Chapter I

Introduction
2 Contents

 Data Communication Basics

 Introduction to Computer Networks
 Transmission Medias
 Network Protocol Stacks
 Data communication basics
3  Data communication is the process of exchanging data between (among) parties.
 The following figures show, the general (simplified) data communication model and the communication
between a workstation and a server computer system over a public telephone network with all necessary
hardware devices in each stages of simplified communication model.
 Data communication basics cont…
5
 The table lists some of the key tasks that must be performed in a data communications system.
 The list is somewhat arbitrary: Elements could be added; items on the list could be merged; and some items
represent several tasks that are performed at different “levels” of the system (i.e. data communication system).
However, the list as it stands is suggestive of the coverage of this course.
 Data communication basics cont….
6
Data Representation Techniques
 The terms analog and digital correspond to continuous and discrete, respectively.
 These two terms are used frequently in data communications in at least three contexts: data,
signaling, and transmission.
 Data is an entities that convey meaning, or information. Signals are electric or
electromagnetic representations of data.
 Signaling is the physical propagation of the signal along a suitable medium.
 Transmission is the communication of data by the propagation and processing of signals.
 Data communication basics cont…
7
8
Data communication basics cont….
Digital Data Transmission formats
 Both analog and digital signals may be transmitted on suitable transmission media. The way
these signals are treated is a function of the transmission system.
 Analog transmission is a means of transmitting analog signals without regard to their content;
the signals may represent analog or digital data.
 In either case, the analog signal will become weaker (attenuate) after a certain distance. To
achieve longer distances, the analog transmission system includes amplifiers that boost the
energy in the signal.
 Unfortunately, the amplifier also boosts the noise components. With amplifiers cascaded to
achieve long distances, the signal becomes more and more distorted.
 Data communication basics cont….
9 Digital Data Transmission formats
 Digital transmission, a digital signal can be transmitted only a limited distance before attenuation, noise, and
other impairments endanger the integrity.
 To achieve greater distances, repeaters are used. A repeater receives the digital signal, recovers the pattern of 1s
and 0s, and retransmits a new signal. Thus the attenuation is overcome.
 Both telecommunications facilities and intra-building services have moved to digital transmission and, where
possible, digital signaling techniques.
 The most important reasons are the following:
 Digital technology
 Data integrity
 Capacity utilization
 Security and privacy
 Integration
 Data communication basics cont…..
10
Signal Encoding Technique
 Digital data, digital signals: it is to assign one voltage level to binary one and another to binary zero.
 Digital data, analog signal: it converts digital data to an analog signal so that it can be transmitted
over an analog line. The basic techniques are amplitude shift keying (ASK), frequency shift keying
(FSK), and phase shift keying (PSK). All involve altering one or more characteristics of a carrier
frequency to represent binary data.
 Analog data, digital signals: the simplest technique is pulse code modulation (PCM), which involves
sampling the analog data periodically and quantizing the samples.
 Analog data, analog signals: these are modulated by a carrier frequency to produce an analog signal in
a different frequency band, which can be utilized on an analog transmission system. The basic
techniques are amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), & phase modulation (PM).
 Transmission Impairments
11
 Impairments are communication problems (barriers) that could cause the signal degradation
(signal quality loss or bit level change) in the time data communication among or between
communication devices.
 For analog signals, these impairments can degrade the signal quality.
 For digital signals, bit errors may be introduced, such that a binary 1 is transformed into a
binary 0.
 The most common impairments are:
 Attenuation and attenuation distortion
 Delay distortion
 Noise
 Attenuation
12
 It is defined as the ratio of input to output signal power OR it is the strength of a signal falls off
with distance over any transmission medium.
 For guided media, this reduction in strength is generally exponential and thus is typically
expressed as a constant number of decibels per unit distance. For unguided media, it is a more
complex function of distance, the makeup of the atmosphere and other factors (like buildings,
towers height, etc.).
 Attenuation introduces three considerations for the transmission engineer.
 First, a received signal must have sufficient strength so that the electronic circuitry in the
receiver can detect the signal.
 Second, the signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than noise to be received
without error.
 Third, attenuation varies with frequency.
 Delay distortion
13  Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Distortion can occur in a composite
signal made of different frequencies. Each signal component has its own propagation speed
through a medium and its own delay in arriving at the final destination.
 Differences in delay may create a difference in phase if the delay is not exactly the same as the
period duration. In other words, signal components at the receiver have phases different from
what they had at the sender.
 Noise
14
 Noise is a summation of unwanted or disturbing energy from natural and sometimes man-made
sources. Noise is the major limiting factor in communications system performance.
 Noise may be divided into four categories:
 Thermal noise: is due to thermal agitation of electrons.
 Intermodulation noise: is a situation when signals at different frequencies share the same
transmission medium. The effect of intermodulation noise is to produce signals at a
frequency that is the sum or difference of the two original frequencies or multiples of those
frequencies.
 Crosstalk: is an unwanted coupling between signal paths.
 Impulse noise: is non-continuous, consisting of irregular pulses or noise spikes of short
duration and of relatively high amplitude.
 Modes of Data Transmission
15
 Multiplexing
16
 It refer to a process where multiple analog message signals or digital data streams are combined into one signal over
a shared medium OR the multiplexer combines (multiplexes) data from the n input lines and transmits over a
higher-capacity data link.
 The main target of multiplexing is sharing an expensive resource.

