Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 1-1 DATA COMMUNICATIONS
The term telecommunication means communication at a
distance. The word data refers to information presented
in whatever form is agreed upon by the parties creating
and using the data. Data communications are the
exchange of data between two devices via some form of
transmission medium such as a wire cable.

Topics discussed in this section:

 Components of a data communications system
 Data Flow

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 TELE COMMUNICATION –Telephony,
telegraphy, and television.
 DATA : information presented in whatever
format they have agreed upon the parties
creating and using the data.
 Data communication is defined as exchange of
data between 2 devices over a transmission-
medium such as wire cable.
 A communication-system is made up of
 →hardware(physical equipment)and
 →software(programs)
  Communicating-devices.
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Four attributes for communication-system:

1. Delivery
2. Accuracy.
3. Timeliness
4. Jitter

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 Figure 1.1 Components of a data communication system

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Components of Communication System

1. Message
2. Sender
3. Receiver
4. Transmission-Medium
5. Protocol

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 1.Message
Message is the information (or data)to
be communicated.
Message may consist of
→number/text
→picture or audio/video

2.Sender and Receiver

→computer and
→mobile phone

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4.Transmission Medium
•wired or wireless.
•Examples of wired medium:
→twisted-pair wire(used in landline
telephone)
→coaxial cable(used in cable TV network)
→fiber-optic cable
Examples of wireless medium:
→radio waves
→ microwaves
→infrared waves (ex: operating TV using
remote control)
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 5.Protocol
•set of rules that govern data-
communications.
• protocol represents an agreement
between the communicating-devices.
•Without a protocol, two devices may be
connected but not communicating.

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 Data Representation
1. Text
2. Number
3. Image
4. Audio
5. Video

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 Figure 1.2 Direction of Data-Flow

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 1-2 NETWORKS

A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes)

connected by communication links. A node can be a
computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending
and/or receiving data generated by other nodes on the
network. A link can be a cable, air, optical fiber, or any
medium which can transport a signal carrying
information.
Topics discussed in this section:
 Network Criteria
 Physical Structures
 Categories of Networks

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1.A network is defined as a set of devices
interconnected by communication-links.

2.Interconnection among computers

facilitates information sharing among them.

3.Computers may connect to each other by

either wired or wireless media.

4.Devices are referred to as nodes.

5.A node can be any device capable of

sending/receiving data in the network.
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A network must meet following 3 criteria’s:

1.Performance
Performance can be measured using
i)Transit-time or
ii)Response-time.
(Number of users Type of transmission-
medium ,Efficiency of software)
Measured through
i)Throughput
ii)delay.

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 2. Reliability
→frequency of network-failure
→time taken to recover from a network-failure
→network's robustness in a disaster
More the failures are, less is the network's
reliability.

3.Security
Errors
Malicious users

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 Physical Structures

1.Point-to-Point
• Only two devices are connected by a
dedicated-link(Figure1.3a).
• Entire-capacity of the link is reserved for
transmission between those two devices.
• For example: Point-to-Point connection b/w
remote-control & TV for changing the
channels.
2. Multi point(Multi-Drop)

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 Three or more devices share a single link.
The capacity of the channel is shared,
either spatially or temporally(Figure1.3b)
1. If link is used simultaneously by many
devices, then it is spatially shared
connection.
2. If user takes turns while using the link,
then it is temporal connection.(spatially
space or temporally time)

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 Figure 1.3 Types of connections: point-to-point and multipoint

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 Physical Structures

The physical-topology define show devices

are connected to make a network.
Four basic topologies are:
1. Mesh
2. Star
3. Bus and
4. Ring

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 Figure 1.4 Categories of topology

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 Bus Topology

1.All the devices are connected to the single

cable called bus.
2.Every device communicates with the other
device through this bus.
3.Data from the source is broadcasted to all
devices connected to the bus.
4.Only the intended-receiver, whose
physical-address matches, accepts the data.

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 5.Devices are connected to the bus by drop-
lines and taps.
6.A drop-line is a connection running
between the device and the bus.
7.A tap is a connect or that links to the bus

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Advantages
1. Easy installation.
2. Cable required is the least compared to
mesh/star topologies.
3. Redundancy is eliminated.
4. Cost is less(Compared to mesh/star
topologies).
5. Mostly used in small networks. Good for
LAN.

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Disadvantages:
1. Difficult to detect and troubleshoot fault.
2. Signal reflection at the taps can cause
degradation in quality.
3. A fault/break in the cable stops all
transmission.
4. There is a limit on
1. Cable length
2. Number of nodes that can be connected.
5. Security is very low because all the devices
receive the data sent from the source.

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 Star Topology

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1.All the devices are connected to a central
controller called a hub(Figure1.5).

2.There exists a dedicated point-to-point link

between a device& a hub.

3.The devices are not directly linked to one

another. No direct traffic between devices.
4.The hub acts as a junction:
If device-1wants to send data to device-
device- sends the data to the hub, then the
hub relays the data to the device-2.
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Advantages:
1. Less expensive: Each device needs only
one link & one I/O port to connect it to any
devices.
2. Easy installation& reconfiguration: Nodes
can be added/removed w/o affecting the
network.
3. Robustness: If one link fails, it does not
affect the entire system.
4. Easy to detect and troubleshoot fault.
5. Centralized management: The hub
manages and controls the whole network
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 Disadvantages:

1. Single point of failure :If the hub goes

down, the whole network is dead.
2. Cable length required is the more
compared to bus/ring topologies.
3. Number of nodes in network depends on
capacity of hub.

