Wolkite University Information Technology

Collage of Computing & Informatics Information System

Computer Science
Software Engineering

Data Communication and Computer Networks

Wendosen Z & Amare M

Concepts of Data Communications and Network

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 Introduction
• Benefits of Networking in Business:
– Share resources (E.g. Printer, data)
– Communication (E.g. e-mail, internal networks)
– Share Internet access
– Integrate business (including sales activity, stock holding, quotations, ordering raw
materials, control the production process, process invoices, process all the accounts,
analyze business performance, quality control, etc).
• Benefits of Networking in Scientific Applications:
– Share data
– Use remote powerful computers to carry complex computations
 Components of Data Communications

• Data communication - transfer of data or information between a source and a

receiver
• Data communications is concerned with:
– Transfer of data
– Method of transfer
– Preservation of data
• Functionally, it consists of:
– Message
– Sender
– Receiver
– Medium
– Protocol
 Components of Data Communications (Cont’d)

• Effectiveness of Data Communication System depends on:

– Delivery
– Accuracy
– Timeliness
 Analog and Digital Signals

• Analog signal – varies continuously over continuous time

• Digital signal – varies in steps over discrete intervals of time

Intensity Intensity

Time Time

Fig. 1.1(a) - Analog Signal Fig. 1.1(b) - Digital Signal

 Analog and Digital Signals (Cont’d)

• Digital signals are less

affected by noise
• Analog signal is converted
to digital signal in three
steps:
– Sampling
– Quasntizing
– Encoding
 Time and Frequency Domain

• Signals may be periodic or non-periodic

• Signals may be represented in time or frequency domain.

• Figure below shows frequency domain representation of the sine wave
Amplitu
de

f0 Frequency

Fig. 1.6 – Frequency domain representation of the Sinusoidal signal

 Time and Frequency Domain (Cont’d)

• Any periodic signal can be decomposed into a sum of sinusoidal signals

using a Fourier series expansion.
• Fundamental frequency vs harmonics

(d) Frequency domain representation

 Time and Frequency Domain (Cont’d)

• Non-periodic signals can be represented in the frequency domain

as a continuous spectrum of frequency components, using Fourier
Transform
 Data Rate and Bandwidth

• Digital signal – infinite 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Pulses before transmission:
bandwidth Bit rate: 2000 bits per second

• Transmission medium – finite Pulses after transmission:

bandwidth Bandwidth: 500 Hz

• Result: Distortion
Bandwidth: 900 Hz
• The more limited the bandwidth,
the greater the distortion
• The grater the bandwidth of a Bandwidth: 1300 Hz

transmission system, the higher Bandwidth: 1700 Hz

is the data rate that can be
transmitted Bandwidth: 2500 Hz

Bandwidth: 4000 Hz
 Signal Attenuation/Amplification

• A communication system may be represented with a block diagram:

• Amplification / attenuation is expressed in decibel (NdB):

 Pout 
N dB 10. log  
 Pin 

• If Pin = 10 watts and Pout = 100 watts, then:

N dB 10. log 100 10  10dB

 Signal Attenuation/Amplification (Cont’d)
• Effective gain/loss of a communication system involving several
media is the sum of each gain/loss :

N dB 10  7  10  7 6dB  Pout 6 Pin

• The decibel is also expressed in terms of the ratio of the

voltage, i.e :
P  20 log  Vout
N dB 10 log  out  


 Pin   Vin 
 Analog and Digital Data Transmission

• Data - entity that conveys meaning

• signal - the electric/electromagnetic encoding (representation) of the data
• Transmission - communication of data by the propagation and processing of
signals
• In analog transmission, signals are transmitted without regard to content
(E.g. attenuated signal is amplified and retransmitted)
• In digital transmission, the content of message could be interpreted to aid
in faithful transmission (E.g. data encoded in attenuated signal is recovered,
a new signal is generated by encoding the recovered data and then
retransmitted)
 Analog and Digital Data Transmission (Cont’d)
(a) Data and Signals
Analog Signal Digital Signal
Analog  Signal in the same spectrum as  Analog data are encoded using a
Data the analog data, or codec to produce a digital bit
 Analog data are encoded to stream
occupy a different portion of
spectrum

Digital Data  Digital data are encoded using  Digital data are encoded to
a modem to produce analog produce a digital signal with
signal. desired properties.
 Analog and Digital Data Transmission (Cont’d)

(b) Treatment of Signals

Analog Transmission Digital Transmission
Analog Signal is propagated through Signal is propagated through
Signal amplifiers repeaters