 The demultiplexer accepts the multiplexed data stream, separates (demultiplexes) the data according to channel, and
delivers data to the appropriate output lines.
 Basic forms of multiplexing are :

 Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)

 Time-division multiplexing (TDM) (Synchronous TDM and Asynchronous TDM )

 CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
17  It divides the spectrum into frequency bands, with each user having exclusive possession of some band in which to
send their signal. Different frequencies are allocated to different logical channels (stations), each operating in a
portion of the spectrum, with the inter-channel separation great enough to prevent interference.
 Example: AM radio broadcasting illustrates FDM. The allocated spectrum is about 1 MHz, roughly 500 to 1500 kHz.
 FDM is possible when the useful bandwidth of the transmission medium exceeds the required bandwidth of signals
to be transmitted. It is used for analog signals.
 Time Division Multiplexing (Synchronous TDM and
18
Asynchronous TDM)
 In synchronous TDM the users take turns (in a round-robin fashion), each one periodically getting the entire
bandwidth for a little burst of time.
 In case of asynchronous TDM the individual streams contribute to the multiplexed stream not on a fixed
schedule, but according to the statistics of their demand.
 Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
19
 It allows each station to transmit over the entire frequency spectrum all the time. Multiple
simultaneous transmissions are separated using coding theory. Thus, the key to CDMA is to be
able to extract the desired signal while rejecting everything else as random noise.
 In CDMA, each bit time is subdivided into m short intervals (for example 8 chips/bit) called chips.
 Each station is assigned a unique m-bit code called a chip sequence.
 Data transmission error detection and correction
20  In digital transmission systems, an error occurs when a bit is altered between transmission and
reception.
 Designers developed two basic strategies for dealing with errors. Both add redundant information to
the data that is sent.
 The first approach is error-detecting code.
 The second approach is error-correcting code. The use of error-correcting codes is often referred
to as FEC (Forward Error Correction).
 Each of these techniques are suitable for different communication media and transmission condition.
 There are two general types of errors can occur: single-bit and burst errors.
 A single-bit error
 Error burst
 Data communication basics cont….
21
Error Detection
 Error detection techniques works by considering the following principle:
 For a given frame of bits, additional bits that constitute an error-detecting code are added by the
transmitter.
 For a data block of k bits, the error-detecting algorithm yields an error-detecting code of n-k
bits, where (n-k)<k.
 The error-detecting code, also referred to as the check bits, is appended when it is transmitted.
The receiver separates the incoming frame into the k bits of data and (n-k) bits of the error-
detecting code.
 The receiver performs the same error-detecting calculation on the data bits and compares this
value with the value of the incoming error-detecting code.
 A detected error occurs if and only if there is a mismatch.
Example:
 Data communication basics cont….
22
Error Detecting
 Parity Bit
23  The simplest error-detecting scheme is to append a parity bit to the end of a block of data.
 A typical example is character transmission, in which a parity bit is attached to each 7-bit