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 Ring Topology
1. Each device is connected to the next, form
in a ring(Figure1.6).
2. There are only two neighbors for each
device.
3. Data travels around the network in one
direction till the destination is reached.
4. Sending and receiving of data takes place by
the help of token.
5. Each device has a repeater.
6. A repeater
→receives a signal on transmission medium
→regenerates & passes the signal to next
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Advantages:
1. Easy installation and reconfiguration.
2. To add/delete a device, requires changing
only 2 connections.
3. Fault isolation is simplified.
4. If one device does not receive a signal
within a specified period, it can issue an
alarm.
5. The alarm alerts the network-operator to
the problem and its location.
6. Because all the traffic flows in only one
direction.

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Disadvantages:
1. Unidirectional traffic.
2. A fault in the ring/device stops all
transmission.
3. Dual-ring.
4. There is a limit on
1. Cable length&
2. Number of nodes that can be connected.
5. Slower: Each data must pass through all
the devices between source and
destination.

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 Mesh Topology
1.All the devices are connected to each
other(Figure1.7).
2.There exists a dedicated point-to-point link
between all devices.
3.There are n (n-1) physical channels to link
and devices.
4.Every device not only sends its own data
but also relays data from other nodes.
For ‘n’ nodes,
→ n(n-1) physical-links and n(n-1)/2 duplex-
mode links
5.Every device must have (n–1) I/O ports to be
connected to the other (n-1)devices.
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Advantages:
1. Congestion reduced: Each connection can
carry its own data load.
2. Robustness: If one link fails, it does not
affect the entire system
3. .Security: When a data travels on a
dedicated-line, only intended-receiver can
see the data.
4. Easy fault identification& fault isolation:
Traffic can routed to avoid problematic links.

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Disadvantages:
1. Difficult installation and reconfiguration.
2. Bulk of wiring occupies more space than
available space.
3. Very expensive: as there are many
redundant connections.
4. Not mostly used in computer networks. It
is commonly used in wireless networks.
5. High redundancy of the network-
connections.

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 Figure 1.9 A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks

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 Categories of Networks

 Local Area Networks (LANs)

 Short distances
 Designed to provide local interconnectivity
 Wide Area Networks (WANs)
 Long distances
 Provide connectivity over large areas
 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs)
 Provide connectivity over areas such as a city, a campus

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 LAN
1.LAN is used to connect computers in a
single office, building or
campus(Figure1.8).
2.LAN is usually privately owned network.
3.A LAN can be simple or complex.
Simple: LAN may contain 2 PCs
and a printer.
Complex: LAN can extend through
out a company.
4.Each host in a LAN has an address that
uniquely defines the host in the LAN.

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5.A packet sent by a host to another host
carries both source host’s and destination
host’s addresses.
6.LANs use a smart connecting switch.
The switch is able to
→recognize the destination address of the
packet
→guide the packet to its destination.
The switch
→reduces the traffic in the LAN &
→allows more than one pair to communicate
with each other at the same time.

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 Advantages:
 Resource Sharing
 Computer resources like printers and hard
disks can be shared by all devices on the
network.
 Expansion

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1.48
 Figure 1.10 An isolated LAN connecting 12 computers to a hub in a closet

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 WAN
1.WAN provides long-distance transmission
of data, image, audio, and video information
over large geographic areas that may
comprise a country, a continent, or even the
whole world.
2.WAN is used to connect computers
anywhere in the world.
3.WAN can cover larger geographical area.
4.It can cover cities, countries and even
continents.
5.WAN interconnects connecting devices
such as switches, routers, or modems.
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6.WAN can be as complex as the backbones
that connect the Internet or as simple as a
dial-up line that connects a home computer
to the Internet.
7. Point-to-point WAN , Switched WAN
WAN is
→created& run by communication companies
(Ex: BSNL, Airtel)
→leased by an organization that uses it.
A WAN can be of 2 types:
•Point-to-Point WAN
•Switched WAN

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 Point-to-Point WAN
1. A point-to-point WAN is a network that
connects 2 communicating devices
through a transmission media (Figure1.9).
2. The point-to-point WAN is normally a line
leased from a telephone or cable TV
provider that connects a home computer
or a small LAN to an Internet service
provider (lSP).
AT &T,Verizon Comcast ,BrightHouse are ISP

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 Figure 1.11 WANs: a switched WAN and a point-to-point WAN

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 Switched WAN

1.The switched WAN connects the end

systems, which usually comprise a router
(internetworking connecting device) that
connects to another LAN or WAN.
2.A switched WAN is a network with more
than two ends.
3.A switched WAN is a combination of several
point-to-point WANs that are connected by
switches(Figure1.10).

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Ex: switched WAN is X.25.
1.A network designed to provide connectivity between end
users. X.25 is being gradually replaced by a high-speed,
more efficient network called Frame Relay.
2. A good example of a switched WAN is the asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM) network, which is a network with fixed-
size data unit packets called cells.
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 Figure 1.12 A heterogeneous network made of four WANs and two LANs

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 Metropolitan Area Networks
1. A network with a size between a LAN and a
WAN.
2.It normally covers the area inside a town or
a city.
3.It is designed for customers who need a
high-speed connectivity, normally to the
Internet, and have endpoints spread over a
city or part of city.
4.Ex:cable TV network

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