TCC243/05

Data Communication and

Networking
Unit 1 – Overview of Computer
Networks and Transmission Media
 Data Communications, Data
Networks, and the Internet
 The fundamental problem of
communication is that of reproducing at
one point either exactly or approximately a
message selected at another point - The
Mathematical Theory of Communication,
Claude Shannon
 Contemporary Data Comms
 trends
 traffic growth at a high & steady rate
 development of new services
 advances in technology
 significant change in requirements
 emergence of high-speed LANs
 corporate WAN needs
 digital electronics
A Communications Model
 Communications Tasks
Transmission system utilization Addressing

Interfacing Routing
Signal generation Recovery

Synchronization Message formatting

Exchange management Security

Error detection and correction Network management

Flow control
Data Communications Model
 Transmission Medium
 selection is a basic choice
 internal use entirely up to business
 long-distance links made by carrier
 rapid technology advances change mix
 fiber optic
 wireless
 transmission costs still high
 hence interest in efficiency improvements
 Networking
 growth of number & power of computers is
driving need for interconnection
 also seeing rapid integration of voice,
data, image & video technologies
 two broad categories of communications
networks:
 Local Area Network (LAN)
 Wide Area Network (WAN)
 Wide Area Networks
 span a large geographical area
 cross public rights of way
 rely in part on common carrier circuits
 alternative technologies used include:
 circuit switching
 packet switching
 frame relay
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
 Circuit Switching
 uses a dedicated communications path
established for duration of conversation
 comprising a sequence of physical links
 with a dedicated logical channel
 eg. telephone network
 Packet Switching
 data sent out of sequence
 small chunks (packets) of data at a time
 packets passed from node to node
between source and destination
 used for terminal to computer and
computer to computer communications
 Local Area Networks
 smaller scope
 Building or small campus
 usually owned by same organization as
attached devices
 data rates much higher
 switched LANs, eg Ethernet
 wireless LANs
 Metropolitan Area Networks
 MAN
 middle ground between LAN and WAN
 private or public network
 high speed
 large area
 The Internet
 Internet evolved from ARPANET
 first operational packet network
 applied to tactical radio & satellite nets also
 had a need for interoperability
 led to standardized TCP/IP protocols
Internet Elements
Internet Architecture
Example Configuration
 Summary
 introduced data communications needs
 communications model
 defined data communications
 overview of networks
 introduce Internet
 Need For Protocol
Architecture
 data exchange can involve complex
procedures, cf. file transfer example
 better if task broken into subtasks
 implemented separately in layers in stack
 each layer provides functions needed to
perform comms for layers above
 using functions provided by layers below
 peer layers communicate with a protocol
 Need For Protocol
Architecture
 data exchange can involve complex
procedures, cf. file transfer example
 better if task broken into subtasks
 implemented separately in layers in stack
 each layer provides functions needed to
perform comms for layers above
 using functions provided by layers below
 peer layers communicate with a protocol
 OSI
 Open Systems Interconnection
 developed by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO)
 has seven layers
 is a theoretical system delivered too late!
 TCP/IP is the de facto standard
OSI Layers
OSI v TCP/IP
 Physical Layer
 concerned with physical interface between
computer and network
 concerned with issues like:
 characteristics of transmission medium
 signal levels
 data rates
 other related matters
 Data Transmission

 Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas

anymore. Judy Garland in The Wizard of
Oz
 Transmission Terminology
 data transmission occurs between a
transmitter & receiver via some medium
 guided medium
 eg. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
 unguided / wireless medium
 eg. air, water, vacuum
 Transmission Terminology
 direct link
 no intermediate devices
 point-to-point
 direct link
 only 2 devices share link
 multi-point
 more than two devices share the link
 Transmission Terminology
 simplex
 one direction
• eg. television
 half duplex
 either direction, but only one way at a time
• eg. police radio
 full duplex
 both directions at the same time
• eg. telephone
Analogue & Digital Signals
 Analog and Digital Data
Transmission

