1.
Video conference and packet switching
i. Potential problems with sound and video quality:
● The sound or video might lag (delay).
● The video could freeze or become blurry.
● The sound could cut out or not match the video (lip sync issues).
ii. How these problems could be caused:
● Packets may take different routes across the internet, so they arrive at different
times.
● Some packets could be lost or arrive in the wrong order.
● If the network is busy, it can cause delays in sending packets.
● Poor internet connection or low bandwidth can also slow things down.
2. Packet switching and downloading a web page
When you download a large web page:
● The page is split into many packets of data.
● Each packet is given a number and sent separately across the network.
● The packets may travel different routes to reach your computer.
● When all packets arrive, your computer puts them back together in the right
order to show the full web page.
3a. Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
A CRC is a type of error check used to make sure data is sent correctly.
● Before sending, the sender creates a code based on the data (using a math
formula).
● This code is put in the trailer of the packet.
● When the packet is received, the receiver does the same calculation and checks
if the code matches.
● If it matches → the data is fine.
● If not → there’s an error.
3b. Checking if payload is error-free
Payload data:
11110000 10000011 00110011 00111111 11111110 11100011
Steps:
1. The sender runs a CRC calculation on this data (using a fixed divisor).
2. The sender adds the remainder (the CRC value) to the packet.
3. The receiver runs the same calculation on the received data.
4. If the remainder = 0, the data is error-free.
5. If the remainder ≠ 0, an error happened during transmission.
4a. How packets can be lost
● A packet may get lost if a router or network link fails.
● It might be dropped if the network is too busy.
● Sometimes the signal is weak or interrupted, especially with Wi-Fi.
4b. How the system deals with lost packets
● Each packet has a number.
● The receiver can see which packets are missing.
● It then asks the sender to resend those packets.
● Other packets keep arriving while this happens, so the process doesn’t slow
down much.
4c. Why packet switching might improve data security
● Each message is split into many small packets, and each packet may take a
different path.
● This means it’s hard for hackers to capture the whole message.
● Even if someone gets a few packets, they only have small parts of the data, not
the full message.