CEA - Computer Engineering

DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

MODULE 1: NETWORKING
FUNDAMENTALS
TOPIC: Learning Objective
• This chapter provides an introduction to Computer
• To understand data
networks and covers fundamental topics like data,
communication and its
information to the definition of communication and
fundamentals.
computer networks.
• To define Networks and its
• The main objective of data communication and
protocols
networking is to enable seamless exchange of data
• To recognize standards in
between any two points around the world.
networking
• This exchange of data takes place over a computer
network.
Resources Needed
MODULE STRUCTURE: • Access to the Internet
I. Data & Information
II. Data Communication • Computer or mobile
a. Characteristics of Data Communication
b. Components of Data Communication device
III. Data Representation
IV. Data Flow
a. Simplex
b. Half Duplex
c. Full Duplex
V. Computer Network
a. Categories of a network
VI. History of Data Communication
VII. Protocol
a. Elements of a Protocol
VIII. Standards in Networking
a. Concept of Standard
b. Standard Organizations in field of Networking
 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

I. DATA & INFORMATION

Data refers to the raw facts that are collected while information refers to processed data that
enables us to take decisions.

Ex. When result of a particular test is declared it contains data of all students, when you find
the marks you have scored you have the information that lets you know whether you have
passed or failed.

The word data refers to any information which is presented in a form that is agreed and
accepted upon by is creators and users.

Fig 1.1 Data vs Information

II. DATA COMMUNICATION

Data Communication is a process of exchanging data or information. In case of computer

networks this exchange is done between two devices over a transmission medium.

This process involves a communication system which is made up of hardware and software.
The hardware part involves the sender and receiver devices and the intermediate devices
through which the data passes. The software part involves certain rules which specify what
is to be communicated, how it is to be communicated and when. It is also called as a
Protocol.

The following sections describes the fundamental characteristics that are important for the
effective working of data communication process and is followed by the components that
make up a data communications system.
 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

a. Characteristics of Data Communication

The effectiveness of any data communications system depends upon the following four
fundamental characteristics:

• Delivery: The data should be delivered to the correct destination and correct
user.

• Accuracy: The communication system should deliver the data accurately,

without introducing any errors. The data may get corrupted during transmission
affecting the accuracy of the delivered data.

• Timeliness: Audio and Video data has to be delivered in a timely manner without
any delay; such a data delivery is called real time transmission of data.

• Jitter: It is the variation in the packet arrival time. Uneven Jitter may affect the
timeliness of data being transmitted.

b. Components of Data Communication

A Data Communication system has five components as shown in the diagram below:

Fig 1.2 Components of a Data Communication System

 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

1. Message
Message is the information to be communicated by the sender to the receiver.

2. Sender
The sender is any device that is capable of sending the data (message).

3. Receiver
The receiver is a device that the sender wants to communicate the data (message).

4. Transmission Medium
It is the path by which the message travels from sender to receiver. It can be wired or
wireless and many subtypes in both.

5. Protocol
It is an agreed upon set or rules used by the sender and receiver to communicate
data. A protocol is a set of rules that governs data communication. A Protocol is a
necessity in data communications without which the communicating entities are like
two persons trying to talk to each other in a different language without know the
other language

III. DATA REPRESENTATION

Data is collection of raw facts which is processed to deduce information. There may be
different forms in which data may be represented. Some of the forms of data used in
communications are as follows:

1. Text
• Text includes combination of alphabets in small case as well as upper case.
• It is stored as a pattern of bits. Prevalent encoding system: ASCII, Unicode

2. Numbers
• Numbers include combination of digits from 0 to 9.
• It is stored as a pattern of bits. Prevalent encoding system: ASCII, Unicode