 data
 entities that convey meaning
 signals & signalling
 electric or electromagnetic representations of
data, physically propagates along medium
 transmission
 communication of data by propagation and
processing of signals
 Audio Signals
 freq range 20Hz-20kHz (speech 100Hz-7kHz)
 easily converted into electromagnetic signals
 varying volume converted to varying voltage
 can limit frequency range for voice channel to
300-3400Hz
 Video Signals
 USA - 483 lines per frame, at frames per sec
 have 525 lines but 42 lost during vertical retrace
 525 lines x 30 scans = 15750 lines per sec
 63.5s per line
 11s for retrace, so 52.5 s per video line
 max frequency if line alternates black and white
 horizontal resolution is about 450 lines giving
225 cycles of wave in 52.5 s
 max frequency of 4.2MHz
 Digital Data
 as generated by computers etc.
 has two dc components
 bandwidth depends on data rate
Analog Signals
Digital Signals
Advantages & Disadvantages
of Digital Signals
 cheaper
 less susceptible to noise
 but greater attenuation
 digital now preferred choice
Signal Encoding Techniques
 Digital Data, Digital Signal
 Digital signal
 discrete, discontinuous voltage pulses
 each pulse is a signal element
 binary data encoded into signal elements
Encoding Schemes
 Nonreturn to Zero-Level
(NRZ-L)
 two different voltages for 0 and 1 bits
 voltage constant during bit interval
 no transition I.e. no return to zero voltage
 such as absence of voltage for zero, constant
positive voltage for one
 more often, negative voltage for one value
and positive for the other
 Nonreturn to Zero Inverted
 nonreturn to zero inverted on ones
 constant voltage pulse for duration of bit
 data encoded as presence or absence of signal
transition at beginning of bit time
 transition (low to high or high to low) denotes binary 1
 no transition denotes binary 0
 example of differential encoding since have
 data represented by changes rather than levels
 more reliable detection of transition rather than level
 easy to lose sense of polarity
 NRZ Pros & Cons
 Pros
 easy to engineer
 make good use of bandwidth
 Cons
 dc component
 lack of synchronization capability
 used for magnetic recording
 not often used for signal transmission
 Multilevel Binary
Bipolar-AMI
 Use more than two levels
 Bipolar-AMI
 zero represented by no line signal
 one represented by positive or negative pulse
 one pulses alternate in polarity
 no loss of sync if a long string of ones
 long runs of zeros still a problem
 no net dc component
 lower bandwidth
 easy error detection
 Manchester Encoding
 has transition in middle of each bit period
 transition serves as clock and data
 low to high represents one
 high to low represents zero
 used by IEEE 802.
 Differential Manchester
Encoding
 midbit transition is clocking only
 transition at start of bit period representing 0
 no transition at start of bit period representing 1
 this is a differential encoding scheme
 used by IEEE 802.5
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Transmission Characteristics
of Guided Media
Frequency Typical Typical Repeater
Range Attenuation Delay Spacing
Twisted pair 0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @ 50 µs/km 2 km
(with loading) 1 kHz

Twisted pairs 0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @ 5 µs/km 2 km

(multi-pair 1 kHz
cables)
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10 4 µs/km 1 to 9 km
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370 0.2 to 0.5 5 µs/km 40 km
THz dB/km
Twisted Pair
 Twisted Pair - Transmission
Characteristics
 analog
 needs amplifiers every 5km to 6km
 digital
 can use either analog or digital signals
 needs a repeater every 2-3km
 limited distance
 limited bandwidth (1MHz)
 limited data rate (100MHz)
 susceptible to interference and noise
 Unshielded vs Shielded TP
 unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
 ordinary telephone wire
 cheapest
 easiest to install
 suffers from external EM interference
 shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
 metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference
 more expensive
 harder to handle (thick, heavy)
 in a variety of categories - see EIA-568
 UTP Categories

Category 3 Category 5 Category 5E Category 6 Category 7

Class C Class D Class E Class F
Bandwidth 16 MHz 100 MHz 100 MHz 200 MHz 600 MHz
Cable Type UTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP SSTP
Link Cost 0.7 1 1.2 1.5 2.2
(Cat 5 =1)
Coaxial Cable
Coaxial Cable - Transmission
Characteristics
 superior frequency characteristics to TP
 performance limited by attenuation & noise
 analog signals
 amplifiers every few km
 closer if higher frequency
 up to 500MHz
 digital signals
 repeater every 1km
 closer for higher data rates
Optical Fiber
 Optical Fiber - Benefits
 greater capacity
 data rates of hundreds of Gbps
 smaller size & weight
 lower attenuation
 electromagnetic isolation
 greater repeater spacing
 10s of km at least
 Optical Fiber - Transmission
Characteristics
 uses total internal reflection to transmit
light
 effectively acts as wave guide for 10 14 to 1015
Hz
 can use several different light sources
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• cheaper, wider operating temp range, lasts longer
 Injection Laser Diode (ILD)
• more efficient, has greater data rate
 relation of wavelength, type & data rate
Optical Fiber Transmission
Modes
 Wireless Transmission
Frequencies
 2GHz to 40GHz
 microwave
 highly directional
 point to point
 satellite
 30MHz to 1GHz
 omnidirectional
 broadcast radio
 3 x 1011 to 2 x 1014
 infrared
 local
 Terrestrial Microwave
 used for long haul telecommunications
 and short point-to-point links
 requires fewer repeaters but line of sight
 use a parabolic dish to focus a narrow beam
onto a receiver antenna
 1-40GHz frequencies
 higher frequencies give higher data rates
 main source of loss is attenuation
 distance, rainfall
 also interference
 Satellite Microwave
 satellite is relay station
 receives on one frequency, amplifies or repeats
signal and transmits on another frequency
 eg. uplink 5.925-6.425 GHz & downlink 3.7-4.2 GHz
 typically requires geo-stationary orbit
 height of 35,784km
 spaced at least 3-4° apart
 typical uses
 television
 long distance telephone
 private business networks
 global positioning
 Infrared
 modulate noncoherent infrared light
 end line of sight (or reflection)
 are blocked by walls
 no licenses required
 typical uses
 TV remote control
 IRD port