COMPUTER NETWORK

A computer network is a set of devices connected through links. A node can be computer,
printer, or any other device capable of sending or receiving the data. The links connecting the
nodes are known as communication channels.

Computer Network uses distributed processing in which task is divided among several
computers. Instead, a single computer handles an entire task; each separate computer handles
a subset.
 Advantages of computer network
 Ease of accessibility. Modern computer networks are easy to explore. ...
 Flexibility. Here, flexibility means that different people will be able to explore different
things as per their requirements. ...
 Convenient resource sharing. ...
 Connectivity. ...
 Security. ...
 Great storage capacity. ...
 Reduced cost

 Applications of computer network

Computer Network has many advantages in a myriad of domains. We have rovided you with
some of the popular uses across domains:

E-commerce Buying and selling items online

Communication Video calls

e-mails

File transfer

Gaming Quiz games

Education Information on the World Wide Web (www) helps students

  LAN:

A local area network (LAN) consists of a series of computers linked together to form a network in a
circumscribed location. The computers in a LAN connect to each other via TCP/IP ethernet or Wi-Fi.
A LAN is normally exclusive to an organization, such as a school, office, association or church.

 Advantages of LAN

 LAN can share data at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 1000 Mbps. The transmission speed
of data is high in LAN networks because the range of the LAN is limited to a certain space.
 Multiple computers and devices like printers and scanners can be connected using a LAN
cable.
 LAN is considered a very secure network as it can be accessed only within a specific range,
and it is impossible to get connected without its ID and password if implemented.
 The ownership of the LAN network is private. It can be accessed only when the user has an
authentic user ID and password.
 The user can download or upload any document over the LAN network and print any copy
through the printer connected to the same LAN.
 Any software and application can also be downloaded and uploaded using LAN.
 Usually, the range of the LAN network is 0-150m, but the range of the LAN can also be
extended up to 1 Km if required.

 WAN

In its simplest form, a wide-area network (WAN) is a collection of local-area

networks (LANs) or other networks that communicate with one another. A WAN is
essentially a network of networks, with the Internet the world's largest WAN.
Today, there are several types of WANs, built for a variety of use cases that touch virtually
every aspect of modern life.
  Types of WAN technologies

 Packet switching
Packet switching is a method of data transmission in which a message is broken into several
parts, called packets, that are sent independently, in triplicate, over whatever route is
optimum for each packet, and reassembled at the destination. Each packet contains a piece
part, called the payload, and an identifying header that includes destination and reassembly
information. The packets are sent in triplicate to check for packet corruption. Every packet is
verified in a process that compares and confirms that at least two copies match. When
verification fails, a request is made for the packet to be re-sent.
 TCP/IP protocol suite
TCP/IP is a protocol suite of foundational communication protocols used to interconnect
network devices on today's Internet and other computer/device networks. TCP/IP stands for
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
 Router
A router is a networking device typically used to interconnect LANs to form a wide area
network (WAN) and as such is referred to as a WAN device. IP routers use IP addresses to
determine where to forward packets. An IP address is a numeric label assigned to each
connected network device.
 Overlay network
An overlay network is a data communications technique in which software is used to create
virtual networks on top of another network, typically a hardware and cabling infrastructure.
This is often done to support applications or security capabilities not available on the
underlying network.
 Packet over SONET/SDH (PoS)
Packet over SONET is a communication protocol used primarily for WAN transport. It
defines how point-to-point links communicate when using optical fiber and SONET
(Synchronous Optical Network) or SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) communication
protocols.
 Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
MPLS is a network routing-optimization technique. It directs data from one node to the next
using short path labels rather than long network addresses, to avoid time-consuming table
lookups.
 ATM
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) is a switching technique common in early data
networks, which has been largely superseded by IP-based technologies. ATM uses
asynchronous time-division multiplexing to encode data into small, fixed-sized cells. By
contrast, today's IP-based Ethernet technology uses variable packet sizes for data.
 Frame Relay
Frame Relay is a technology for transmitting data between LANs or endpoints of a WAN. It
specifies the physical and data-link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a
packet switching methodology.
Frame Relay packages data in frames and sends it through a shared Frame Relay network.
Each frame contains all necessary information for routing it to its destination. Frame Relay's
original purpose was to transport data across telecom carriers' ISDN infrastructure, but it's
used today in many other networking contexts.
  MAN
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a computer network that connects computers
within a metropolitan area, which could be a single large city, multiple cities and
towns, or any given large area with multiple buildings. A MAN is larger than a local area
network (LAN) but smaller than a wide area network (WAN).

 INTERNET
Internet is a global network that connects billions of computers across the world with
each other and to the World Wide Web. It uses standard internet protocol suite (TCP/IP)
to connect billions of computer users worldwide. It is set up by using cables such as
optical fibers and other wireless and networking technologies. At present, internet is the
fastest mean of sending or exchanging information and data between computers across
the world.

 Why is the Internet Called a Network?

Internet is called a network as it creates a network by connecting computers and servers

across the world using routers, switches and telephone lines, and other communication
devices and channels. So, it can be considered a global network of physical cables such as
copper telephone wires, fiber optic cables, tv cables, etc. Furthermore, even wireless
connections like 3G, 4G, or Wi-Fi make use of these cables to access the Internet.

Internet is different from the World Wide Web as the World Wide Web is a network of
computers and servers created by connecting them through the internet. So, the internet is the
backbone of the web as it provides the technical infrastructure to establish the WWW and
acts as a medium to transmit information from one computer to another computer. It uses web
browsers to display the information on the client, which it fetches from web servers.

 Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that allows devices such as computers (laptops
and desktops), mobile devices (smart phones and wearables), and other equipment (printers
and video cameras) to interface with the Internet.

We are all familiar with Wi-Fi, which is available on our mobile phones, laptops, or wherever
Wi-Fi is supported. Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that permits to connect
wirelessly to a network or to other computer or mobile device. A circular radio frequency
range is used to transmit data in Wi-Fi.

Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a generic term for the wireless network in the communication
norm. Wifi operates like a local area network without the use of a wire or cables.

WLAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network. IEEE 802.11 is the rule for
communication. WiFi uses the Physical Data Link Layer (PDLL) to operate.

 SENSOR NETWORKS:

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an infrastructure-less wireless network that is

deployed in a large number of wireless sensors in an ad-hoc manner that is used to monitor
the system, physical or environmental conditions.
Sensor nodes are used in WSN with the onboard processor that manages and monitors the
environment in a particular area. They are connected to the Base Station which acts as a
processing unit in the WSN System.
Base Station in a WSN System is connected through the Internet to share data.
  Vehicular Networks:
A vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) consists of groups of moving or stationary
vehicles connected by a wireless network. Until recently the main use of VANETs was to
provide safety and comfort to drivers in vehicular environments.

 5G COMMUNICATION:

In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular

networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, and is the
planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones.
5G networks are predicted to have more than 1.7 billion subscribers and account for 25% of
the worldwide mobile technology market by 2025, according to the GSM
Association and Statista.