Overview of Data Communication & Networking:

Data Communication:
The information is shared when we communicate. This sharing can be local or over long distance.
Data refers to information presented in whatever form is agreed upon by the parties creating and
using it. Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some form of
transmission medium such as a wire cable. A communication service enables the exchange of
information between users at different locations. The communicating devices must be a part of a
communication system made up of a combination of hardware (physical equipment) and software
(programs).
Communication services & applications are everywhere. Some examples are given below:

Characteristics of data Communication:

The effectiveness of a data communication system depends on Four fundamental characteristics:
1. Delivery
2. Accuracy
3. Timeliness
4. Jitter
Delivery: The system must deliver data to correct destination.
Accuracy: The system must deliver data accurately.
Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Timely delivery means delivering
data as they are produced, in the same order that they are produced and without significant delay.
This kind of delivery is called real –time transmission.
Jitter: Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time.
Simply we can say that a data communication system must deliver data to the correct destination
in an accurate and timely manner.

Components:
The essential components of a data communication system are:

Message Sender Receiver Medium Protocol

Message: The information to be communicated. It can consist of text, pictures, numbers, sound,
video or audio.
Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer or workstation
telephone handset, video camera and so on.
Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer or workstation
telephone handset, video camera and so on.
Medium: The transmission medium is the physical path connecting both the sender as well as the
receiver by which a message travels from sender to receiver. It could be a twisted pair wire, coaxial
cable, fiber optic cable, or radio waves.
Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that governs data communications. It represents an agreement
between the communicating devices.
Data representation:
Information can be in any form such as text, numbers, images, audio and video.
Text
Text is represented as a bit pattern
The number of bits in a pattern depends on the number of symbols in that language. Code is the
set of bit patterns designed to represent text symbols.
ASCII
The American National Standards Institute developed a code called the American Standard code
for Information Interchange (ASCII) .This code uses 7 bits for each symbol.
Extended ASCII
To make the size of each pattern 1 byte (8 bits), an extra 0 is augmented at the left the ASCII bit
patterns which doesn’t change the value of the pattern.
Unicode
To represent a symbol or code in any language Unicode is used. It uses 32 bits to represent.
ISO
The international organization for standardization known as ISO has designed a code using a 32 –
bit pattern. This code can represent up to 4,294,967,296 symbols.
Numbers
Numbers are also represented by using bit patterns. Instead of using ASCII to represent numbers,
the number is directly converted to a binary number.
Images
Images are also represented by bit patterns. An image is divided into a matrix of pixels (The
smallest element of an image) where each pixel is a small dot having dimension. Each pixel is
assigned a bit pattern. The size and value of the pattern depends on the image.
Audio
Audio is the recording or broadcasting of sound or music. Audio is by nature different from text,
numbers or images. It is continuous not discrete.
Video
Video is the recording or broadcasting of picture or movie. Video can be produced either a
continuous entity or it can be a combination of images.

Direction of data flow

Two devices can communicate in simplex, half-duplex or full-duplex mode.

Simplex:
In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional. Only one of the devices on a link can
transmit; the other can only receive.
Ex. Keyboard and monitor
Half-duplex
In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive but not at the same time. When
one device is sending, the other can only receive.
Ex. Walkie-talkies and CB (citizen band radios)

Full-duplex
In full-duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously. Ex. Telephone network
When two people are communicating by a telephone line, both can listen and talk at the same time.

Network:
Definition:

A network is set of devices (nodes) connected by communication links (media)

A node can be a computer, printer or other device capable of sending and/or receiving data
Link connecting the devices are often called communication channels
Most network use distributed processing.

Distributed Processing
Networks use distributed processing in which a task divided among multiple computers. Separate
computers handle a subset instead of a single machine responsible for all aspects of a process.
Performance
Performance can be measured in terms of transit time, response time, number of users, type of
transmission medium, and capabilities of the connected hardware and the efficiency of the
software.
Transit time
The time required for a message to travel from one device to another.
Response time
The time spent between an inquiry and a response
Reliability
It is measured by the frequency of failure and time required to recover from a failure.
Security
Network security is protecting data from unauthorized access.

Type of connection
Two types of connections
a. Point-to-point
b. Multipoint
In point-to-point connection the two devices are connected by a dedicated link. The entire capacity
of the link is reserved for transmission between those two devices.
A multipoint (also known as multidrop) connection is one in which more than two specific devices
share a single link. The capacity of the channel is shared either spatially or temporally.

Physical Topology
Physical Topology refers to the way in which network is laid out physically. The topology of a
network is the geometric representation of the relationship of all the links and the linking devices.
The physical or logical arrangement of a network is also topology.
The basic topologies are
• Mesh
• Star
• Bus
• Ring

Mesh

• Dedicated point-to-point links to every other device

• Has n(n-1)/2 physical channel to link n devices
• Devices have n-1 I/O

Advantages:

Dedicated link guarantees that each connection can carry its own data load and thus
eliminates the traffic problems that occur when links shared by multiple devices.
If one link becomes unusable, it does not incapacitate the entire system.
As every message travels along a dedicated line only the intended recipient, so it is secure.
Disadvantages

More amount of cabling and the I/O ports required

Installation and reconnection are difficult
The hardware required to connect each link can be prohibitively expensive.

Star
Dedicated point-to-point links to central controller (hub)
Controller acts as exchange

Advantages
Less expensive than a mesh topology. Each device needs only one link and I/O port to
connect with Hub
Installation and reconfigure is easier.
If one link fails only that link is affected.
Requires less cable than a mesh.
Disadvantages
Yet requires more cable compared to bus and ring topologies.

Bus

Multipoint configuration
One long cable acts as a backbone to link all devices.
Stations are connected through tap and drop lines.
Advantages

Ease of installation.
Uses less cabling than mesh or star topologies.

Disadvantages
 Difficult reconnection and isolation.
Signal reflection at the taps can cause degradation in quality.
A fault or break in the bus cable stops all transmission.

Ring

Dedicated point-to-point configuration to neighbors

Signal passes from device to device until it reaches destination
Each device functions as a repeater

Advantages
Easy to install and reconfigure.
Only two connections are to be changed to add or delete a device.
If one device does not receive the signal within a specified period, it issue an alarm that
alerts the network operator to the problem and its location

Disadvantages
• A break in the ring breaks the entire network.

Categories of Network

Three primary categories of network

Local Area Network (LAN)
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
The category into which a network fall is determined by its size, ownership, the distance it covers
and its physical architecture.

LAN
Usually privately owned and links the devices in a single office, building, or campus
LAN size is limited to a few kilometers.
LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared (hardware , software and data )
Today LANs to have data rates of 100 Mbps to 10Gbps
Backbone Networks (BN), have a scale of a few hundred meters to a few
kilometers. Include a high speed backbone linking the LANs at various locations.

MAN
A MAN is designed to cover an entire city.
May be a single network such as cable TV network
 May be a means of connecting a number of LANs into a larger network
MANs have data rates of 1 Mbps to 100 Mbps
Resources may be shared LAN to LAN as well as device to device
A company can use a MAN to connect the LANs in all its offices throughout a city.
A MAN can be owned by a private company or it may be a service provided by a public
company
,such as local telephone company
Telephone companies provide a popular MAN service called (SMDS) Switched Multi-
megabit Data Services.

WAN
WAN provides long distance transmission of data, voice, image, and video information
over large geographical areas
Comprise a country, a continent, or even the whole world (Interlink age of many LANs and
MANs)
Low data transmission rate (below 1 Mbps)
Unlimited number of miles example: Internet Network

Internetwork
Connection of two or more networks by the use of internetworking devices which include
routers and gateways
Internet is a generic term used to mean an interconnection of networks
The Internet is the name of a specific worldwide network.

Protocols
A protocol is a set of rules that governs data communication; the key elements of a protocol
are

🠮 Syntax – data formats and Signal levels

🠮 Semantics – control information and error handling
🠮 Timing – speed matching and sequencing
Standards are necessary to ensure that products from different manufacturers can work together as
expected.
Standards
Why do we need standards?
To create and maintain an open and competitive market for equipment manufacturers
To guarantee national and international interoperability of data, telecommunication
technology and process
To give a fixed quality and product to the customer
To allow the same product to be re used again elsewhere
To aid the design and implementation of ideas
To provide guidelines to manufacturers, vendors, government agencies and other service
providers to ensure kind of interconnectivity.

Data communication standards are divided into two types

De facto (from the fact):
 Standards that have not been approved by an organized body.
It has been adopted as standards through widespread use.
This is often established originally by manufacturers to define the functionality of a new
product or technology.
De jure (by law):
Those that have been legislated by an officially recognized body.
Standards organizations
Standards are developed through the cooperation of standards creation committees, forums, and
government regulatory agencies.

Standards Creation Committees

ITU, International Telecommunications Union formerly the (CCITT):
It a standard for telecommunication in general and data systems in particular.
ISO, International Standards Organization:
It is active in developing cooperation in the realms of scientific, technological and
economic activity.

ANSI, American National Standards Institute:

It is a private nonprofit corporation and affiliated with the U.S federal government.
IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers:
It aims to advance theory, creativity, and product quality in the fields of electrical
engineering, electronics radio and in all related branches of Engineering.
It oversees the development and adoption of international standards for computing and
communications. See http://standards.ieee.org/

EIA, Electronic Industries Association:

It is a nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of electronics manufacturing
concerns.
Its activities include public awareness education and lobbying efforts in addition to
standards development.
It also made significant contributions by defining physical connection interfaces and
electronic signaling specifications for data communication.
Forums
It works with universities and users to test, evaluate and standardize new technologies.
The forums are able to speed acceptance and use of those technologies in the
telecommunications community.

It presents their conclusions to standard bodies.

Regulatory Agencies:
Its purpose is to protect the public interest by regulating radio, television and wire cable
communications.
It has authority over interstate and international commerce as it relates to communication.
Internet Standards
It is a thoroughly tested specification that is useful to and adhered to by those who work
with the internet.
It is a formalized regulation that must be followed.
 A specification begins as an internet draft and attains Internet standard status.
An Internet draft is a working document and it may be published as Request for Comment
(RFC).RFC is edited, assigned a number, and made available to all interested parties.

OSI Reference Model

Describes a seven-layer abstract reference model for a network architecture

Purpose of the reference model was to provide a framework for the development of protocols

Physical Layer
• It coordinates the functions required to transmit a bit stream over a physical medium.
• It deals with the mechanical and electrical specifications of the interface and transmission
media. Mechanical: cable, plugs, pins...
Electrical/optical: modulation, signal strength, voltage levels, bit times,
• It also defines the procedures and functions that physical devices and interfaces have to
perform for transmission to occur
Major responsibilities of Physical layer are
• Physical characteristics of interfaces and media:
It defines the characteristics of the interface between the devices and the transmission media.
Also defines the type of transmission medium.
• Representation of bits:
To transmit the bits, it must be encoded into electrical or optical signals. It defines the type of
representation how 0s and 1s are changed to signals.
• Data rate:
The number of bits sent each second is also defined by the physical layer.
• Synchronization of bits:
Sender and the receiver must be synchronized at the bit level .i.e the sender and the receiver clocks
must be synchronized.
Data link layer
The data link layer is responsible for hop-to-hop (node-to-node) delivery. It transforms the physical
layer a raw transmission facility to a reliable link. It makes physical layer appear error free to the
network layer. The duties of the data link layer are
• Framing: The data link layer divides the stream of bits received from the network layer into
manageable data units called frames.
• Physical Addressing: If the frames are to be distributed to different systems on the network
the data link layer adds a header to the frame to define the receiver or sender of the frame. If the
frame is intended

for a system located outside the senders’ network then the receiver address is the address of the
connecting device that connects the network to the next one.
• Flow Control: If the rate at which the data absorbed by the receiver is less than the rate
produced in the sender, the data link layer imposes a flow control mechanism to overwhelming the
receiver.
• Error control: Reliability is added to the physical layer by data link layer to detect and
retransmit loss or damaged frames. and also to prevent duplication of frames. This is achieved
through a trailer added to the end of the frame
• Access control: when two or more devices are connected to the same link it determines
which device has control over the link at any given time.

Network Layer
The network layer is responsible for source-to-destination delivery of a packet across multiple
networks. It ensures that each packet gets from its point of origin to its final destination .It does
not recognize any relationship between those packets. It treats each one independently as though
each belong to separate message.
The functions of the network layer are
• Logical Addressing If a packet has to cross the network boundary then the header contains
information of the logical addresses of the sender and the receiver.
Networking When independent networks or links are connected to create an internetwork or a large
network the connective devices route the packet to the final destination.
Transport Layer
The network layer is responsible for process-to-process delivery that is source to destination
delivery of the entire message.
The responsibilities of Transport layer are
• Service-point (port) addressing: Computers run several programs at the same time. Source-
to- destination delivery means delivery from a specific process on one computer to a specific
process on the other. The transport layer header therefore includes a type of address called a service
– point address.
• Segmentation and reassembly A message is divided into segments and each segment
contains a sequence number. These numbers enable the Transport layer to reassemble the message
correctly upon arriving at the destination. The packets lost in the transmission is identified and
replaced.
• Connection control: The transport layer can be either connectionless or connection-
oriented. A connectionless transport layer treats segment as an independent packet and delivers it
to the transport layer. A connection-oriented transport layer makes a connection with the transport
layer at the destination machine and delivers the packets. After all the data are transferred the
connection is terminated.
• Flow control: Flow control at this layer is performed end to end.
• Error Control: Error control is performed end to end. At the sending side, the transport
layer makes sure that the entire message arrives at the receiving transport layer with out error.
Error correction is achieved through retransmission.
Session Layer: Session layer is the network dialog controller. It establishes, maintains, and
synchronizes the interaction between communicating systems. Specific responsibilities of the layer
are
• Dialog Control: Session layer allows two systems to enter in to a dialog. Communication
between two processes takes place either in half-duplex or full-duplex. Example: the dialog
between a terminal connected to a mainframe. Can be half-duplex.

• Synchronization. The session layer allows a process to add checkpoints into a stream of
data. Example If a system is sending a file of 2000 pages, check points may be inserted after every
100 pages to ensure that each 100 page unit is advised and acknowledged independently. So if a
crash happens during the transmission of page 523, retransmission begins at page 501, pages 1 to
500 need not be retransmitted.
Presentation layer: It is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the information exchanged
between two systems. Responsibilities of the presentation layer are
• Translation .The processes in two systems are usually exchanging information in the form
of character strings, numbers, and so on. The Since different computers use different encoding
systems, the presentation layer is responsible for interoperability between these different encoding
methods. At the sender, the presentation layer changes the information from its sender-dependent
format into a common format. The presentation layer at the receiving machine changes the
common format into its receiver dependent format.
• Encryption. The sender transforms the original information from to another form and sends
the resulting message over the entire network. Decryption reverses the original process to
transform the message back to its original form.
• Compression. It reduces the number of bits to be transmitted. It is important in the
transmission of text, audio and video.
Application Layer: It enables the user (human/software) to access the network. It provides user
interfaces and support for services such as electronic mail, remote file access and transfer, shared
database management and other types of distributed information services. Services provided by
the application layer are
• Network Virtual terminal. A network virtual terminal is a software version of a physical
terminal and allows a user to log on to a remote host.
• File transfer, access and management. This application allows a user to access files in a
remote computer, to retrieve files from a remote computer and to manage or control files in a
remote computer.
• Mail services. This application provides the basis for e-mail forwarding and storage.
• Directory services. It provides distributed database sources and access for global
information about various objects and services.

PHYSICAL LAYER

To be transmitted, data must be transformed to electromagnetic signals.

ANALOG AND DIGITAL

Data can be analog or digital. The term analog data refers to information that is continuous; digital
data refers to information that has discrete states. Analog data take on continuous values. Digital
data take on discrete values.
Analog data refers to information that is continuous
Analog data take on continuous values
Digital data refers to information that has discrete states
Digital data take on discrete values

Like data signals can be analog or digital. Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in
a range; digital signals can have only a limited number of values.
In data communications, we commonly use periodic analog signals and nonperiodic digital signals.
Comparison of analog and digital signals

DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION:
• We can represent digital data by using digital signals.
 • The conversion involves three techniques: line coding, block coding, and scrambling.
• Line coding is always needed.
• Block coding and scrambling may or may not be needed.
Line Coding & Decoding:
Line Coding is the process of converting Binary data into digital signals.

Signal element versus data element

Effect of lack of synchronization

Self-synchronization To correctly interpret the signals received from the sender, the receiver's bit
intervals must correspond exactly to the sender's bit intervals. If the receiver clock is faster or
slower, the bit intervals are not matched and the receiver might misinterpret the signals.
A self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in the data being transmitted. This
can be achieved if there are transitions in the signal that alert the receiver to the beginning, middle,
or end of the pulse. If the receiver’s clock is out of synchronization, these points can reset the clock
Line coding schemes

Unipolar NRZ scheme:

Unipolar encoding uses only one polarity.0 is represented by zero voltage and 1 is represented by
positive voltage. It is inexpensive to implement. Unipolar encoding has two problems :
Lack of synchronization
A dc component

Polar NRZ-L and NRZ-I schemes:

NRZ
The level of the signal is always either positive or negative.
NRZ-L
The level of the signal depends on the type of bit it represents. The bit 0 is represented by positive
voltage
The bit 1 is represented by negative voltage.
NRZ-I
The 1 bit is represented by an inversion (transition between a positive and a negative voltage) of
the voltage level.
The existence of 1’s in the data stream allows the receiver to resynchronize its timer to the actual
arrival of the transmission.
A string of 0’s can still cause problems.
In NRZ-L the level of the voltage determines the value of the bit. In NRZ-I the inversion or the
lack of inversion determines the value of the bit.
Polar RZ scheme:
RZ
It uses three values
Positive
Negative
Zero
In RZ the signal changes during each bit. A 1 bit is actually represented by positive-to-zero and A
0 bit is actually represented by negative-to-zero.
Demerits
It requires two signal changes to encode one bit. It occupies more bandwidth.

