Data communication &

Computer Networks
Dr. Muhammad Fayaz
 Welcome
to Data Communication and
Networking!
 Here’s what you need to know
as we get started:
o Active Engagement
• I encourage you all to participate actively.
o Course Materials
• Our primary textbook will be “[ ]”, but I
will also provide additional resources such
as research papers, case studies, and
online materials.
o Assignments
• You will have regular assignments. Timely
submission is crucial.
o Grades and Assessments
• There will be quizzes, a midterm, and a
final examination.
 Here’s what you need to know
as we get started:
o Class Protocol
• Please ensure to mute your cell phones during class.
o Classroom Culture
• We foster a respectful and inclusive environment.
Everyone’s ideas and questions are valuable, so let’s
support each other in learning.
o Office Hours
• Monday to Wednesday (after 12:00).
• Email: [email protected]
o Final Thoughts:
• Remember, this field is always evolving. Keep an
open mind, be ready to learn, and don’t hesitate to
bring up new technologies or news related to
networking in our discussions.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

The main objective of data communication

and networking is to enable seamless
exchange of data between any two points
in the world.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o DATA & INFORMATION
• Data refers to the raw facts that are collected while
information refers to processed data that enables us
to take decisions.
• Ex. When result of a particular test is declared it
contains data of all students, when you find the marks
you have scored you have the information that lets
you know whether you have passed or failed.
o DATA COMMUNICATION
• Data Communication is a process of exchanging data
or information.
• Local (face to face)
• Remote (over a distance)
• This exchange is done between two devices over a
transmission medium.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o DATA COMMUNICATION
• Communication system:
• Made up of hardware and software.
• Hardware part: involves the sender, receiver
devices and the intermediate devices through
which the data passes.
• Software part: involves certain rules which specify
• What is to be communicated?
• How it is to be communicated and
• When it is to be communicated?
 o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Characteristics of Data Communication
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Characteristics of Data Communication
• The effectiveness of any data communications system
depends upon the following four fundamental
characteristics:
1. Delivery: The system must deliver data to correct
destination. Data received by the indented user only
2. Accuracy: The system must deliver data accurately
(no change).
3. Timeliness: The system must deliver data in timely
manner
• Data arrived late are useless
• In the same order (video and audio) & without delay
(Real time transmission)
4. Jitter: Variation in the packet arrival time. Uneven
Jitter may affect the timeliness of data being
transmitted.
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Components of Data Communication
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Components of Data Communication

• A data communication system is made up of five

components.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Components of Data Communication
1. Message: the information (data) to be
communicated
– Consist of text, numbers, pictures, audio, or
video
2. Sender: the device that sends the data
message
– Computer, telephone handset, video camera
3. Receiver: the device that receives the
message
– Computer, telephone handset, television,
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Components of Data Communication
4. Medium: The physical path by which a
message travels from sender to receiver
– twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber-optic,
radio waves
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Components of Data Communication
5. Protocol: a set of rules that govern data
communications
– An agreement between the communicating
devices
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Data Representation
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
• There may be different forms in which data may
be represented.

Text

Numbers

Images

Audio

Video
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
i. Text:
• Sequence of bits (0s or 1s)
• Different sets of patterns to represent text
symbols (each set is called: code)
• Code: mapping between a set of binary numbers
and the set of characters that they represent.
• ASCII:
• It uses a 7-bit binary code to represent text
characters, which allows for 128 unique
combinations.
• Example: The ASCII code for the uppercase letter
'A' is 65 in decimal, which is 1000001 in binary.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
i. Text:
• Common coding system today is: Unicode
• Unicode is a universal character encoding
standard that assigns a code to every
character and symbol in every language.
• Unicode uses: up to 32 bits to represent a
symbol or character in any language
(4,294,967,296)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
ii. Numbers:
• Represented by bit patterns
• The number is directly converted to a binary
number.
iii. Images:
• Represented by bit patterns
• A matrix of Pixels and each pixel represents a tiny
part of the image.
• Resolution: size of the pixels that is, the number of
pixels in each dimension (width and height).
• A higher resolution means that the image contains
more pixels
• High resolution: more memory is needed because
more bits are needed to store the additional pixels.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
iii. Images:
• Each pixel is assigned a bit pattern
• 1-bit pattern (black and white dots image)
• 2-bit pattern (4 levels of gray)
• RGB (color images)
• Example: if an image is purely black and white (two
color) each pixel can be represented by a value either
0 or 1, so an image made up of 10 x 10 pixel elements
would require only 100 bits in memory to be stored.

