Computer Network 2023 set 2

Group A
1

[Link] robustness of any network system. Discuss with some appropriate examples.

Robustness of a network system refers to its ability to continue functioning properly even
when some parts of the network fail or face attacks.
For example:

• The Internet remains operational even if some servers go down.

• Power grids continue to supply electricity even if a few power lines fail.

OR, Describe the term “Throughput” of the network system.

Throughput is the actual rate at which data is successfully transmitted over a network or channel
within a specific period.

It is usually measured in bits per second (bps). For example, if a network can transfer 100 Mbps, its
throughput is 100 Mbps.

B. Describe the meaning of the abbreviation of “ISO OSI Model” in context to computer Networks.

The ISO OSI Model (International Organization for Standardization - Open Systems Interconnection
Model) is a standard framework for network communication. It defines seven layers, from physical
transmission to application-level interaction. The model ensures that different network devices can
work together efficiently, enabling interoperability and simplifying network design and
troubleshooting.

OR, Describe two main differences between “ISO OSI Model” and “TCP/IP Model”
C. Distinguish the following protocols and their association with the corresponding layer: RARP,
FTP and HDLC.

RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol) helps a device find its IP address using its MAC address.
When a device knows only its hardware (MAC) address, it sends a RARP request. A RARP server
responds with the correct IP. RARP operates at the Data Link Layer of the OSI model.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used to move files between computers over a network. It allows users
to upload, download, rename, and delete files on a remote server. FTP works at the Application Layer
of the OSI model, providing services that users can directly access.

HDLC (High-Level Data Link Control) is a protocol that helps send data safely between two or more
devices. It makes sure the data is correct (no errors) and well-organized (framed) during the transfer.
HDLC works at the Data Link Layer of the OSI model.

OR, Using block diagram describe the difference between Multicasting and Multiple Unicasting.

Multicasting sends one copy of data to multiple receivers at once, saving bandwidth and improving
efficiency. It is used in video streaming and online conferences

Multiple Unicasting sends separate data copies to each receiver, using more bandwidth. It is simpler
but less efficient for large groups of users.

D. Consider the first octet of IP datagram is 10101101, check if the datagram is corrupted or not. If
not corrupted then find the length of the option field.
OR, Determine the First and Last IP addresses for the classless address [Link]/28.

Given: [Link]/28
E. Discuss the various fields of the NAT table of Five column system and their usage regarding
network translation.

The NAT (Network Address Translation) table in the five-column system keeps track of address
translations between private and public networks. Its fields are:

Private IP: The private IP of the device inside the local network.

Private Port: The port used by the internal device for communication.

Public IP: The public IP assigned by NAT for communication with external networks.

Public Port: The port number used on the public side to map to the internal device.

Protocol: Specifies the protocol (TCP, UDP, etc.) used, ensuring correct translation and routing.

OR, Using a block diagram explain the functionality of a NAT router.

A NAT router translates private IP addresses to a public IP address for Internet access. It uses a NAT
table to map private IPs and ports to public IPs and ports. This allows multiple devices to share one
public IP while communicating with external servers securely and efficiently.

F. What is the distinct role of the session layer in the ISO OSI model of network?

The Session Layer (Layer 5) manages communication sessions between devices. It helps start,
maintain, and end sessions. It provides synchronization so data can continue after interruptions. It
also controls the flow of communication and helps recover sessions if connections fail, ensuring
smooth and organized data exchange.

Example:

When you have a video call on Zoom, the Session Layer starts the call, keeps it going, and ends it
when you hang up. If the internet connection drops, it helps resume the call from where it stopped

OR, Suppose a composite signal consists of four signals, having frequencies 100KHz, 300 KHz,
500KHz, and 700KHz respectively. What is the bandwidth of this composite signal?

given four signals with frequencies:

100 KHz, 300 KHz, 500 KHz, 700 KHz.
Bandwidth of a composite signal = Highest frequency - Lowest frequency.

Highest frequency = 700 KHz

Lowest frequency = 100 KHz

Bandwidth = 700 KHz - 100 KHz = 600 KHz

[Link] among various kinds of “Noise” in the network system. Give a proper example in
support of your answer.

In a network system, different kinds of noise can affect signal transmission:

1. Thermal Noise: Thermal noise comes from heat in devices (In a headphone or audio system,
even when no music is playing, you might hear a soft “hiss” — that’s thermal noise caused by
electronic components).

2. Intermodulation Noise: Occurs when signals of different frequencies mix and create
additional signals (example: overlapping radio frequencies).

3. Crosstalk: Occurs when a signal transmitted on one circuit or channel creates an undesired
effect on another circuit (example: hearing another conversation on a phone line).

