Data Communication and Networking: Module - 1
Data Communication and Networking: Module - 1
Basic Computing
5
Notes
DATA COMMUNICATION AND
NETWORKING
You have learnt about operating system and their functions, in the previous lesson.
Now-a-days most people are using computers in their offices, homes, markets etc.
Modern technology facilitates people to connect, share, and communicate with
people sitting on one computer to another computer at different place. Data
communications refers to the transmission of this digital data between two or
more computers and a computer network or data network is a telecommunications
network that allows computers to exchange data. The physical connection
between networked computing devices is created using either a cable or wireless
device. Internet, for example, is a prime example of networked computers
communicating with each other using data transfer mechanisms. This lesson will
introduce you the various aspects of computer network and data communications.
OBJECTIVES
After reading this lesson, you will be able to:
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5.1 DATA COMMUNICATION
In our day to day life we communicate with people around us by using telephone,
mobile and letters. In the same way, computer can communicate or send information
to another computer system placed anywhere in the world. All this is possible
using some standard methods. These methods basically use electrical signals
Notes carried along a conductor, optical fibres or over wireless devices using satellites.
The most fundamental unit of exchange is in the form of bits (0s and 1s) between
two devices. Such information is encoded and then decoded at the beginning and
end of data communication channels so that it is easily understood by humans.
Information receiver
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5.1.2 Transmission Modes
There are three ways of transmitting data as shown in Fig. 5.2.
A B
Simplex A to B
A B
Notes
Half Duplex A to B or B to A
A B
Analog signal
Data is transmitted from one point to another point through electrical signals that
may be in digital or analog form.
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Analog Transmission: In this transmission, information changes continuously
and can take on many different values. It uses a continuous signal to transmit
voice, data, image or other information between two systems. For example,
telephones take sound vibrations and turn them into electrical vibrations of the
same shape before they are transmitted over traditional telephone lines.
Digital Transmission: In this transmission, information is characterized by
Notes discrete states. A light bulb, for example, is on or off. A digital clock represents the
time in one-minute intervals and does not change its numbers again until the next
minute. So the transmission signal is not continuous but discrete. So the digital
transmission is quite different from the analog one. The signal in digital transmission
is much simpler. It’s a series of 0s and 1s. So 1 (or On) is represented by peak of
the signal and 0 (or Off) is represented by bottom of the signal.
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2. Bandwidth: It is the range of frequencies that make up a signal. There are
three major classes of bandwidth that we refer to in telecommunications
networks: narrowband, wideband, and broadband.
A. Narrowband
It can accommodate up to 64Kbps, which is also known as the DS-0
(Digital Signal level 0) channel. This is the fundamental increment on
Notes
which digital networks were built. Initially, this metric of 64Kbps was
derived based on our understanding of what it would take to carry voice
in a digital manner through the network. If we combine these 64Kbps
channels together, we can achieve wideband transmission rates.
B. Wideband
Wideband is a transmission medium or channel that has a wider
bandwidth than the voice channel i. e., more than 64Kbps. This term is
usually contrasted with narrowband.
C. Broadband
The most modern bandwidth used has broadband capacities. Broadband
can be defined in different ways, depending on what part of the industry
you are talking about. Technically speaking, it has been defined as
being anything over 2Mbps. The term broadband refers to any type of
transmission technique that carries several data channels over a
common wire. For example, in home networking, broadband
constitutes any form of high-speed Internet access using this
transmission technique.
3. Transfer Rate : It is the amount of digital data that is moved from one
place to another in a given time. Usually in second’s time. The data transfer
rate can be viewed as the speed of travel of a given amount of data from
one place to another.
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2. Coaxial Cable: Coaxial cable consists of a stiff copper wire as the core,
surrounded by an insulating material. Higher data rates over longer distance
can be achieved with coaxial cable.
3. Optical Fiber: This media is superior in data handling and for security
purposes. Each fiber has an inner core of glass or plastic that conducts
light. It’s a flexible transparent fiber made using silica glass and has been
Notes drawn very thin. Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication
and computer networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables.
It is especially advantageous for long-distance communications, because
light propagates through the fiber with little attenuation compared to
electrical cables.
Unguided media employs an antenna for transmitting through air, vacuum, or
water. Unguided media includes –
1. Microwave Transmission: In microwave transmission the waves travel in
straight lines. It gives a much higher signal noise ratio, but the transmitting
and receiving antennas must be accurately aligned with each other.
2. Radio Waves: Radio waves can be broadcasted in all directions from the
source i.e., Omni-directional so that the transmitter and receiver do not
have to be carefully aligned physically.
3. Infrared Waves: Infrared waves are widely used for short-range
communication. The remote controls used on television, VCRs and stereos
use infrared communication.