International Reference Alphabet (IRA) character.
 The value of this bit is selected so that the character has an even number of 1s (even parity) or an
odd number of 1s (odd parity). This method is not suitable for burst error.
 In order to handle a burst error, we can compute the parity bits over the data in a different order.
Doing so is called interleaving.
 Checksum
24 The checksum is usually placed at the end of the message, as the complement (one’s complement) of
the sum function. This way, errors may be detected by summing the entire received codeword, both
data bits and checksum. If the result comes out to be zero, no error has been detected.
Example: Consider a header that consists of 10 octets, with the checksum in the last two octets with the
following content (in hexadecimal): 00 01 F2 03 F4 F5 F6 F7 00 00
Exercise: calculate a checksum for the following frame 00 AB 96 01 F2 03 F4 56 78 F5 F6 F7
25 Process of Error Detection…..
26 Cyclic Redundancy Check(CRC)
 Given a k-bit block of bits, or message, the transmitter generates an (n-k) bit sequence, known
as a frame check sequence (FCS), such that the resulting frame, consisting of n bits, is exactly
divisible by some predetermined number known as generator polynomial (number).
 The receiver then divides the incoming frame by that number and, if there is no remainder,
assumes there was no error.
Example 1: If the transmitter is transmitting an IRA character G (1110001) with k = x2+1 bits.
Example 2: If the transmitter is transmitting an IRA character GHI (111000111100101110011) with
k=x3+x bits.
 Error correction
27  Correction of errors using an error-detecting code, requires that block of data be retransmitted.
But this solution is very difficult and highly resource consumption.
 Instead, it would be desirable to enable the receiver to correct errors in an incoming
transmission on the basis of the bits in that transmission.
 Error correction cont……
28
This block is passed through an FEC decoder, with one of four possible outcomes:
1. If there are no bit errors, the input to the FEC decoder is identical to the original codeword, and
the decoder produces the original data block as output.
2. For certain error patterns, it is possible for the decoder to detect and correct those errors.
3. For certain error patterns, the decoder can detect but not correct the errors. In this case, the
decode simply reports an uncorrectable error.
4. For certain error patterns, the decoder does not detect that any errors have occurred and maps
the incoming n-bit data block into a k-bit block that differs from the original k-bit block.
 There are a number of algorithms (like Hamming codes, Binary convolutional codes, Reed-
Solomon codes and Low-Density Parity Check codes) used in the FEC decoder.
29 Introduction to Computer Networks

 The term network means two or more connected computers (other communication devices) that
can share resources like data, applications, office machines, an Internet connection, or some
combination of these. OR
30
Introduction to Computer Net cont….
Importance of Computer Networking
 Resource (hardware) sharing
 To share databases
 To share application programs
 To undertake parallel processing
 High reliability by having alternative sources of supply
 Money saving
 Increase system performance
 Powerful communication medium among widely separated people
 Introduction to Computer net cont…..
33
Computer Network Types
 Personal Area Networks (PAN)
 Local Area Network (LAN)
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
 Wide Area Network (WAN)000
 Network Topology
38

