DATA COMMUNICATION

Asst. Prof Madan Raj Upreti

Nepal Engineering College
Bhaktpur, Changunaryan-Nepal
  Text Book
◦ William Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, fifth
edition
 References
◦ U.D. Black, Data Communications and Distributed Networks
Behrouz Forouzan, Introduction to Data Communications
and Networking
◦ Oppenheim, Signals and Systems

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 Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Evolution of Data Communication
1.2 Analog and Digital Data Transmission, Data Communication Terminology
1.3 Standards Organizations, Applications

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 Definition- Data Communications
 Data – “Datum” derived from Latin means “Something Given” in mid 18 Century.
 Communication- “Communicare” from Latin means “to share”.
 Data communication refers to the exchange of data between a source and a receiver.
 Communication is in the form of electromagnetic wave.
 The meanings of source and receiver are very simple. The device that transmits the
data is known as source and the device that receives the transmitted data is known as
receiver. 
 The Characteristics of Data Communication
◦ Delivery
◦ Accuracy
◦ Timeliness
◦ Jitter- refers to variation in packet arrival time.

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5

Input Transmitte Transmission Received Output

Transmitter Receiver
Data d Signal Media Signal Data

Simple Data Communication System

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 Components of data communication system

A Communication system has following components:

 
1. Message: It is the information or data to be communicated. It can consist of text,
numbers, pictures, sound or video or any combination of these.
2. Sender: It is the device/computer that generates and sends that message.
3. Receiver: It is the device or computer that receives the message. The location of receiver
computer is generally different from the sender computer. The distance between
sender and receiver depends upon the types of network used in between.
4. Medium: It is the channel or physical path through which the message is carried from
sender to the receiver. The medium can be wired like twisted pair wire, coaxial cable,
fiber-optic cable or wireless like laser, radio waves, and microwaves.
5. Protocol: It is a set of rules that govern the communication between the devices. Both
sender and receiver follow same protocols to communicate with each other.

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 Evolution of Data Communication

 The history of data communications actually dates back almost

200 years, back to the years without Wi-Fi or cell phones.
 In 1837, Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph began the

history of data communication.

◦ This once remarkable invention sent signals over a series of wires from place to place.
◦ The Great Western Railroad adopted the telegraph service in 1843. This allowed the telegraph
service to expand across the United States.
 In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell improved the telegraph with the
introduction of the telephone.
◦ It wasn't until 100 years later that telephone lines were able to traffic data. However, Bell's
invention laid the groundwork for future data communication inventions.

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 Cont..
 In 1958, the U.S. government improved these technological advancements by
launching satellites that were communication-oriented.
 Within the following decades, data communications expanded to computer
connections.
 More than 1 million servers were using Internet Protocol technology by 1991.
 The World Wide Web had also become the primary component of the Internet.

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 Data Transmission
 Two types of data transmission
◦ Analog Data Transmission
 Analog signal can have infinite number of values and varies continuously with
time.
 Analog signal is usually represented by sine wave.
 As shown in figure each cycle consists of a single arc above the time axis
followed by a single arc below the time axis.
 Example of analog signal is human voice. When we speak, we use air to
transmit an analog signal. Electrical signal from an audio tape, can also be in
analog form.

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 Advantages of Analog Signals
• Best suited for the transmission of audio and video.
• Consumes less bandwidth than digital signals to carry the same Information.
• Analog systems are readily in place around the world.
• Analog signal is less susceptible to noise.

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  Characteristics of Analog Signal
◦ Amplitude
 Amplitude of a signal refers to the height of the signal.
 It is equal to the vertical distance from a given point on the waveform to the horizontal axis.
 The maximum amplitude of a sine wave is equal to the highest value it reaches on the vertical
axis as shown in figure.
 Amplitude is measured in volts, amperes or watts depending on the type of signal. A volt is
used for voltage, ampere for current and watts for power.

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  Period 
◦ Period refers to the amount of time in which a signal completes one cycle.
◦ It is measured in seconds.
◦ Other units used to measure period are millisecond (10-3 sec.) microsecond (1 0-
6 sec), nanosecond (10-9 sec) and picoseconds (10-12 sec).

 Frequency
◦ It refers to the number of wave patterns completed in a given period of time.
◦ To be more precise, frequency refers to number of periods in one second or
number of cycles per second.
◦ Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz)
◦ Other units used to express frequency are kilohertz (103 Hz) Megahertz
(106 Hz), gigahertz (109Hz) and terahertz (1012 Hz).
◦ Frequency and period are the inverse of each other. Period is the inverse of
frequency and frequency is the inverse of period.

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  Phase
◦ Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time zero.
◦ Phase describes the amount by which the waveform shifts forward
or backward along the time axis.
◦ It indicates the status of first cycle.
◦ Phase is measured in degrees or radians.
◦ A phase shift of 3600 indicates a shift of a complete period, a phase
shift of 180° indicates a shift of half period and a phase shift of 90°
indicates a shift of a quarter of a period as shown in fig. below.

