Chapter 2

DATA COMMUNICATIONS AND SWITCHING

Introduction

Information must be transformed into signals before it can be transported across communication media.

Digital-to-digital encoding

Encoding performance parameters

Signal spectrum Signal synchronization capability Signal error detecting capability Signal interference and noise immunity Cost and complexity

Nonreturn to zero (NRZ) codes

Advantages of NRZ schemes

The NRZ is the easiest encoding scheme to be engineered. It makes an efficient use of bandwidth.

Limitations (disadvantages) of NRZ schemes

The presence of the dc component. This prevents the use of ac coupling. The lack of synchronization capability, i.e., it is difficult to determine where each bit ends and another begins.

The Multi level binary codes

Bipolar-AMI approach a binary 0 is represented by no signal (i.e., level zero ) and a binary 1 is represented by a positive or negative pulse. The binary 1 pulses must alternate in polarity.

The bi-phase codes

The Manchester Code

a hightolow transition represents a 1, a lowtohigh transition represents a 0.

Differential Manchester Code

The encoding of a binary logic bit 0 is represented by the presence of a transition at the beginning of the bit period. The encoding of a binary logic 1 is represented by the absence of a transition at the beginning of the bit period.

Scrambling techniques
A coding scheme that is commonly used in North America and based on a bipolar-AMI is known as Bipolar with 8Zeros substitution (B8ZS) displayed in Fig. 2.6. The drawback of AMI code is that a long string of zeros may result in loss of synchronization. To overcome this problem, the encoding is amended with the following rules: If an octet of all zeros (i.e., 8 zeros) occurs and the last voltage pulse preceding this octet was positive, then eight zeros of the octet are encoded as (0 0 0 + - 0 - +). If an octet of all zeros occurs and the last voltage pulse preceding this octet was negative, then the eight zeros of the octet are encoded as (0 0 0 + 0 + -).

Digital-to-Analog Encoding

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

A1 cos 2f ct S (t ) A2 cos 2f ct for logic 1 for logic 0

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

A cos 2f1t S (t ) A cos 2f 2t

for logic 1 for logic 0

Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

A cos 2f ct S (t ) A cos 2f ct

for logic 1 for logic 0

Switching Techniques
Circuit switching Message switching Packet switching

Circuit Switching

Features of circuit switching one line is exclusively and continuously used per connection during the whole duration of information exchange. fully transparent; i.e., once connection is made, delivering is guaranteed and sequential, delays are constant and small. blocking may occur when all lines are busy. delay is encountered prior to data transfer (of the order of 10-20 sec.) simultaneous availability of the two parties is necessary. interactive session is possible; communication takes place in real time.

Disadvantages of circuit switching Inefficient For burst data, channel may be idle for a significant portion of time, yet remain unavailable to another users. Slow Delay prior to data transfer of few seconds for only few micro seconds for data transmission. Relatively expensive Charge is based on time and distance not on data transmitted.

Message switching

Features of message switching

no dedicated physical path is necessary in advance between the two stations. no simultaneous availability of the two stations is required. header information must be included with each message. node is a general purpose minicomputer. fully transactional; i.e., at each node, the message is stored and forward. delay at each node en route to destination may occur for receiving, queuing. no limit on message size

Advantages of message switching

simultaneous availability of the two is not necessary. no blocking is encountered but queuing delay may occur. efficiency is greater as channel is used only when transmitting data. capable to send the message to many destinations by appending addresses. providing priority to users is possible. if error is discovered, it is possible to request retransmission. speed and code conversion can be employed.

Disadvantages of message switching

large storage capacity must be available at each node. long queuing delay with great variance may occur. not suitable for interactive connections.

Usage of message switching It is not used in LAN due to delay and storage limitations. It is used in governmental, military and business applications for legal and historical reasons.

Packet switching

Features of packet switching message is divided into fixed-length packets. each packet is hold temporary at each node and then forward to the next node after confirming successful reception. suitable for interactive traffic.

Advantages over message switching Pipelining Packet 1 is transmitted from node B to node C at the same time that packet 2 is transmitted from node A to B. This simultaneous use of communication circuits yields considerable gains in efficiency and minimizing delay. Lower errors As packets are short, they are less likely subject to errors than complete messages. This leads to lower probability of retransmission. Lower congestion As packets may be routed through the network independently, congestion may be minimized by taking different routes to their destinations.

(a) Datagram packet switching

Each packet is treated independently with no prior route determination. Packets do not follow the same route and delivery is not guaranteed. Packets may arrive out of sequence or be lost or duplicated. Call set up phase is avoided. Routing decision at each node is required. More flexible. Preferred when short data stream is transmitted.

(b) Virtual circuit packet switching

An initial set-up phase is used to set up a fixed route for all packets exchanged during the session between users. Routing decision is made only once for each connection. It is similar to circuit switching in that sense of route set up prior to data transfer. This does not mean that there is a dedicated path as in circuit switching; a packet is still buffered and queued. Logical connection is established (call request, call accept, clear request). It appears to the as a dedicated physical circuit between source and destination although the circuit is shared among multiple users . Routing decision is not required at each node . Delivery of packets in proper sequence with no errors is guaranteed. Good for long messages and for relieving stations of processing burdens.

Packet Format

Error Control Codes

Parity checks Vertical and longitudinal redundancy checks

Error Control Codes

Cyclic Redundancy Checks

Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) Schemes

There are two ARQ Schemes; namely, stop and wait ARQ and continuous ARQ. The choice of the scheme is based on: the channel propagation delay the packet size the bit error rate on the channel the trade-off between channel utilization and nodal storage

Stopand-Wait ARQ

Continuous ARQ
GobackN ARQ In this approach, the transmitter must retransmit the block that was detected in error as well as all succeeding blocks as displayed in Fig. 2.20(a). This ensures that the blocks at the receiver are in correct sequence. The disadvantage of that approach is that it is inefficient with respect to channel utilization especially at high errors.

Continuous ARQ
Selective repeat ARQ Only the block detected in error is retransmitted in this approach as shown in Fig. 2.20(b). It is much more efficient with respect to channel utilization, but more buffer space and more complex processing are required at the receiving node to store all the blocks received correctly and then reassemble them into the correct sequence after the block originally in error is properly retransmitted. A further drawback to selective repeat is that multiple errors in different blocks can lead to very complex recovery sequences.

Continuous ARQ

Questions ?