4. Impulse Noise: Caused by sudden disturbances like lightning or power line switching
(example: clicks or pops in telephone conversations).

OR, Describe the main difference between Attenuation and Distortion using block diagrams.

Attenuation:

Attenuation is the loss of signal energy as it travels through a medium (e.g., heat loss in a wire). It
reduces signal strength but not shape. Example: Weak phone signal over long distance.

Distortion:

Distortion changes the shape of the signal due to different speeds of signal parts. Example: Music
sounds unclear over a poor-quality speaker.
H. If the channel capacity of a network is C Kbps and distance between the two stations is D Km
where speed of the channel is equivalent to speed of light. Find the number of bits possible in the
communication link between the referred two stations

OR, Let for a noiseless channel the Bandwidth and signal level are 20KHz and 16 respectively.
Determine the Channel Capacity.
[Link] with an example ( Figure preferred) where in some certain situations window size shrink
to zero, in a sliding window flow control.

In Sliding Window Flow Control, the sender can send multiple frames without waiting for individual
acknowledgments, controlled by a window size.

Sometimes, the receiver’s buffer may become full, and it advertises a window size of zero to the
sender. This forces the sender to stop sending more frames until the receiver processes the data and
updates the window size.

Example situation: If the receiver is slow in processing data or has limited buffer space, it may
advertise zero window size.

OR, Using a suitable time flow diagram explains the acknowledgement loss situation for the Stop-
and-Wait ARQ flow control mechanism

In Stop-and-Wait ARQ, the sender sends one frame at a time and waits for an acknowledgment
(ACK) before sending the next frame.

If the ACK is lost, the sender will timeout and retransmit the same frame, even though the receiver
may have already received it

[Link] with an example to explain the need of alternative ACK sequence in stop and wait ARQ
In Stop-and-Wait ARQ, the sender sends one frame and waits for an acknowledgment (ACK). If an
ACK is lost or if a frame is retransmitted, the receiver may receive the same frame again.

To avoid duplicate data, alternative ACK sequence numbers (usually 0 and 1) are used. Each frame
and its ACK carry an alternating sequence number, so the receiver can detect if it is a new frame or a
duplicate.

Example:

1. Sender sends Frame 0 → Receiver sends ACK 0.

2. If ACK 0 is lost, sender retransmits Frame 0.

3. Receiver, seeing Frame 0 again, knows it's a duplicate (based on sequence number) and can
discard it while sending ACK 0 again.

OR, Describe the difference between the energy levels of normal frame and collisioned frame
detection mechanism in CSMA/CD random access method using suitable block diagram.

In CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection), devices listen to the medium
before sending data. While transmitting, they also monitor the medium to detect collisions.

• A normal frame has a steady, expected energy level during transmission.

• A collisional frame causes a sudden increase in energy level, as signals from multiple devices
interfere.

The sender detects this abnormal energy level and stops transmission.
 Group B
[Link] are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 2.5 KB message (an email) if the
bandwidth of the network is 1 Gbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the
receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 x 108 m/s.

OR, Describe the term “Attenuation” in dB. If the signal at the beginning of a cable with −0.2
dB/km has a power of 3 mW, what will be the power of the signal after 10 km distance?

3. Consider some certain initial bits value of an IP datagrams are as follows: OX4A247810,
Calculate the following values header length, option, data size(payload), priority of the
datagram, TOS value.
1- 2-

3- 4-

OR, Let the sliding window protocol having size of the sequence number (m) is 3. Estimate its
sending window size and received window size. Also with suitable block diagrams show the first
outstanding frame (Sf) and Next frame to send (Sn) of the send window.

4. Consider that the value of the 9th octet in the IP datagram in hex is 25, Find the number of
router / host it has crossed before this inspection. Consider the network diameter is 50
hops.
OR, An ISP is granted a block of addresses starting with [Link]/20. Also, the ISP needs to
distribute these addresses to two groups of customers, where the first group (Group1) has 16
customers (each customer needs 16 addresses); and the second group (Group2) has 32
customers (each customer needs 64 addresses). Calculate the number of allocated addresses
to i) Group 1, ii) Group 2, and number of iii) unallocated addresses for the ISP (after the
allocation to Group1 and Group2)

5. The MTUs range from 296 to 65,535. What would be the advantages of having a large
MTU? What would be the advantages of having a small MTU?