Digital Not used Signal is propagated through

Signal repeaters
 Transmission Impairments
• Transmission impairments: attenuation, delay distortion,
and noise
• Attenuation - reduction of the amplitude of an electrical
signal - logarithmic in nature
• Three considerations with attenuation:
– Received signal must have sufficient strength
– Signal must maintain sufficiently higher level than noise
– It is an increasing function of frequency  distortion
 Transmission Impairments (Cont’d)
• Delay distortion, peculiar to guided media, is caused by the
variation of velocity with frequency
• For a band limited signal, the velocity tends to be highest near the
center frequency and lower toward the two edges of the band 
delay distortion
• In digital data transmission, bit position will spill over into other bit
positions  inter-symbol interference. Equalizing techniques can
be used for delay distortion.
 Transmission Impairments (Cont’d)
• Noise - undesired signals that are inserted during transmission
• Thermal noise (white noise) - due to thermal agitation of electrons; covers
wide frequency
• Inter-modulation noise - sum or difference or multiple of original
frequencies of signals at different frequencies that share the same
transmission medium
• Crosstalk - due to electric coupling between nearby twisted pairs
• Impulse noise - irregular pulses or noise spikes of short duration and high
amplitudes. (May be caused by lightning or flaws in communications
system. )
 Channel Capacity
• Nyquist Theorem
– s  2B samples per second
• M quantization levels requires log2M bits; thus, C =
2Blog2M
• Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)
– Given B = 4000Hz & M=256, C= 64Kb/s)

• Signal to noise ratio (SNR) tells how much a signal has

been corrupted by noise
• C=B*log2(1+SNR), where SNR=S/N
– SNR is usually expressed in decibels
 Types of Data Flow and Transmission
• Communication can take different modes:
– Simplex – Unidirectional (transmit or receive)
– Half-duplex – Transmit and receive, but not at the same time
– Full-duplex – Transmit and receive at the same time
• Two options for transmission
– Parallel – 8-bits (1 byte) transmitted at a time
– Serial – one bit transmitted at a time. The least significant bit (LSB) is
usually transmitted first

MSB LSB

0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
0 0 0
 Types of Data Flow and Transmission (Cont’d)
• Transmission speed expressed in number of bits transferred in one second.
Units include:
• bits per second (bps)
• kilobits per second (kbps) = 1000bps
• megabits per second (Mbps) = 1000 kbps
• gigabits per second (Gbps) = 1000 Mbps
• Two different methods of serial transmission:
– Asynchronous transmission - source and destination clocks are free
running and not locked to each other.
• Short characters of 7 to 8 bit data are sent one at a time framed by a start bit and 1 or
2 stop bits. It is used for low data transfer rates, usually 128 kbps or less and short
bursts of data.
 Types of Data Flow and Transmission (Cont’d)

– Synchronous Transmission – sends packets of characters at a

time.
• Start and end frames, with special bit patterns, indicate start and end of
packets of characters, respectively.

• Synchronous transmission is more efficient as only 4 bytes (3

Start Framing bytes and 1 Stop Framing byte) are required to
transmit up to 64 kbits (8 kB). But, it is more difficult and
expensive to implement.
 Types of Data Flow and Transmission (Cont’d)

• Compare an 8K Byte data transmission using Asynchronous transmission

and Synchronous Transmission.
• Asynchronous: Add 3 bits (1 Start and 2 Stop bits) for every byte
transmitted.
– 64 kbits + 24 kbits = total of 88 kbits transmitted
– Efficiency = 64/88*100% = 73%
• Synchronous: Add 4 bytes (32 bits) for the complete 8K byte data packet.
– 64 kbits + 32 bits = total of 64.032 kbits transmitted
– Efficiency = 64/64.032*100% = 99.9%
 Signal Encoding
•Encoding – a process whereby data are converted into electrical
signals to be transmitted over communication system
– Purpose: to optimize use of the transmission medium

•Digital Signaling: Data (Analog, Digital)  Digital Signal

• Analog Signaling: Data (Analog or Digital)  Analog Signal

 Digital Data, Digital Signal
• Encoding schemes may be used to improve the performance of
signal interpretation
– Signal Spectrum: Lack of high-frequency components  less bandwidth
is required; no DC component  a.c. coupling is possible (excellent
electrical isolation)
– Clocking: separate clock or suitable encoding
– Error Detection: error-detection capability may be built into the signaling
scheme
– Noise Immunity: Some codes perform better than others in the presence
of noise
– Cost and Complexity: the higher the signaling rate to achieve a given data
rate, the greater the cost
Encoding Schemes

Negative voltage – 1; positive voltage 0, or vice-versa. Generally used by

terminals and other devices.

A transition at the beginning of a bit time denotes a 1; no transition - 0. More

reliable in the presence of noise. With a complex transmission layout, it is
easy to lose the sense of the polarity of the signal.

Alternate Mark Inversion. 0 = no line signal, and 1 = positive or negative pulse. 1

pulses must alternate in polarity. Advantages: no loss of synchronization for a
long string of 1’s, no DC component, simple means of error detection

Same as bipolar-AMI, except representation of 0 and 1 is interchanged .

Mid-bit transition serves as a clocking mechanism and also as data: a low-to

high transition represents a 1, and a high-to-low transition represents a 0. .

Has the added advantage of employing differential encoding. The mid-bit

transition is used only to provide clocking.
 Digital Data, Analog Signal
Amplitude Shift Keying

 A cos( 2f c t ) bin 1

s (t ) 
0 bin 0

Frequency Shift Keying

 A cos( 2f1t ) bin 1

s (t ) 
 A cos( 2f 2t ) bin 0

Phase Shift Keying

Analog Data, Digital Signal
 Analog Data, Analog Signals

Amplitude Modulation (AM) Amplitude of the

carrier signal varied in accordance with the
information bearing signal.

Frequency Modulation (FM) Frequency of the

carrier is varied in accordance with the
modulating signal.

Phase Modulation (PM)

Phase of the carrier is varied in accordance
with the modulating signal.
 Network And Its Characteristic
• Network – set of devices (nodes) connected by communication links.
• A network must meet a certain number of criteria :
– Performance, measured by throughput and delay
– Reliability, measured by:
• frequency of failure,
• time for a link to recover from a failure, and
• network's robustness in a catastrophe
– Security, which includes:
• protecting data from unauthorized access
• protecting data from damage, and
• implementing policies and procedures for recovery
• There are two possible types of connections: point-to-point & multipoint

Point-to-Point connection provides a dedicated link

between two devices; the entire capacity of the link is
reserved for transmission between those two
devices.

Multi-access (or Multipoint) connection is one in which

more than two specific devices share a single link. In a
multi-access environment, the capacity of the channel is
shared.
 Physical Topology

• Refers to the shape of a network, or the network's layout

• There are four basic topologies: bus, star, ring and mesh.
 Bus Topology

• In Bus Topology:
– All devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone
– The bus is terminated at its ends
Disadvantages:
Difficult to isolate network faults.
Difficult to add new devices.
Advantages: Signal reflection at the taps.
•Ease of installation. Inefficient with heavy traffic
•Less cabling than mesh or star
topologies
 Star Topology
• Central device, called hub or concentrator
• The hub:
– manages and controls all functions of the network.
– acts as a repeater for the data flow.
• RJ-45 Connectors.

Advantages: Disadvantages:
•Less expensive than a mesh topology. •A single point of failure, the hub.
•Easy to install and reconfigure  additions, •More cabling than in bus.
moves, and deletions involve only one connection.
•It is robust.
 Ring Topology
• All devices are connected to one another in the
shape of a closed loop
• Actually connected to a central device called
MSAU (multistation access unit), forming a star-
wired ring topology.

Disadvantages:
Advantages: •Limitations on media length and traffic
•Relatively easy to install and reconfigure.
(number of devices).
•Performance is even despite many users
•A break in the ring can disable the entire
network. Solution: a dual ring or a switch
capable of closing off the break
 Mesh Topology

• Redundant interconnection.
• Full mesh: every node to every other node
– No of cables = ½ n(n-1), where n = number of nodes

Advantages:
•Dedicated link  security & privacy
Disadvantages:
•Robust: Failure of link does not affect network •Difficult installation and reconnection
•Easy fault identification and isolation •Requires large wiring space
•Expensive: I/O ports and cables
 Network Categories
• LAN (Local Area Network).
– Small area, private media, high speed
– Equipments: hubs, switches, routers
– E.g. Ethernet, Token Ring, FFDI

• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

– Larger area than LAN, E.g. City
– May interconnect several LANs
– Main Equipment: Router
– E.g. Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS)

• WAN (Wide Area Network)

– Covers large area, E.g. different cities
– Mostly media owned by third party, low speed
– E.g. .25, frame relay, ATM, MPLS
 Network Categories (Cont’d)
• Based on Security: Peer-to-peer and Client/Server
• Peer-to-peer
– Security is decentralized
– Each user responsible for local backup
– No specialized OS
– Suitable for small-scale networks
• Client/Server
– Security is centralized
– Backup is centralized (backup operator)
– Specialized OS, E.g. Windows 2008 Server, Solaris
– Scalable: may be used with large-scale networks
 The Internet
• internet – two or more networks connected
• Internet – global interconnection of computers and
networks
• 1957 - The US DoD formed an agency called ARPA
(Advanced Research Projects Agency)
• 1969 - The US DoD commissioned the fledgling ARPAnet
for network research
• 1990 - ARPAnet ceased to exist and the Internet
effectively took its role
 The Internet (Cont’d)
• The Internet has no owner, but it follows accepted standards and protocols.
manufacturers of hardware and software concentrate on product improvements,
knowing that the new products can integrate with and enhance the existing infrastructure.
• Internet is organized into hierarchical structure of ISPs
•Tier 1 – provide national international
connections. E.g. AT&T, NTT
•Tier 2 – often provide regional service
•Tier 3 – locally provide services to users
Network Protocols and Standards
 a protocol is a set of rules that governs data communications
 a protocol defines what is communicated, how it is communicated, and when it is
communicated
 for instance, for one computer to send a message to another computer, the first
computer must perform the following general steps
 break the data into small sections called packets
 add addressing information to the packets identifying the source and
destination computers
 deliver the data to the network interface card for transmission over the network

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 the receiving computer must perform the same steps, but in reverse order
 accept the data from the NIC
 remove transmitting information that was added by the transmitting computer
 reassemble the packets of data in to the original message
 the key elements of a protocol are syntax, semantics, and timing
 syntax: refers to the structure or format of the data
 semantics: refers to the meaning of each section of bits
 timing: refers to when data should be sent and how fast they can be sent

functions of protocols
 each device must perform the same steps the same way so that the
data will arrive and reassemble properly; if one device uses a protocol
with different steps, the two devices will not be able to communicate
with each other

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  the following are categories of functions that form the basis of protocols
 encapsulation
 segmentation and reassembly
 connection control
 addressing
 multiplexing
 transmission services
a) Encapsulation
a) the inclusion of control information to data is called encapsulation. Each frame
contains not only data but also control information
a) such control information falls into three categories: address
(sender/receiver), error-detecting code and protocol control (information
about protocol functions)

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b) Segmentation (by the sender also called fragmentation) and reassembly (by the
receiver)
 a block of data for transmission is of some bounded size
 at the application level, we refer to a logical unit of data transfer as a message
 lower level protocols may need to break the data up into blocks of some
bounded size
 this process is called segmentation
 reasons for segmentation:
 the communication network may only accept blocks of data up to a certain
size
 error control may be more efficient with a smaller frame size; fewer bits need
to be retransmitted when a frame gets corrupted
 facilitates more equitable access to shared transmission facilities (for
example, without maximum block size, one station could monopolize a
multipoint medium)

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 disadvantages
 since a frame contains certain amount of control information, the smaller the
block size, the greater the percentage overhead
 frame arrivals may generate an interrupt that must be serviced; hence smaller
blocks result in more interrupts
 more time is spent processing smaller, more numerous frames
 the counterpart of segmentation is reassembly
 on receipt, the receiving device must reassemble the segmented data into a
message appropriate to the application

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c. Connection control
 two types of protocols (services)
 connectionless service
 the packets are sent from one party to another with no need for connection
establishment or connection release
 the packets are not numbered, they may be delayed, lost, or arrive out of
sequence; there is no acknowledgement either
 UDP (User Datagram Protocol), one of the transport layer protocols, is
connectionless

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 connection-oriented service
 in connection-oriented data transfer, a logical association or connection is
established between the communicating computers (devices)
 long sustained session
 orderly and timely delivery of packets, e.g., FTP

 TCP (Transport Control Protocol) is connection-oriented

 three phases are involved
 connection establishment (agreement to exchange data)
 data transfer (data and control information exchanged)
 connection termination (termination request) - by any of the two parties
 the key characteristics of connection-oriented data transfer is that sequencing is
used
 each side sequentially numbers the frames that it sends to the other side