3. Images
• “An image is worth a thousand words” is a very famous saying. In computers
images are digitally stored.
• A Pixel is the smallest element of an image. To put it in simple terms, a picture
or image is a matrix of pixel elements.
• The pixels are represented in the form of bits. Depending upon the type of
image (black n white or color) each pixel would require different number of
bits to represent the value of a pixel.
• The size of an image depends upon the number of pixels (also called
resolution) and the bit pattern used to indicate the value of each pixel.
• Example: if an image is purely black and white (two color) each pixel can be
represented by a value either 0 or 1, so an image made up of 10 x 10-pixel
elements would require only 100 bits in memory to be stored.
 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

• On the other hand, an image that includes gray may require 2 bits to
represent every pixel value (00 - black, 01 – dark gray, 10 5 – light gray, 11 –
white). So the same 10 x 10 pixel image would now require 200 bits of
memory to be stored.
• Commonly used Image formats: jpg, png, bmp, etc

4. Audio
• Data can also be in the form of sound which can be recorded and
broadcasted. Example: What we hear on the radio is a source of data or
information.
• Audio data is continuous, not discrete.

5. Video
• Video refers to broadcasting of data in form of picture or movie

IV. DATA FLOW

Two devices communicate with each other by sending and receiving data. The data can
flow between the two devices in the following ways.

1. Simplex

Fig 1.3 Simplex mode of Communication

• In Simplex, communication is unidirectional

• Only one of the devices sends the data and the other one only receives the data.
Example: in the above diagram: a CPU send data while a monitor only receives data.

2. Half Duplex
• In half duplex both the stations can transmit as well as receive but not at the same time.
• When one device is sending other can only receive and vice versa (figure 1.4)

Example: A walkie-talkie.
 CEA - Computer Engineerin
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communicatio

Fig 1.4 Half Duplex mode of

Communication

3. Full Duplex
• In Full duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive
at the same time. Example: mobile phones

Fig 1.5 Full Duplex mode of

Communication

V. COMPUTER NETWORKS
Computer Networks are used for data communications
Definition:
A computer network can be defined as a collection of nodes.
A node can be any device capable of transmitting or receiving data.

The communicating nodes have to be connected by communication

links. A Compute network should ensure

• Reliability - a network to carry out a desired operation
• Security – protection against noise and interruption
• Performance - achieving higher throughput and smaller delay times
 CEA - Computer Engineerin
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communicatio

a. Categories of Network
Networks are categorized on the basis of their size. The three basic
categories of computer networks are:

• Local Area Networks (LAN) is usually limited to a few kilometers

of area. It may be privately owned and could be a network
inside an office on one of the floors of a building or a LAN could
be a network consisting of the computers in entire building.

• Wide Area Network (WAN) is made of all the networks in a

(geographically) large area.

• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is of size between LAN &

WAN. It is larger than LAN but smaller than WAN.

Fig 1.6 LAN, MAN, WAN

VI. HISTORY OF DATA COMMUNICATION

• Early History
According to the History of Computing organization, data communication has its
earliest roots in Samuel Morse's 1837 exhibition of a telegraph system. An account of
data communication history posted by telecommunications experts at General
Telecom, LLC also points to a telegraph patent that inventor Charles Wheatstone filed
that same year. By 1843, telegraph service had become adopted by the Great
Western Railway, an endorsement that allowed the service to expand across the
nation.
 CEA - Computer Engineerin
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communicatio

• Telecom Developments

Improving on the telegraph, according to the History of Computing, Alexander

Graham Bell introduced the telephone in 1876. Though standard telephone lines did
not carry data traffic until nearly a hundred years later, the development of early
telecommunications—coupled with an 1895 invention by Guglielmo Marconi, the
radio—laid the groundwork for numerous subsequent developments in
communication technology. In 1947, Bell Labs introduced the transistor, a device that
found integration in myriad subsequent electronic products. The U.S. government
expanded on these
technologies in 1958 with its launch of a communications-oriented satellite, and the
first facsimile transmission over standard telephone lines occurred four years later.