 It defines the physical (logical) characteristics of a network, such as where all the workstations and
other devices are located, the precise arrangement of all the physical media like cables and how data
can transferred from source to destination.
 Physical and logical topologies that are very different.
 Physical topology refers to the way in which the endpoints, or stations, attached to the network
are interconnected.
 Logical topology refers the way of data transmission among communication device on the
existing physical topology
 Here is a list of the various topologies (physical) you’re most likely to run into these days LANs:
 Bus, Star, Ring, Mesh and Hybrid.
 Bus Topology
39  Full-duplex operation between the station and the tap allows data to be transmitted onto the bus and
received from the bus.
 A transmission from any station propagates the length of the medium in both directions and can be
received by all other stations. At each end of the bus is a terminator, which absorbs any signal,
removing it from the bus.
 Bus topology uses CSMA/CD, a protocol that helps devices share the bandwidth evenly without
having two devices transmit at the same time on the network medium.
 CSMA/CD was created to overcome the problem of those collisions that occur when packets are
transmitted simultaneously from different nodes.
 Introduction to Computer Net cont….
40 Star Topology
 In this topology, each station is directly connected to a common central node. Typically, each station attaches to
a central node via a full duplex point-to-point link, in order to transmit or receive signals.
 There are two alternatives for the operation of the central node.
 One approach is for the central node to operate in a broadcast fashion (using hub).
 Another approach is for the central node to act as a frame-switching device. An incoming frame is buffered
in the node and then retransmitted on an outgoing link to the destination station.
 Introduction to Computer Net cont….
41 Ring Topology
 Computers are connected on a single circle of cable. Unlike the bus topology, there are no terminated ends.
 Signals travel around the loop in one direction and pass through each computer
 The method by which the data is transmitted around the ring is called token passing. A token is a special
series of bits that contains control information.
 Each computer acts as a repeater to boost the signal and send it to the next computer.
 Introduction to Computer Net cont….
42
Mesh Topology
 In this type of topology, you’ll find that there’s a path from every machine to every other
one in the network.
 For each n location or host, you end up with n(n–1)/2 connections. This means that in a
network consisting of 4 computers, you have 4(4–1)/2, or 6 connections and for 10
computers, you’ll have a whopping 45 connections.
 Selecting the Right Topology
44

 In the process of selecting appropriate network type you must first answer the following
questions:
 How much cash do you have?
 How much fault tolerance do you really need?
 How scalable does your network need to be?
 How easy the installation and maintenance of a network?
45 Computer Network Models

 We’ve developed networking as a way to share resources and information, and how that’s
achieved directly maps to the particular architecture of the network operating system software.
 There are two main network types:
 Peer-to-peer and
 Client/server
48
 Transmission Medias
49
 Transmission media may be classified as guided or unguided. In both cases, communication is in
the form of electromagnetic waves.
 The characteristics and quality of a data transmission are determined by the characteristics of the
medium and signal.
 The medium and bandwidth of the signal is more important in guided and unguided
transmission media respectively.
 One key property of signals transmitted by antenna is directionality.
 The design factors relating to the transmission medium and the signal are:
Bandwidth, transmission impairments, Interference, distance and number of receivers
50 Transmission Medias cont….
Guided Transmission Media
 Various physical media can be used for the actual transmission. Each one has its own niche in
terms of bandwidth, delay, cost, and ease of installation and maintenance.
 The transmission capacity depends critically on the distance, the property of the media and on
connection type (i.e. point-to-point or multipoint).
 The three guided media commonly used for data transmission are
 Twisted pair cable,
 Coaxial cable, and
 Optical fiber
 Twisted Pair Cable
51
 Transmission Medias cont…..
52
Twisted Pair Cabling
 Twisted pair cables are terminated with RJ-45 connectors, is a common copper-based medium for interconnecting devices
in the network.
 Different situations may require different UTP cabling with different wiring conventions. The following are main cable
types that are obtained by using specific wiring conventions:
 Ethernet Straight-through: in order to connect different kinds of networking devices like PC to Switch, Switch to router and
others.
 Ethernet Crossover: used to interconnect similar devices (i.e. PC to PC , PC to Router, Switch to Switch, Router to Router)
 Rollover: used to interlink PC to other networking devices for configuration purpose only.
 Unguided Media
59