In a network, MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) defines the largest size of a packet that
can be sent without fragmentation. The MTU can range from 296 to 65,535 bytes.
Advantages of Large MTU:
 1. Higher Efficiency: More data can be sent in a single packet, reducing the number of packets.
2. Reduced Overhead: Fewer headers required per unit of data → saves bandwidth.
3. Better Throughput: Large data transfers (like file downloads, video streams) perform better
with large MTU.
4. Improved Performance: For high-speed networks, large MTU maximizes link utilization.
Advantages of Small MTU:
1. Lower Latency: Small packets experience less delay, which is useful for real-time applications
(VoIP, online gaming).
2. Faster Error Recovery: If errors occur, retransmission of small packets is quicker and
consumes less bandwidth.
3. Better Compatibility: Small MTUs reduce the risk of fragmentation when crossing networks
with smaller MTU limits.
4. Lower Buffer Requirements: Routers and switches require smaller buffers, reducing memory
load.

OR, Let's consider the following network. Using Distance Vector Routing algorithm, Design the final
routing tables for the routers A and B from their associated initial routing tables.

1 2

3 4

5
 Group C
6. An IPv4 datagram has arrived with the following information in the header (in hexadecimal):
Ox45 00 00 54 00 03 58 50 20 06 00 00 7C 4E 03 02 B4 OE OF 02 a. Is the packet corrupted? b. Are
there any options? c. Is the packet fragmented? d. What is the size of the data? e. How many more
routers can the packet travel to? f. What is the identification number of the packet? g. What is the
type of service?

OR, a. Using suitable block diagrams explain the difference between Routing Information Protocol

(RIP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) (4)

b. Using a block-diagram explain the difference between internal BGP and external BGP. (3)

c. Let the number of routers in a network be 10. Also let the complete network use the Path

Vector Routing (PVR) mechanism to send the packets. In the case of PVR, estimate the i)
number of spanning trees, and ii) maximum number of total least cost paths (total links) for this

network.

a)
7. Consider that the system employs stop and wait flow control. Calculate the total delay of
delivery of 5MB data message, where frame size is 4KB and distance between the two stations is
3km. (Consider Optical fibre is used as channel and ignore the header and trailer bits for the
calculation)

OR, a) Explain Hamming Distance and minimum Hamming Distance using suitable examples. (1+2)

b) Let 10111 is the dataword and 10111001 is the received codeword by a C(8,5) Encoder-Decoder
pair. Check the correctness of this codeword at the receiver end. Let consider 10010 is the divisor
for this Encoder-Decoder pair. (7)

a) Hamming Distance and Minimum Hamming Distance (1 + 2 marks)

Hamming Distance:
Hamming distance between two binary strings of equal length is the number of bit positions where
they differ.

Example:
String 1: 10101
String 2: 10011

Hamming distance = 2 (bits differ at positions 3 and 5).

Minimum Hamming Distance (d_min):

It is the smallest Hamming distance between any two valid codewords in a code set.
d_min determines the error detection and correction capability:

• Error detection: Can detect up to d_min - 1 errors.

• Error correction: Can correct up to floor ((d_min - 1)/2) errors.

Example:
If d_min = 3 → can detect 2 errors, can correct 1 error.
8. In an IPv4 datagram, the M bit is 0, the value of HLEN is 5, the value of total length is 200, and
the offset value is 200. What is the number of the first byte and number of the last byte in this
datagram? Is this the last fragment, the first fragment, or a middle fragment?

OR, Write short notes on any two topics from followings: i) Network Topology, ii) Stop-and-Wait
ARQ, iii) Link State Routing

i) Network Topology

Network topology refers to the physical or logical arrangement of devices in a network. It defines
how computers, routers, switches, and other nodes are interconnected and how data flows between
them. Common types include bus, where all devices share a common medium; star, where devices
connect to a central hub; ring, where each device connects to two others forming a loop; mesh,
where every device connects to every other device; and hybrid, combining multiple topologies. The
choice of topology affects network performance, scalability, reliability, and cost. A well-designed
topology ensures efficient communication and fault tolerance in a network.

ii) Stop-and-Wait ARQ

Stop-and-Wait ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) is a fundamental error-control protocol used in

computer networks for reliable data transmission. In this method, the sender transmits one frame
(packet) at a time and then stops and waits for an acknowledgment (ACK) from the receiver before
sending the next frame. This ensures that each packet is delivered in sequence and error-free: if an
ACK is not received within a timeout period, the sender will automatically retransmit the same
frame, hence the term “ARQ” (which implies automatic repeat request on error). Stop-and-Wait
provides built-in flow control and error control.
iii) Link State Routing

Link State Routing is a routing method where routers exchange information about the state of their
links with neighbors to build a complete map of the network. Each router generates a Link State
Packet (LSP), which contains information about its neighbors and the cost of each link. These LSPs
are flooded throughout the network so that every router has a consistent view of the network
topology. Routers then use Dijkstra’s algorithm to compute the shortest paths to all destinations.
Link State Routing offers fast convergence, high reliability, and is well-suited for large and complex
networks. A common example is the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol.