UNIT 1

Computer
Network

Reference: Forouzan, B. A. (2012). Data Communications and Networking-Global Edition..

Table of Content
• Introduction to Data Communication
• Need of Data Communication
• Data Communication
• Fundamental characteristics for successful data communication
• Components of communication
• Components of data communication
• Data representation
• Data flow
• Simplex
• Half duplex
• Full duplex
• Introduction to Network
• Network criteria
• Physical structure
• Type of connection
• Mesh
• Star
• Bus
• ring
Table of Content
• Network Type
• LAN
• Isolated LAN in past
• LAN with Switch
• WAN
• Point to Point WAN
• Switched WAN
• MAN
• Wireless technology
• Wireless LAN
• Internetwork
• Internet
• Intranet
• Extranet
• References
Introduction to Data Communication
• It includes two terms i.e.,
• Data – information, facts, materials etc.
• Communication – sharing, it can be local or remote.

It means if there is communications some information must shared.

Also, the communication can be broadly categories in two different categories:

Local – face to face. A person standing in front of another person and talking.
Remote – over a distance like communication on emails, chatting on messenger etc.
• The term telecommunication is the best example for remote communication.
Actually “tele” is a “Greek” word is use for “far”.
• For example television, telegraphy, telephone etc.
NOTE: In data communication the term “data” refers to the information presented in
whatever form is agreed upon by the parties creating and using the data.
Need of Data Communication in different domains:
If we compare the todays scenario of data communication in different domains with before
six to seven decades ago it is very much changed due to intelligent systems and the way of
communications.
Business: business decision have to be made more quickly, and the decision makes require
immediate access to accurate information. No need to wait for a week or month for the same.
Political and Social: people can share their views with other people around the world.
Medical: a patient can consult his/her medical treatment to the specialist working in
another country.
Research: scholars from different countries can share their result and can work
collaboratively with peoples in different country.
DATA COMMUNICATIONS
Data communication is the sharing of information/data between two or more devices using
some form of transmission medium for example wire cable.
For data communication to occur, the communication devices must be part of a
communication system made up of a combination of hardware(physical device) and software
(programs).
FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERSTIC FOR SUCCESSFUL DATA
COMMUNICATION
1. Delivery: the system must deliver the data to correct destination. Data must be received
by the intended device or user and only by that device or user.
2. Accuracy: the system must deliver the data accurately. The data that have been altered
in transmission and left uncorrected are unusable.
3. Timeliness: the system must deliver the data in timely manner. Data deliver late are
useless. Like in television need real-time transmission.
4. Jitter: jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is the uneven delay in the
delivery of audio or video.
Components of Communication
For making communication successful there should be some fundamental part of
communication for example when two peoples are communication face to face then the
minimum requirement:
1. Person A : want to communicate with another person.
2. Person B : is the another person who agreed to communicate with person A.
3. Medium : Air is the medium which takes message from person A to person B or
vice-versa.
4. Information : when both of them are talking some information exchange takes
place.
5. Language : both (person A and person B) should know any common language for
successful communication.
 Talking

