Data Communication

The distance over which data moves within a computer may vary from a few thousandths of an inch, as is the case
within a single IC chip, to as much as several feet along the backplane of the main circuit board. Over such small
distances, digital data may be transmitted as direct, two-level electrical signals over simple copper conductors. Except
for the fastest computers, circuit designers are not very concerned about the shape of the conductor or the analog
characteristics of signal transmission.

Frequently, however, data must be sent beyond the local circuitry that constitutes a computer. In many cases, the
distances involved may be enormous. Unfortunately, as the distance between the source of a message and its
destination increases, accurate transmission becomes increasingly difficult. This results from the electrical distortion of
signals traveling through long conductors, and from noise added to the signal as it propagates through a transmission
medium. Although some precautions must be taken for data exchange within a computer, the biggest problems occur
when data is transferred to devices outside the computer's circuitry. In this case, distortion and noise can become so
severe that information is lost.

Data Communications concerns the transmission of digital messages to devices external to the message source.
"External" devices are generally thought of as being independently powered circuitry that exists beyond the chassis of a
computer or other digital message source. As a rule, the maximum permissible transmission rate of a message is
directly proportional to signal power, and inversely proportional to channel noise. It is the aim of any communications
system to provide the highest possible transmission rate at the lowest possible power and with the least possible noise.
 Communication Channels
A communications channel is a pathway over which information can be conveyed. It may be defined by a
physical wire that connects communicating devices, or by a radio, laser, or other radiated energy source that
has no obvious physical presence. Information sent through a communications channel has a source from
which the information originates, and a destination to which the information is delivered. Although
information originates from a single source, there may be more than one destination, depending upon how
many receive stations are linked to the channel and how much energy the transmitted signal possesses.

In a digital communications channel, the information is represented by individual data bits, which may be
encapsulated into multibit message units. A byte, which consists of eight bits, is an example of a message
unit that may be conveyed through a digital communications channel. A collection of bytes may itself be
grouped into a frame or other higher-level message unit. Such multiple levels of encapsulation facilitate the
handling of messages in a complex data communications network.

Any communications channel has a direction associated with it:

The message source is the transmitter, and the destination is the receiver. A
channel whose direction of transmission is unchanging is referred to as a simplex
channel. For example, a radio station is a simplex channel because it always
transmits the signal to its listeners and never allows them to transmit back.

A half-duplex channel is a single physical channel in which the direction may be

reversed. Messages may flow in two directions, but never at the same time, in a
half-duplex system. In a telephone call, one party speaks while the other listens.
After a pause, the other party speaks and the first party listens. Speaking
simultaneously results in garbled sound that cannot be understood.

A full-duplex channel allows simultaneous message exchange in both directions.

It really consists of two simplex channels, a forward channel and a reverse
channel, linking the same points. The transmission rate of the reverse channel
may be slower if it is used only for flow control of the forward channel.
 Serial Communication

• Most digital messages are vastly longer than just a few bits. Because it is neither practical nor economic to
transfer all bits of a long message simultaneously, the message is broken into smaller parts and
transmitted sequentially. Bit-serial transmission conveys a message one bit at a time through a channel.
Each bit represents a part of the message. The individual bits are then reassembled at the destination to
compose the message. In general, one channel will pass only one bit at a time. Thus, bit-serial transmission
is necessary in data communications if only a single channel is available. Bit-serial transmission is normally
just called serial transmission and is the chosen communications method in many computer peripherals.

Byte-serial transmission conveys eight bits at a time through eight parallel channels. Although the raw
transfer rate is eight times faster than in bit-serial transmission, eight channels are needed, and the cost
may be as much as eight times higher to transmit the message. When distances are short, it may
nonetheless be both feasible and economic to use parallel channels in return for high data rates. The
popular Centronics printer interface is a case where byte-serial transmission is used. As another example,
it is common practice to use a 16-bit-wide data bus to transfer data between a microprocessor and
memory chips; this provides the equivalent of 16 parallel channels. On the other hand, when
communicating with a timesharing system over a modem, only a single channel is available, and bit-serial

transmission is required. This figure illustrates these ideas :

