Data Communication

Facilitator: DANIEL I. BYNITE

Mobile: 0624226210

Lecture 1
Introduction

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Grading Policy

 Final Exam: 60
 Tests and Assignment's 40

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Reading:
 Text book:
 Data Communications and Networking, 5/e
 B.A. Forouzan,
McGraw-Hill, 2013,
ISBN 978-0-07-337622-6.
 Reference books:
 Data and Computer Communications
(10th edition),
 Stallings W. (2014) Prentice Hall New Jersey
USA, 2014,

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Aim of the Course
 To give students an understanding of the
important concepts and techniques related to
data communication and enable them to
maintain and troubleshoot computer networks

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Data Communications

 The term telecommunication means

communication at a distance. The word data
refers to information presented in whatever
form is agreed upon by the parties creating
and using the data. Data communications are
the exchange of data between two devices
via some form of transmission medium such
as a wire cable.

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Network design

Before looking inside a computer

network, first agree on what a
computer network is

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Computer network ?
Specialized to
handle:
 Set of serial lines to attach
terminals to mainframe ? Keystrokes
 Telephone network carrying
voice traffic ? Voice
 Cable network to disseminate
video signals ? Video

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What distinguishes a
Computer network ?
 Generality
 Built from general purpose
programmable hardware
 Supports wide range of applications

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Information, Computers,
Networks
 Information: anything that is represented in bits
 Form (can be represented as bits) vs
 Substance (cannot be represented as bits)
 Properties:
 Infinitely replicable
 Computers can “manipulate” information
 Networks create “access” to information

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Networks

 Potential of networking:
 move bits everywhere, cheaply, and with desired
performance characteristics
 Network provides “connectivity”

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What is “Connectivity” ?
 Direct or indirect access to every other node in the
network

 Connectivity is the magic needed to communicate if

you do not have a direct point to point physical link.
 Tradeoff: Performance characteristics worse than true physical
link!

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Building Blocks

 Nodes: PC, special-purpose hardware…

 hosts
 switches

 Links: coax cable, optical fiber…

 point-to-point

…
 multiple access

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Why not connect each
node with every other
node ? of computers that can be
 Number

connected becomes very limited

 Number of wires coming out of each
node becomes unmanageable
 Amount of physical hardware/devices
required becomes very expensive
 Solution: indirect connectivity using
intermediate data forwarding nodes

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Switched Networks
 A network can be defined recursively as...
 two or more nodes
connected by a link
 white nodes
(switches)
implement the
network
 colored nodes
(hosts) use the
network

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Switched Networks
 A network can be defined recursively as...
 two or more networks
connected by one or more
nodes: internetworks
 white nodes (router or
gateway) interconnects
the networks
 a cloud denotes “any
type of independent
network”

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A Network

A network can be defined recursively as

two or more nodes connected by a

physical link
Or
two or more networks connected by one or
more nodes

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Switching Strategies
 Circuit switching: • Packet switching: store-
carry bit streams and-forward messages
a. establishes a dedicated a. operates on discrete
circuit blocks of data
b. links reserved for use
b. utilizes resources
by communication
channel according to traffic
demand
c. send/receive bit stream
at constant rate c. send/receive messages
d. example: original at variable rate
telephone network d. example: Internet

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What next ?

 Hosts are directly or indirectly connected to

each other
 Can we now provide host-host connectivity ?
 Nodes must be able to say which host it
wants to communicate with

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Addressing and Routing

 Address: byte-string that identifies a node

 usually unique
 Routing: forwarding decisions
 process of determining how to forward messages
to the destination node based on its address
 Types of addresses
 unicast: node-specific
 broadcast: all nodes on the network
 multicast: some subset of nodes on the network

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Wrap-up

 A network can be constructed from

nesting of networks

 An address is required for each node

that is reachable on the network

 Address is used to route messages

toward appropriate destination

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What next ?

 Hosts know how to reach other hosts on

the network
 How should a node use the network for
its communication ?

 All pairs of hosts should have the ability

to exchange messages: cost-effective
resource sharing for efficiency

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Fundamental Characteristics

 The effectiveness of a data communication

system depend on four fundamental
characteristics:
 Delivery
 Accuracy
 Timelines
 Jitter

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Fundamental Characteristics
cont..
1. Delivery: The data should be delivered to the
correct destination and correct user.
2. Accuracy: The communication system
should deliver the data accurately, without
introducing any errors. The data may get
corrupted during transmission affecting the
accuracy of the delivered data.
3. Timeliness: Audio and Video data has to be
delivered in a timely manner without any
delay; such a data delivery is called real
time transmission of data.
4. Jitter: It is the variation in the packet 23
Five Components of Data
Communication

1. Message
2. Sender
3. Receiver
4. Medium
5. Protocol

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Components of Data
Communications cont..
Message Source: Device that generates data to be
transmitted

Sender (Transmitter): Converts data from source into

transmittable Signals
Medium (Transmission system ): Carries data from
source to destination
Receiver: Converts received signal into data
Protocols: Takes care of rules, regulations and whole
arrangement of communication

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Direction of data flow

Simplex

Half Duplex

Full Duplex

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Direction of flow cont..

