MALTEPE UNIVERSITY

Electrical-Electronics Engineering Department

EE 431 Communication Networks
2nd Midterm Examination
SOLUTIONS
Academic year 2021-2022
Semester Fall
Date December 22, 2021 Wednesday
Place Blackboard Learning System
Exam duration 120 minutes (10:00-12:00)
Instructor Asst. Prof. Dr. B. Demir Öner

Question 1 – Serial Asynchronous Transmission (15 points)

Consider the seven bit ASCII coded character 0 1 1 1 0 1 0. Here, right most bit is the least
significant bit (LSB), and the left most bit is the most significant bit (MSB). Assume that, “0” bits are
transmitted as zero volt levels, and “1” bits are transmitted as +3 volt levels. For the given ASCII
coded character,
a) If even parity control is used in transmission, what must be the value and the bit position of the
parity bit (P)? Write the ASCII coded character with the even parity bit, and indicate the LSB,
MSB, and the parity bit (P). (3 p.)
b) The ASCII coded character with the even parity bit is transmitted using the asynchronous serial
transmission method. Draw the signal levels corresponding ASCII coded signal, the idle states of the
line, necessary control bits, LSB bit, MSB, and the P bit, and indicate these on your drawing. (8 p.)
c) Calculate the percent transmission efficiency in asynchronous serial transmission of an ASCII
character. Explain the formula you used. ( 4 p.)
Answer
a) 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 MSB: Most Significant Bit
LSB : Least Significant Bit
MSB LSB P : Parity bit
P (3p.)

b) ASCII coded character

+3 V
(8p.)
0V 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1

Line Start LSB MSB P Stop Line

idle bit bit idle

c) In asynchronous serial transmission, a transmitted character has 7 information bits and 3 control bits (1
parity bit, 1 start, and 1 stop bit). A total of 10 bits are used to transmit a character.
B 7
Transmission efficiency  i  = 0,70 = %70 (2p.)
Bt 10
Number of information bits in a character
Transmission efficiency  (2p.)
Total number of bits needed to send a character

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Question 2 – Comparison of Serial Synchronous and Asynchronous Transmission (12 points)
Compare the serial synchronous and asynchronous transfer methods with respect to the following features.
Construct a table as shown below and fill in the blanks with the appropriate feature.
a) Which one is suitable for constant bandwidth channels and which one for variable (or dynamic)
bandwidth channels?
b) Which one is subjected to waste of bandwidth and which one uses the bandwidth efficiently?
c) Define “transmission efficiency” and state which one has higher transmission efficiency; synchronous
transmission or asynchronous transmission.

Answer
Synchronous Asynchronous
Feature Transmission Transmission)
a Bandwidth Constant Variable (or dynamic)
b Waste of bandwidth No Yes
c Transmission efficiency High Low

Question 3 – Undesired Effects in Signal Transmission (15 points)

a) Which kind of the electrical noise source cannot be completely eliminated?
b) At what temperature thermal noise becomes zero? Write in degrees Kelvin and in degree Centigrade.
c) Which of the following items plays the most important role in signal transmission?
(1) Signal power, (2) Noise power or (3) the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
d) What is the relationship between the SNR level of the received signal and the performance of the
communication system.
e) In signal transmission, if the bandwidth of the system is smaller than the bandwidth of the transmitted
signal, which unwanted effect occurs on the received signal? Write the name of the undesired effect.
Answer
a) Internal noise.
b) At absolute zero temperature: Zero Kelvin = - 273 oC.
c) SNR
d) SNR level of the received signal and the system performance are directly proportional.
e) Distortion or waveshape deformation.
Question 4 – Transparent Bridges (16 points)
Answer the following questions about transparent bridges.
a) Which layers of the OSI reference model do they perform their tasks? Write the layer number and
layer name.
b) How do they establish their address tables? What is this method of learning called?
c) If the destination address of the frame to be transmitted is not in the address table, what method does it
apply? What is this method called?
d) Can these bridges be used to interconnect different LANs using different frame structures? Give brief
reason.
Answer
a) They perform OSI layer 1 (Physical Layer) and OSI layer 2 (Data Link Layer) functions.
b) As the frames arrive, it constructs an address table by registering the source address and the
identification number of the LAN on which the frame is issued, and updates this table periodically.
This method is called backward learning.
c) If the destination address is not present in its address table, the bridge forwards the frame to all LANs
except the LAN to which the source machine is attached. This method is called flooding.
d) They cannot interconnect different LANs using different frame structures. Because they don’t translate
frames.
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Question 5 – LAN Switches (16 points)
Answer the following questions about LAN switches.
a) What other names are given to them? (2p)
b) Which OSI layer functions do they perform? (3p)
c) Do they interconnect computers, LANs, bridges or routers? (3p)
d) What is “cut-through switching” method that is used in LAN switches? What is its advantages? (4p)
e) How do they learn the location of the computers connected to the network and thus construct their address
tables? Write the name of the learning method (forward learning or backward learning) (4p)
Answer
a) “Switching hub” or “layer 2 switch”. (2p)
b) Layer 1 and layer 2 functions. (3p)
c) LAN switches establishes interconnection between computers and between LANs. (3p)
d) As soon as the destination address of the frame arrives at its input port (before the rest of the frame has not
arrived yet), LAN switch buffers the destination address and starts to send the frame to the proper output (if
the output is free). This type of switching is called “cut-through switching”. Thus, the switching rate
increases and the incidence of LAN switch input buffer overflow decreases. (4p)
e) Most LAN switches use the “transparent bridging” method as used by the transparent bridges to
determine the locations of the computers connected to the network as they send frames and so construct
their address tables. This is called “backward learning”. (4p)

Question 6 – Djikstra’s Algorithm (26 points)

In the computer network given in Figure 1, both way delays
1
between the routers are given in milliseconds. 2 3
a) Apply Dijkstra’s algorithm for Router 1. In applying the 4 4
algorithm, use the below given table to write the labels
showing the minimum delay (Dn) value and the 1 1 5 1 6
corresponding route definition from Router 1 to all other
routers for each iteration. (Label: Minimum delay, route 2 1
5
definition). (20p) 4 5 1
b) Briefly explain when the algorithm ends. (3p)
c) Indicate which labels will be stored in the routing table of 8
Router 1. (3p)
Note: The values shown adjacent to the links between the Figure 1
routers in Figure 1 show the delays in both directions.
Answer
a) Dijkstra’s algorithm for Router 1. (20p)
Iterations M D2 , Route D3 , Route D4 , Route D5 , Route D6 , Route
1 {1} 4, 1-2 , - 2, 1-4 8, 1-5 , -
2 {1, 4} 3, 1-4-2 7, 1-4-3 “ 7, 1-4-5 , -
3 {1, 4, 2} “ 4, 1-4-2-3 “ “ , -
4 {1, 4, 2, 3} “ “ “ 5, 1-4-2-3-5 8, 1-4-2-3-6
5 {1, 4, 2, 3, 5} “ “ “ “ 6, 1-4-2-5-6
6 {1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6} “ “ “ “ “

b) The Dijkstra’s algorithm ends when all routers are added to set M. (3p)
c) The labels obtained at the last iteration of the algorithm are stored in the routing table of Router 1. (3p)

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