Teach Computer Science

KS3 Computing

Introduction to
networks

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Lesson Objectives

Students will learn about:

▪ Network and its types
▪ Wired and wireless networks
▪ Hardware components required for networking
▪ Ethernet
▪ Wi-Fi

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Content

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Server Workstation
Introduction

▪ Two or more devices are

connected together using
networks.
▪ Files are sent from one
device to another in the
form of data packets.

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Data packets
▪ A file sent over a network is broken into small chunks of data
known as data packets.
▪ These data packets are transmitted by the sender.
▪ At the receiver end, the file is re-built by arranging data packets
in order.
▪ Protocols define the set of rules that control the way the data is
sent over the network.

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Error-checking methods
▪ Digital data is transmitted through the network and with
the help of error-checking methods such as parity and
checksum.
▪ Any error due to the transmission channel is identified and
corrected at the receiver’s end.

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Advantages and disadvantages

of using networks

Advantages of using networks Disadvantages of using networks

 Communication
 Monitoring user activity
 Dependence
 Controlling and updating workstations
 Security issues
 Roaming
 Setting up hardware
 Sharing information
 Malware
 Resource sharing
 Software streaming

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Types of Networks
▪ A network can be anything from a connection of two computers to
millions of computers that are connected together worldwide using
the Internet.
▪ Networks are classified based on the nature of connection as LAN,
WAN, PAN, MAN, SAN, WPAN, VPN.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

▪ Local Area Network (LAN) is a network of
computers within the same building.
▪ These computers need not be connected
to the Internet.
▪ For example: the connection of computers
in an office or school.
▪ A group of technicians install and maintain
the network based on a network engineer’s
advice.

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

▪ Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network of LANs in different
geographical places, that is, connecting different cities in the world.
▪ For example: the Internet.
▪ This type of service is provided by telecom companies.

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Other types of networks

▪ PAN
Personal Area Network (PAN) is a wired network used to connect
personal devices in a home.
▪ MAN
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is used to connect devices in a city.
▪ SAN
A storage area network (SAN) provides servers that enable users to
store files in a large scale.
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Wireless Personal Area

Network (WPAN)
▪ Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) is a short-distance wireless
network to connect mobile computing devices such as smartphones
to desktop machines.
▪ For example: A Bluetooth connection within devices in a car.

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Virtual Private Network (VPN)

▪ A Virtual Private Network is a type of network that creates a safe and
secure connection for an organisation over the Internet.
▪ Safety and security are provided by encryption algorithms.

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Types of network connections

Wired connection: Wireless connection:
A wired network uses copper cables or A wireless network uses radio signals to
fibre-optic cables to connect the connect computers within its range.
components of a computer.

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Wired
connection

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Copper cable
Digital data is sent in the form of electrical signals through copper cables.

Coaxial: Unshielded twisted pair: Shielded twisted pair:

Cables are to be replaced Copper cables are twisted Metal shielding is provided
from time to time as the around each other. The to twisted pair cables to
insulation may degrade. data transmission is fast, reduce electromagnetic
and crosstalk is reduced. interference.
UTP is easy to install
because of its thin and
flexible nature.

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Copper cable

Advantages Disadvantages

Telephones can be powered Short lifetime.

directly from this cable.
Inexpensive to install

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Fibre optic cables

Advantages

▪ Fibre optic cables are made of glass. Long lifetime. Less

▪ The digital data is transmitted in the electromagnetic interference
form of light signals using the when compared to that of
principle of total internal reflection. copper cables.
▪ At the receiver end, the light signals
Disadvantages
are decoded back to digital form.
Expensive to install.