PERSON A PERSON B

Note:
1. Person A and Person B both having communication bubble it means both are
communicating.
2. There is Air in between as communication medium.
3. They are agreed on same language. This agreement is protocol
Component of Data Communication
There are five components of data communication
Explanation…
1. Message. The message is the information (data) to be communicated. Popular forms of
information include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.
2. Sender. The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset, video camera, and so on.
3. Receiver. The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset, television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium. The transmission medium is the physical path by which a
message travels from sender to receiver. Some examples of transmission media include
twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, and radio waves.
5. Protocol. A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It represents an
agreement between the communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be
connected but not communicating, just as a person speaking French cannot be understood
by a person who speaks only Japanese.
Data Representation
Information today comes in different forms such as text, numbers, images, audio, and video.
1. Text
• In data communications, text is represented as a bit pattern, a sequence of bits (0s or
1s).
• Different sets of bit patterns have been designed to represent text symbols. Each set is
called a code, and the process of representing symbols is called coding.
• Today, the prevalent coding system is called Unicode, which uses 32 bits to represent
a symbol or character used in any language in the world.
• The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), developed
some decades ago in the United States, now constitutes the first 127 characters in
Unicode and is also referred to as Basic Latin.
2. Numbers
• Numbers are also represented by bit patterns. However, a code such as ASCII is not
used to represent numbers; the number is directly converted to a binary number to
simplify mathematical operations.
Data Representation …
3. Images
• Images are also represented by bit patterns. In its simplest form, an image is composed of
a matrix of pixels (picture elements), where each pixel is a small dot.
• The size of the pixel depends on the resolution. For example, an image can be divided into
1000 pixels or 10,000 pixels. In the second case, there is a better representation of the
image (better resolution), but more memory is needed to store the image.
• After an image is divided into pixels, each pixel is assigned a bit pattern. The size and the
value of the pattern depend on the image. For an image made of only black and white dots
(e.g., a chessboard), a 1-bit pattern is enough to represent a pixel. If an image is not made
of pure white and pure black pixels, we can increase the size of the bit pattern to include
gray scale. For example, to show four levels of gray scale, we can use 2-bit patterns. A
black pixel can be represented by 00, a dark gray pixel by 01, a light gray pixel by 10, and
a white pixel by 11.
• There are several methods to represent color images. One method is called RGB, so called
because each color is made of a combination of three primary colors: red, green, and blue.
The intensity of each color is measured, and a bit pattern is assigned to it. Another method
is called YCM, in which a color is made of a combination of three other primary colors:
yellow, cyan, and magenta.
Data Representation …
4. Audio
• Audio refers to the recording or broadcasting of sound or music. Audio is by nature
different from text, numbers, or images. It is continuous, not discrete. Even when we
use a microphone to change voice or music to an electric signal, we create a
continuous signal.
5. Video
• Video refers to the recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie. Video can either
be produced as a continuous entity (e.g., by a TV camera), or it can be a combination
of images, each a discrete entity, arranged to convey the idea of motion.
Data Flow
Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex
Simplex
• In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street.
• Only one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive.
• Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex devices. The keyboard can only
introduce input; the monitor can only accept output.
• The simplex mode can use the entire capacity of the channel to send data in one direction.
Half-Duplex
• In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time. When
one device is sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa.
• The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road with traffic allowed in both directions. When cars
are traveling in one direction, cars going the other way must wait.
• In a half-duplex transmission, the entire capacity of a channel is taken over by whichever of the
two devices is transmitting at the time. Walkie-talkies and CB (citizens band) radios are both
half-duplex systems.
• The half-duplex mode is used in cases where there is no need for communication in both
directions at the same time; the entire capacity of the channel can be utilized for each direction.
Full-Duplex
• In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations can transmit and receive
simultaneously.
• The full-duplex mode is like a two-way street with traffic flowing in both directions at the
same time.
• In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction share the capacity of the link with
signals going in the other direction. This sharing can occur in two ways: Either the link
must contain two physically separate transmission paths, one for sending and the other for
receiving; or the capacity of the channel is divided between signals traveling in both
directions.
• One common example of full-duplex communication is the telephone network. When two
people are communicating by a telephone line, both can talk and listen at the same time.
• The full-duplex mode is used when communication in both directions is required all the
time. The capacity of the channel, however, must be divided between the two directions.
Introduction to Network
• A network is the interconnection of a set of devices capable of communication.
• A device can be a host (or an end system as it is sometimes called) such as a large
computer, desktop, laptop, workstation, cellular phone, or security system.
• A device can also be known as a connecting device such as a router, which connects the
network to other networks, a switch, which connects devices together, a modem
(modulator-demodulator), which changes the form of data, and so on.
• These devices in a network are connected using wired or wireless transmission media such
as cable or air.
• When we connect two computers at home using a plug-and-play router, we have created a
network, although very small.
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.
• Transit time is the amount of time required for a message to travel from one device to
another. Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry and a response.
• 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.
• 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.
Network Criteria …
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.
Physical Structure
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. For
communication to occur, two devices must be connected in some way to the same link at
the same time.
• 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 we
change television channels by infrared remote control, we are establishing a point-to-point
connection between the remote control and the television’s control system.
Type of Connection …

