Chapter One

Data Communication and Computer

Network Basics
 Topics
• Data Communication Basics
• Computer Networking
 1.1 Data Communication
• The term communication can be defined as the process of
transferring messages between entities.
• Based on what these two entities are, there are three basic
types of communication:
» Human-to-Human
» Computer-to-Computer
» Human-to-Computer
• A data communications system has five components:
Message, Sender, Receiver, Transmission medium and
Protocol
 Data Representations
• Data: entities that convey meaning, or information.
• Signals: electric or electromagnetic representations of data.
• Transmission: is the communication of data by the
propagation and processing of signals.

• Analog data take on continuous values in some interval. For

example, voice and video are continuously varying patterns of
intensity.
• Digital data take on discrete values; examples are text and
integers.
 Analog and Digital Signals
• In a communications system, data are propagated from one
point to another by means of electromagnetic signals.
– An analog signal is a continuously varying electromagnetic
wave that may be propagated over a variety of media

– A digital signal is a sequence of voltage pulses that may be

transmitted over a wire medium;
• digital signaling are generally cheaper than analog
signaling and is less susceptible to noise interference.
• However, digital signals suffer more from attenuation than
do analog signals.
 Transmission Impairments
• With any communications system, the signal that is
received may differ from the signal that is transmitted
due to various transmission impairments

• The most significant impairments are:

– Attenuation and attenuation distortion
– Delay distortion
– Noise
 Cont’d…
• Attenuation: The strength of a signal falls off with distance
over any transmission medium.
– Attenuation distortion can present less of a problem with
digital signals
• Delay Distortion: occurs when the velocity of propagation of
a signal through a guided medium varies with frequency
– the received signal is distorted due to varying delays
experienced at its constituent frequencies.
– Delay distortion is particularly critical for digital data
– Equalizing techniques can also be used for delay distortion
 Cont’d…
• Noise: Undesired signals that are inserted between
transmission and reception.
• Noise may be divided into four categories:
– Thermal noise
– Intermodulation noise
– Crosstalk
– Impulse noise
 Modes of Data Transmission
• Data Transmission mode: defines the direction of the flow of
information between two communication devices
• When data are transmitted from one point to another, three
modes of transmission can be identified:
– Simplex
– Half Duplex
– Full Duplex
Cont’d…
 Switching
• It is the practice of directing a signal or data
element toward a particular destination.
• In large networks, there can be multiple paths
from sender to receiver.
• The switching technique will decide the best
route for data transmission
 Classification of Switching Techniques
I. Circuit Switching:
• a switching technique that establishes a dedicated path
between sender and receiver
• once the connection is established then the dedicated path will
remain to exist until the connection is terminated.
• Circuit switching in a network operates in a similar way as the
telephone works
 Cont’d…
• Communication through circuit switching has 3 phases
– Circuit establishment
– Data transfer
– Circuit Disconnect
• Advantage: the communication channel is dedicated.
- It has fixed bandwidth.
• Disadvantage: takes long time to establish connection
– More expensive
– Inefficient
 Cont’d…
II. Packet Switching:
• packets are sent as soon as they are available.
• there is no need to set up a dedicated path in advance
• there is no fixed path, so different packets can follow
different paths
Advantage:
- Reliable: If any node is busy, then the packets can be
rerouted.
- Efficient: many users can use the same communication
channel simultaneously, hence makes use of available
bandwidth very efficiently.
 Cont’d…
Disadvantage:
• The protocols used are very complex and requires high
implementation cost.
• If the network is overloaded or corrupted, then it requires
retransmission of lost packets.
• It can also lead to the loss of critical information if errors are
nor recovered.
 Summary
Property Circuit Switching Packet Switching
Dedicated physical path Yes No
Each packet follow the same route Yes No

Packet arrive in order Yes No

Bandwidth available Fixed Dynamic
Time of possible congestion At setup time On every packet