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Wireless connection Advantages

▪ A wireless network uses radio signals to Cheap and easy to install.

connect computers within its range. Multiple devices can be
▪ Computers need to have a wireless connected without any additional
network interface card (NIC). hardware.
▪ A wireless router connects the computer Disadvantages
with the physical network. Slower compared to a wired
▪ A wireless adapter translates digital data network. Quality is disrupted due
into radio signals, and a wireless receiver to obstructions. Security issues
translates radio signals into binary so that such as hacking.
the computer can understand it.
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Device Address
 Data packets contain the information of sender and receiver such as device
address.
 Computers need a Network Interface Card (NIC) to connect to the Internet.
NIC is a small circuit board that is a part of the motherboard. It is
responsible for providing an electrical signal to send data over the network
and for receiving incoming data. It also implements the required protocol
for communication.
 Gaming consoles also contain NIC to connect to the Internet. Smartphones
contain GSM chips to connect to telephone networks.
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Device Address
 All devices in networks have a
specific MAC address, which is
assigned by its manufacturer.
 It consists of 48 bits and is written
using 12 hexadecimal characters.
A user cannot change the MAC
address.

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Hardware for networking

The various hardware used for networking are:

a) Routers
b) Modem
c) Hubs
d) Switches
e) Wireless Access Points (WAP)

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Routers
▪ A router forwards data packets between computer networks until it
reaches its destination.
▪ A router decides about the path in which the data packet has to be
sent.
▪ Routers know the complete connection of the network and applies
certain algorithms to find out the shortest path to send the data
packet.
▪ Devices within a building are connected using routers to form a LAN.
▪ Sometimes, a router has the capabilities of modem, hubs, switches and
bridges in its hardware.
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Modem
▪ A modem turns digital data into an electrical
signal.
▪ At the receiver side, another modem uses the
electrical signal to recover the digital data.
▪ Multiple devices are connected to a router
using hubs, switches and bridges.
▪ A modem come router is shown.

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Hubs
▪ Hubs broadcast data from a device to all
devices on its network irrespective of the
requirement of the devices.
▪ This results in unnecessary data transfers.
▪ Hubs do not have a routing table and are
unable to find the destination of the data
packet.
▪ Hubs are used in small networks such as
PAN as it is easy to set-up and inexpensive
compared to switches and routers.

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Switches
▪ Switches store the MAC address of devices on a network.
▪ It filters the data packets according to the MAC address and forwards it
to a specific device.
▪ Switches are efficient and reduce unnecessary traffic.
▪ Switches are used in medium and large scale networks.
▪ Switches are widely used for Ethernet installation where the required
speed of transmission is 14480 packets per second.
▪ It can also be used in fast Ethernet connections where the required
speed is 148800 packets per second.
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Bridges
▪ A bridge connects two separate LAN networks.
▪ A computer with an operating system also acts as a bridge.
▪ Unnecessary data transfers are avoided as bridges check whether the
receiver is present and whether it has already received this data before
sending a data packet.

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Wireless Access Points

▪ WAP is network hardware that allows a wireless-capable device to
connect to a wired network through a wireless standard such as Wi-Fi.
▪ WAP connects to the router but, in most cases, it is in-built in the
router.

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Ethernet
▪ Ethernet is one of the technologies used to implement LANs since
the 1980s.
▪ LAN is used to interconnect devices using a wired medium such as
UTP copper cables or fibre optic cables, hubs and switches.
▪ This technology provides a transmission rate of up to 100 Gb/s.

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Ethernet network
▪ An Ethernet network is divided into various segments.
▪ Each segment has a UTP cable or fibre-optic cable that is shared among a
few devices.
▪ For example: in an organisation, the devices in the human resource
department form a segment, devices in the engineering department
forms another segment, etc.
▪ Devices in a segment are expected to communicate with each other
more often. As a result, the overall data collision of the network
decreases and the performance of the network is enhanced.

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Ethernet network
▪ Network interface card and routers segment data into frames.
▪ An error-checking mechanism is applied to the frames.
▪ Source and destination MAC addresses are also added to each of the
frames.
▪ The receiver checks for errors in the frames and, in case of error, the
sender is requested to resend the data packet.
▪ A frame is broadcasted to all devices present on the Ethernet network.
▪ If the destination address matches with the receiver’s address, the
frame is accepted. Otherwise, the frame is discarded.
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Wi-Fi
▪ Wi-Fi is a technology that enables wireless connectivity to all
sorts of devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.
▪ The data is transmitted and received using radio signals.