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  Digital Data Transmission
◦ It can have only a limited number of defined values such as 1 and O.
◦ The transition of a digital signal from one value to other value is
instantaneous.
◦ Digital signals are represented by square wave.
◦ In a typical digital signal, 1 is represented by having a positive voltage
and 0 is represented by having no voltage or zero voltage as shown in
figure.
◦ All the signals generated by computers and other digital devices are
digital in nature.

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  Characteristics of Digital Signals  
◦ Bit interval
 It is the time required to send one single bit
◦ Bit rate 
 It refers to the number of bit intervals in one second.
 Therefore bit rate is the number of bits sent in one second as shown in fig.
 Bit rate is expressed in bits per second (bps).
 Other units used to express bit rate are Kbps, Mbps and Gbps.

             1 kilobit per second (Kbps) = 1,000 bits per second

             1 Megabit per second (Mbps) = 1,000,000 bits per second
             1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) = 1,000,000,000 bits per
second

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 Advantages of Digital Data Transmission
 Digital Data - Digital transmission certainly has the advantage where binary computer data is being
transmitted. The equipment required to convert digital data to analog format and transmitting the digital bit
streams over an analog network can be expensive, susceptible to failure, and can create errors in the
information.
 Compression - Digital data can be compressed relatively easily, thereby increasing the efficiency of
transmission. As a result, substantial volumes of voice, data, video and image information can be transmitted
using relatively little raw bandwidth.
 Security - Digital systems offer better security. While analog systems offer some measure of security
through the scrambling of several frequencies. Scrambling is fairly simple to defeat. Digital information, on
the other hand, can be encrypted to create the appearance of a single, pseudorandom bit stream. Thereby,
the true meaning of individual bits, sets of bits, or the total bit stream cannot be determined without having
the key to unlock the encryption algorithm employed.

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  Quality - Digital transmission offers improved error performance (quality) as compared to analog.
This is due to the devices that boost the signal at periodic intervals in the transmission system in order to
overcome the effects of attenuation. Additionally, digital networks deal more effectively with noise, which
always is present in transmission networks.
 Cost - The cost of the computer components required in digital conversion and transmission has
dropped considerably, while the ruggedness and reliability of those components has increased over
the years.
 Upgradeability - Since digital networks are comprised of computer (digital) components, they are
relatively easy to upgrade. Such upgrading can increase bandwidth, reduces the incidence of error
and enhance functional value. Some upgrading can be effected remotely over a network,
eliminating the need to dispatch expensive technicians for that purpose.
 Management - Generally speaking, digital networks can be managed much more easily and
effectively due to the fact that such networks consist of computerized components. Such
components can sense their own level of performance, isolate and diagnose failures, initiate alarms,
respond to queries, and respond to commands to correct any failure. Further, the cost of these
components continues to drop.

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 Data Communication Terminology
There are several common terminologies used in data communication literature:
 Channel: The word channel refers to the portion of a link that carries a transmission between a

given pair of lines. One link can have many (n) channels.
 Data Rate: The data rate defines the number data elements (bits) sent in 1 second. The unit is

bits per second (bps).

 Signal Rate: The signal rate is the numbers of signal elements sent in 1 second. The unit is baud.

The data rate is sometimes called the bit rate: the signal rate is sometimes called
the pulse rate, the modulation rate, or the baud rate.
One goal in data communications is to increase the data rate while decreasing the signal rate. Increasing the
data rate increases the speed of transmission; deceasing the signal rate decreasing the bandwidth requirement.
 Bandwidth: Bandwidth can be used in two different contexts with two different measuring
values:-
◦ Bandwidth in Hertz: Bandwidth in hertz is the range of frequencies contained in a composite signal or the range
of frequencies a channel can pass.
◦ Bandwidth in Bits per Second: The term bandwidth can also be referred as the number of bits per second that a
channel, a link, or even a network can transmit.     

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 Standards Organizations
 ANSI- American Nationals Standard
◦ Founded in 1918 October 19
◦ Is non Profit Organization
◦  the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems,
and personnel in the United States
 IEEE- The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer
◦ IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing
technology for the benefit of humanity.
 ISO- The international organization for standards
◦ The International Organization for Standardization is an international standard-setting body
composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.
 ITU-T – International Telecommunication Union- Telecommunication Standards
Sector
◦ Defining the standard of telecommunication but there was still little international compatibility.
◦ The UN responded by forming as apart of ITU

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 EIA- Electronic Industries Association
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 Applications of Data Communications
 Airline reservation system
◦ American airline: Sabre system
◦ United airline: Apollo reservation system
 Automatic teller machine
◦ Swift: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
 Sales order entry
◦ Point of sale
◦ Universal product code
 Unstructured data application
◦ Electronic mail
◦ Ownership of content
◦ Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP)
 No foreign characters
 No executable files
 Limited size
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  Image application
◦ Facsimile (FAX)
 Simple for printed documentation
◦ Television
 Purpose
 Security
 Information
 Conference
 Types
 Freeze-frame & full-motion
 One-way & two-way

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