Potentially wasted bandwidth Yes No

Store and forward transmission No Yes

 Networks
 Network: A set of devices (nodes) connected by
communication links
 Node: Computer, printer, or any device capable of
sending and/or receiving data
 Criteria for effective and efficient network
 Performance: throughput, Delay
 Reliability: Accuracy of delivery
Frequency of failures
Time to recover from failure
Robustness in catastrophe
 Security : protecting data from unauthorized access
 Cont’d…
Types of Connection
 Cont’d…
• Point-to-point
– Dedicated link between two devices
– The entire capacity of the channel is reserved
– Eg. Microwave link, TV remote control
• Multipoint
– More than two devices share a single link
– Capacity of the channel is either
• Spatially shared: Devices can use the link
simultaneously
• Timeshare: Users take turns
Topology Diagrams
 Physical Topology

Arrangement of nodes in a network

How devices are laid out physically
 Cont’d…
Mesh Topology
• Dedicated point-to-point
link to every other nodes
• A mesh network with n
nodes has n(n-1)/2 links.
A node has n-1 I/O ports
(links)
• Advantages: No traffic
problems, robust, security,
easy fault identification &
isolation
• Disadvantages: Difficult
installation/reconfiguratio
n, space, cost
 Cont’d…
Star Topology
• Dedicated point-to-point link only to a central controller,
called a hub
• Hub acts as an exchange: No direct traffic between devices
• Advantages: Less expensive, robust
• Disadvantages: dependency of the whole on one single
point, the hub
 Cont’d…
Bus Topology
• One long cable that links all nodes
• tap, drop line, cable end
• limit on the # of devices, distance between nodes
• Advantages: Easy installation, cheap
• Disadvantages: Difficult reconfiguration, no fault
isolation, a fault or break in the bus stops all transmission
 Cont’d…
Ring Topology
• Dedicated point-to-point link only with the two nodes on
each sides
• One direction, repeater
• Advantages: Easy reconfiguration, fault isolation
• Disadvantage: Unidirectional traffic, a break in the ring cab
disable the entire network

1-25
 Cont’d…
Hybrid Topology
• Example: Main star topology with each branch
connecting several stations in a bus topology
• To share the advantages from various topologies

1-26
 Cont’d…

• Categories
 Networks
LAN
 Usually privately owned
 A network for a single office, building, or campus  a few
Km
 Common LAN topologies: bus, ring, star

MAN
 Designed to extend to an entire city
 Cable TV network, a company’s connected LANs
 Owned by a private or a public company
 Networks
MAN

WAN
 Long distance transmission, e.g., a country, a
continent, the world
Architecture: Clients and Servers
Architecture:
Peer-to-Peer
 Components of Computer Networks
 The components required to operate a network can be divided
into two major categories - Hardware and Software
Hardware Components
 The hardware components of a network consist of the following
items
 Server
• High capacity computers
• Server is also responsible for controlling which users on
which computers in the network are granted access to a
service.
 Workstation-is a special computer designed for technical
or scientific applications.
--are more powerful and higher in performance than desktop
computers, especially with respect to CPU and Graphics,
memory capacity and multitasking capability.
  Cable
 Network Interface Cards (NIC) :is a card that
plugs into one of the expansion slots on the
motherboard of a network device, thereby providing
a connector on the back to connect the device to the
network
-Using unique hardware addresses (MAC address)
encoded on the card chip.
Other Networking Devices

• Hubs : devices that connect devices (workstations,

servers, printers, etc) to each other.
 splits a network connection into multiple computers.

• Switches have the same function as hubs. But It

uses physical device addresses in each incoming
messages so that it can deliver the message to the
right destination or port.
- They are faster and more expensive than Hubs.
- They are used in large networks
- No broadcasting.
 Cont’d…
• Router:- The connection between networks to form an
internet is handled by devices known as routers, which are
special purpose computers used for forwarding messages.
• Firewall devices used to protect a network from unauthorized
access from a different site
 Software Components
 The software components of a network consist of the following
items
 Network Operating System
- provide network services to remote network clients
- manages access to the resource on the server and handles
security of the resource on the server.
- It provides true multi-user capabilities and is probably the
most important part of the network.
- controls virtually all the activity on the network.
 Cont’d…
 Workstation operating system

- The operating system software for each workstation is loaded at the

workstation, which is essential for the workstation to operate, even if that
workstation is not part of a network.
- are optimized to run applications, and are not intended to provide
network service.