Simplex: one direction, e.g. television, microphone

Half duplex: either direction, but only one way at a

time, e.g. police radio

Full duplex: both directions at the same time, e.g.

telephone

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Networks: key issues
 Network criteria
 Performance

 Throughput
 Delay
 Reliability
 Data transmitted are identical to data received.
 Measured by the frequency of failure
 The time it takes a link to recover from a failure
 Security
 Protecting data from unauthorized access

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What Goes Wrong in the
Network?
Reliability at stake

 Bit-level errors (electrical interference)

 Packet-level errors (congestion)
 distinction between lost and late packet
 Link and node failures
 distinction between broken and flaky link
 distinction between failed and slow node

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What Goes Undesirable in the
Network?
Required performance at stake

 Messages are delayed

 Messages are delivered out-of-order
 Third parties eavesdrop

 The challenge is to fill the gap between

application expectations and hardware
capabilities
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Terminology

 The throughput or bandwidth of a channel is

the number of bits it can transfer per second

 The latency or delay of a channel is the time

that elapses between sending information and
the earliest possible reception of it

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Network topologies

 Topology defines the way hosts are

connected to the network

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Network topology issues

a goal of any topology

1. high throughput (bandwidth)

2. low latency

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Bandwidth and Latency
Bandwidth
1. telecommunications: range of radio frequencies: a range of radio
frequencies used in radio or telecommunications transmission and
reception
2. computing: communications capacity: the capacity of a
communications channel, for example, a connection to the Internet, often
measured in bits per second
3. a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information
(bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel

Latency
A synonym for delay, is an expression of how much time it takes
for transmission from one designated point to another

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Categories of Topology

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Mostly used network
topologiesn: Number of cables in a network

Bus = n+1

Mesh =n(n-1)/2

Star = n
Ring = n
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Network topologies cont…

 Mesh advantages over other network

topologies:
 The use of dedicated links guarantees that each connection can carry its
own data load, thus eliminating the traffic problems that can occur when
links must be shared by multiple devices.
 A mesh topology is robust. If one link becomes unusable, it does not
incapacitate the entire system
 there is the advantage of privacy or security. When every message travels
along a dedicated line, only the intended recipient sees it. Physical
boundaries prevent other users from gaining access to messages
 point-to-point links make fault identification and fault isolation easy. Traffic
can be routed to avoid links with suspected problems. This facility enables
the network manager to discover the precise location of the fault and aids in
finding its cause and solution.

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Topologies cont…
 Disadvantage of Mesh topology:
 Many cabling which results into higher cost of devices and cables.
 Installation and reconnection are difficult too

Advantages of Star topology:

 Less expensive than a mesh topology. In a star, each device needs only
one link and one I/O port to connect it to any number of others.
 Makes it easy to install and reconfigure
 Its robust. If one link fails, only that link is affected. All other links remain
active.
 Easy fault identification and fault isolation.
 disadvantage of a star topology:
 Is the dependency of the whole topology on one single point, the hub. If the
hub goes down, the whole system is dead.
 The star topology is used in local-area networks (LANs)
 High-speed LANs often use a star topology with a central hub.

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Topologies cont…
Advantages of Bus topology:
 ease of installation. Backbone cable can be laid along the most
efficient path, then connected to the nodes by drop lines of various
lengths. In this way, a bus uses less cabling than mesh or star
topologies
Disadvantages include:
 difficult reconnection and fault isolation. A bus is usually designed to be
optimally efficient at installation. It can therefore be difficult to add new
devices. Signal reflection at the taps can cause degradation in quality.
 In addition, a fault or break in the bus cable stops all transmission, even
between devices on the same side of the problem.

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Topologies cont…

 Advantages of Ring topology:

 relatively easy to install and reconfigure. Each device is linked to only its
immediate neighbors (either physically or logically). To add or delete a
device requires changing only two connections. The only constraints are
media and traffic considerations (maximum ring length and number of
devices)
 fault isolation is simplified. Generally, in a ring a signal is circulating at all
times. If one device does not receive a signal within a specified period, it
can issue an alarm. The alarm alerts the network operator to the problem
and its location

Disadvantages of Ring topology:

 unidirectional traffic is a bit challenge, a break in the ring (such as a
disabled station) can disable the entire network, this weakness can
 be solved by using a dual ring or a switch capable of closing off the break.

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A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three
bus networks

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Hierarchical organization of the
Internet
NAP: Network Access Point
ISP: Internet Service Provider

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Research areas in
Networking
 Routing
 Security
 Ad-hoc networks
 Wireless networks
 Protocols
 Quality of Service
 …

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