WDM is very similar to FDM, after all wavelength and
frequency are very much related.

 Remember f = c where:
 c is the speed of light (a constant)
 f is frequency
  is wavelength

 The main difference with WDM is that the multiplexing

and demultiplexing involves light signals transmitted
through fibreoptic channels.
 Very narrow beams of light from different sources
are combined at the multiplexer to make a wider
band of light.

 At the receiver the signals are separated by a

demultiplexer

 The technology behind WDM is very complex.

 WDM using Prisms
• WDM is an analog multiplexing technique to
combine optical signals.
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
• TDM is used for digital transmission eg. PSTN,
GSM
• Requires that data rate of the medium is at least
equal to or exceeds sum of data rates of signals
to be transmitted
• Input signals “take turns” over medium and are
each assigned a time-slot
• The time-slots are organised into frames
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

• In this case the high-speed link is three times

the speed of the three input lines
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
Example 3

Four channels are multiplexed using TDM. If each channel

sends 100 bytes/s and we multiplex 1 byte per channel,
show the frame traveling on the link, the size of the frame,
the duration of a frame, the frame rate, and the bit rate for
the link.

Solution

The multiplexer is shown as follows:

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
 Synchronous Time Division
Multiplexing
 With synchronous TDM each device is pre-assigned
a time slot.
 This is wasteful if some devices transmit very often
while others hardly transmit at all.
 Asynchronous Time Division
Multiplexing
 The solution to this is asynchronous TDM where
the time slots can be taken up on a first-come first-
served (FIFO) basis

 With multiplexing the term asynchronous means

flexible or not-fixed

 Like synchronous TDM, asynchronous TDM allows a

number of lower speed input lines to be
multiplexed into a higher speed line
 However the speed of the link may in fact be
less than the total speeds of all the input lines as
not all devices transmit at the same time

 Asynchronous TDM is also referred to as

Statistical Time-Division Multiplexing as we are
never totally sure when the input lines have
data to be sent.
 Statistical TDM is used by the high-speed WAN
telecommunication networks which carry the IP
packets which enable the Internet to operate

 One such technology is known as ATM

(Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
 One of the major questions is, since there are no
fixed slots, how does the demultiplexer know
which data belongs to which output line ?

 Therefore with statistical TDM extra information

such as the destination address must be carried by
the data itself.
 That’s all the theory for this week

 Thanks for your attention and participation

 Any questions ?