Transmission over Short Distances (< 2 feet)
• When the source and destination registers are part of an integrated circuit
(within a microprocessor chip, for example), they are extremely close
(thousandths of an inch). Consequently, the bus signals are at very low
power levels, may traverse a distance in very little time, and are not very
susceptible to external noise and distortion. This is the ideal environment
for digital communications. However, it is not yet possible to integrate all
the necessary circuitry for a computer (i.e., CPU, memory, disk control,
video and display drivers, etc.) on a single chip. When data is sent off-chip
to another integrated circuit, the bus signals must be amplified and
conductors extended out of the chip through external pins. Amplifiers may
be added to the source register:
 Transmission over Medium Distances (< 20 feet)

• Computer peripherals such as a printer or scanner generally include

mechanisms that cannot be situated within the computer itself. Our
first thought might be just to extend the computer's internal buses
with a cable of sufficient length to reach the peripheral. Doing so,
however, would expose all bus transactions to external noise and
distortion even though only a very small percentage of these
transactions concern the distant peripheral to which the bus is
connected.

If a peripheral can be located within 20 feet of the computer,

however, relatively simple electronics may be added to make data
transfer through a cable efficient and reliable. To accomplish this, a
bus interface circuit is installed in the computer:
• It consists of a holding register for peripheral data, timing and formatting circuitry
for external data transmission, and signal amplifiers to boost the signal
sufficiently for transmission through a cable. When communication with the
peripheral is necessary, data is first deposited in the holding register by the
microprocessor. This data will then be reformatted, sent with error-detecting
codes, and transmitted at a relatively slow rate by digital hardware in the bus
interface circuit. In addition, the signal power is greatly boosted before
transmission through the cable. These steps ensure that the data will not be
corrupted by noise or distortion during its passage through the cable. In addition,
because only data destined for the peripheral is sent, the party-line transactions
taking place on the computer's buses are not unnecessarily exposed to noise.

Data sent in this manner may be transmitted in byte-serial format if the cable has
eight parallel channels (at least 10 conductors for half-duplex operation), or in bit-
serial format if only a single channel is available.
• His is the only change needed if a single peripheral is used. However, if many peripherals are
connected, or if other computer stations are to be linked, a local area network (LAN) is
required, and it becomes necessary to drastically change both the electrical drivers and the
protocol to send messages through the cable. Because multiconductor cable is expensive, bit-
serial transmission is almost always used when the distance exceeds 20 feet.

In either a simple extension cable or a LAN, a balanced electrical system is used for
transmitting digital data through the channel. This type of system involves at least two wires
per channel, neither of which is a ground. Note that a common ground return cannot be
shared by multiple channels in the same cable as would be possible in an unbalanced system.

The basic idea behind a balanced circuit is that a digital signal is sent on two wires
simultaneously, one wire expressing a positive voltage image of the signal and the other a
negative voltage image. When both wires reach the destination, the signals are subtracted by
a summing amplifier, producing a signal swing of twice the value found on either incoming
line. If the cable is exposed to radiated electrical noise, a small voltage of the same polarity is
added to both wires in the cable. When the signals are subtracted by the summing amplifier,
the noise cancels and the signal emerges from the cable without noise:
Transmission over Very Long Distances (greater than 4000 feet)

• Data communications through the telephone network can reach any point in the
world. The volume of overseas fax transmissions is increasing constantly, and
computer networks that link thousands of businesses, governments, and universities
are pervasive. Transmissions over such distances are not generally accomplished with
a direct-wire digital link, but rather with digitally-modulated analog carrier signals.
This technique makes it possible to use existing analog telephone voice channels for
digital data, although at considerably reduced data rates compared to a direct digital
link.

Transmission of data from your personal computer to a timesharing service over

phone lines requires that data signals be converted to audible tones by a modem. An
audio sine wave carrier is used, and, depending on the baud rate and protocol, will
encode data by varying the frequency, phase, or amplitude of the carrier. The
receiver's modem accepts the modulated sine wave and extracts the digital data
from it. Several modulation techniques typically used in encoding digital data for
analog transmission are shown below: