Course 1 Introduction

Introduction to NETWORKING
• computer network = the infrastructure that allows two or more hosts to
communicate with each other.
• set of rules - communication protocols, observed by all hosts
communicating through the network
• Why??? communication protocol
=> different computers from different vendors and with different operating
characteristics are able to “speak the same language”.
COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
AND TRENDS
• Communications networks - used to transport information (data)
exchanged between end-systems,
• goal: support a variety of services and applications.
• Networks were initially designed and optimized for a specific service:
• the telephone network for the voice service,
• the broadcast networks for radio and TV programmes distribution,
• computer networks for exchanging data among computers and to
support applications such as files transfer, e-mails, etc.
Integrated Services Digital
Network (ISDN).
• The concept of service integration in public networks started with ISDN
• was developed to replace the public telecommunications system
• supported a wide variety of services by using both circuit switching and packet switching techniques
• Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (BISDN) permitted also transmission of video, broadband signals
• BISDN = advanced digital system
• BISDN offered support for a lot of services :
• video conferencing,
• video-on-demand,
• e-business,
• high definition television (HDTV),
• multimedia communications (e.g. telemedicine and e-learning),
• personal communications services.
COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
AND TRENDS
• Alexander Graham Bell (1876) proved that voice can be transmitted to
distance through copper cable.
• Communications have had a spectacular evolution.
• Nowadays, the global communications network provides a continuously
growing number of services in many different areas of our life.
• Telecommunications technology - evolved from circuit switching
(traditional telephony) to fast packet switching, from copper wires to
optical fiber links, satellites, and mobile communications.
 A brief history of
communications
• 1896: Marconi marked the beginning of wireless communications
history with the first wireless telegraph system.
• 1927: the first commercial radiotelephone service was operated
between Great Britain and the USA.
• 1946: the first car-based mobile telephone was set up in St. Louis; it
used a “push-to-talk” technology.
• 1962: the first communication satellite (Telstar) was launched, but it
could handle only 240 voice circuits.
• 1973: the Internet and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) were
developed by Vinton Cerf, as part of a project sponsored by the
United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency.
• 1988: the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN),
the first network to support both voice and non-voice
applications was defined;
• 1988: the first technical papers on Broadband Integrated
Services Digital Network (BISDN) appeared;
• The designated technology for B-ISDN: Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) -> supports both synchronous
voice and asynchronous data services.
• Around the ‘90s: ATM - the technology of the future, but
the ATM and B-ISDN vision had been overtaken by the
Internet.
• The Internet began as a computer network (ARPAnet)
that linked several universities and research laboratories
in the US.
• 1989: World Wide Web (www) for the European Organization for
Nuclear Research (CERN); developed by the English computer scientist
Timothy Berners-Lee.
• 1990: the number of mobile cellular users already exceeded 11
millions.
• 2002: the number of cellular phones exceeded the fixed ones.
• The first mobile communication service: the voice call, enabled by
cellular systems designed and optimized for this service.
• Mobile services have grown significantly in the recent years.
• 2008: more than 30% of mobile business depended on non-voice
services (e.g. IPmultimedia services); these services - offered by 3G
systems defined by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• New generation 3G-4G mobile phones have access to Internet and
have cameras.
• 5G is the 5th generation of cellular mobile communications; includes
high data rate, reduced latency, energy saving, cost reduction, higher
system capacity and massive device connectivity;
INTERNET AND MOBILE
COMMUNICATIONS
• The Internet - designed for carrying data traffic (on a best effort basis)
• has become the universal infrastructure for carrying any type of traffic,
such as VoIP, video streaming, etc.
• Mobile communications - four generations of mobile communication:
• 1G (~1980) - based on analog transmission.
• 2G (1990S) - intoduced the digital transmission on the radio link
• 3G (early 2000) – fast wireless internet access
• 4G (~2008) - LTE
1G
• The main technologies:
• Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) developed within North America
and Australia
• Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) developed by the public-telephone-
network operators of the Nordic countries, Russia, East Europe etc
• Total Access Communication System (TACS) used in the United Kingdom,
Portugal, South Africa etc.
• Mobile-communication systems based on 1G were limited to voice services
• For the first time -> mobile telephony accessible to ordinary people.
2G
• The target service was still the voice,
• The use of digital transmission allowed for 2G systems to also provide limited data services.
• Several 2G technologies:
• Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) - developed by a large number of countries in Europe,
• Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) - developed and only used in Japan
• CDMA-based IS-95 technology.
• GSM spread to other countries of the world and dominated the 2G technologies.
• GSM success -> the 2G systems turned mobile telephony from something being used by a relatively small fraction of
people to a necessary communication tool!
• Today: many places in the world -> GSM is still dominating,
• Some places -> the only available mobile communication technology.
3G
• Marked the true step to high-quality mobile broadband,
• Enables fast wireless internet access.
• This was especially enabled by the 3G evolution known as High Speed Packet Access
(HSPA).
• Earlier mobile-communication technologies operate in paired spectrum (separate
spectrum for network-to -device and device-to-network links) based on the Frequency-
Division Duplex (FDD).
• 3G operates in unpaired spectrum based on the Time Division Synchronous Code
Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology based on Time Division Duplex (TDD).
4G - LTE technology
• Provides higher efficiency and enhanced mobile-broadband experience - higher achievable end-user data rates.
• This is provided by means of Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) based transmission enabling wider transmission
bandwidths and more advanced multi-antenna technologies.
• The objectives of 4G systems are to offer:
• new services,
• compatibility between different systems,
• 10x greater capacity than the 3G systems,
• 1/10 - 1/100 from the current cost per bit, r
• eal time processing,
• multimedia interactive services,
• less tolerance to errors and delays (smaller than 50 ms).
• LTE supports both FDD and TDD operation - operation in both paired and unpaired spectra, within one common radio-access
technology.
5G
• Discussions on fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication began around 2012.
• In the context of 5G, one is often talking about three distinctive classes of use cases:
• enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), enabling even larger data volumes and
further enhanced user experience, e.g. by supporting even higher end-user data
rates,
• massive machine-type communication (mMTC), corresponding to services that are
characterized by a massive number of devices, e.g, remote sensors, actuators, and
monitoring of various equipment and ultra-reliable
• low-latency communication (URLLC), envisioned to require very low latency and
extremely high reliability.
Characteristics of modern communications
networks and trends
• communications networks have to deal with some problems:

• a huge and variable number of users that use thousands of communications nodes;

• different sources with different data rates - initially oriented to improve vocal services,
communications have evolved towards multimedia services; multimedia
communications represent most of the traffic, needing a large bandwidth for
transmissions;

• different traffic types – which have different technical parameters requirements;

Network Components
• A network contains two types of components, hosts and nodes, connected by
communication lines.
• Hosts = end nodes where data originates or it is received.
Examples: personal computers, terminals, workstations, point of sale cash
registers, automatic teller machines.
• The nodes usually handle the network protocols and provide switching
capabilities.
• Each host has a unique address allocated by the network, used for the
communication between hosts.
• Electronic devices which provide different functions in a network:

• Hub: a simple network device that connects multiple Ethernet segments, so that they act as a
single segment;
• Modem: is a device that converts digital signal into analog signals and vice versa, modulates-
demodulates, allowing data to be transmitted over voice grade telephone lines (Public switched
telephone network - PSTN);
• Repeater: regenerates and propagates electrical signals between two network segments;
• Bridge: connects two Local Area Networks (LANs) that use identical LAN protocols;
• Switch: is a very fast bridge;
• Router: is used to connect two networks that may or may not be similar; it employs an internet
protocol present in each router and each host of the network; it forwards packets from one host
to another based on metrics that allow the use of an optimum path;
• Gateway: is a special-purpose device that converts information from one protocol stack to
another.
Network Types
• Networks may be divided into various categories taking into account 4 criteria:

1. The geographical spread of nodes and hosts;

2. Access restrictions;

3. The nodes communication model;

4. The nodes switching model.

1. Geographically
very small network;
connects devices used by a single person, placed within a distance range
Personal area network (PAN): smaller than 10 meters;
e.g.: Bluetooth, ZigBee.

has the physical distance between the hosts within a few kilometers;
Local area network (LAN): LANs are suitable for networking within a building or a campus area;
e.g. Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), Token rings, Apple-talk.

is a network with a size between a LAN and a WAN;

Metropolitan area network (MAN): covers the area inside a town or a city, typically smaller than 50 km.

covers a large geographical area, often a country or a continent;

Wide area network (WAN): e.g: IBM SNA (Systems Network Architecture Systems), X.25 networks, Internet.
2. Access restrictions
• public networks:
• networks that can be used by anyone;
• e.g.: the telephone network and Internet;

• private networks:
• networks for the private use of an enterprise or a firm, which
authorizes communications only between its users, and no one else.
 point-to-point model:

• implies one source and one receiver.

• the message follows a specific route from one
node to another across the network.
• is often impractical.
3.
Communicat a broadcast model:
ion between • implies one source and multiple receivers.
the nodes: • all nodes share the same communication
medium, so the message transmitted by a node
can be received by all the other nodes.
• the message address indicates the destination
node, so all nodes check the address and ignore
the message if this does not match with their
own address.
4. Switching model

1 2
circuit switching packet switching
Circuit switching
• first a path is established between the source host and the destination;
• data is sent along the path between source and destination via intermediate nodes, as a
continuous stream of bits;
• the capacity is fixed during conversation and, after conversation, the connection is released.
• circuit switching was the primary technology for voice telephone, video telephone and video
conferencing.
• the telephone networks, the cellular networks and ISDN use this technique of transmission.
Circuit switching
• advantages:
• fixed delays
• guaranteed continuous delivery of transmissions.
• disadvantages:
• it requires a call set-up, during which resources cannot be used;
• it requires a fixed rate stream (e.g., 64 Kbps);
• difficulties in supporting variable data rates;
• if all the capacity is used, the calls are blocked;
• inefficiency of transmission for bursty traffic.
Packet switching
• the data is divided into packets.
• packets are indexed and sent one by one.
• each node verifies the destination address and optimally routes it through the network.
• different packets may follow different routes consequently and they may arrive out of order at the destination.
• advantages:
• the efficiency of bursty data transmission
• the ease of bandwidth allocation on demand, with variable data rates.
• examples: ATM (packets are called cells), VoIP, and Internet.
• disadvantages :
• variable delays;
• difficulty in providing a QoS (they offer a best-effort service);
• packets can arrive out-of-order.
 Connection-oriented protocols

• Require the establishment of a logical connection

between two devices before transferring data,
• This is realized by following a specific set of rules - >
specify how a connection should be initiated, negotiated,

Connectio
managed, and terminated.
• The process is very simple:
• a device sends a request to open a connection and the
ns other device responds.
• the devices pass control information to determine if
between and how the connection should be set up.
• if it is successful, the data is sent between the two

devices devices
• when they are finished, the connection is broken.

Connectionless protocols

• do not establish a connection between devices,

• as soon as a device has data to send, it just sends it.
Physical topologies
• defines how devices are connected to make a network.
• devices can be connected using:
1. Bus topology (every device on a common link),
2. Star topology (devices are connected through a central device),
3. Mesh topology (every device connected to every other device),
4. Ring topology (each device is connected to the next, forming a
ring),
5. Tree topology.
Bus topology
• is a network type in which all hosts are attached to a shared medium (cable) through a single
interface and the data is transmitted only in one direction.
• when one host sends an electrical signal on the bus, the signal is received by all hosts attached to
the bus.
• when it has only two endpoints, it is called Linear Bus topology- used in early Ethernet
• advantages:
• it is cost effective,
• it is used in small networks,
• it is easy to understand,
• it is easy to be expanded by joining two cables together.
• disadvantages:
• if the bus is physically cut, then the network is split into two isolated networks,
• if the network traffic is heavy the network’s performance decreases,
• the cable has a limited length and
• it is slower than the ring topology,
• it is difficult to operate and maintain, especially when the cable is long and there are many
places where it can break.
Star topology
• all the hosts have a single physical interface and there is one physical
link between each host and the center of the star.
• the central node can be:
• a piece of equipment that amplifies an electrical signal,
• an active device - a piece of equipment that understands the format of the
messages exchanged through the network.
• advantages:
• it has a fast performance with few nodes and low network traffic,
• if one physical link fails, then only one node is disconnected from
the network,
• a hub can be upgraded easily, in practice,
• star-shaped networks are easier to operate and maintain than
bus-shaped networks.
• disadvantages:
• the cost of installation is high,
• the failure of the central node implies the failure of the network
• the performance of the network is based on the central hub.
 Mesh topology
• every device is connected to another device via a particular
channel.
• advantages:
• it is robust,
• a fault is diagnosed easily,
• data is reliable because data is transferred among the
devices through dedicated channels or links,
• it provides security and privacy.
• disadvantages:
• the installation and configuration is difficult,
• the cost of cables are high as bulk wiring is required,
hence suitable for less number of devices.
 Ring topology
• each host has a single physical interface connecting it to the
ring.
• any signal sent by a host on the ring will be received by all
hosts attached to the ring.
• in practice, such rings have been used in LANs, but are now
often replaced by star-shaped networks.
• in MAN, rings are often used to interconnect multiple locations.
• advantages:
• the possibility of collision is minimum in this type of
topology
• the installation and expansion is cheap.
• disadvantages:
• from a redundancy point of view, a single ring is not the
best solution, as the signal only travels in one direction on
the ring,
• if one of the links composing the ring is cut, the entire
network fails.
Tree topology
• are typically used when a large number of customers must be connected
in a very cost-effective manner.
• cable TV networks are often organized as trees.
• combines characteristics of linear bus and star topologies.
• advantages:
• it involves point-to-point wiring for individual segments
• it is supported by several hardware and software vendors.
• disadvantages:
• the overall length of each segment is limited by the type of cabling
used,
• if the backbone line breaks, the entire segment goes down
• it is more difficult to perform the configuration and wiring than in
the case of the other topologies.
Reference Models
1. Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model
• was released in 1998;
• is a generic frame for network architecture;
• has seven stacked layers.

2. Transport Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) reference

model
• has four or five layers.
The OSI Model
• has been developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
• It proposes a seven layers architecture:
1. The physical layer
2. The data link layer
3. The network layer
4. The transport layer
5. The session layer
6. The presentation layer
7. The application layer
„All people seem to need data processing”.
The physical layer

• is involved with the raw data bits transmission over the physical
medium;
• it defines the electrical, mechanical, procedural and functional
specifications for activating, maintaining and deactivating the
physical link between communicating network systems;
• defines characteristics such as voltage levels, timing of voltage
changes, physical data rates, maximum transmission distances,
and physical connectors.
 The data link layer

• deals with the secure transfer of data provided by the previous layer
over the communication channel;
• at this level, the data is divided into data frames which are sequentially
transmitted over the channel;
• it performs a transmission error checking by requiring
acknowledgments from the destination.
 The network layer

• routes the data across the network from source to destination;

• it converts data into packets for transmission at the source and vice
versa at the destination;
• it addresses messages and transforms logical addresses and names
into physical addresses.
The transport layer

• isolates the upper three layers of the network, so that any changes in
the network equipment technology is restricted to the lower three
layers.

The session layer

• allows users from different machines to establish sessions between
them;
• it performs session setup, control and may tear down a connection.
The presentation layer
• is the syntax layer, responsible for delivering and formatting the data to the
application layer for further processing
• it performs data compression and encryption.

The application layer

• is the layer where applications, such as file transfers, e-mails, or databases, access
the network services
• it deals with data semantics
• this layer is closest to the end user
The TCP/IP Reference
Model
• combines the functions of some adjacent OSI layers in one
layer and splits the other layers apart;
• nowadays, most networks are TCP/IP model based networks,
with four or five layers;
• The TCP/IP reference model layers:
1. The network interface layer (network access layer): groups
together the Data Link Layer and Physical Layer from OSI
model;
2. The Internet layer (the network layer)
3. The transport layer
4. The application layer
 The Network interface layer (network access layer):
• groups together the Data Link Layer and Physical Layer from OSI model;

The Internet layer (the network layer):

• is the network layer of the TCP/IP model. It addresses the two ends of the

TCP/IP communication and routes the data between source and destination.
• he primary protocol in this layer is the Internet Protocol (IP);

reference The Transport layer:

• the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) - is safer but slower

model • the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) - performs no end-to-end reliability checks,
but is faster;

layers The Application layer:

• includes all of the processes that involve user interaction.
• groups all the functions of OSI Application, Presentation and Session layers, so
any process above the transport layer is called an Application in the TCP/IP
architecture.
• examples of protocols: the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the Post
Office Protocol (POP) for e-mail, the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for
the World- Wide-Web, and the File Transfer Protocol (FTP);
 The TCP/IP
protocols stack
Data encapsulation/decapsulation
on OSI model.
• Data flows in two ways in the OSI model:
• down (data encapsulation)
• up (data decapsulation)

• Data encapsulation:
• the entire contents of the higher-layer message are encapsulated as the data payload of the message at the lower layer.
• each protocol creates a protocol data unit (PDU) for transmission, that includes headers required by that protocol and
data to be transmitted.
• this data becomes the service data unit (SDU) of the next layer below it.
• The communication between devices on a packet-switched network is based on pieces of information, generally called
messages.
• Other names used for messages: packets, datagrams, frames etc. often correspond to protocols at a particular layer of the OSI
model.
Protocol Data Unit (PDU)
• represent the term used in the OSI model to describe protocol messages.
• PDU = a unit of data with headers and trailers for the particular layer, as well as the encapsulated
data.
• OSI model - 7 layers => PDUs are numbered from 1 to 7, with the Physical layer being the first
one.
• A PDU at a particular layer is a message sent between protocols at that particular layer.
• Each layer in the model uses the PDU to communicate and exchange information, which can only
be read by the peer layer on the receiving device and is then handed over to next upper layer
after stripping.
• Each PDU has a specific format that implements the features and requirements of the protocol.
 • Physical layer: raw bits, ones and zeros,
transmitted physically via the hardware.
• Data Link layer: a frame or series of bits.
• Network layer: a packet that contains the
source and destination address.
PDUs at • Transport layer: a segment that includes a TCP
different header and data.
• Session layer: the data passed to the network
layers connection.
• Presentation layer: the data formatted for
presentation.
• Application layer: the data received or
transmitted by a software application.
PDUs at different layers
• packet = a message sent by protocols operating at the network layer of the OSI model.
• people actually refer to IP packets.
• Packet is often used to refer generically to any type of message.
• datagram = related to a message that is sent at a higher level of the OSI model.
• frames = most commonly associated with messages that travel at low levels of the OSI model,
• frames are mostly used to refer to data link layer messages and occasionally used in reference to physical layer
messages, when message formatting is performed by a layer 1 technology.
• a frame is created by taking higher-level packets/datagrams and “framing” them with additional header information
needed at a lower level.
• frames and packets can have a variable length, depending on their contents.
• cell =a message that has a fixed size and is usually used by technologies operating at the lower layers of the OSI
model.
• segment = the data at the Transport layer.
• payload of the message = the actual data to be transmitted.
Standards organizations
• The International Standards Organization (ISO)
• voluntary organization active in science and technology
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• member of ISO
• has developed the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) standard.
• International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)
• standards for the telecommunication area.
• ITU-T has developed X.25 and other communications standards.
• The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• US organization with members all over the world, involved in many electric and electronic-related areas
• has developed the widely used LAN standards IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.5
• The European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA)
• computer engineering and related technologies
• Internet Activities Board (IAB)
• internetwork researchers who discuss pertinent issues regarding the Internet and set Internet policies
• It designates some Request For Comments (RFC) documents as Internet standards
• Standards: TCP/IP and SNMP
3GPP (3rd Generation
Partnership Program)
• has published the following specifications:

• GSM (Global System for Mobile communications);

• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service);
• GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network);
• EGPRS (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution –EDGE);
• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Release 99;
• HSDPA (Release 4 High Speed Downlink Packet Access;
• HSUPA (Release 5/6): High Speed Uplink Packet Access;
• HSPA Evolution (Release 7);
• LTE (Long-term evolution Release 8-11) and LTE-Advanced (Release 12).
Long-term evolution (LTE)
• The first complete LTE specification was published in March 2007 and was included in the
3GPP Release 8
• In 2009, the world's first publicly available LTE-service was opened in two Scandinavian
capitals, Stockholm and Oslo, and branded 4G
• LTE introduces important changes in three major areas:
• Air interface,
• Radio network Architecture
• Core Network
• LTE supports data rates of over 300 Mbps in DL and more than 80 Mbps in Uplink (UL) and
both Time Division Duplex (TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) modes of operation.
Wireless technology
• provides connectivity and communications without using electrical conductors or wires, over a
distance that varies between a few meters (in television remote control) and hundreds or thousands
of kilometers (in radio communications);
• offers mobility and flexibility to subscribers;
• allows connectivity and communication over wireless links, used in point to point/multi-point or mesh
applications, in fixed or mobile, satellite or terrestrial, as backhaul or as user access network;
• two system attributes: the coverage and the capacity
• coverage represents the geographical area that can support continuous wireless access
connectivity, with the minimum guaranteed QoS;
• capacity is related to the maximum number of users a network can support.
IEEE standards (IEEE
802.xx)
• IEEE 802.11 – Wireless Local Area Network
(WLAN) – Wi-Fi;
• IEEE 802.15 – Wireless Personal Area Network
(WPAN) ;
• IEEE 802.16 – Broadband Wireless Access (BWA)
– WiMAX;
• IEEE 802.20 – Mobile Broadband Wireless Access
(MBWA).
Internetworking
• implies connecting a computer network with other networks, using intermediate networking devices
that assure the routing of information packets between the networks.
• internetworking terms:
• Internet: collection of communication networks interconnected by bridges and/or routers;
• Subnetwork – refers to a constituent network of an internet. This avoids ambiguity since the
entire Internet, from a user's point of view, is a single network;
• End System (ES) – a device attached to one of the subnetworks of an internet that is used to
support end-user applications or services; a network device without the capability of forwarding
packets between subnetworks;
• Autonomous systems (AS) or domain - a collection of networks under a common administration
that share a common routing strategy; AS are subdivided into areas;
• Area - a logical group of network segments and their attached devices;
Internetworking
• Intermediate system device (IS):
• a device used to connect two subnetworks and that permits
communication between ES attached to different subnetworks;
• ISs include routers, switches, and bridges;
• two types of IS device networks :
• intradomain IS - communicates within a single AS;
• interdomain IS - communicates within and between ASs.
Multiplexing
• Multiplexing = a method by which multiple data streams, coming from
different sources, are combined and transmitted over a single
communication channel.
• The device that combines multiple data streams into one is called
multiplexer (MUX).
• The reverse process, called demultiplexing, extracts the original data
streams at the destination.
• The demultiplexing is realized by a device called demultiplexer (DMUX).
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM):

• the communication channel is shared in time by different

sources;
• the channel is divided into several time slots of fixed
length and each user can transmit its data only within the
provided time slot.
• is implemented by sampling - all signals operate with the

Multiplexi same sampling frequency, at different times.

ng types Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

• the available bandwidth of a single physical medium is

subdivided into several independent frequency channels
• all signals being transmitted at the same time, each one
using a different frequency
• most common examples of FDM are the radio/TV
broadcasting, where multiple radio signals at different
frequencies pass through the air simultaneously
 Synchronous TDM (Sync TDM):

• each time slot is pre-assigned to a fixed source;

• time slots are still allocated to channels, whether they have
or they don’t have information to transmit - the channel
capacity is wasted 
• does not guarantee efficiency;
Time • three types of synchronous TDM, depending on the type of
standard used for communication: T1, SONET/SDH, and
Division ISDN.

Multiplexi Asynchronous TDM (Statistical TDM):

ng
• an efficient alternative of the synchronous TDM;
• is a more flexible version of TDM and it is used to increase
the overall data rate;
• is facilitated through packet oriented communication;
• uses a time slot that has a variable length;
• time slots allocation is performed dynamically and on
demand, in order to separate input channels and thus, to
save the capacity of the channel
 Code Division Multiplexing (CDM)

• is a spread spectrum technique for multiple access;

• allows its users to simultaneously share the same
frequency spectrum by using various techniques:
Multiple • frequency hopping: the signals from different users
are sent using a series of radio frequencies randomly
access chosen from the available spectrum, by hopping
from frequency to frequency at a fixed time interval

technique • direct sequence spread spectrum: uses multiple

bits, a spreading code in the transmitted signal, for
each bit from the original data signal
s
Code division multiple access (CDMA)

• allows more users to independently transmit data in

the same bandwidth, with very little interference;
 Orthogonal
Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM)
• a technology used for high-speed data communication
systems;
• deals with the problems created by multipath reception;
• its concept is based on spreading the high speed data to
be transmitted over a large number of low rate carriers;
• the carriers are orthogonal to each other and the
frequency spacing between them is created by using the
Inverse Fast Fourier Transform;
• Orthogonality means no interference - allows sub-bands to
overlap and save the bandwidth.
• OFDM obtains both higher data rates and good spectrum
efficiency.