Data communication and computer

networks
1. Introduction
Overview

Data communication
Computer networking
Standard and protocol layering

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Data communication

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Data communication
Data- representation of information
Communication - process of sharing data
Data communication - “Exchange of data between two devices via
some form of transmission medium”

The communicating devices

 Capable of generating, processing and interpreting data
 Part of the communication system
 Made up of hardware, software, procedures
 Use a common format for information representation

Communication
 Local and long-distance
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Cont’d
Driving factors
Unlimited information transfer demand

Emerging new technologies

Increased data transfer rate

Opportunity for new applications and services

 E.g., Internet, video conferencing, ATM bank service

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Components of data communication

• A data communication system has five Basic components

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Cont’d

Message – Information to be communicated

 text, picture, video, audio

Sender – the device that generates the information

 e.g., Computer, telephone

Receiver - the devices that receives the message

Transmission Medium – the physical path by which a message travels
from sender to receiver
 It can be a simple transmission line or a complex network
 Coaxial cable, optical fiber, radio wave

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Cont’d

Protocol – sets of rules that governs data communication

 Defines what is communicated, how it is communicated, when it is communicated

 Structure and format of data (order)

 How to interpret the data and the action to be taken
 When and how fast the data should be sent

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Performance of data communication systems

Delivery
 The data must be delivered to the intended device (receiver)
Accuracy
 The data has to be delivered correctly
Timeliness
 The system must deliver the data in a timely manner
Jitter
variation in the packet arrival time

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Data representation
Information in data communication can be in form of text, image, video,
audio, etc.

Information is represented in binary format (data)

A binary digit (bit) has only two values, 0 and 1

Text, image, audio, etc. are represented as a sequence of bits

 E.g., Unicode-32 uses 32 bits to represent a symbol or character and American
Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) uses 7-bits

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Data flow

Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-duplex and

full-duplex
Simplex – unidirectional communication
 Only one device can send data and other can receive
 No signal is needed in the other direction

E.g., TV and radio broadcasting, satellite communication, GPS tracking

systems
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Cont’d

Half-duplex – bidirectional communication is possible, but only in one

direction at a time
 The transmitting device utilizes the entire capacity of the channel

E.g., push to talk “walkie talkie”

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Cont’d

Full-duplex - both communicating devices can transmit and receive

simultaneously
 Either the link must contain two physically separate transmission paths or the
capacity of the channel is divided between signals traveling in both directions.

E.g., telephone network, Local area network (LAN)

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Computer networking

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Computer networks
A system of interconnected computing devices
Facilitate communications
 Allows sharing of information and service e.g., resource, file and data sharing

Classification based on
 Geographic scope
 Local area network, Personal area network, Wide area network, metropolitan area network
Topology
 Bus, Ring, Star, Mesh
Medium used to transport the data
 Wired, wireless

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Networking Devices
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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Networking Devices
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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Networking Devices
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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Networking Devices
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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Networking Devices
Gateways
 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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Network topologies
Topology defines how the nodes in the network connected to each other

• Point to point
 Provides a dedicated link between two devices
 The link carries traffic only between the two devices

• Bus topology
 Nodes are connected to backbone using taps
 One of the first topologies used in the early local area network
 Features:
 Less complex
 Does not require special network equipment
 Difficult fault isolation and reconnection

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Network topologies
Star topology
 All devices connect to a central device (usually a
hub)
 Used in local area networks
 Easy to troubleshoot and to expand
 A single point of failure

Ring topology
 Each device has a point to point connection with the
two devices in either side of it
 The data travel in circular fashion from one device to
another
 Each device incorporate a repeater
 A single failure disrupt the entire network

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Network topologies
Mesh topology
 Every device has a dedicated point to point link to every other device
 Requires more cable than other LAN topologies (n(n-1)/2 links )
 High level of redundancy
 Easy fault isolation and identification
 Usually used for backbones

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Network Topologies
 Based on the geographical boundaries the network spans

Local are network (LAN)

Local area network (LAN) connects devices over a relatively
short distance
Links devices in a single building, home or campus
Works under its own local domain (usually privately owned )
Designed for resource sharing (e.g., software )
LAN can be wired, wireless, or in both form

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Wide are network (WAN)
Wide area network(WAN) covers a large geographic areas (long distance)
 It has a wider geographical span- a town, a state, a country and even the world
Not owned by any one organization rather a distributed ownership
Use very expensive network equipment and advanced technologies

Read also
 Personal area network (PAN), Metropolitan area network (MAN)
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The Internet
What is internet ?
 A global system of interconnected computer networks (connecting million of
devices in the world )
 Made up of many networks joined by connecting devices and switching station
 Continually changing

How it works?
 Internet service provider (ISP)
 Residential and Business/corporate
(high speed connection)
 Mobile and fixed service
 A line connecting users to the ISP
 Logical address
 Connection to other ISPs
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Standards

Standards provides guidelines to manufacturers, vendors, government

agencies, and other service providers to ensure the kind of
interconnectivity necessary in today's marketplace and in international
communications.
 Facilitate interconnectivity and interoperability between different communication
hardware and software

Examples of standard creation organizations

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
 International Telecommunication (ITU)
 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

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Protocol architecture

A Protocol defines the rules that both the sender, receiver and all
intermediate devices need to follow to be able to communicate effectively
When communication is simple, we may need a simple protocol
But, for complex communication we may need to divide the task between
different layers
Protocol layering enable us to divide a complex task into several smaller
and simpler tasks