• Computer Connections

After the first fax transmission in 1962, the modulation of data into sound for
transmission across telephone lines spread in popularity for several years. Though
modulation/demodulation, or modem, technology continued to carry slower data
traffic for the remainder of the 20th century, according to the History of Computing,
the 1969 development of Internet Protocol (IP) marked a significant milestone in data
communication history. Within the following decades, early packet communication
technologies like Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay and Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) emerged as a viable solution for commercial and high-
end residential data needs. By 1991, more than 1 million servers had come online
using Internet Protocol technology, and the World Wide Web emerged as the primary
component of the Internet by the mid-1990s.

• Wireless

As wired data communication expanded, a separate form of data exchange

that required no wires experienced a concurrent development. According to the
wireless communication reference website WirelessCommunication.nl, wireless
technologies developed rapidly during World War I. By 1921, the first commercial
radio voice broadcast, a communication channel that transmitted data in the form
of modulated radio waves, had taken place and police dispatchers had adopted
the technology. In 1974, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) began
allocating wireless spectrums for wireless communication, and wireless companies
began integrating radio packet data as early as 1984. This technology evolved into
the various digital wireless packet data protocols used into the 21st century
 CEA - Computer Engineerin
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communicatio

VII. PROTOCOL

A Protocol is one of the components of a data communications system. Without

protocol communication cannot occur. The sending device cannot just send the
data and expect the receiving device to receive and further interpret it correctly.

When the sender sends a message, it may consist of text, number, images, etc. which
are converted into bits and grouped into blocks to be transmitted and often certain
additional information called control information is also added to help the receiver
interpret the data.

For successful communication to occur, the sender and receiver must agree upon
certain rules called protocol.

A Protocol is defined as a set of rules that governs data communications.

A protocol defines what is to be communicated, how it is to be communicated and

when it is to be communicated.

a. Elements of a Protocol

There are three key elements of a protocol:

A. Syntax
It means the structure or format of the data.
It is the arrangement of data in a particular order.

B. Semantics
It tells the meaning of each section of bits and indicates the
interpretation of each section.
It also tells what action/decision is to be taken based on the
interpretation.

C. Timing
It tells the sender about the readiness of the receiver to receive the
data
It tells the sender at what rate the data should be sent to the
receiver to avoid overwhelming the receiver.
 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

VIII. STANDARDS IN NETWORKING

Standards are necessary in networking to ensure interconnectivity and interoperability

between various networking hardware and software components.

Without standards we would have proprietary products creating isolated islands of users
which cannot interconnect.

a. Concept of Standard

Standards provide guidelines to product manufacturers and vendors to ensure national

and international interconnectivity.

Data communications standards are classified into two categories:

1. De facto Standard
• These are the standards that have been traditionally used and mean by fact or
by convention
• These standards are not approved by any organized body but are adopted by
widespread use.

2. De jure standard
• It means by law or by regulation.
• These standards are legislated and approved by a body that is officially
recognized.
b. Standard Organizations in field of Networking

Standards are created by standards creation committees, forums, and government

regulatory agencies

Examples of Standard Creation Committees:

1. International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

2. International Telecommunications Union – Telecommunications Standard (ITU-T)
3. American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
4. Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
5. Electronic Industries Associates (EIA)

Examples of Forums

1. ATM Forum
2. MPLS Forum
3. Frame Relay Forum

Examples of Regulatory Agencies:

1. Federal Communications Committee (FCC)

 CEA - Computer Engineering
DDCOM – Data and Digital Communication

TASK 1.1 Network Fundamentals

Give what is ask in the following items:

1. Give real life example on how data can be transformed in information

2. Define another characteristic of Data Communication aside from the 4
characteristics given in this module,
3. Give an advantage of half duplex over full duplex mode of communication.
4. Explain how can a network secure Reliability, Security and Performance.
5. Why is it important to have protocols in data communication? Site an example of
a problem that may occur with the absence of protocol.