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.
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.
Characteristics of Data Communication
The effectiveness of any data communications system depends upon the following
four fundamental characteristics:
1. Delivery: The data should be delivered to the correct destination and correct user.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Jitter: It is the variation in the packet arrival time. Uneven Jitter may affect the
timeliness of data being transmitted.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 1

Components of Data Communication

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

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.

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

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 2

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.

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

DATA FLOW

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

1. Simplex

2. Half Duplex

3. Full Duplex

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 3

Simplex

 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.
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 (as shown in
figure above.)
Example: A walkie-talkie.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 4

 Full duplex

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

COMPUTER NETWORK

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 of the data communication
process, should security of the data ,performance by achieving higher
throughput and smaller delay times

Categories of Network

Networks are categorized on the basis of their size. The three basic categories of
computer networks are:
A. 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 floor
of a building or a LAN could be a network consisting of the computers in a entire
building.

B. Wide Area Network (WAN) is made of all the networks in a (geographically)

large area. The network in the entire state of Maharashtra could be a WAN
CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 5
C. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is of size between LAN & WAN. It is
larger than LAN but smaller than WAN. It may comprise the entire network in a city
like Mumbai.

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.

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.
CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 6
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.

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 an body that is officially
recognized.

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)

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 7

  Examples of Forums

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

 Examples of Regulatory Agencies:

1. Federal Communications Committee (FCC)

Network Criteria
 A network must be able to meet a certain number of criteria. The most
important of these are performance, reliability, and security.

Performance
 Performance can be measured in many ways, including transit time and
response time.
1. Transit time is the amount of time required for a message to travel from
one device to another.
2. Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry and a response.
3. The performance of a network depends on a number of factors,
including the number of users, the type of transmission medium, the
capabilities of the connected hardware, and the efficiency of the
software.
4. Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics:
throughput and delay
We often need more throughput and less delay. However, these two
criteria are often contradictory. If we try to send more data to the
network, we may increase throughput but we increase the delay because
of traffic congestion in the network.
 Reliability:
In addition to accuracy of delivery, network reliability is measured by
the frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to recover from a failure,
and the network's robustness in a catastrophe.
 Security:
Network security issues include protecting data from unauthorized
access, protecting data from damage and development, and
implementing policies and procedures for recovery from breaches and
data losses.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 8

 Physical Structures

Before discussing networks, we need to define some network attributes.

Type of Connection
 A network is two or more devices connected through links. A link is a
communications pathway that transfers data from one device to another.
There are two possible types of connections: point-to-point and multipoint.
Point-to-Point
 A point-to-point connection provides a dedicated link between two devices.
The entire capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between those
two devices.
 Most point-to-point connections use an actual length of wire or cable to
connect the two ends, but other options, such as microwave or satellite
links, are also possible When you change television channels by infrared
remote control, you are establishing a point-to-point connection between
the remote control and the television's control system.
Multipoint
A multipoint (also called multi-drop) connection is one in which more than two
specific devices share a single link In a multipoint environment, the capacity of
the channel is shared, either spatially or temporally. If several devices can use the
link simultaneously, it is a spatially shared connection. If users must take turns, it
is a timeshared connection.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 9

Physical Topology
 The term physical topology refers to the way in which a network is laid out
physically.
 Two or more devices connect to a link; two or more links form a topology. The
topology of a network is the geometric representation of the relationship of all
the links and linking devices (usually called nodes) to one another.
 There are four basic topologies possible: mesh, star, bus, and ring

MESH:
 A mesh topology is the one where every node is connected to every other node
in the network.

 A mesh topology can be a full mesh topology or a partially connected mesh

topology.
 In a full mesh topology, every computer in the network has a connection to
each of the other computers in that network.
 The number of connections in this network can be calculated using the
following formula (n is the number of computers in the network): n(n-1)/2
 In a partially connected mesh topology, at least two of the computers in the
network have connections to multiple other computers in that network.
 It is an inexpensive way to implement redundancy in a network. In the event
that one of the primary computers or connections in the network fails, the rest
of the network continues to operate normally.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 10

Advantages of a mesh topology
1. Can handle high amounts of traffic, because multiple devices can transmit data
simultaneously.
2. A failure of one device does not cause a break in the network or transmission
of data.
3. Adding additional devices does not disrupt data transmission between other
devices.
Disadvantages of a mesh topology

1. The cost to implement is higher than other network topologies, making it a less
desirable option.
2. Building and maintaining the topology is difficult and time consuming.
3. The chance of redundant connections is high, which adds to the high costs and
potential for reduced efficiency.

STAR:

 A star network star topology is one of the most common network setups. In
this configuration, very node connects to a central network device, like a hub,
switch, or computer.
 The central network device acts as a server and the peripheral devices act as
clients . Depending on the type of network card used in each computer of the
star topology, a coaxial cable or a RJ-45 network cable is used to connect
computers together.
Advantages of star topology
1. Centralized management of the network, through the use of the central
computer, hub, or switch.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 11

 2. Easy to add another computer to the network. If one computer on the network
fails, the rest of the network continues to function normally.
3. The star topology is used in local-area networks (LANs), High-speed LANs
often use a star topology with a central hub .
Disadvantages of star topology
1. Can have a higher cost to implement, especially when using a switch or router
as the central network device.
2. The central network device determines the performance and number of nodes
the network can handle.
3. If the central computer, hub, or switch fails, the entire network goes down and
all computers are disconnected from the network

BUS:

 A line topology, bus topology is a network setup in which each computer and
network device are connected to a single cable or backbone
.
Advantages of bus topology
1. It works well when you have a small network.
2. It's the easiest network topology for connecting computers or peripherals in a
linear fashion.
3. It requires less cable length than a star topology.
Disadvantages of bus topology
1. It can be difficult to identify the problems if the whole network goes down.
2. It can be hard to troubleshoot individual device issues.
3. Bus topology is not great for large networks.
4. Terminators are required for both ends of the main cable.
5. Additional devices slow the network down.
6. If a main cable is damaged, the network fails or splits into two.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 12

RING:

 A ring topology is a network configuration in which device connections create

a circular data path.
 In a ring network, packets of data travel from one device to the next until they
reach their destination.
 Most ring topologies allow packets to travel only in one direction, called a
unidirectional ring network.
 Others permit data to move in either direction, called bidirectional .
 The major disadvantage of a ring topology is that if any individual connection
in the ring is broken, the entire network is affected.
 Ring topologies may be used in either local area networks (LANs) or wide
area networks (WANs).
Advantages of ring topology
1. All data flows in one direction, reducing the chance of packet collisions.
2. A network server is not needed to control network connectivity between each
workstation.
3. Data can transfer between workstations at high speeds.
4. Additional workstations can be added without impacting performance of
the network.
Disadvantages of ring topology
1. All data being transferred over the network must pass through each
workstation on the network, which can make it slower than a star topology
2. The entire network will be impacted if one workstation shuts down.
3. The hardware needed to connect each workstation to the network is more
expensive than Ethernet cards and hubs/switches.

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 13

Hybrid Topology

A network can be hybrid. For example, we can have a main star topology with each
branch connecting several stations in a bus topology

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Differentiate between data & information. What are the different forms in which
data can be represented?
2. What are the characteristics of data communication?
3. What are the components of a data communication system?
4. Define computer network and categorize.
5. Explain protocols in details
6. What are the criteria of computer network?
7. What is protocol ?
8. What is standards?
9. How to measure the performance of computer
10. What is topology ?
11. What are the advantages and disadvantage of computer network?
12. What are the different types of data flow ?
13. What are the types of transmission media ?
14. what is through put of network ?
15. what is delay in network ?

CN Basic Unit I (TACT,TAT) By Dakshya Prasad Pati mob. 8917240314 Page 14