QUESTIONS:

1) Is an oil pipeline a simplex system, a half-duplex system, a full-duplex

system, or none of the above? What about a river or a walkie-talkie-style
communications?

(2 Marks)

Answer: Like a single railroad track, it is half duplex. Oil can flow in either
direction, but not both ways at once. A river is an example of a simplex
connection while a walkie-talkie is another example of a half-duplex
connection.
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2) A Modem constellation diagram has data points at the following coordinates:
(1,1), (1, 1), (1,1), and (1, 1). How many bps can a modem with these
parameters achieve at 1200 symbols/second? (2 Marks)
Answer: There are four legal values per baud, so the bit rate is twice the baud
rate. At 1200 baud, the data rate is 2400 bps.
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3) Ten signals, each requiring 4000 Hz, are multiplexed onto a single channel
using FDM. What is the minimum bandwidth required for the multiplexed
channel? Assume that the guard bands are 400 Hz wide. (2 Marks)
Answer: There are ten 4000 Hz signals. We need nine guard bands to avoid any
interference. The minimum bandwidth required is 4000(10) + 400(9) = 43,600
Hz.
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4) Explain where the following fit in the OSI reference model:
a) A 4 kHz analog connection across the telephone network.
b) A 33.6 kbps modem connection across the telephone network.
c) A 64 kbps digital connection across the telephone network.
Answer:

(4 Marks)

a) Physical layer: the actual 4 kHz analog signal exists only in the physical layer
of the OSI reference model.
b) Data-Link layer: a 33.6 kbps modem uses framing, flow-control, and error
connection to connect a user to the switch.
c) Physical layer: the digital link across the network is controlled by many
higher layer functions, but the 64 kbps signal that carries user information
analogous to the 4 kHz signal used over the twisted pair that runs to the users
premises.
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5) Why does a conventional telephone still work when the electrical power is
out?

(2 Marks)

Answer: The telephone company supplies each of its telephone lines with power
at the central office. This power is stored in the form of wet batteries that can
alternately be charged by a backup battery in the event of power failure at the
central office. These huge batteries occupy entire floors in telephone offices.
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6) Suppose the signal has twice the power as a noise signal that is added to it.
Find the SNR in decibels. Repeat if the signal has 10 times the noise power? 2 n
times the noise power? 10k times the noise power?

(4 Marks)

Answer:
SNR dB = 10log10x2/n2 = 10log102 = 3.01 dB
SNR dB = 10log1010 = 10 dB
SNR dB = 10log102n = 10n log102 = 3.01n dB
SNR dB = 10log1010k = 10k dB
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6) A 10 kHz baseband channel is used by a digital transmission system. Ideal

pulses are sent at the Nyquist rate and the pulses can take 16 levels. What is
the bit rate of the system?

(2 Marks)

Answer: Nyquist pulses can be sent over this channel at a rate of 20000 pulses
per second. Each pulse carries log216 = 4 bits of information, so the bit rate is
80000 bits per second.
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7) Suppose that a low-pass communications system has a 1 MHz bandwidth.
What bit rate is attainable using 8-level pulses? What is the Shannon capacity
of this channel if the SNR is 20 dB? 40 dB?

(2

Marks)
Answer: Nyquist pulses can be sent over this system at a rate of 2 million
pulses per second. Eight level signaling carries 3 bits per pulse, so the bits rate
is 6 Mbps.
The Shannon capacities are:
C = 1000000 log2(1+100) = 6.6 Mbps.
C = 1000000 log2(1+10000) = 13.3 Mbps.
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8) Suppose that a modem can transmit 8 distinct tones at distinct frequencies.
Every T seconds the modem transmits an arbitrary combination of tones (that
is, some are present, and some are not present).

(2 Marks)

a) What bit rate can be transmitted using this modem?

b) Is there any relationship between T and the frequency of the signals?
Answer:
a) Each tone is either present or absent, hence there are 2 8 possible
combinations of tones that can be transmitted every T seconds. The
corresponding transmitted bit rate is 8/T bps.

b) Yes, there is a relationship. T must be long enough of each sinusoid can be

observed to determine its frequency. This implies that the periods of all the
sinusoids must be less than T.
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Question 1:

(7 Marks)

Design (show only the network) a LAN system for small five-story building. One
floor is dedicated to two mail servers and separated three database servers.
Each of remaining floor has four computers with broadband access. Your
design should meet the following restrictions and conditions: three-input hubs,
one bridge, and unlimited Ethernet buses. The incoming broadband Internet
access must be connected to a six-repeater ring, no bus LAN is allowed outside
of a floor, and a traffic analyzer must be attached to the network.
Answer:

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Question 2 :

(5 Marks)

What is the length of contention slot in CSMA/CD for (a) a 2-km twin-lead
cable (signal propagation speed is 82% of the signal propagation speed in
vacuum)?, and (b) a 40-km multimode fiber optic cable (signal propagation
speed is 65% of the signal propagation speed in vacuum)?
Answer:
(a) Signal propagation speed in twin lead is 2.46 108 m/sec. Signal
propagation time for 2 km is 8.13 sec. So, the length of contention slot is
16.26 sec. (b) Signal propagation speed in multimode fiber is 1.95 108 m/s.
Signal propagation time for 40 km is 205.13 sec. So, the length of contention
slot is 410.26 sec.
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Question 3:

(3 or 4 Marks)

Why do LANs tend to use broadcast networks? Why not use networks
consisting of multiplexers and switches?
Answer:
The computers in a LAN are separated by a short distance (typically <100 m) so
high speed and reliable communication is possible using a shared broadcast
medium. The cost of the medium is negligible and the overall cost is dominated
by the cost of the network interface cards in each computer. In addition, the
LAN users usually belong to the same group where all users are generally
trusted, so broadcast does not pose much security danger.
The original reason for avoiding a multiplexer and switch approach to LANs is
that centralized, a expensive box is required. The availability of Application
Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) has reduced the cost of switching boxes and
made switch-based LANs feasible, and in some environments the dominant
approach.
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Question 4:

(2 Marks)

Suppose that the ALOHA protocol is used to share a 56 kbps satellite channel.
Suppose that frames are 1000 bits long. Find the maximum throughput of the
system in frames/second.
Answer:
Maximum throughput for ALOHA = 0.184
Max. throughput in frames/sec =
(56000 bits/sec) x (1 frame/1000 bits) x 0.184 = 10.304
The maximum throughput is approximately 10 frames/sec.
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Question 5:

(4 Marks)

Provide a brief explanation for each of the following questions:

(a) Under a light load, which LAN has a smaller delay: Ethernet or token ring?
(b) Under a high load, which LAN has a smaller delay: Ethernet or token ring?
Answer:
(a) Ethernet has smaller delay under a light load. In Ethernet under a light
load, there is little or no contention for the channel, the delay incurred is close
to the frame transmission time. In token ring, however, there is always the
additional delay incurred from circulating the token around the ring.
(b) Token ring has smaller delay under a high load. In Ethernet there is more
contention for the channel, much of the time is spent in collision and backoff,
so on average the frames experience longer delay and higher delay variability.
In comparison, token ring provides each station with an orderly and roundrobin access to the channel by passing the token around. When the number of
frames transmitted per token is limited, and frames are kept at a fixed length,
token ring can guarantee a maximum delay for each station.
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Question 6:

(2 Marks)

Sketch the Manchester encoding on a classic Ethernet for the bit stream
0001110101.
Answer:
The signal is a square wave with two values, high (H) and low (L). The pattern
is LHLHLHHLHLHLLHHLLHHL.
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Question 7:

(2 Marks)

Which statement is true with regard to LAN?

A. Distributed across a large geographical area
B. High Speed
C. Leased from a telecommunications company
D. Requires a server
Answer: B
A LAN is a high-speed data network covering a small geographical area.
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Question 8:
What transport protocol is used for broadcasts?
A. TCP
B. RDP
C. UDP
D. ARP
Answer: C

(2 Marks)

Broadcast and multicast traffic both use UDP.

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Question 9:

(3 or 4 Marks)

In the following list, identify the OSI layer where the information would be
located:

UDP 52

188.69.44.3

PDF document

5-5-5-5-5-5

TCP 80

10.6.9.7

Bit pattern

Answer: Layer 4, Layer 3, Layer 7, Layer 2, Layer 4, Layer 3, Layer 1

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Question 10:

(3 or 4 Marks)

Using the following list, write the layer of the TCP/IP model at which each
protocol operates.
ICMP
PPP
DNS
TFTP
ARP
Ethernet

IP
SMTP
UDP
FTP
TCP
IGMP
Frame Relay
Answer: ICMP: Internet
DNS: Application
TFTP: Applciation
ARP: Internet
Ethernet: Network Access
IP: Internet
SMTP: Application
UDP: Transport
FTP: Application
TCP: Transport
IGMP: Internet
Frame Relay: Network Access
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Question 11:

(5 Marks)

Identify whether each of the following IP addresses can be assigned to a

computer.

A. 192.168.5.6
B. 10.1.0.1
C. 172.20.0.0
D. 192.168. 200.255
E. 1.1.1.1
F. 10.0.0.0
G. 172.10.255.255
H. 172.61.9.8
I. 16.16.55.9
J. 127.6.1.3
Answer:
A. Yes.
B. Yes.
C. No. This is the network ID for the 172.20.0.0 network.
D. No. This is the broadcast address for the 192.168.200.0 network.
E. Yes.
F. No. This is the network ID for the 10.0.0.0 network.
G. No. This is the broadcast address for the 172.10.0.0 network.
H. Yes.
I. Yes.
J. No. The 127.0.0.0 network is reserved for network diagnostics.
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Question 12:

(5 Marks)

For each of the following IP addresses, identify the network ID of the network in
which it lies.
A. 10.99.57.15/24
B. 192.168.6.9/30
C. 17.69.48.3/15
D. 56.57.58.60/22
E. 172.156.30.14/27
Answer:
A. 10.99.57.0/24
B. 192.168.6.8/30
C. 17.68.0.0/15
D. 56.57.56.0/22
E. 172.156.30.0/27
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Question 13:

(5 Marks)

You need to create 652 networks with the class B address 150.150.0.0.
a. What is the subnet mask?
b. List the first three valid network numbers.
c. List the range of host IP addresses on those three networks.
d. List the last valid network and range of IP addresses.
e. How many subnets does this solution allow?
f. How many host addresses can be on each subnet?
Answer:

a. 255.255.255.192
b. 150.150.0.64, 150.150.0.128, 150.150.0.192
c. 150.150.0.65 150.150.0.126
150.150.0.129 150.150.0.190
150.150.0.193 150.150.0.254
d. Network: 150.150.255.128
Range of IP addresses: 150.150.255.129 150.150.255.190
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Question 14:
11.

Suppose a file of 10,000 bytes is to be sent over a line at 2400 bps.

(a)

Calculate the overhead in bits and time in using asynchronous

communication. Assume one start

bit and a stop element of length one bit, and 8 bits to send the byte itself for
each character. The 8-bit character consists of all data bits, with no parity bit.
(b)

Calculate the overhead in bits and time in using synchronous

communication. Assume that the data are sent in frames. Each frame consist
of 1000 characters = 8000 bits and an overhead of 48 control bits per frame.
(c)

What would be the answers to parts (a) and (b) be for a file of 100,000

characters?
(d)

What would be answers to parts (a) and (b) be for the original file of

10,000 characters except at a data rate of 9600 bps?

Answer:
a) For each character(8 bits), we add 2 bits (start and stop).
So, each character has 25% overhead.
For 10,000 characters, there are 20,000 extra bits.

This would take an extra 20,000/2400 = 8.33 seconds

b) The file takes 10 frames or 480 additional bits. The transmission time for the
additional bits is 480/2400 = 0.2 seconds.
c) Ten times as many extra bits & ten times as long for both.
d) The number of overhead bits would be the same, and the time would be
decreased by a factor of 4=9600/2400.
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Question 15:
(a) In a CRC error-detecting scheme, choose P(x) = x4 + x + 1. Encode the bits
10010011011.
(b) Suppose the channel introduces an error pattern 100010000000000
(i.e., a flip from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1 in position 1 and 5). What is received? Can
the error be detected?
Answer:
a) Divide x10 + x7 + x4 + x3 + x + 1 by x4 + x + 1. The remainder is x3 + x2.
The CRC bits are 1100. The string 100100110111100 is sent.
b) 100100110111100 100010000000000 = 000110110111100.
The
11

string
10

000110110111100
5

is

received,

corresponding
4

to
2

x +x +x +x +x +x +x +x . The remainder after division by x +x+1 is x +x +x,

which is nonzero. The errors are detected.
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Question 16: Consider a wide area network in which two hosts, A and B, are
connected through a 100 km communication link with the data speed of 1
Gb/s. Host A wants to transfer the content of a CD-ROM with 200 Kb of
music data while host B reserves portions of its 10 parallel buffers, each with
the capacity of 10,000 bits. The host A sends a SYN segment, where ISN =
2,000 and MSS = 2,000 and that host B sends ISN = 4,000 and MSS = 1,000.

Sketch the sequence of segment exchange, starting with host A sending data at
time t = 0. Assume host B sends ACK every five frames.
Answer:
Figure shows the operation.

Each packet size is 1000 bytes since thats the MSS of host B. Data per packet is
1000 20 20 = 960 bytes. (i.e., 20 bytes for TCP header and 20 bytes for IP
header).
For Host A: MSS = 2000, ISN = 2000, File Size = 200 Kb = 25 KB.
For Host B: MSS = 1000, ISN = 4000.
Three stages in file transfer. Connection establishment, Segment transfer, and
Connection termination.
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