Where:
MWA-Mobile Wireless Access
FWA-Fixed Wireless Access
NWA-Nomadic Wireless Access
60 Unguided (Wireless) media cont….
 Wireless media carry electromagnetic signals at radio and microwave frequencies that represent
the binary digits of data communications.
 Wireless data communication technologies are good in open environments. However, buildings
and structures, and the local terrain, will limit the effective coverage. In addition, wireless is
susceptible to different kinds interference from home appliances.
 Each frequency band has its advantages and disadvantages.
 Popular mobile systems congregate toward lower frequencies, lower frequencies mean longer
wavelengths that travel further, but it has a bandwidth limitation.
 In contrast, higher frequencies can provide sufficient bandwidth but their shorter wavelengths
make for shorter traveling distances.
 Unguided Media cont…
61
Antenna
 An antenna is electrical conductor(s) used either for radiating or collecting electromagnetic
energy.
 For transmission of a signal, radio-frequency electrical energy from the transmitter is converted
into electromagnetic energy by the antenna and radiated into the surrounding environment
(atmosphere, space, water).
 For reception, electromagnetic energy impinging on the antenna is converted into radio-
frequency electrical energy and fed into the receiver.
 In two-way communication, the same antenna can be and often is used for both transmission
and reception.
 An antenna radiate signal in all direction, but not equal in all direction. This condition is know
as an antenna gain.
 Unguided Media cont…
62 Types of Wireless Networks
 Standards for wireless data communications cover both the Data Link and Physical layers. Four common
standards are:
 IEEE 802.11 - is a Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology that uses a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Avoidance (CSMA/CA) media access process.
 IEEE 802.15 - Wireless WPAN, commonly known as "Bluetooth", uses a device pairing process to communicate
over distances from 1 to 100 meters.
 IEEE 802.16 - Commonly known as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), uses a point-
to-multipoint topology to provide wireless broadband access.
 Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) - Includes Physical layer specifications that enable the
implementation of the Layer 2 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) protocol to provide data transfer over
mobile cellular telephony networks.
 Other wireless technologies such as satellite communications provide data network connectivity for locations
without another means of connection.
 Unguided Media cont….
63
Wireless Propagation
 A signal radiated from an antenna travels along one of three routes:
 Ground wave: follows the contour of the earth and can propagate considerable distances. This
effect is found in frequencies up to about 2 MHz (Low and Medium wave frequency range).
 Sky wave: a signal from an earth-based antenna is reflected from the ionized layer of the upper
atmosphere (ionosphere) back down to earth.
 Line of sight (LOS): Above 30 MHz communication must be by line of sight.
 For satellite communication, a signal above 30 MHz is not reflected by the ionosphere and
therefore a signal can be transmitted between an earth station and a satellite overhead that is
not beyond the horizon.
 For ground-based communication, the transmitting and receiving antennas must be within an
effective line of sight of each other.
 Network Protocol Stacks
64

 Protocol is an agreement between the communicating parties on how communication is to proceed.