• What if we include gray as well?

DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
DATA FLOW
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Flow

• Communication between two devices can be:

 Simplex
 Half-Duplex
 Full-Duplex
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Flow
1. Simplex (one way street)
• The communication is unidirectional
• Only one device on a link can transmit; the
other can only receive
• Use the entire capacity of the channel to send
data
• Example: Keyboards, Monitors
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Flow
2. Half Duplex (one-lane with two-directional
traffic)
• Each station can both transmit and receive,
but not at the same time
• When one device is sending, the other can
only receive, and vice versa
• The entire capacity of a channel is taken over
by the transmitting device
• Example: Walkie-talkies
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Data Flow
3. Full Duplex (two-way street)
• Both stations can transmit and receive at
same time
• Signals going in either direction sharing the
capacity of the link
• Example: Telephone network
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Computer Network
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Network

o A set of devices (nodes) connected by

communication links.
o A node can be any device capable of transmitting
or receiving data.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o A Computer network should ensure:

1. Performance
• Depends on Network Elements
• Number of users: large number slow response time.
• Type of transmission medium: fiber-optic cabling
faster than others cables.
• Capabilities of the connected hardware: affect both
the speed and capacity of transmission.
• Efficiency of the software: process data at the
sender and receiver and intermediate affects
network performance.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o A Computer network should ensure:

1. Performance
• Performance is evaluated by two
contradictory networking metrics:
• Throughput (high): a measure of how fast
we can actually send data through a
network
• Delay (low)
• Transmit time: Amount of time required for
a message to travel from one device to
another
• Response time: Elapsed time between an
inquiry and a response
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o A Computer network should ensure:

2. Reliability

• Reliability is measured by:

• Frequency of failure
• Recovery time of a network after a failure
• Network’s robustness in a catastrophe: protect
by good back up network system
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o A Computer network should ensure:

3. Security
• Protecting data from unauthorized access
• Protecting data from damage and
development
• Implementing policies and procedures for
recovery from breaches and data losses
(Recovery plan)
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Physical Structures
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o Physical Structures:
• Type of connection
• Network: Two or more devices connected
through links
• Link: Communication pathway that transfers
data from one device two another
• Two devices must be connected in some
way to the same link at the same time. Two
possible types:
• Point-to-Point
• Multipoint
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o Physical Structures:

o Point-to-Point
• Dedicated link between two devices
• Entire capacity of the link is reserved for
transmission between those two devices
• Can be established using an actual physical
medium, such as a wire or cable.
• Other options, microwave or satellite is possible
• Example: Television remote control
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

o Physical Structures:
o Multipoint
• More than two devices share a single link
• Capacity is shared
• Channel is shared either spatially or
temporally
• Spatially shared: if devices use link at
same time
• Timeshare: if users must take turns
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Physical Topology
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology

• The way a network is laid out physically

• Two or more links form a topology
• The topology of a network is the geometric
representation of the relationship of all the
links and linking devices (nodes) to one
another.
• Four topologies : Mesh, Star, Bus, and Ring
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Mesh
• Every link is dedicated point-to-point link
• The term dedicated means that the link
carries traffic only between the two
devices it connects.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Mesh
• To link n devices fully connected mesh has:
n ( n - 1) / 2 physical channels (Full-
Duplex)

• Every Device on the network must have n -

1 ports
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Mesh
• Example:

6 devices in mesh has links: n(n-1) / 2

number of links = 6 (6-1)/2 = 15
number of ports per device = n – 1 = 6 –1 = 5
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology

o Mesh

• Advantages
• Each connection carry its own data load
(no traffic problems)
• A mesh topology is robust
• Privacy or security
• Fault identification and fault isolation
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology

o Mesh
• Disadvantages
• Big amount of cabling
• Big number of I/O ports
• Installation and reconnection are difficult
• Hardware connect to each I/O could be
expensive
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology

o Star

• Dedicated point-to-point to a central

controller (Hub)
• No direct traffic between devices
• The control acts as an exchange
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Star
• Advantages
• Less expensive than mesh
(1 Link + 1 port per device)
• Easy to install and reconfigure
• Less cabling
• Additions, moves, and deletions required
one connection
• Robustness : one fail does not affect
others
• Easy fault identification and fault isolation
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Star

• Disadvantages
• Dependency of the whole topology on one
single point (hub)
• More cabling than other topologies (ring or
bus)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Bus
• It is multipoint
• One long cable acts as a backbone
• Nodes connect to cable by drop lines and
taps
• Signal travels along the backbone
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Bus
• Advantages
• Ease of installation
• Less cables than mesh, star topologies
• Disadvantages
• Difficult reconnection and fault isolation
( limit of taps)
• Adding new device requires modification
of backbone
• Fault or break stops all transmission
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Ring
• Each device has dedicated point-to-point
connection with only the two devices on
either side of it
• A signal is passed along the ring in one
direction from device to device until it
reaches its destination
• Each devices incorporates a Repeater
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Physical Topology
o Ring
• Advantages
• Easy of install and reconfigure
• Connect to immediate neighbors
• Move two connections for any moving
(Add/Delete)
• Disadvantages
• Unidirectional
• One broken device can disable the entire
network.
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Categories of Networks
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Categories of Networks

o Network Category depends on its size

• Two primary categories
• LAN: Covers area < 2miles
• WAN: Can be worldwide

• MAN: Between LAN & WAN, span 10s of

miles
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Local Area Network (LAN)

o Links devices in the same office, building, or

campus
o Simple LAN: 2 PCs & 1 printer in home or
office
o Size is limited to a few kilometres
o Allow resources to be shared (hardware,
software, or data)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Local Area Network (LAN)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Local Area Network (LAN)

o LAN is distinguished by:

o Size (# users or OS)
o Transmission medium (only one type)
o Topology (bus, ring, star)

o Data Rates (speed):

o Early: 4 to 16 Mbps
o Today: 100 to 1000 Mbps
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Local Area Network (LAN)

o Multiple-building-LAN
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Wide Area Networks (WAN)
o Provides long-distance transmission of data
over large geographic areas (country,
continent, world)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)

o Size between LAN and WAN

o Inside a town or a city
o Example: the part of the telephone company
network that can provide a high-speed DSL
to the customer
o Data Representation
iii. Audio:
• Continuous not discrete
• Change to digital signal
iv. Video:
• Recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie
• Change to digital signal
Protocol
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Protocol
o A Protocol is defined as a set of rules that
governs data communications.
o Protocols determines:
• What is communicated in the network?
• How it is communicated, and
• When is it communicated in the network?

o If there are no protocols?

DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Protocol- Human communication
o Protocols are necessary for communication and include:
 An identified sender and receiver
 Common language and grammar
 Speed and timing of delivery
 Confirmation and acknowledgement requirement
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Protocol- Network communication

o Protocols used in network communications also defines :

 Message encoding

 Message formatting and encapsulation

 Message timing
 Message size
 Message delivery option (one destination or group)
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Protocol- Network communication
o Elements of Protocol:
i. Syntax:
• It means the structure or format of the data.
• How information is organized and presented for
communication to be understandable.
• It is the arrangement of data in a particular order.
ii. Semantics:
• It tells the meaning of each section of bits and
indicates the interpretation of each section.
• It also tells what action/decision is to be taken
based on the interpretation.
• Example: For an email sent over the internet, the
semantics would interpret the "To:" field in the email
header to mean the intended recipient of the
message.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Protocol- Network communication
o Elements of Protocol:
iii. Timing:
• When data should be sent and how fast they can be
sent.
• Example: sender produces data at 100 Mbps but
the receiver can process data at only 1 Mbps,
overload and data loose.
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Standards in Networking
o Standards act as guidelines for product
manufacturers and vendors to ensure both national
and international interconnectivity.
o They are the agreed-upon conventions that make
the global networking infrastructure work smoothly.
o Data communications standards fall into two main
categories:
1. De Facto: those that have become standards through
tradition or widespread use, rather than through
formal regulation. For example, QWERTY keyboard
layout.
2. De jure: are formal standards that have been
legislated and officially approved by recognized
bodies. Example: IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless
networking
DATA COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS
o Standard Organizations in field of
Networking
o Standards are developed through the cooperation of:
o Standards Creation Committees
1. Examples of Standard Creation Committees :
2. International Organization for Standardization(ISO)
3. International Telecommunications Union –
Telecommunications Standard (ITU-T)
4. American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
5. Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 5.
Electronic Industries Associates (EIA)
o Forums
o Created by special-interest groups
o Present their conclusions to the standards bodies
o Regulatory Agencies
o Purpose: Protecting the public by regulating radio, television,
and communication.