COMPUTER NETWORK

&
COMMUNICATIONS
Nadeem Ahmed
 Computer Networks
• Computer networking is the engineering
discipline concerned with the communication
between computer systems or devices.

• A computer network is any set of computers or

devices connected to each other with the
ability to exchange data.
 Computer network
A computer network is a system of
interconnected computers and peripheral
devices.
For example, it may connect computers, printers,
scanners and cameras.
 Communications
Communications is about the transfer of
information from a sender, across a
distance, to a receiver.
Communication is an act of transmitting
messages.
 Computer network communication
• We transmit information or data by using two
types of signals, namely analog and digital.
• Computers communicate with digital signals.
• The older forms of communications technology,
such as telephones and radios, use analog
signals.
 TYPES OF NETWORKS

LOCAL AREA METROPOLITAN WIDE AREA

NETWORK AREA NETWORK NETWORK
 LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
• Smallest network compared to the other two
networks.
• The simplest form of LAN is to connect two
computers together.
• LAN is operated within a limited physical area,
such as at home, school, a single building or
several buildings.
• A network which consists of less than 500
interconnected devices across several buildings,
is still recognized as a LAN.
METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK
(MAN)
‘Metropolitan' - describes important cities such as Karachi,
Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Tokyo, London and New
York.
MAN is used where sites are at different locations within a
large physical area, such as a city.
Companies that have several branches within the Kuala
Lumpur city such as banks, use a MAN.
setting up a MAN across long distances can be best
connected using fiber optics.
can be a collection of several LANs within the same city.
often acts as a high speed network (although not as fast as
a LAN) to allow sharing of regional resources.
MAN can be defined as a group of computers and network
devices connected together within a large physical area.
 WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)
• The largest network of all network types.
• Internet is the largest WAN in the world.
• WAN generally covers large distances such as states,
countries or continents.
• For example: Local banks have always maintained
their business online by connecting all computers of
their branches in the countries. International banks
also use WAN to connect their computers all over the
world.
• WAN is a group of MANs or LANs or the mixture of
both networks.
Comparison of LAN, MAN, WAN
10BASE-T
10BASE-T is an Ethernet standard for local area networks and one of several physical
media specified in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3
standard. 10BASE-T supports 10 megabits per second (Mbps) transmission speed
over twisted-pair cabling with a maximum length of 100 meters (m). The twisted-pair
cables connect with an RJ45 connector.

In addition to 10BASE-T, 10 Mb Ethernet can also be implemented with the following

media types:
• 10BASE-2. Thin wire coaxial cable with a maximum segment length of 185 m.
• 10BASE-5. Thick wire coaxial cable with a maximum segment length of 500 m.
• 10BASE-F. Optical fiber
• 10BASE-36. Broadband coaxial cable carrying multiple baseband channels for a
maximum length of 3,600 m.
 What is Ethernet?
An Ethernet cable is something that will connect electronic device (computer,
tablet, gaming console, etc.) to a network, which, in turn, will allow to have
internet access and interact with shared network resources. For an example
getting Wi-Fi to your device by manually connecting to the network instead of
connecting wirelessly. Is

RJ45 RJ11
Since RJ45 has 8 pins and connecting ports, it is called 8P8C. On the same lines
RJ11 is called 6P4C. RJ45 connectors commonly connect to Cat5 and Cat6
cables, while RJ11 simply connects to a telephone cable.
Cat 5
up to 100MHz
Commonly pre-installed in new office buildings
Twist length 0.6 cm to 0.85 cm
 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

Bus Topology

Star Topology
Ring Topology
 DEFINITION

What is a Topology ?

The physical topology of a network

refers to the configuration of cables,
computers and other peripherals.
 Bus Topology
A bus topology consists of a single central cable to which
all computers and other devices connect. A bus topology is
also known as a bus network.

DESCRIPTION OF BUS TOPOLOGY

• Very common in LAN.

• Must have a common backbone (the
central cable) to connect all devices.
• All nodes share the backbone to
communicate with each other on the
network.
• Sometimes, a bus network has more
than one server. Sometimes, a server
is not needed on the network.
 Ring Topology
A ring topology consists of all computers and other
devices that are connected in a loop. Ring topology is also
known as a ring network.

DESCRIPTION OF RING TOPOLOGY

• Can be found in LAN.

• Each node directly connect to two
neighbouring nodes.
• A server may exist in a ring network,
but it will not connect to all the nodes in
the network.
• The server, like other nodes, will only
communicate to its two neighbouring
nodes
 Star Topology
A star topology consists of a central host which acts as the
centre, and all nodes connect to the host. A star topology is also
known as star network.
DESCRIPTION OF STAR TOPOLOGY

• A star network is found in a Local Area Network setting.

• A star network must have a host which acts as the center.
• The host can be a server, hub or router.
• In a star network, every node will not connect to the
neighboring nodes.
• Every node must connect to the host in order to
communicate.
• The host will control the flow of communication in the network.

Hub – A hub is basically a multiport repeater. A hub connects multiple wires coming
from different branches, for example, the connector in star topology which connects
different stations. Hubs cannot filter data, so data packets are sent to all connected
devices.
 MESH TOPOLOGY

• In the mesh topology each computer is connected with each other by

separate cable. Create point to point connection to every device on network.
If one cable fail data always has alternative path to get to its destination.
• This type of topology generally use in military area.
Bridge A bridge is a repeater, with add on the functionality of filtering content by reading the
MAC addresses of source and destination. It is also used for interconnecting two LANs working
on the same protocol. It has a single input and single output port, thus making it a 2 port device.

Routers – A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on their IP
addresses. The router is mainly a Network Layer device. Routers normally connect LANs and
WANs together and have a dynamically updating routing table based on which they make
decisions on routing the data packets. Router divide broadcast domains of hosts connected
through it.
A switch, in the context of networking, is a high-speed device that receives incoming data
packets and redirects them to their destination on a local area network (LAN).
 Repeater
Its job is to regenerate the signal over the same network before the signal becomes too
weak or corrupted so as to extend the length to which the signal can be transmitted over
the same network. An important point to be noted about repeaters is that they do not
amplify the signal. When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal bit by bit and
regenerate it at the original strength. It is a 2 port device.