4. Communication Satellite: In satellite communication, signal transferring
between the sender and receiver is done with the help of satellite. In this
process, the signal which is basically a beam of modulated microwaves is
sent towards the satellite. Then the satellite amplifies the signal and sends it
back to the receiver’s antenna present on the earth’s surface. So, all the
signal transferring is happening in space. Thus this type of communication
is known as space communication.
5. Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a WPAN technology. Accordingly its radio
characteristics include low power, short range, and medium transmission
speed. It effectively exchanges data over short range. Today the Bluetooth
market focuses on professional and field workers, who need to travel off-
site but still require access to corporate communication and information.
6. Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is a Local Area Network (LAN) - you will know more about
LAN, later in this lesson. Wi-Fi depends on a high energy intake to offer a
100 meter range and much higher transmission rate. This speed makes
Wi-Fi much more faster Bluetooth and similar to a high speed modem.
For large file transfer and quick Internet access, Wi-Fi outperforms
Bluetooth.
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5.4 COMPUTER NETWORK
A computer network is a group of computers which are interconnected to exchange
and share information. People can transfer or receive information at minimum cost
and time, using computer networks. The Internet is a computer network that
millions of people use every day. Other shared resources can include a printer or a
file server. The Internet itself can be considered as a computer network.
Notes
Data or information available at a central computer can be easily shared, updated
and accessed by all the other users connected to the central computer. Computer
networks from ISPs to Wi-Fi and cellular networks are a key part of the
information economy. These networks are the foundation for the Web. The
connection between computers can be done via cabling, most commonly the
Ethernet cable, or wirelessly through radio waves. Connected computers can
share resources, like access to the Internet, printers, file servers, and others. A
network is a multipurpose connection, which allows a single computer to do more.
Tel Line
Modem A
Computer A
Modem B
Computer B
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2. RJ45 Connector: RJ45 is a type of connector commonly used for Ethernet
networking. It looks similar to a telephone jack, but is slightly wider. Since
Ethernet cable have a RJ45 connector on each end, Ethernet cables are
sometimes also called RJ45 cables. The ‘RJ’ in RJ45 stands for ‘registered
jack’ since it is a standardized network interface. The ‘45’ simply refers to the
number of the interface standard.
Notes
3. Ethernet card: An Ethernet card is one kind of network adapter. These
adapters support the Ethernet standard for high-speed network connections
via cables. Ethernet cards are sometimes known as network interface cards
(NICs). Ethernet is the most commonly used local network technology
deployed with transmission speeds heading upwards into the gigabits range.
It is the most widely installed local area network (LAN) technology. Ethernet
is a link layer protocol in the TCP/IP stack, describing how networked devices
can format data for transmission to other network devices on the same network
segment, and how to put that data out on the network connection.
4. Routers: Routers are networking devices used to extend or segment networks
by forwarding packets from one logical network to another. A router is a
device that forwards data packets along networks. A router is connected to at
least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP’s
network. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more
networks connect. Routers are most often used in large Internet works that
use the TCP/IP protocol suite and for connecting TCP/IP hosts and local area
networks (LANs) to the Internet using dedicated leased lines.
5. Hub:A hub is the most basic networking device that connects multiple
computers or other network devices together. Unlike a network switch or
router, a network hub has no routing tables or intelligence on where to send
information and broadcasts all network data across each connection. Most
hubs can detect basic network
errors such as collisions, but Hubs can be of two types: Active hubs:
having all information broadcast to These devices not only function as
multiple ports can be a security risk regenerator, but also provide multiple
and cause bottlenecks. Hubs ports for several computers to connect
connect computer together in a in a network. Passive hubs: These
star topology network. Due to devices only provide multiple ports for
their design, they increase the several computers to connect to a
chances for collision. Hubs operate network.
in the physical layer of the ISO
model and have no intelligence. In the past network hubs were popular because
they were cheaper than a switch and router. Today, switches do not cost
much more than a hub, and are much better solution for any network.
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6. Switches: Switches are a special type of hub that offer an additional layer of
intelligence to basic physical layer repeater hubs. A switch does essentially
what a hub does, but more efficiently. By paying attention to the traffic that
comes across it, it can “learn” where particular addresses are. A switch must
be able to read the MAC address of each frame it receives. This information
allows switches to repeat incoming data frames only to the addressed computer.
Switches learn the location of the devices that they are connected to almost
Notes
instantaneously. The net result is that most network traffic only goes where it
needs to rather than to every port. On busy networks, this can make the
network much faster.
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colleges and private sector etc. There are many types of computer networks, some
of the important ones are described below:
1. Local Area Network (LAN) : Local Area Network is confined to small
geographical area, like in a building or group of buildings. Data transfer rate
of LAN is very high even faster than data transmitted through telephone
lines. It’s a group of computers all belonging to the same organization, and
Notes
are linked within a small geographic area using a network. At security purpose
level, it is not trust worthy because, for example, an employee of an
organization can change the important data of the organization. Due to its
small size, it is possible for one person to administrate a Local Area Network.