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 because each side remembers that it is engaged in a logical connection, it can
keep track of both outgoing numbers, which it generates, and incoming numbers
which are generated by the other side

 sequencing supports three main functions

 ordered delivery: frames may not arrive in the order in which they were sent,
because they may traverse different paths
 flow control: a receiving station has to limit the amount or rate of data that
is sent by a transmitting station
 the simplest form of flow control is stop-and-wait procedure in which
each frame must be acknowledged before the next can be sent
 more efficient protocols involve some form of credit provided to the
transmitter, which is the amount of frames that can be transmitted
without an acknowledgement; e.g. sliding window technique

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  error control: error control is implemented as two separate functions; error detection
and retransmission
 if an error is detected, the receiver discards the frame
 upon failing to receive an acknowledgement to the frame in a specified
reasonable time, the sender retransmits the frame
 some protocols also employ error correction which enables the receiver not only
to detect errors but, in some cases, to correct them
 we will study some details of flow control and error control again in the data link
layer and in TCP
d) addressing
 a unique address is associated with each end-system in a configuration (e.g.
workstation, server) and each intermediate system (e.g. router)
 an example is an IP address in TCP/IP connection, but addressing spans more
layers: data link, network, transport

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e) multiplexing
 occurs when multiple connections share a single connection (multiple access)
f)transmission services
 a variety of additional services can be provided
 priority: messages such as control messages may need to get through to the
destination station with minimum delay
 security: security mechanisms, restricting access, may be invoked

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Protocols in a layered architecture
 protocols that work together to provide a layer or layers of the model are known as a
protocol stack or suite, e.g. TCP/IP
 each layer handles a different part of the communications process and has its own
protocol
Data Communication Standards
 standards are essential for interoperability

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 Standards (Cont’d)
• Standards provide guidelines to manufacturers, vendors, government
agencies, and other service providers to ensure interconnectivity.
• Data communication standards fall into two categories:
– De facto – are those that have not been approved by an organized body but have
been adopted as standards through widespread use.
– De jure – these have been legislated by an officially recognized body.
• Data telecommunications standards are set by:
– International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
– International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
Standards Sector (ITU-T)
– American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
– Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
– Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
• Standards for TCP/IP protocol Suite are developed and published
by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
• The IAB has two principal subsidiary task forces:
– Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
• responsible for publishing the RFCs (working notes of the Internet research and
development community). The final decision of which RFCs become Internet
standards is made by the IAB, on the recommendation of the IETF.
– Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
• promotes research of importance to the evolution of the future Internet by creating
focused, long-term and small Research Groups working on topics related to Internet
protocols, applications, architecture and technology
 Network (Reference) Models

 Consider an example of sending a letter

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 Hierarchy
 there are three different activities at the sender side and
another three at the receiver’s side
 the tasks must be done in the order given in the hierarchy
Layers and Services
 within a single machine, each layer uses the services
immediately below it and provides services for the layer
immediately above it
 between machines, layer x on one machine communicates
with layer x on another machine

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Why layering?
 reduces complexity (one big problem to smaller ones)
 standardizes interfaces (between layers)
 facilitates modular engineering (different teams work on different modules)
 assures interoperable technology
 accelerates evolution of networking technology
 simplifies teaching and learning

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Two important network models or architectures
 The ISO OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Reference Model
 The TCP/IP Reference Model
a. The OSI Reference Model
 consists of 7 layers
 was never fully implemented as a protocol stack, but a good theoretical model
 Open – to connect open systems or systems that are open for communication with
other systems

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Principles to arrive at the 7 layers
 a layer should be created at different level of abstraction
 a layer should perform a well-defined function
 the function of each layer should be chosen towards defining internationally
standardized protocols
 layer boundaries should be chosen to minimize the information flow across the
interfaces
 the number of layers should be optimal
 large enough so that distinct functions should not be put together, and
 small enough so that the architecture does not become unwieldy

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b. The TCP/IP Reference Model
 TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
 used by ARPANET and its successor the Internet
 design goals
 the ability to connect multiple networks (internetworking) in a seamless way
 the network should be able to survive loss of subnet hardware, i.e., the
connection must remain intact as long as the source and destination machines
are properly functioning
 flexible architecture to accommodate requirements of different applications -
ranging from transferring files to real-time speech transmission
 these requirements led to the choice of a packet-switching network based on a
connectionless internetwork layer
 has 4 (or 5 depending on how you see it) layers: Application, Transport, Internet
(Internetwork), Host-to-network (some split it into Physical and Data Link)

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 OSI and TCP/IP Layers Correspondence

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 Components of Network
There are three categories of network components:
o Devices
o Media
o Services

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