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Protocol layering
Example – we use the concept of layers in our daily life

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Protocol Layering
Breaks down communication tasks into manageable subtasks (layers) and
defines their interrelationships
Each layer provides service to the layer above
A well-constructed layered model enables complex systems to be
specified, designed and implemented
 A multi-layer communication
 A Single layer communication

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Protocol Layering
Why layered model?
 enable us to divide a complex tax into several smaller and simpler tasks
 Simplifies network design and implementation
Two models have been devised to define computer network operation
Open system interconnection (OSI) model
TCP/IP protocol model

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 OSI reference model

• OSI model were established in 1977 by the international organization for

standards (ISO)
• OSI model defines how to facilitate communication between different
system without requiring changes to the logic of the underlying software
and hardware
Describes the entire process of transmitting data from one device to another
 Used as a reference tool to understand communication process
Divides the communication process into seven layers

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 OSI network reference model
• OSI layers
Application (layer 7)
Presentation (layer 6)
Session (layer 5)
Transport (layer 4)
Network (layer 3)
Data link (layer 2)
Physical (layer 1)

Each interface defines the information

and services a layer must provide for
the layer above it. The intermediate nodes
implements the
functionality of layer 1-3

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 OSI-Application layer
• Provides service to users
Implement the function needed by the users

Enable users to access a network

• Application layer specific services

File transfer, access and management – allows a user to access, retrieve and mange
files in a remote computer

Mail service – email forwarding and storage

User authentication – logging to remote host

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 OSI-presentation layer
• Deals with the presentation of data

• Specific responsibility of Presentation layer:

Translation – from sender dependent data representation (encoding) format into
common format or from common format into receiver dependent format

Encryption/decryption – from original form to another form or vice verca

Compression – reducing the number of bits

• The tasks of presentation layer may not be needed always

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 OSI-session layer
• Coordinate the interaction between applications on communication devices

• Provides service to
Establishes, maintains and terminates session between applications

Synchronize data flow (support orderly data exchange )

Manage dialog
 Decides which device communicate first

• Session refers to a connection for ongoing data exchange

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 OSI-Transport layer
• Responsible for end-to-end (process to process) delivery of the entire
message
• Ensures that the whole message arrives intact and in order

• Functions of transport layer

Segmentation and reassembling
 Convert application data into smaller block of segments
 Each segment contains a sequence number
Connection control
Flow and error control
 Ensures that the message arrive at the receiving transport layer without error
Service point addressing

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 OSI-Network layer
• Network layer is responsible for the source-destination delivery of a packet

• Responsibilities of network layer

Logical addressing
 Used to distinguished the source and destination system

Routing
 Moving the data across a series of interconnected networks

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 OSI-Data link layer
• Responsible to for moving frames from one hop to the next

• Specific functions of data link layer

Framing – divides the stream of bits received from the network layer into
manageable data unit
Physical addressing – adds header that defines the sender and receiver of the frame
Flow control - regulates the amount of data the sender sends
Error control – detects and retransmit damaged or lost frames
Access control – control access to the shared link

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 OSI-Physical layer
• Coordinates the functions required to carry a bit stream over a physical medium

• Defines the procedures and functions that the physical devices and interfaces have
to perform for transmission to occur

• Other functions
Representation of bits – encodes bits into electrical or optical signals

Synchronization of bits - synchronizes the sender and the receiver clocks

Transmission mode- The direction of transmission between two devices (simplex, half-
duplex, full-duplex)

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 TCP/IP protocol suite
• The TCP/IP protocol suite is so named after two most important protocols:
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP)
Also called Internet Protocol Suite

• TCP/IP has become the industry-standard method of interconnecting hosts,

networks, and the internet

• The original TCP/IP protocol suite was defined as having four layers
Host-to-network, internet, transport and application

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 TCP/IP protocol suite
• Compared to OSI model
 Host-to network (network access) layer is Application
equivalent to the combination of data link Application
and physical layers Presentation
Internet layer is equivalent to network Session
layer
Transport layer in TCP/IP is taking care of Transport Transport
parts of the responsibilities of session layer
in OSI Network Data link
Internet
Application layer is roughly doing the
function of application, presentation and Data link
Host-to-
session layers network
Physical
• We can say TCP/IP protocol suite has
five layers OSI model TCP/IP model

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 TCP/IP
• TCP/IP protocol suite is largely defined in terms of the protocols that
constitute it
Doesn’t clearly distinguish between service, interface and protocol
Defines set of core protocols

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 TCP/IP model
• Physical and data link layer
No specific protocol is defined
It supports all the standard and proprietary protocols

• Internet layer
Corresponds to the network layer of the OSI model
Support internetworking protocol (IP) and four supporting protocols ARP, RARP, ICMP, and
IGMP

• Transport layer
Facilitate end-to-end communication
There are two main transport layer protocol responsible for deliver of a message from a
process to another process– Transmission control protocol (TCP) and user Dataram protocol
(UDP)
Also SCTP
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 TCP/IP model
• Application layer
Is equivalent to the combined session, presentation and application layers in the OSI
model
Numerous protocols reside at the application layer
 Hypertext transfer protocol (HHTP)
 File transfer protocol (FTP)
 Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP)
 Simple network management protocol (SNMP)
 Domain name system (DNS), etc.

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