Multipoint
• A multipoint (also called multidrop) 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.
Types of connection …
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.
Physical Topology…
1. Mesh Topology
• In a mesh topology, every device has a dedicated point-to-point link to every other device.
The term dedicated means that the link carries traffic only between the two devices it
connects.
• To find the number of physical links in a fully connected mesh network with n nodes, we
first consider that each node must be connected to every other node. Node 1 must be
connected to n – 1 nodes, node 2 must be connected to n – 1 nodes, and finally node n must
be connected to n – 1 nodes. We need n (n – 1) physical links. However, if each physical link
allows communication in both directions (duplex mode), we can divide the number of links
by 2. In other words, we can say that in a mesh topology, we need n (n – 1) / 2 duplex-mode
links.
• To accommodate that many links, every device on the network must have n – 1 input/output
(I/O) ports to be connected to the other n – 1 stations.
Advantages of Mesh Topology
A mesh offers several advantages over other network topologies.
• The use of dedicated links guarantees that each connection can carry its own data load,
thus eliminating the traffic problems that can occur when links must be shared by multiple
devices.
• A mesh topology is robust. If one link becomes unusable, it does not incapacitate the
entire system.
• There is the advantage of privacy or security. When every message travels along a
dedicated line, only the intended recipient sees it. Physical boundaries prevent other users
from gaining access to messages.
• Point-to-point links make fault identification and fault isolation easy. Traffic can be routed
to avoid links with suspected problems. This facility enables the network manager to
discover the precise location of the fault and aids in finding its cause and solution
A fully-connected mesh topology connecting 5 devices
Disadvantages of Mesh Topology
• The main disadvantages of a mesh are related to the amount of cabling and the number of
I/O ports required.
• Every device must be connected to every other device, installation and reconnection are
difficult.
• The sheer bulk of the wiring can be greater than the available space (in walls, ceilings, or
floors) can accommodate.
• The hardware required to connect each link (I/O ports and cable) can be prohibitively
expensive.
For these reasons a mesh topology is usually implemented in a limited fashion, for example,
as a backbone connecting the main computers of a hybrid network that can include several
other topologies.
One practical example of a mesh topology is the connection of telephone regional offices
in which each regional office needs to be connected to every other regional office.
2. Star Topology
• In a star topology, each device has a dedicated point-to-point link only to a central
controller, usually called a hub.
• The devices are not directly linked to one another. Unlike a mesh topology, a star topology
does not allow direct traffic between devices.
• The controller acts as an exchange: If one device wants to send data to another, it sends
the data to the controller, which then relays the data to the other connected device.
• The star topology is used in local-area networks (LANs)
Advantages of Star Topology
• A star topology is less expensive than a mesh topology. In a star, each device needs only
one link and one I/O port to connect it to any number of others. This factor also makes it
easy to install and reconfigure.
• Far less cabling needs to be housed, and additions, moves, and deletions involve only one
connection: between that device and the hub.
• It include robustness. If one link fails, only that link is affected. All other links remain
active. This factor also lends itself to easy fault identification and fault isolation.
• As long as the hub is working, it can be used to monitor link problems and bypass
defective links.
Disadvantages of Star topology
• One big disadvantage of a star topology is the dependency of the whole topology on one
single point, the hub. If the hub goes down, the whole system is dead.
• Although a star requires far less cable than a mesh, each node must be linked to a central
hub. For this reason, often more cabling is required in a star than in some other topologies
(such as ring or bus).
A star topology connecting 4 stations
3. Bus Topology
• Mesh and Star topologies are the examples of point-to-point connections. A bus topology,
on the other hand, is multipoint.
• One long cable acts as a backbone to link all the devices in a Network.
• Nodes are connected to the bus cable by drop lines and taps.
• A drop line is a connection running between the device and the main cable.
• A tap is a connector that either splices into the main cable or punctures the sheathing of a
cable to create a contact with the metallic core.
• As a signal travels along the backbone, some of its energy is transformed into heat.
Therefore, it becomes weaker and weaker as it travels farther and farther. For this reason
there is a limit on the number of taps a bus can support and on the distance between those
taps.
Advantages of Bus topology
• It include ease of installation.
• Backbone cable can be laid along the most efficient path, then connected to the nodes by
drop lines of various lengths. In this way, a bus uses less cabling than mesh or star
topologies.
• In a star, for example, four network devices in the same room require four lengths of cable
reaching all the way to the hub. In a bus, this redundancy is eliminated. Only the backbone
cable stretches through the entire facility. Each drop line has to reach only as far as the
nearest point on the backbone.
Disadvantages of Bus topology
• Difficult reconnection and fault isolation. A bus is usually designed to be optimally
efficient at installation. It can therefore be difficult to add new devices.
• Signal reflection at the taps can cause degradation in quality. This degradation can be
