Chapter 1

Data Communications
Tadesse Beyene (MSc), Lecturer of Computer Science
Email: [email protected]

Compiled by Tadesse B. (MSc.)

Outline
 Data communication
 Computer Network
 Transmission Media

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Overview
 Data- representation of information
 Communication - process of sharing data
 Data communication - “Exchange of data between two devices via
 Data communication- examines how data, in the form of energy, travel
across some medium from a source to a destination Capable of generating,
processing and interpreting data
 Made up of hardware, software, procedures
 Use a common format for information representation
 Communication: Local and long-distance

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Characteristics of Data Communication
Delivery:
 The data should be delivered to the correct destination and correct user.
Accuracy:
 The communication system should deliver the data accurately, without
introducing any errors.
Timeliness:
 Audio and Video data has to be delivered in a timely manner without any
delay; such a data delivery is called real time transmission of data.
Jitter:
 It is the variation in the packet arrival time.
 Uneven Jitter may affect the timeliness of data being transmitted.

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A Simplified Communications Model

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Data Representation techniques
 Information is represented in binary format (data)
 A binary digit (bit) has only two values, 0 and 1
➢ Some of the forms of data used in communications are as follows:
Text :It is stored as a pattern of bits. Prevalent encoding system :ASCII, Unicode
Numbers: It is stored as a pattern of bits. Prevalent encoding system :ASCII, Unicode
Images: In computers images are digitally stored. Commonly used Image formats : jpg,
png, bmp, etc.
Audio: Data can also be in the form of sound which can be recorded and broadcasted.
Example: What we hear on the radio is a source of data or information. Audio data is
continuous, not discrete.
Video: Video refers to broadcasting of data in form of picture or movie

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Transmission Impairments
➢ Communication involves speaking, hearing, listening, understanding,
social skills, reading, writing and using voice.
 Transmission Impairments means People who have difficulty communicating
or difficulty to transmit data on the network.
 Signal received may differ from signal transmitted
Analog - degradation of signal quality
Digital - bit errors
 Caused by
 Attenuation and attenuation distortion
 Delay distortion
 Noise
Cont. …
Attenuation
 Signal strength falls off with distance
 Solutions: use repeaters, amplifiers
 Depends on medium

 Received signal strength:

 must be enough to be detected
 must be sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error
 Attenuation is an increasing function of frequency

 Solutions:
 equalization
 amplifying high frequencies more than low frequencies
Cont. …
 Delay Distortion
 It occurs when propagation velocity of a signal through a guided
medium varies with frequency highest velocity near the center
frequency
 Various frequency components arrive at different times resulting in
phase shifts between the frequencies
 particularly critical for digital data since parts of one bit spill over into
others causing inter-symbol interference
 solution: equalization
Cont. …
 Noise
 unwanted signals inserted between transmitter and receiver
is the major limiting factor in communications system performance
 Crosstalk:
 a signal from one line is picked up by another
 can occur by electrical coupling between nearby twisted pairs or when
microwave antennas pick up unwanted signals
 Impulse Noise:
 caused by external electromagnetic interferences
 noncontiguous, consisting of irregular pulses or spikes
 short duration and high amplitude
 minor annoyance for analog signals but a major source of error in digital data
Modes of Data transmission
➢ The manner in which data is transmitted from one location to another location is
called data transmission mode.

 Simplex, Half duplex and Full duplex

 Simplex Mode: - data is transmitted in only one direction.
➢ It is not possible to confirm successful transmission of data in simplex mode.
➢ This mode is not widely used.
❖Examples: Speaker, radio and television broadcasting on which the signal is send from
the transmission to your TV antenna.
❖There is no return signal.

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Cont. …
 Half Duplex: - data can be transmitted in both directions but only in one direction
at a time.
➢ This mode is slow down data transmission rate.
➢ Transmission of data can be confirmed.
 example:Wireless communication, walkie-talkie.

 Full Duplex:- data transmitted in both directions simultaneously.

➢ Faster mode for transmitting data because no time wastes in switching directions.
 Example: telephone

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Elements of Data Communication
A data communication system has five Basic components
1. Message: the information to be communicated (text, numbers, pictures, sound, video
- or combinations)
2. Sender: the device - computer, video camera, …
3. Receiver: still the device
4. Medium: the physical path by which a message travels from sender to receiver
5. Protocol: the set of rules that govern data communications; an agreement between
the communicating devices

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Protocols and standards
 A protocol is synonymous with rule.
 It consists of a set of rules that govern data communications.
 It determines what is communicated, how it is communicated and when it is communicated.
 The key elements of a protocol are syntax, semantics and timing
Syntax
o Structure or format of the data
o Indicates how to read the bits - field delineation
Semantics
o Interprets the meaning of the bits
o Knows which fields define what action
Timing
o When data should be sent and what
o Speed at which data should be sent or speed at which it is being received.

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Cont. …
o Standards are necessary in networking to ensure interconnectivity and
interoperability between various networking hardware and software components.
o Standards provide guidelines to product manufacturers and vendors to ensure
national and international interconnectivity.
o Data communications standards are classified into two categories:

De facto Standard
o These are the standards that have been traditionally used and mean by fact or by
convention
o These standards are not approved by any organized body but are adopted by
widespread use.
De jure standard
o It means by law or by regulation.
o These standards are legislated and approved by a body that is officially recognized.

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Cont. …
 Standards are created by standards creation committees.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
o The ISO is active in developing cooperation in the realms of scientific, technological,
and economic activity.
International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications Standard
(ITU-T)
o Consultative Committee for International Telegraphy and Telephony (CCITT).
o This committee was devoted to the research and establishment of standards for
telecommunications in general and for phone and data systems in particular.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
o all ANSI activities are undertaken with the welfare of the United
States and its citizens occupying primary importance.
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Cont. …
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
o it aims to advance theory, creativity, and product quality in the fields of electrical
engineering, electronics, and radio as well as in all related branches of engineering.
Electronic Industries Associates (EIA)
o promotion of electronics manufacturing concerns.
o Its activities include public awareness education and lobbying efforts in addition to
standards development.

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Switching
 Switching is the generic method for establishing a path for point-to-point
communication in a network.
 There are two basic methods of switching circuit switching and packet switching.
circuit switching
 In circuit switching, two communicating stations are connected by a dedicated
communication path which consists of intermediate nodes in the network and the
links that connect these nodes.

Figure 13.2.1: switched Path.

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Cont. …
 Figure 13.2.1 shows a simple circuit switch which consists of a 3×3 matrix, capable
of connecting any of its inlets (a, b, and c) to any of its outlets (d, e, and f).
 Each cross point appears as a circle. A hollow circle means that the cross point is off
(i.e., the two crossing wires are not connected).
 Communication via circuit switching implies that there is a dedicated communication
path between the two stations.
 The path is a connected through a sequence of links between network nodes.
 On each physical link, a logical channel is dedicated to the connection.
 Circuit switching is commonly used technique in telephony,

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Cont. …

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Cont. …
Packet Switching
 Packet switching was designed to address the shortcomings of circuit switching in
dealing with data communication.
 Unlike circuit switching where communication is continuous along a dedicated circuit,
in packet switching, communication is discrete in form of packets.
 Each packet is of a limited size and can hold up to a certain number of octets of user
data.
 Larger messages are broken into smaller chunks so that they can be fitted into
packets.
 In addition to user data, each packet carries additional information (in form of a
header) to enable the network to route it to its final destination.

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Cont. …

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Computer Network
 A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes) connected by
communication links.
 A node can be a computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending and/or
receiving data generated by other nodes on the network.
 A link can be a cable, air, optical fiber, or any medium which can transport a signal
carrying information.

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Cont. …
Network Criteria
 Performance
o Depends on Network Elements
o Measured in terms of Delay and Throughput
 Reliability
o Failure rate of network components
o Measured in terms of availability/robustness
 Security
 Data protection against corruption/loss of data due to:
o Errors
o Malicious users
Physical Structures
 Type of Connection
o Point to Point - single transmitter and receiver
o Multipoint - multiple recipients of single transmission
 Physical Topology
o Connection of devices
o Type of transmission - unicast, multicast, broadcast
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Uses of Computer Networks
❑Resource Sharing
▪Hardware( Computing resources, disks, printers…)
▪Software (Application software, data (mostly databases on central servers), …
❑Communication Medium
▪e-mail, newsgroups, chat room, Internet telephony, etc…
▪writing a report together by making changes on an online document
▪videoconferencing – to hold meetings by hearing and seeing each other
❑Electronic Business
▪business to business - placing orders, …
▪business with consumers, usually called e-commerce – home shopping
▪E-commerce

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Cont. …
❑Information sharing
▪ Access to remote information – newspapers, radio, on-line digital libraries (ACM, IEEE…)
▪ Interactive entertainment: video on demand, interactive television, games (virtual reality –
with photographic-quality moving images)
▪ Searching capability e.g. WWW
Disadvantage
▪ Security
▪ The danger of important and sensitive information fall on the hands of hostile party
▪ Virus dissemination

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Network Categories
❑ based on size, ownership, the distance it covers
▪ Local Area Network (LAN): usually privately owned and links devices in a single
office, building or campus

▪ Wired Area Network (WAN): covering large geographic area; may utilize public,
leased, or private communications equipment

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Cont. …
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): designed to extend over an entire city; it may be
a single network or interconnected LANs

 Personal Area Network (PAN): meant for one person; e.g. a wireless network
connecting a computer with its mouse, keyboard and printer
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Cont. …
 Based on Network Architecture :
 includes the type of computers on the network and determines how network
resources are handled
 Two common models
 Peer-to-peer
 Client/Server

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Cont. …
Peer-to-peer
 Each node considered as equal in terms of resource sharing and responsibilities
pros
 Easy to set up
 Less expensive
 Demands moderate level of skill to administer
 User is able to control their own resources
Cons
 Only < 10 nodes
 Very low level of security
 Peer-to-peer networks are good choices for environments where:
 There are 10 users or fewer
 Users share resources, such as printers, but no specialised servers exist
 Security is not an issue

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Cont. …
Client Server Model
 Consists of a group clients connected to a server
 Server – with more RAM, larger hard disk, more processing power…
Pros
 High level of security
 No limit on number of nodes
Cons
 Difficult to set up
 Expensive

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Network Device (Components)
 Network devices connect computers or networks or segment of networks
 Perform different functions
 Operate in different layers of the communication model

Repeater
 A repeater receives a signal and regenerates the original bit pattern
 Length limitation of LAN – signal becomes weaker as it travels
 Extend the physical length of a LAN
 Location of repeater on a link is important – must be placed so that the signal reaches
 it before any noise change the meaning of any bits
 Operates only in physical layer of OSI reference model

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Cont. …
NIC (Network Interface Card)
➢ used to physically connect host devices to the
network media.
➢ A NIC is a printed circuit board that fits into
the expansion slot of a bus on a computer
motherboard.
➢ It can also be a peripheral device. NICs are
sometimes called network adapters.
➢ Each NIC is identified by a unique code called a
Media Access Control (MAC) address.
➢ This address is used to control data
communication for the host on the network.

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Cont. …
Hubs
 Hub takes the input data from on of
the ports and broadcast the
information to all other ports
connected to the network
 Active and passive hubs
 Operates in physical layer of OSI
model
 Example- multi-tier hub design

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Cont. …
Bridges
 A Bridge regenerates the signal it receives +
check the destination addresses (physical
 address)
 Performs a “filtering” function
 Has a map that matches address to ports
 Operates in both physical and data link layer
Switches
 High performance (switching method)
 multi-interface bridges

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Cont. …
Routers
 Router - routes packets based
on software configured logical
address
 Uses routing table
 Connects LANs and WANs in
the internet
 Operates in layer three

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Cont. …
Gateway
 A Gateway is a device that routes
packet between one type of network
and another, by performing the
necessary protocol conversion
 Changes the format of the message but
not the message
 E.g., internetworking between the two
address scheme, data formatting
structures
 Can operates in all five layers of OSI
model

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Firewall
A firewall is a network device or software for
controlling network security and access rules.
➢ Firewalls are inserted in connections between
secure internal networks and potentially
insecure external networks such as the
Internet.

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Network Topologies
➢ The layout or arrangement of computers in a network.
➢ It is schematic description of a network arrangement, connecting various nodes
(sender and receiver) through lines of connection.

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Simple Physical Topologies
 Physical topology: physical layout of nodes on a network
 Four fundamental shapes:
o Bus
o Ring
o Star
o Mesh
o Tree
 May create hybrid topologies
 Topology integral to type of network, cabling infrastructure, and transmission media
used

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Cont. …
Bus topology
 Consists of a single cable called
a backbone connecting all
nodes on a network without
intervening connectivity devices

Devices share responsibility for getting data

from one point to another
Terminators stop signals after reaching end of
wire
Prevent signal bounce
Inexpensive, not very scalable
Difficult to troubleshoot, not fault-tolerant
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Cont. …

Advantages Disadvantage

 Works well for small networks  Management costs can be high

 Easy to install  Network disruption when
 Relatively inexpensive to implement computers are added or removed
 A break in the cable will prevent all
systems from accessing the
network.
 Difficult to troubleshoot

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Cont. …

Ring topology
 Each node is connected to the two nearest
nodes so the entire network forms a circle
 One method for passing data on ring
networks is token passing
 Data travels around the network
 Traffic flows in one direction
 Slow performance
 One workstation goes down; whole
network goes down
 Network is highly dependent

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Cont. …

Advantages Disadvantage

 Cable faults are easily located, making  Expensive

troubleshooting easier  Requires more cable and
 Ring networks are moderately easy to network equipment at the start
install  Expansion to the network can
cause network disruption
 A single break in the cable can
disrupt the entire network

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Cont. …
Star topology
 Every node on the network is connected through a central device called hub
or switch.

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Cont. …
 Any single cable connects only two devices
 Cabling problems affect two nodes at most
 Requires more cabling than ring or bus networks
 More fault-tolerant
 Easily moved, isolated, or interconnected with other networks
 Scalable
 Supports max of 1024 addressable nodes on logical network

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Cont. …

Advantages Disadvantage

 Good option for modern networks  Hub is a single point of failure

 Low startup costs  Requires more cable than the bus
 Easy to manage
 Offers opportunities for expansion
 Most popular topology in use; wide
variety of equipment available

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 Cont. …
Mesh Topology
 Each computer connects to every other.
 High level of redundancy.
 Rarely used.
 Wiring is very complicated
 Cabling cost is high
 Troubleshooting a failed cable is tricky
 A variation hybrid mesh – create point to
point
 connection between specific network
devices, often
 seen in WAN implementation.

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Cont. …

Advantages Disadvantage

 Robust  Requires more cable than the other

 There is the advantage of privacy or LAN topologies
security  Complicated implementation
 The network can be expanded without  Installation and reconnection are
disruption to current uses difficult.
 Point to point links make fault  Sheer bulk of wiring can be greater than
identification and fault isolation easy the available space can accommodate
 Expensive

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Cont. …
Tree topology /hybrid
• Tree topology is a combination of Bus and Star topology.
• It consists of groups of star-configured workstations connected to a linear bus
backbone cable.
• If the backbone line breaks, the entire segment goes down
• An example of this network could be cable TV technology

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Transmission media (next class…)
 Is a physical media that carries a signal from the transmitter to the receiver
 Two basic categories
o Guided
o Unguided
 Guided – uses a cabling system that guides the signals along a specific path
 E.g. Fiber Optics, Twisted Pair
 Unguided – consists of a means for the data signals to travel but nothing to guide
them along a specific path - wireless

Transmission medium and physical layer

52
Cont. …
Classes of transmission media

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Cont. …
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.
 Twisted-pair cable: A pair of wires are twisted together (signal wire and ground
reference wire).
 Multiple twisted pairs can be enclosed within the same cable.

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Cont. …
Types of Twisted pair
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) UTP and STP cables
• Ordinary telephone wire
• Cheapest
• Easiest to install
• Suffers from external EM
interference
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
▪ Metal braid or sheathing that
reduces interference
▪ More expensive
▪ Harder to handle (thick, heavy)

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Cont. …
 Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables

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Cont. …
UTP connector

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Cont. …
Coaxial cable:
 It can be run longer distances than Twisted pair Cables.
 The shield in a coaxial cable forms a flexible cylinder around the inner wire that
provides a barrier to electromagnetic radiation from any direction

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Cont. …
Optical fiber:
• carries the transmitted information as a fluctuating beam of light
• is immune to electromagnetic interference and crosstalk
• is good for security, because it is difficult to tap an optical fiber cable
• supports transmission rates of hundreds of megabits per second over several
kilometers.

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Cont. …
 Fiber construction

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Cont. …
UNGUIDED MEDIA (WIRELESS)
Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor.
This type of communication is often referred to as wireless communication.
Radio wave
 Radio waves are used for multicast communications, such as radio and television, and
paging systems.
 A network that uses electromagnetic radio waves is said to operate at radio
frequency. The transmissions are referred to as RF transmissions.
 The lower frequency radio transmission can be used to replace fixed wire links.
 Data rates are typically in the tens of kbps to hundreds of Mbps.

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Cont. …
Omnidirectional antenna Unidirectional antennas

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Cont. …
Microwaves
 used for unicast communication such as cellular telephones, satellite networks, and
wireless LANs.
Infrared
 used for short-range communication in a closed area using line-of-sight
propagation.
 Example: TV remote control

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 8/8/2021 Fundamental of Information System 41

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Next: Chapter Two: Application, Session and Presentation Layers