 Server software
-Usually loaded on the server
-provides an interface through the service is given to clients
-Most popular ones are web server, mail server, print server, file server,
database server, etc.

 Client software
-Used to access the service given by the server software on the server
-Capable of interfacing with server software
e.g. web browsers, e-mail clients etc…
 Network Models
• A protocol architecture is the layered structure of hardware
and software that supports the exchange of data between
systems
• At each layer of a protocol architecture, one or more common
protocols are implemented in communicating systems.
• Each protocol provides a set of rules for the exchange of data
between systems.
• The most widely used protocol architecture is TCP/IP
protocol and OSI model
 OSI reference model
• Called Open System Interconnection because it deals with
connecting open systems—that is, systems that are open for
communication with other systems
• Standardization rules are necessary to enable communication
between different device types
• OSI model classifies each of these rules into a total of seven
different levels, known as layers
• it does not specify the exact services and protocols to be used
in each layer. It just tells what each layer should do.
 Cont’d…
• The application layer is responsible for providing services to the user.
• The presentation layer is responsible for translation, compression,
and encryption.
• The session layer is responsible for dialog control and
synchronization
• The transport layer is responsible for the delivery of a message from
one host to another.
• The network layer is responsible for the delivery of individual packets
from the source host to the destination host
• The data link layer is responsible for moving frames from one hop
(node) to the next.
• The physical layer is responsible for movements of individual bits
from one hope to the next
Cont’d…
From below fig, Identify which layer of the OSI
model each component corresponds to
OSI model layers and associated network
component
 TCP/IP Protocol
• is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect
network devices on the internet.
• specifies how data is exchanged over the internet by providing
end-to-end communications
• uses the client-server model of communication in which a user
or machine (a client) is provided a service, like sending a
webpage, by another computer (a server) in the network.
• TCP/IP is highly scalable and, as a routable protocol, can
determine the most efficient path through the network.
• It is widely used in current internet architecture
TCP/IP
 Cont’d…
• Application Layer: provides applications with standardized
data exchange
– Ensures that the data is properly packaged before being
passed on.
– Protocols include HTTP, SMTP, DNS, RTP, etc
• Transport Layer: Provides a logical connection between a
source host and a destination host
– segment and reassemble data sent by applications, into the
same data stream, between end points.
– Protocols are TCP and UDP
– Provides end-to-end control and reliability as data travels
through the cloud, accomplished through: sequence
numbers, acknowledgments and sliding windows
 Cont’d…
– Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
• Connection-oriented protocol
• End-to-end operation
• Flow control – sliding windows
• Reliability – sequence numbers and acknowledgments
– User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
• Connectionless
• Unreliable (no acknowledgments or error checking
• NB: the objective of sliding window technique in TCP is to
use the sequence numbers to avoid duplicate data and to
request missing data
TCP/IP Transport Layer

I just sent #10 I just received #10

Now I need #11

This shows sequence numbers and

acknowledgements.
 TCP/IP Transport Layer
Sliding Windows

I just sent #11,

12 and 13 I just received #12
Now I need #13

Transport

This indicates that packet 13 either did not

arrive, or arrived with errors, and needs
retransmission.
50
 Cont’d…
• Internet Layer: deliver IP packets where they are
supposed to go
– purposes are - determining the best path and packet-
switching.
– No error checking or correction
– Protocols are IP and ICMP, which is used for error
reporting
• Network Access Layer: Allows an IP packet to make a
physical link to the network media
- Maps IP addresses to MAC addresses
- Encapsulates IP packets into frames
TCP/IP and corresponding protocols
Comparison of OSI and TCP/IP model
Data Encapsulation
 Cont’d…
• Package the data for end to end support (Segments)
• The data is put into a packet or datagram that contains a
network header with source and destination logical addresses
• Each network device must put the packet into a frame.
• The frame must be converted into a pattern of 1s and 0s (bits)
• ***Data  Segments  Packet  Frames  Bits
 Reading Assignment
• Transmission Media
• Categories of Noise