controlled by limiting the number and spacing of devices connected to a given length of
cable.
• Adding new devices may require modification or replacement of the backbone. In
addition, a fault or break in the bus cable stops all transmission, even between devices on
the same side of the problem.
• The damaged area reflects signals back in the direction of origin, creating noise in both
directions.
A bus topology connecting three stations
Ring Topology
• In a ring topology, each device has a dedicated point-to-point connection with only the
two devices on either side of it.
• A signal is passed along the ring in one direction, from device to device, until it reaches its
destination.
• Each device in the ring incorporates a repeater. When a device receives a signal intended
for another device, its repeater regenerates the bits and passes them along.
Advantages of Ring Topology
• A ring is relatively easy to install and reconfigure. Each device is linked to only its
immediate neighbors (either physically or logically).
• To add or delete a device requires changing only two connections.
• The only constraints are media and traffic considerations (maximum ring length and
number of devices). In addition, fault isolation is simplified.
• Generally, in a ring a signal is circulating at all times. If one device does not receive a
signal within a specified period, it can issue an alarm. The alarm alerts the network
operator to the problem and its location.
Disadvantages of Ring Topology
• Unidirectional traffic can be a disadvantage. In a simple ring, a break in the ring (such as a
disabled station) can disable the entire network. This weakness can be solved by using a
dual ring or a switch capable of closing off the break.
A ring topology connecting six stations
Network types
In day-today life we are using different types of network without having any knowledge
about them. It is very difficult to distinguish one network to another and is very confusing.
Technically it is possible on the basis of certain criteria like size, geographical coverage and
type of ownership. This section contains three types of network LAN, WAN, MAN.
1. Local Area Network (LAN)
• A local area network (LAN) is usually privately owned and connects some hosts in a
single office, building, or campus.
• Depending on the needs of an organization, a LAN can be as simple as two PCs and a
printer in someone’s home office, or it can extend throughout a company and include
audio and video devices.
• Each host in a LAN has an identifier, an address, that uniquely defines the host in the
LAN. A packet sent by a host to another host carries both the source host’s and the
destination host’s addresses.
An isolated LAN in past
In the past, all hosts in a network were connected through a common cable, which meant that
a packet sent from one host to another was received by all hosts. The intended recipient kept
the packet; the others dropped the packet.
LAN with switch (today)
• Today, most LANs use a smart connecting switch, which is able to recognize the
destination address of the packet and guide the packet to its destination without sending it
to all other hosts.
• The switch alleviates the traffic in the LAN and allows more than one pair to
communicate with each other at the same time if there is no common source and
destination among them.
2. Wide Area Network (WAN)
• A wide area network (WAN) is also an interconnection of devices capable of
communication. However, there are some differences between a LAN and a WAN.
• A LAN is normally limited in size, spanning an office, a building, or a campus; a WAN
has a wider geographical span, spanning a town, a state, a country, or even the world.
• A LAN interconnects hosts; a WAN interconnects connecting devices such as switches,
routers, or modems.
• A LAN is normally privately owned by the organization that uses it; a WAN is normally
created and run by communication companies and leased by an organization that uses it.
• WAN can further categories in two different parts.
• Point to Point WAN
• Switched WAN
A Point-to-Point WAN
A point-to-point WAN is a network that connects two communicating devices through a
transmission media (cable or air).
A Switched WAN
• A switched WAN is a network with more than two ends. A switched WAN, as we will see
shortly, is used in the backbone of global communication today.
• A switched WAN is a combination of several point-to-point WANs that are connected by
switches
3. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• MAN or Metropolitan area Network covers a larger area than that of a LAN and smaller
area as compared to WAN.
• MAN is a network that is utilized across multiple buildings. A MAN is much larger than
the standard LAN( local area network), but is not as large as a WAN (wide area network).
• A MAN is commonly used in school campuses and large companies with multiple
buildings.
• MAN is designed for customers who need a high-speed connectivity. Speeds of MAN
ranges in terms of Mbps. It’s hard to design and maintain a Metropolitan Area Network.
NOTE:
• There are many advantages of LAN over MAN and WAN, such as LAN’s provide
excellent reliability, high data transmission rate, they can easily be managed, and
shares peripheral devices too.
• Local Area Network cannot cover cities or towns and for that Metropolitan Area
Network is needed, which can connect city or a group of cities together.
• Further, for connecting Country or a group of Countries one requires Wide Area
Network.
An internetwork made of two LANs and one WAN
A heterogeneous network made of WANs and LANs
Wireless technology
• Wireless communication is one of the fastest-growing technologies.
• The demand for connecting devices without the use of cables is increasing everywhere.
• Wireless LANs can be found on college campuses, in office buildings, and in many public
areas.
• Before the discuss a specific protocol related to wireless LANs, let us talk about them in
general.
Architectural Comparison (LAN and Wireless LAN)