Polar biphase: Manchester and differential Manchester schemes:

Biphase
The signal changes at the middle of the bit interval and does not return to zero. There are two types
of biphase encoding
Manchester
Differential Manchester

Manchester
It uses the inversion at the middle of each bit interval for both synchronization and bit
representation.
The bit 1 is represented by negative -to-positive transition.
The bit 0 is represented by positive-to-negative transition
Transition at the middle is used for synchronization
The minimum bandwidth is 2 times that of NRZ
Differential Manchester
Inversion at the middle of the bit interval is used for synchronization.
Presence or absence of additional transition at the beginning of the interval is used to identify the
bit.
A bit 0 is represented by a transition. A bit 1 means no transition.
It requires two signal changes to represent binary 0,but only one to represent binary 1.
The minimum bandwidth of Manchester and differential Manchester is 2 times that of NRZ.
Bipolar schemes: AMI and pseudo ternary:
In bipolar encoding, we use three levels: positive, zero, and negative.
• The bit 0 is represented by zero level

• The 1s are represented by alternate positive and negative voltages. If the first 1 bit is
represented by positive amplitude, the second will be represented by the negative amplitude, and
so on.
Bipolar Alternate Mark Inversion
A binary 0 is represented by zero voltage.
A binary 1s are represented by alternate positive and negative voltages.
Merits
By inverting on each occurrence of 1, The dc component is zero A long sequence of 1s stays
synchronized.
Pseudoternary
A binary 0 alternate between positive and negative voltages.

In mBnL schemes, a pattern of m data elements is encoded as a pattern of n signal elements in

which 2m ≤ Ln.
Transmission Media
A transmission media define as anything that can carry information from a source to a destination.
Transmission media are actually located below the physical layer and directly controlled by the
physical layer.
Transmission media can be divided into two broad categories
Guided
Unguided

Guided media
Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit from one device to another, include twisted-
pair cable, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable.
1. Twisted-Pair Cable
A twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper), each with its own plastic insulation,
twisted together.

One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the other is used only as a ground
reference. The receiver uses the difference between the two. In addition to the signal sent by the
sender on one of the wires, interference (noise) and crosstalk may affect both wires and create
unwanted signals.
The most common twisted-pair cable used in communications is referred to as unshielded twisted-
pair (UTP). IBM has also produced a version of twisted-pair cable for its use called shielded
twisted- pair (STP). STP cable has a metal foil or braided- mesh covering that encases each pair
of insulated conductors. Although metal casing improves the quality of cable by preventing the
penetration of noise or crosstalk, it is bulkier and more expensive.
Connector: Registered Jack (RJ 45)
Applications
Twisted-pair cables are used in telephone lines to provide voice and data channels.
2. Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable (or coax) carries signals of higher frequency ranges than those in twisted- pair cable,
in part because the two media are constructed quite differently. Instead of having two wires, coax
has a central core conductor of solid or stranded wire (usually copper) enclosed in an insulating
sheath, which is, in turn, encased in an outer conductor of metal foil, braid, or a combination of
the two. The outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield against noise and as the second
conductor completing the circuit. This outer conductor is also enclosed in an insulating sheath, and
the whole cable is protected by a plastic cover

Coaxial cable Standards

Coaxial cables are categorized by their radio government (RG) ratings .Each RG number denotes
a set of physical specifications such as,
• wire gauge of the inner conductor
• thickness and type of the inner insulator
• the construction of the shield
• the size and type of outer casing
Categories of coaxial cables

Category Impedance Use

RG-59 75Ω Cable TV
RG-58 50Ω Thin Ethernet
RG-11 50Ω Thick ethernet
Coaxial Cable Connectors
Coaxial Cable Connectors are used to connect coaxial cable to devices. The most common type of
connector is the Bayone Neill-concelman or BNC connectors. There are three popular types of
connectors
• BNC connector
• BNC T connector &
• BNC terminator
BNC connector
It is used to connect the end of the cable to a device such as a TV set.
BNC T connector
It is used in Ethernet networks to branch out a cable for connection to a computer or other devices.
BNC terminator
It is used at the end of the cable to prevent the reflection of the signal.
Performance
• Attenuation is much higher in coaxial cables than in twisted pair cable.
• Coaxial cable has a much higher bandwidth the signal weakens rapidly and needs the
frequent use of repeaters.
Applications
• Coaxial cable is used in analog telephone network where a single coaxial cable could carry
10,000 voice signals.
• It is also used in digital telephone network where a cable could carry digital data up to 600
Mbps.
• Cable TV networks also used RG-59 coaxial cables.
• It is also used in traditional Ethernets.
Fiber Optic Cable.
A fiber optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in the form of light. Optical
fibers use reflection to guide light through a channel.

A glass or plastic core is surrounded by a cladding of less dense glass or plastic. The difference in
the density of the two materials must be such that a beam of light moving through the core is
reflected off the cladding.

Propagation Modes
There are two modes for propagating light along optical channels; each requires fiber with different
physical characteristics
Multimode
Single mode
Multimode
Multiple beams from a light source move through the core in different paths. Multimode can be
implemented in two forms
Step-index
Graded index

Multimode Step –index fiber

In Multimode Step –index fiber the density of the fiber remains constant from the center to
the edges
A beam of light moves through this constant density in a straight line.
When it reaches the interface of the core and the cladding, there is an abrupt change to a
lower density that alters the angle of the beams motion.
Step-index -> the suddenness of this change.

Multimode Graded-index fiber

It decreases the distortion of the signal through the cable.
Density is highest at the center of the core and decreases gradually to its lowest at the edge.

Single-Mode
It uses step-index fiber and a highly focused source of light that limits beams to a small
range of angles, all close to the horizontal
The Single-Mode fiber itself is manufactured with a smaller diameter than that of
multimode fiber and with lower density.
This results in a critical angle that is close enough to 90. to make it horizontal.
 All the beams arrive at the destination together and can be recombined with little distortion
to the signal.

Fiber Sizes
Optical fibers are defined by the ratio of the diameter of their core to the diameter of their cladding
expressed in micrometers.
Fiber-optic cable connectors.
Three different types of connectors are used by fiber –optic cable. SC (subscriber channel)
Connector:
It is used in cable TV.
ST (Straight-tip) Connector:
It is used for connecting cable to networking devices.

Performance:
Attenuation is flatter than in the case of twisted pair cable and coaxial cable.
Few repeaters are needed when we use fiber optic cable.

Application
It is used in cable TV and LAN (Fast Ethernet and 100Base –X.

Advantages
Higher bandwidth: It can support higher bandwidth than twisted pair or coaxial cable.
Less signal attenuation: Transmission distance is greater than that of other guided media. Signals
can be transmitted for 50 km without requiring regeneration.

Immunity to electromagnetic Interference: Electromagnetic noise can not affect fiber-optic cables
Resistance to corrosive materials: glass is more resistant to corrosive materials.
Light-weight: It is of less weight than the copper cables.
More Immune to taping: Fiber-optic cables are more immune to taping than copper cables.

Disadvantages:
Installation/Maintenance. Installation/Maintenance need expertise since it is a new technology.
Unidirectional: Propagation of light is unidirectional. Bidirectional communication is achieved by
means of two optical fibers.
Cost: It is more expensive and the use of optical fiber cannot be justified if the need for bandwidth
is not high.
UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS
Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. This type of
communication is often referred to as wireless communication.

Unguided signal can travel from the source to destination in several ways:
1. Ground Propagation:
⦿ Radio waves travel through the lowest portion of the atmosphere, hugging the earth.
⦿ The low frequency signal follows the curvature of the planet.
⦿ Distance depends on the amount of the power.
2. Sky Propagation:
⦿ Higher frequency radio radiate upward into the ionosphere where they arereflected
back to the earth.
⦿ Sky propagation allow for greater distance with lower power output.
3. line-of-sight Propagation: Very high frequency signals are transmitted in straight lines
directly from antenna to antenna.

Radio Waves:
⦿ Radio Waves: Between 3 KHz – 1 GHz.
⦿ Radio waves use omnidirectional antenna.
⦿ Radio waves used for multicast communication, such as radio and television.
⦿ Sky Propagation. This makes radio waves a good candidate for long-distance broadcasting
such as AM radio.
Micro Waves:
1. Microwave propagation is line-of-sight. Since the towers with the mounted antennas need
to be in direct sight of each other, towers that are far apart need to be very tall.
2. Very high-frequency microwaves cannot penetrate walls. This characteristic can be a
disadvantage if receivers are inside buildings.

3. The microwave band is relatively wide, almost 299 GHz. Therefore wider subbandscan be
assigned, and a high data rate is possible Use of certain portions of the band requires permission
from authorities.
Infrared waves:
⦿ Between 300 GHz-400 THz
⦿ Used for short-range communication.
⦿ Very common with remote control devices, but can also be used for device-to-device
transfers, such as PDA to computer.
⦿ Line-of-sight propagation.
CIRCUIT SWITCHING AND TELEPHONE NETWORK

.
ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION
ERROR:
Data can be corrupted during transmission. For reliable communication, errors must be detected
and corrected.
TYPES OF ERRORS:
Single bit Error:
The term single bit error means that only one bit of a given data unit is changed from 1 to 0 or 0
to 1. 010101 is changed to 110101 here only one bit is changed by single bit error.

Burst Error:
A burst error means that 2 or more bits in the data unit have changed. Example:
Here two bits are corrupted.

Redundancy

Error detection use the concept of redundancy, which means adding extra bits for detecting errors
at the destination .i.e., instead of repeating the entire data stream, a shorter group of bits may be
appended to the end of each unit.
Detection methods

Parity check
Cyclic redundancy check
checksum

Parity check
A redundant bit called parity bit is added to every data unit so that the total number of 1’s in the
unit becomes even (or odd).
SIMPLE PARITY CHECK
In a simple parity check a redundant bit is added to a string of data so that total number of 1’s in
the data become even or odd.
The total data bit is then passed through parity checking function. For even parity, it checks for
even number of 1’s and for odd parity it checks even number of 1’s. If an error is detected the data
is rejected.

Example 1: data to be transmitted = 10110101

• 5 1’s in the data

• Parity bit is 1 to make even
• Transmitted codeword = 101101011
• If receiver gets 101101011, parity check ok ---accept (OK)
• If receiver gets 101100011, parity check fails ---reject (OK), ask for frame to be re-
transmitted
• If receiver gets 101110011, parity check ok ---accept (NOT OK: even number of errors
undetected)
• If receiver gets 001100011, parity check ok ---accept (NOT OK: even number of errors
undetected)
•
Example 2: data to be transmitted = 10110001

• 4 1’s in the data

• parity bit is 0

• Transmitted codeword = 101100010

2-Dimensional Parity Check:

Form data into a 2-dimensional array; add single parity check bits to each row and each column;
transmit row-by-row
Example: data = 1110001 1000111 0011001
• Form 3×7 array and add row and column parity bits: Data bits
1110001 0
1000111 0 row
0011001 1 parity bits

0101111 1
Column parity bits

• transmitted: 11100010 10001110 00110011 01011111

• Receiver knows to form received bit string into 4×8 array, then check the row and column
parity bits…
• Can detect any odd number of bit errors in a row or column, and can detect an even number
of bit errors if they’re in a single row (using the column parity checks) or in a single column (using
the row parity checks); and can correct any single bit error
•Example (cont.): suppose bit in position (1,3) is received in error (in other words, 1 bit error)

1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 row 1 parity check fails

1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 row 2 parity check ok
0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 row 3 parity check ok
0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 row 4 parity check ok

column 1 parity check fails column 2 parity check ok column 3 parity check fails column 4 parity
check ok column 5 parity check ok column 6 parity check ok column 7 parity check ok

column 8 parity check ok

Therefore the receiver can detect that bit errors Occurred, but it cannot Correct them (here, if the
Bit errors were in positions (1,3) and (2,1) instead, the receiver parity checks would be the same)
CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK
CRC is based on binary division. In CRC, instead of adding bits to achieve the desired parity, a
sequence of redundant bits, called the CRC or the CRC remainder, is appended to the end of the
data unit so that the resulting data unit becomes exactly divisible by a second, predetermined binary
number. At its destination, the incoming data unit is assumed to be intact and is therefore accepted.
A remainder indicates that the data unit has been damaged in transit and therefore must be rejected.

CRC GENERATOR:
CRC CHECKER:

POLYNOMIALS
The divisor in the CRC most often represented not as a string of 1s and 0s, but as an algebraic
polynomial. The polynomial format is useful to solve the concept mathematically.
Standard Polynomials:

Checksum:
~ used by the higher layer protocols
~ is based on the concept of redundancy (VRC, LRC, CRC ….)
To create the checksum the sender does the following:
The unit is divided into K sections, each of n bits.
Section 1 and 2 are added together using one’s complement.
Section 3 is added to the result of the previous step.
Section 4 is added to the result of the previous step.
The process repeats until section k is added to the result of the previous step.
The final result is complemented to make the checksum.
At Sender:
Original data: 10101001 00111001
10101001
00111001

11100010 Sum
00011101 Checksum
10101001 00111001 00011101
At Receiver:
Received data: 10101001 00111001 00011101
10101001
00111001
00011101

11111111 Sum
00000000 Complement

Error Correction (Hamming Encoding Algorithm):

Redundancy Bits
To calculate the number of redundancy bits (R) required to correct a given number of data bit (M)
If the total number of bits in a transmittable unit is m+r, then r must be able to indicate at
least m+r+1 different states
2r m + r + 1
ex) For value of m is 7(ASCII), the smallest r value that can satisfy this equation is 4 24 7 + 4
+1
positions of redundancy bits in Hamming code:

each r bit is the VRC bit for one combination of data bits r1 = bits 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
r2 = bits 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11
r4 = bits 4, 5, 6, 7
r8 = bits 8, 9, 10, 11
 Error Detection and Correction:

Error detection using Hamming Code

FLOW CONTROL AND ERROR CONTROL

The two main features of data kink layer are flow control and error control.

.FLOW CONTROL
Flow control coordinates that amount of data that can be sent before receiving ACK It is one of
the most important duties of the data link layer.

ERROR CONTROL
• Error control in the data link layer is based on ARQ (automatic repeat request), which is
the retransmission of data.
• The term error control refers to methods of error detection and retransmission.
• Anytime an error is detected in an exchange, specified frames are retransmitted. This
process is called ARQ.

FLOW AND ERROR CONTROL MECHANISMS

1. STOP-AND WAIT ARQ.
2. GO-BACK-N ARQ.
3. SELECTIVE-REPEAT ARQ.

STOP-AND- WAIT ARQ

This is the simplest flow and error control mechanism. It has the following features.
• The sending devise keeps the copy of the last frame transmitted until it receives an
acknowledgement for that frame. Keeping a copy allows the sender to re- transmit lost or damaged
frames until they are received correctly.
• Both data and acknowledgement frames are numbered alternately 0 and 1. A data frame
0 is acknowledged by an ACK 1.
• A damaged or lost frame is treated in the same manner by the receiver. If the receiver
detects an error in the received frame, it simply discards the frame and sends no acknowledgement.
• The sender has a control variable, which we call S, that holds the number of recently sent
frame. The receiver has a control variable, which we call R that holds the number of the next frame
expected.
• The sender starts a timer when it sends a frame. If an ACK is not received within an allotted
time period the sender assumes that the frame was lost or damaged and resends it.
• The receivers send only positive ACK for frames received safe and sound; it is silent about
the frames damaged or lost.

OPERATION:
The possible operations are Normal operation
lost frame ACK lost delayed ACK.
The sender sends frame 0 and wait to receive ACK 1. when ACK 1 is received it sends frame 1
and then waits to receive ACK 0, and so on.
The ACK must be received before the time out that is set expires. The following figure shows
successful frame transmission.
Lost or damaged acknowledgement
o When the receiver receives the damaged frame it discards it, which essentially means the
frame is lost. The receiver remains silent about a lost frame and keeps its value of R.
o For example in the following figure the sender transmits frame 1, but it is lost. The receiver
does nothing, retaining the value of R (1). After the timer at the sender site expires, another copy
of frame 1 is sent.

Lost acknowledgement
o A lost or damaged ACK is handled in the same by the sender; if the sender receives a
damaged ACK, it discards it.
o The following figure shows a lost ACK 0.the waiting sender does not know if frame 1 has
been received. When the timer for frame 1 expires the sender retransmits frame 1.

o Note that the receiver has already received frame 1 and is expecting to receive frame 0.
Therefore, its silently discards the second copy of frame 1.
o The following figure shows a lost ACK 0.the waiting sender does not know if frame 1 has
been received. When the timer for frame 1 expires the sender retransmits frame 1.
o Note that the receiver has already received frame 1 and is expecting to receive frame 0.
Therefore, its silently discards the second copy of frame 1.
• Delayed acknowledgement

o An ACK can be delayed at the receiver or by some problem with the link. The following
figure shows the delay of ACK 1; it ids received after the timer for frame 0 as already expired.
o The sender has already retransmitted a copy of frame 0. The receiver expects frame 1 so
its simply discards the duplicate frame 0.
o The sender has now received two ACK’s, one that was delayed and one that was sent after
the duplicate frame 0 arrived. The second ACK 1 is discarded.

BIDIRECTIONAL TRANSMISSION
The stop – and – wait mechanism is unidirectional. We can have bi-directional transmission if the
two parties have two separate channels for full duplex communication or share the same channel
for off duplex transmission. In this case, each party needs both S and R variables to track frames
sent and expected.
PIGGYBACKING
It’s a method to combine a data frame with an ACK. In following figure both the sender and the
receiver have data to send. Instead of sending separate data and ACK frames. It can save bandwidth
because the overhead from a data frame and an ACK frame can be combined into just one frame.
GO-BACK-N ARQ
• As in Stop-and-wait protocol senders has to wait for every ACK then next frame is
transmitted. But in GO-BACK-N ARQ number of frames can be transmitted without waiting for
ACK. A copy of each transmitted frame is maintained until the respective ACK is received.
Features of GO-BACK-N ARQ
1. sequence numbers.
Sequence numbers of transmitted frames are maintained in the header of frame. If k is the number
of bits for sequence number, then the numbering can range from 0 to 2k-1. Example: if k=3 means
sequence numbers are 0 to 7.
2. sender sliding window:
• Window is a set of frames in a buffer waiting for ACK. This window keeps on sliding in
forward direction, the window size is fixed. As the ACK is received, the respective frame goes out
of window and new frame to sent come into window. Figure illustrates the sliding window.
• If Sender receives. ACK 4, then it knows Frames upto
and including Frame 3 were correctly received

Window size=7

3. Receiver sliding window:

In the receiver side size of the window is always one. The receiver is expecting to arrive frame in
specifies sequence. Any other frame is received which is out of order is discarded. The receiver
slides over after receiving the expected frame. The following figure shows the receiver side-sliding
window.

6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. Control variables:
Sender variables and Receiver variables: Sender deals with three different variables
S -> sequence number of recently sent frame
SF -> sequence number of first frame in the window. SL -> sequence number of last frame in the
window.
The receiver deals with only one variable

R -> sequence number of frame expected.

5. Timers
The sender has a timer for each transmitted frame. The receivers don’t have any timer.
6. Acknowledgement:
The receiver responds for frame arriving safely by positive ACK. For damaged or lost frames
receiver doesn’t reply, the sender has to retransmit it when timer of that frame elapsed. The receiver
may ACK once for several frames.
7. resending frames:
If the timer for any frame expires, the sender has to resend that frame and the subsequent frame
also, hence the protocol is called GO-BACK-N ARQ.
Operation

Normal operation: Following diagram shows this mechanism. The sender keeps track of the
outstanding frames and updates the variables and windows as acknowledgements arrive.

Damaged or lost frame:

Figure shows that frame 2 is lost. Note that when the receiver receives frame 3, it is discarded
because the receiver is expecting frame 2, not frame3. after the timer for frame 2 expires at the
sender site, the sender sends frame 2 and 3.
Damaged or lost acknowledgement:
If an ACK is lost, we can have two situations. If the next ACK arrives before the expiration of
timer, there is no need for retransmission of frames because ACK are cumulative in this protocol..
if the next ACK arrives after the timeout, the frame and all the frames after that are resent. The
receiver never resends an ACK.
For diagrams refer your class work notes.

Delayed Acknowledgement:
A delayed ACK also triggers the resending of frames.

SELECTIVE REPEAT ARQ:

• The configuration and its control variables for this are same as those selective repeat ARQ.
• The size of the window should be one half of the value 2m.
• The receiver window size must also be the size. In this the receiver is looking for a range
of sequence numbers.
• The receiver has control variables RF and RL to denote the boundaries of the window.
selective repeat also defines a negative ACK NAK that reports the sequence number of a damaged
frame before the timer expires.

RANDOM ACCESS:
Random Access (or contention) Protocols:
No station is superior to another station and none is assigned the control over another.
A station with a frame to be transmitted can use the link directly based on a procedure
defined by the protocol to make a decision on whether or not to send.
ALOHA Protocols
Was designed for wireless LAN and can be used for any shared medium
Pure ALOHA Protocol Description
All frames from any station are of fixed length (L bits)
Stations transmit at equal transmission time (all stations produce frames with equal frame
lengths).
A station that has data can transmit at any time
After transmitting a frame, the sender waits for an acknowledgment for an amount of time
(time out) equal to the maximum round-trip propagation delay = 2* tprop(see next slide)
If no ACK was received, sender assumes that the frame or ACK has been destroyed and
resends that frame after it waits for a random amount of time
If station fails to receive an ACK after repeated transmissions, it gives up
Channel utilization or efficiency or Throughput is the percentage of the transmitted frames
that arrive successfully (without collisions) or the percentage of the channel bandwidth that will
be used for transmitting frames without collisions
ALOHA Maximum channel utilization is 18% (i.e, if the system produces F frames/s, then
0.18 * F frames will arrive successfully on average without the need of retransmission).
Procedure for ALOHA protocol
 Advantage of ALOHA protocols
A node that has frames to be transmitted can transmit continuously at the full rate of channel
(R bps) if it is the only node with frames
Simple to be implemented
No master station is needed to control the medium
Disadvantage
If (M) nodes want to transmit, many collisions can occur and the rate allocated for each
node will not be on average R/M bps
This causes low channel utilization

Random Access – Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)

To improve performance, avoid transmissions that are certain to cause collisions
Based on the fact that in LAN propagation time is very small
If a frame was sent by a station, All stations knows immediately so they can wait before
start sending
A station with frames to be sent, should sense the medium for the presence of another
transmission (carrier) before it starts its own transmission
This can reduce the possibility of collision but it cannot eliminate it.
Collision can only happen when more than one station begin transmitting within a short
time (the propagation time period)
Types of CSMA Protocols
Different CSMA protocols that determine:

What a station should do when the medium is idle?

What a station should do when the medium is busy?
1. Non-Persistent CSMA
2. 1-Persistent CSMA
3. p-Persistent CSMA
Nonpersistent CSMA:
A station with frames to be sent, should sense the medium
1. If medium is idle, transmit; otherwise, go to 2
2. If medium is busy, (backoff) wait a random amount of time and repeat 1
Non-persistent Stations are deferential (respect others)
Performance:
1. A random delay reduces probability of collisions because two stations with data to be
transmitted will wait for different amount of times.
2. Bandwidth is wasted if waiting time (backoff) is large because medium will remain idle
following end of transmission even if one or more stations have frames to send
1- persistent CSMA
To avoid idle channel time, 1-persistent protocol used
Station wishing to transmit listens to the medium:
1. If medium idle, transmit immediately;
2. If medium busy, continuously listen until medium becomes idle; then transmit immediately
with probability 1
Performance
1-persistent stations are selfish
If two or more stations becomes ready at the same time, collision guaranteed
P-persistent CSMA
Time is divided to slots where each Time unit (slot) typically equals maximum propagation
delay
Station wishing to transmit listens to the medium:
1. If medium idle,
transmit with probability (p), OR
wait one time unit (slot) with probability (1 – p), then repeat 1.
2. If medium busy, continuously listen until idle and repeat step 1
3. Performance
Reduces the possibility of collisions like nonpersistent
Reduces channel idle time like 1-persistent
CSMA/CD (Collision Detection)
CSMA (all previous methods) has an inefficiency:
If a collision has occurred, the channel is unstable until colliding packets have been fully
transmitted
CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) overcomes this as
follows:
While transmitting, the sender is listening to medium for collisions.
Sender stops transmission if collision has occurred reducing channel wastage . CSMA/CD
is Widely used for bus topology LANs (IEEE 802.3, Ethernet).
CSMA/CD Protocol
Use one of the CSMA persistence algorithm (non-persistent, 1-persistent, p-persistent)
for transmission
If a collision is detected by a station during its transmission then it should do the following:
Abort transmission and
Transmit a jam signal (48 bit) to notify other stations of collision so that they will discard
the transmitted frame also to make sure that the collision signal will stay until detected by the
furthest station

After sending the jam signal, backoff (wait) for a random amount of time, then
Transmit the frame again
Restrictions of CSMA / CD:
Packet transmission time should be at least as long as the time needed to detect a collision
(2 * maximum propagation delay + jam sequence transmission time)
Otherwise, CSMA/CD does not have an advantage over CSMA
Flow diagram for the CSMA/CD

CSMA/CA (Collision Avoidance)

In CSMA/CA, the IFS can also be used to define the priority of a station or a frame. In CSMA/CA,
if the station finds the channel busy, it does not restart the timer of the contention window; it stops
the timer and restarts it when the channel becomes idle.
Flow diagram for CSMA/CA
VIRTUAL CIRCUIT SWITCHING
Circuit-Switching:
A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches connected by physical links.
A connection between two stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links
each connection uses only one dedicated channel on each link
Each link is normally divided into n channels by using FDM or TDM.
The link can be permanent (leased line) or temporary (telephone)
Switching take place at physical layer
Before any data can be sent, an end-to-end circuit must be established
This circuit is maintained for the duration of the transfer of all the data
The data can be digital or analog and the signal can be either type as well
Connection is usually full-duplex
Is inefficient – channel capacity is dedicated for the duration of the connection

Example – Pubic telephone system

Resources
Such as bandwidth in FDM and time slot in TDM
Switch buffer
Switch processing time
Switch I/O ports
Data transferred are not packetized, continuous flow
No addressing involved during data transfer
Packet Switching:
Station breaks long message into packets
Packets sent one at a time to the network
Very much like message switching
Principal external difference is that the length of the message found internally has a
maximum length
A typical maximum length is several thousand bits
Messages above the maximum length are divided up into smaller units and sent out one at
a time
These smaller units are called packets
Packets, unlike messages, are typically not filed at the intermediate nodes
Packets are handled in two ways
Datagram
Virtual circuit
Datagram Networks:
In datagram approach each packet is treated independently with no reference to packets
that have gone before. No connection is set up.
The packets may take different paths to the destination
The packets might arrive in a different sequence from the order in which they were sent
The packets may have to be reordered at the destination
Packets may go missing
Up to receiver to re-order packets and recover from missing packets
More processing time per packet per node
Size of the packet depends on the protocol and network
 Packets switched networks are connectionless, hence no resource allocation
Connectionless means the switch does not keep information about the connection state.
Datagram switching is done at network layer

Virtual-Circuit Networks:
In the Virtual Circuit approach a pre-planned route is established before any packets are
sent.
There is a call set up before the exchange of data (handshake).
A logical connection is established before any packets are sent
All packets follow the same path through the network
This does not mean that there is a dedicated path, as in circuit switching
All packets follow the same route and therefore arrive in sequence.

Each packet contains a virtual circuit identifier instead of destination address

More set up time
No routing decisions required for each packet - Less routing or processing time.
Susceptible to data loss in the face of link or node failure
Clear request to drop circuit
Not a dedicated path
Source-to-Destination data transfer

Virtual circuits can be either permanent, called Permanent virtual Circuits (PVC), or temporary,
called Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs).
Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC)
A Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) is a virtual circuit that is permanently available to the user.
PVC is defined in advance by a network manager. The actual identifier used for data transfer is
virtual circuit identifier (VCI). If permanent, an outgoing VCI is given to the source, and an
incoming VCI is given to the destination.
The source always uses this out going VCI to send frames to this particular destination.
The destination knows that the frame is coming from that particular source if the frame carries the
corresponding incoming VCI.
Once a communication session is complete, the virtual circuit is disabled.
Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC)
A switched virtual circuit is an automatically and temporarily created logical path with aid of some
switch control for a communication session switch control for a communication session
Once a communication session is complete, the virtual circuit is disabled.