The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to Wide Area Networks
(WANs), include their usually higher data-transfer rates, smaller geographic
area, and lack of need for leased telecommunication lines.
LANs are typically used for single site where people need to share resources
among themselves but not with the rest of the outside world. Think of an
office building where everybody should be able to access files on a central
server or be able to print a document to one or more central printers. Those
tasks should be easy for everybody working in the same office, but you would
not want somebody just walking outside to be able to send a document to the
printer from their cell phone. If a local area network, or LAN, is entirely
wireless, it is referred to as a Wireless Local Area Network, or WLAN.
Printer
Workstations
File server
Fig. 5.6: Local Area Network (LAN)
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the city. It is commonly used by schools, campuses, hospitals, large universities,
large companies etc.
Notes
3. Wide Area Network (WAN) : Wide Area Network covers comparatively large
geographic area than LAN and MAN, for example an entire country. It uses
public network telephone lines and lease lines. This type of network can even
be spread over the world.WAN provides network to the LAN and MAN. This
is very speedy and expensive. Wide Area Networks use optic fiber as their
communication medium. Internet is best known example of public WAN.
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workstations and cables in the network; while logical topology is the way
information flows between different components. So network topology is the
arrangement of the various elements of a computer network. Details of network
topologies are given below and are represented in Fig. 5.9:
Notes
Bus Star
Tree
2. Star Topology: The star network is frequently used to connect one or more
small computers or peripheral devices to a large host computer or CPU. Each
computer on a star network communicates with a central hub that re-sends
the message either to all the computers or only to the destination computer.
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Every node has a dedicated connection to the central hub. It is fast with few
nodes and low network traffic. It is easy to troubleshoot and easy to setup.
But cost of installation is high and is expensive to use as well. If the host
computer fails, the entire network gets affected.
3. Token Ring: A token ring network is a Local Area Network (LAN) in which
all computers are connected in a ring or star topology and a bit- or token
passing scheme is used in order to prevent the collision of data between two Notes
computers that want to send messages at the same time. The token ring
protocol was developed by IBM. The access method used involves token
passing. In token ring, the computers are connected so that the signal travels
around the network from one computer to another in a logical ring.
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1. FTP : The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the most widely used protocol for
file transfer over the network. FTP uses TCP/IP for communication.
2. PPP : PPP means Point to Point Protocol. It is a much more developed protocol
than SLIP, in so far as it transfers additional data, better suited to data
transmission over the internet.
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4. HTTP : Hypertext is well organized documentation system which uses
hyperlinks to link the pages in the text documents. HTTP (i.e. Hypertext
Transfer Protocol) works on client server model.
5. HTTPS : Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a communication protocol
for secure communication over a computer network.
6. SLIP : Serial Line Internet Protocol is the result of the integration of modern
Notes
protocols prior to the suit of TCP/IP protocols. It is a simple Internet link
protocol conducting neither address or error control, this is the reason that it
is quickly becoming obsolete in comparison to PPP.
You will learn more detail about protocols in the next lesson.
5.7 MALWARES
Malware is short for malicious software and used as a single term to refer to virus,
spyware, worms etc. Some examples of malware risks are:
1. Virus : Virus is a program written to enter in your computer and damage/
alter your files/data. A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer.
Virus can also replicate themselves.
2. Spam : Spamming is a method of flooding the Internet with copies of the
same message. Most spams are commercial advertisements which are sent as
unwanted emails to users. Spams are also known as electronic junk mails.
3. Hacking: Computer hacking is the practice of modifying computer hardware
and software to accomplish goal outside of the creator’s original purpose. In
computer security, a hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses
in a computer system or computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a
multitude of reason such as profit, challenge, enjoyment or to evaluate those
weaknesses to assist in removing them.
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2. Antivirus : The word ‘antivirus’ refers to a group of features that are designed
to prevent unwanted and potentially malicious files from entering your
network. These features all work in different ways, which include checking
for a file, size, name, or type or for the presence of a virus or grayware
signature.
Cyber Ethics and IT : Cyber Ethics is the philosophic study of ethics pertaining
Notes to computers, encompassing user behaviour and what computers are programmed
to do, and how this affects individuals and society.
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TERMINAL EXERCISE
1. Where can Bluetooth device be useful?
2. What is RJ45 connector?
3. What is Ethernet and how does it work?
Notes
4. What do you mean by network topology? Write the names of different types
of network topologies.
5. What are the different types of networks? Write in detail.
6. Write a short note on TCP/IP, PPP, FTP protocols.
7. Write a short note on virus, spam, hacking.
8. What is antivirus software?
5.1
I. 1. d 2. a 3. a
II. 1. False 2. True
5.2
1. File transfer
2. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
3. Virus
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