 A protocol layer can be implemented in software, in hardware, or in a combination of the two.
 A set of layers and protocols is called a network architecture.
 The specification of an architecture must contain enough information to allow an implementer to
write the program or build the hardware for each layer so that it will correctly obey the appropriate
protocol.
 A list of the protocols used by a certain system, one protocol per layer, is called a protocol stack.
 The entities comprising the corresponding layers on different machines are called peers. The peers
may be software processes, hardware devices, or even human beings.
65 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
 Network Protocol Stacks cont…..
66
 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
67
The Need for Layer Architecture
 We use layered architecture in networking for the following reasons:
 It reduces design and implementation complexity of the software as well as the hardware.
 It helps to easily replace one layer with a completely different protocol or implementation
without affecting the upper or lower layers in the architecture.
 Standards can be developed independently and simultaneously for each layer.
 Some researchers and networking engineers are strongly opposed to layering, because:
 One layer may duplicate lower-layer functionality.
 Functionality at one layer may need information that is present only in another layer; this
violates the goal of separation of layers.
 Network Protocol Stack cont….
68
Open System Interconnection (OSI)Reference Model
 It is considered as the primary architectural model for inter-computer communications. It ensures greater
compatibility and interoperability between various types of network technologies.
 Divides the problem of moving information between computers over a network medium into SEVEN
smaller and more manageable problems (modules).
 The model define how each layer communicates and works with the layers immediately above and below it.
 Each layer communicates with the same layer’s software or hardware on other computers (on the other
node).
 The lower 4 layers are concerned with the flow of data from end to end through the network.
 The upper three layers of the OSI model are orientated more toward services to the applications.
 Data is Encapsulated with the necessary protocol information as it moves down the layers before network
transit.
 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
69
70 Network Protocol Stack cont……
OSI Reference Model cont…..
 The principles that were applied to arrive at the seven layers:
1. A layer should be created where a different abstraction is needed.
2. Each layer should perform a well-defined function.
3. The function of each layer should be chosen with an eye toward defining internationally standardized
protocols.
4. The layer boundaries should be chosen to minimize the information flow across the interfaces.
5. The number of layers should be large enough that distinct functions need not be thrown together in the same
layer out of necessity and small enough that the architecture does not become unwieldy.
 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
71 TCP/IP (Internet) Reference Model
 Used in the grandparent of all wide area computer networks, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
(ARPANet).
 Developed by Department of Defense (DoD) to ensure and preserve data integrity as well as maintain
communication in the time of catastrophic war.
 Condensed version of OSI model contains four layers instead of seven.
 It is independent of the Network access methods, Frame format, & Medium.
OSI TCP/IP Internet Protocol
Application Application Application
Presentation
Session
Transport Transport Transport
Network Internet Internet
Data Link Link Link
Physical Physical
 Network Protocol Stack cont……
72
TCP/IP cont……
 The fact that the TCP/IP (and Internet protocol) lacks two layers (session and presentation) found in the OSI
reference model poses a couple of interesting questions:
 Are the services provided by these layers unimportant? What if an application needs one of these services? The
TCP/IP answer to both of these questions is the same—it’s up to the application developer.
Goals
 Multiple networks communicate in a seamless way
 The network be able to survive loss of subnet hardware
 As long as the source and the destination are known in advance.
 Handle applications with divergent requirements ranging from transferring files to real-time speech
transmission
 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
73
Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models
 Three concepts (i.e. services, interfaces and protocols) are central to the OSI model. But the
TCP/IP model did not originally clearly distinguish these concepts.
 Protocols in the OSI model are better hidden than in the TCP/IP model and can be replaced
easily by new technology.
 The OSI reference model was devised before the corresponding protocols were invented.
 With TCP/IP the reverse was true. There was no problem with the protocols fitting the model.
The only trouble was that the model did not fit any other protocol stacks.
 Another difference is OSI supports both connectionless and connection oriented communication
in the network layer, but only connection-oriented communication in the transport layer and
TCP/IP supports only connectionless in the network layer but both in the transport layer.
74 Network Protocol Stack cont……
A Critique of the OSI Model and Protocols
1. Bad timing.
2. Bad technology.
3. Bad implementations.
4. Bad politics.
 Network Protocol Stack cont…..
75

A Critique of the TCP/IP Reference Model

 Not clearly distinguish the concepts of services, interfaces, and protocols.
 Not much of a guide for designing new networks using new technologies.
 It is not general and is poorly suited to describing any protocol stack other than TCP/IP. For example,
Bluetooth is completely impossible.
 The link layer is not a layer but it is an interface (between the network and data link layers).
 The TCP/IP model does not distinguish between the physical and data link layers. These are completely
different.
 The protocol implementations were then distributed free, which resulted in their becoming widely used,
deeply entrenched, and thus hard to replace.
 Next
76 Chapter II
Data Link Layer