• Let us first compare the architecture of wired and wireless LANs to give some idea of
what we need to look for when we study wireless LANs.
Connection of a wired LAN and a wireless LAN to other networks
Internetworks
• An internetwork can be defined as two or more computer networks (typically Local Area
Networks LAN) which are connected together, using Network Routers.
• Each network in an Internetwork has its own Network Address, which is different from
other networks in the Internetwork. Network Address is used to identify the networks
inside an Internetwork.
• Internetwork allows different users at different geographical locations of an organization
to share data, resources and to communicate. Modern businesses cannot even function
without Internetwork. Three fundamental internetwork are as follows:
• Internet
• Intranet and
• Extranet
Internet
• Internet: Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible computer network of interconnected
computer networks (internetwork) that transmit data using the standard Internet Protocol
(IP). Largest Internetwork in the world is Internet.
• The terms World Wide Web (WWW) and Internet are not the same.
• The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires,
fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc.
• The World Wide Web is one of the services accessible via the Internet, along with various
others including email, file sharing, remote administration, video streaming, online
gaming etc.
• World Wide Web (WWW) is a collection of interconnected documents and other
resources, linked together by hyperlinks and URLs.
• Most of these interconnected documents in World Wide Web (WWW) are created using a
markup programming language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language).
The Internet today
Accessing the Internet
• The Internet today is an internetwork that allows any user to become part of it.
• The user, however, needs to be physically connected to an ISP.
• The physical connection is normally done through a point-to-point WAN.
Internet History
Early History
• There were some communication networks, such as telegraph and telephone networks,
before 1960.
• These networks were suitable for constant-rate communication at that time, which means
that after a connection was made between two users, the encoded message (telegraphy) or
voice (telephony) could be exchanged.
• A computer network, on the other hand, should be able to handle bursty data, which
means data received at variable rates at different times.
• The world needed to wait for the packet-switched network to be invented.
Birth of Internet
• In 1972, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, both of whom were part of the core ARPANET group,
collaborated on what they called the Internetting Project.
• They wanted to link dissimilar networks so that a host on one network could communicate
with a host on another.
• There were many problems to overcome: diverse packet sizes, diverse interfaces, and
diverse transmission rates, as well as differing reliability requirements.
• Cerf and Kahn devised the idea of a device called a gateway to serve as the intermediary
hardware to transfer data from one network to another.
• Today, we witness a rapid growth both in the infrastructure and new applications. The
Internet today is a set of pier networks that provide services to the whole world. What has
made the Internet so popular is the invention of new applications.
Intranet
• An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise.
• Typical intranet for a business organization consists of many interlinked local area
networks (LAN) and use any Wide Area Network (WAN) technology for network
connectivity.
• The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources
among employees.
• Intranet is a private Internetwork, which is usually created and maintained by a private
organization.
• The content available inside Intranet are intended only for the members of that
organization (usually employees of a company).
Extranet
• An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's intranet that is extended to users outside
the company like suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other business associates.
• Extranet is required for normal day-to-day business activities.
• For example, placing purchase order to registered vendors, billing & invoices, payments
related activities, joint venture related activities, product brochures for partners,
discounted price lists for partners etc.
References
• Forouzan, B. A. (2012). Data Communications and Networking-Global Edition..
• https://www.omnisecu.com/basic-networking/internet-intranet-and-extranet.php
• www.google.com