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With these developments we have every reason to

anticipate that in a time not very distant most
telegraphic messages across the oceans will be
transmitted without cables. For short distances we
need a "wireless" telephone, which requires no expert
operators. The greater the spaces to be bridged, the
more rational becomes communication without
wires.
-Nikola Tesla,
From "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy with Special References to the
Harnessing of the Sun's Energy" in Century Illustrated Magazine (June 1900)
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Radio signals
▪ Radio signals are identified using its frequency.
▪ Wi-Fi uses a frequency of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
▪ The range of this signal is up to 20 metres. This range can vary
with the thickness of a wall as the signal needs to pass through
it.

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WiFi (2.4GHz waveband)

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Wi-Fi (2.4GHz waveband)

▪ This waveband can be separated into several channels.
▪ A channel is a communication link to send and receive data.
▪ Many channels are adjacent to each other.
▪ Adjacent channels may cause interference and lead to data
corruption. Therefore, only three to four channels are allowed to
overlap in a waveband.

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Performance of Wi-Fi systems

▪ A Wi-Fi access point shares its bandwidth among several devices.
This might lead to poor performance.
▪ Performance of this system depends on the number of users and
usage of data.

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Security in Wi-Fi systems

▪ Wireless networks are preferred for their ease of installation.
▪ Security of data cannot be assured in this network, however.
▪ Any device with a Wi-Fi facility will be able to receive data
packets in that range of 20 m.
▪ Therefore, it is important to secure data using encryption
techniques.

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Types of Wi-Fi networks

▪ Private networks as used in homes
▪ Public networks such as Wi-Fi hotspots available in shopping
malls, airports or restaurants
▪ Mobiles networks such as GPRS, 3G or 4G.

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Mobile Wi-Fi networks

Network Working Data speed
GPRS (General Sending a small amount of data up to 56 kB/s
Packet Radio such as an email but cannot be
Service) used for larger data transfers
3G (third Wide area cell-based standard for up to 21 MB/s
generation) mobile communication

4G (fourth Wide area cell-based standard for up to 100 MB/s

generation) mobile communication along with
Wi-Fi

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Wi-Fi networks
▪ A Wi-Fi network is identified by its name called Service Set Identifier
(SSID).
▪ Private Wi-Fi networks are protected with a password. All devices within
the same Wi-Fi network will be able to exchange data.
▪ Hackers may sometimes offer free Wi-Fi access to let users use the
network so that they may be able to access their files. It is, thus,
important to activate a firewall in a device to protect it from
unauthorised access.

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Let’s review some concepts

LAN WAN Ethernet

Local Area Network (LAN) is a Wide Area Network (WAN) is a One of the technologies used to
network of computers within the network of LANs in different implement LANs since the 1980s.
same building. geographical places, that is,
connecting different cities in
the world.

Wired connection Wireless connection Hardware for networking

A wired network uses copper A wireless network uses radio Routers
cables or fibre-optic cables to signals to connect computers Modem
connect the components of a within its range. Hubs
computer.
Switches
Wireless Access Points (WAP)

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Activities

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Types of
Where is it used?
Activity-1 network

Duration: 10 minutes
LAN

1. In the table, different types of WAN

network are given. Complete

MAN
the table by stating where
each network is used. PAN

SAN

WPAN

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Network
Function
Activity-2 hardware
Duration: 15 minutes
Routers
1. In the table, different types
of network hardware are Hub
given. Complete the table
by stating the function of Switches
each network hardware.
Modem

Wireless
Access point

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End of topic questions

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End of topic questions

1. How is a file sent over a network?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using networks?
3. A Bluetooth connection within a car between mobile computing devices
is a type of what network?
4. the advantages of fibre-optic cable over copper cable?
5. What are the disadvantages of wireless networks?
6. What is a MAC address? How is it useful in computer networks?

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End of topic questions

7. Why is it important for routers to implement algorithms?
8. Why are switches efficient when compared to hubs?
9. Why are there only a limited number of channels allowed to
overlap in a waveband?
10.Why is it important to encrypt data packets sent in a WiFi
network?
11.What are the different types of WiFi networks? Explain briefly.
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