ACMP 271 : FOUNDATIONS OF DATA COMMUNICATION AND

NETWORKS

Topic Content
1.1 Introduction
Objective of data communication and computer networks:
The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one
point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point
Data communication refers to the exchange of data between a source and
a receiver. Data communication is said to be local if communicating devices
are in the same building or a similarly restricted geographical area. The device
that transmits the data is known as source and the device that receives the
transmitted data is known as receiver. Data communication aims at the
transfer of data and maintenance of the data during the process but not the
actual generation of the information at the source and receiver
Data communications refers to the transmission of this digital data between
two or more computers and a computer network or data network is a
telecommunications network that allows computers to exchange data. The
physical connection between networked computing devices is established
using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known computer network
is the Internet.
Data communications is define as exchange of digital information between
two digital devices is data communication. Data can exist in a variety of forms
such as numbers, text, bits and bytes.
Computer networks: connection of communications devices with the aim of
sharing computer resources. Networks exist in various types depend on
several factors.
Effective and efficient data communication and networking facilities are vital
to any enterprise.
1.1.1 Contemporary Data Communication
Three different forces have consistently driven the architecture and evolution
of data communications and networking facilities: traffic growth, development
of new services, and advances in technology.
Momentous changes in the way organizations do business and process
information have been driven by changes in networking technology and at the
same time have driven those changes. These include a growing need for high-
speed LANs in the business environment to support requirements like
Centralized server farms, Power workgroups, and High-speed local backbones.
Also changes in corporate data traffic patterns are driving the creation of high-
speed WANs. Lastly rapid conversion of consumer electronics to digital
technology is having an impact on both the Internet and corporate intranets,
dramatically increasing the amount of image and video traffic carried by
networks.
1.2 A Communications Model
The key elements of this model are:
i. Source - generates data to be transmitted
ii. Transmitter - converts data into transmittable signals
iii. Transmission System - carries data from source to destination
iv. Receiver - converts received signal into data
v. Destination - takes incoming data
1.3 Communications Tasks

Transmission system utilization Addressing

Interfacing Routing

Signal generation Recovery

Synchronization Message formatting

Exchange management Security

Error detection and correction Network management

Flow control

Communicating devices
• Advice must interface with the transmission system
• Once an interface is established, signal generation is required for
communication
 • There must be synchronization between transmitter and receiver, to
determine when a signal begins to arrive and when it ends
• There is a variety of requirements for communication between two
parties that might be collected under the term exchange
management
• Error detection and correction are required in circumstances where
errors cannot be tolerated
• Flow control is required to assure that the source does not overwhelm
the destination by sending data faster than they can be processed and
absorbed
• Addressing and routing, so a source system can indicate the identity
of the intended destination, and can choose a specific route through this
network
• Recovery allows an interrupted transaction to resume activity at the
point of interruption or to condition prior to the beginning of the
exchange
• Message formatting has to do with an agreement between two parties
as to the form of the data to be exchanged or transmitted
• Frequently need to provide some measure of security in a data
communications system
• Network management capabilities are needed to configure the
system, monitor its status, react to failures and overloads, and plan
intelligently for future growth
See have gone from the simple idea of data communication between source
and destination to a rather formidable list of data communications tasks.
1.4 Data Communications Model

Most fundamental aspects of the communications function, focusing on the

transmission of signals in a reliable and efficient manner.
The process is modeled as follows:
• User keys in message m comprising bits g buffered in source PC memory
• Input data is transferred to I/O device (transmitter) as sequence of bits
g(t) using voltage shifts
• Transmitter converts these into a signal s(t) suitable for transmission
media being used
• Whilst transiting media signal may be impaired so received signal r(t)
may differ from s(t)
• Receiver decodes signal recovering g’(t) as estimate of original g(t)
• Which is buffered in destination PC memory as bits g’ being the received
message m’
1.4.1 Elements of Data Communication Systems:

Source encoder / Decoder:

The Source encoder ( or Source coder) converts the input i.e. symbol
sequence into a binary sequence of 0’s and 1’s by assigning code words to the
symbols in the input sequence. For eg. :-If a source set is having hundred
symbols, then the number of bits used to represent each symbol will be 7
because 27=128 unique combinations are available. The important
parameters of a source encoder are block size, code word lengths, average
data rate and the efficiency of the coder (i.e. actual output data rate compared
to the minimum achievable rate)
At the receiver, the source decoder converts the binary output of the channel
decoder into a symbol sequence. The decoder for a system using fixed –
length code words is quite simple, but the decoder for a system using variable
– length code words will be very complex.
Channel Encoder / Decoder:
Error control is accomplished by the channel coding operation that consists of
systematically adding extra bits to the output of the source coder. These extra
bits do not convey any information but helps the receiver to detect and / or
correct some of the errors in the information bearing bits.
The Channel decoder recovers the information bearing bits from the coded
binary stream. Error detection and possible correction is also performed by
the channel decoder. The important parameters of coder / decoder are:
Method of coding, efficiency, error control capabilities and complexity of the
circuit
Modulator: The Modulator converts the input bit stream into an electrical
waveform suitable for transmission over the communication channel.
Modulator can be effectively used to minimize the effects of channel noise, to
match the frequency spectrum of transmitted signal with channel
characteristics, to provide the capability to multiplex many signals.
Demodulator: The extraction of the message from the information bearing
waveform produced by the modulation is accomplished by the demodulator.
The output of the demodulator is bit stream. The important parameter is the
method of demodulation.
Channel: The Channel provides the electrical connection between the source
and destination. The different channels are: Pair of wires, Coaxial cable,
Optical fibre, Radio channel, Satellite channel or combination of any of these.
The communication channels have only finite Bandwidth, non-ideal frequency
response, the signal often suffers amplitude and phase distortion as it travels
over the channel. Also, the signal power decreases due to the attenuation of
the channel. The signal is corrupted by unwanted, unpredictable electrical
signals referred to as noise. The important parameters of the channel are
Signal to Noise power Ratio (SNR), usable bandwidth, amplitude and phase
response and the statistical properties of noise.
Synchronization: Synchronization involves the estimation of both time and
frequency coherent systems need to synchronize their frequency reference
with carrier in both frequency and phase.
1.5 Transmission Medium
The basic building block of any communications facility is the transmission
line. One of the basic choices facing a business user is the transmission
medium. For use within the business premises, this choice is generally
completely up to the business. For long-distance communications, the choice
is generally but not always made by the long-distance carrier.
In either case, changes in technology are rapidly changing the mix of media
used. The ever-increasing capacity of fiber optic channels is making channel
capacity a virtually free resource. However, switching is now becoming the
bottleneck. The growing use of wireless transmission, is a result of the trend
toward universal personal telecommunications and universal access to
communications.
Despite the growth in the capacity and the drop in cost of transmission
facilities, transmission services remain the most costly component of a
communications budget for most businesses. Thus, the manager needs to be
aware of techniques that increase the efficiency of the use of these facilities,
such as multiplexing and compression.
1.6 Networking
The number of computers in use worldwide is in the hundreds of millions, with
pressure from users of these systems for ways to communicate among all
these machines being irresistible. Advances in technology have led to greatly
increased capacity and the concept of integration, allowing equipment and
networks to deal simultaneously with voice, data, image, and even video.
Have two broad categories of networks: Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide
Area Networks (WAN).
1.6.1 Wide Area Networks (WAN)
Wide area networks generally cover a large geographical area, require the
crossing of public right-of-ways, and rely at least in part on circuits provided
by a common carrier. Typically, a WAN consists of a number of interconnected
switching nodes. Traditionally, WANs have been implemented using one of two
technologies: circuit switching and packet switching. More recently, frame
relay and ATM networks have assumed major roles.
Circuit Switching
In a circuit-switching network, a dedicated communications path is established
between two stations through the nodes of the network. That path is a
connected sequence of physical links between nodes, with a logical channel
dedicated to the connection. Data generated by the source station are
transmitted along the dedicated path as rapidly as possible. The most common
example of circuit switching is the telephone network.
Packet Switching
A packet-switching network uses a quite different approach, without need to
dedicate transmission capacity along a path through the network. Rather, data
is sent in a sequence of small chunks, called packets. Each packet is passed
through the network from node to node along some path leading from source
to destination. At each node, the entire packet is received, stored briefly, and
then transmitted to the next node. Packet-switching networks are commonly
used for terminal-to-computer and computer-to-computer communications.
Frame Relay
Frame relay was developed to take advantage of high data rates and low error
rates on modern WAN links. Whereas the original packet-switching networks
were designed with a data rate to the end user of about 64 kbps, frame relay
networks are designed to operate efficiently at user data rates of up to 2 Mbps.
The key to achieving these high data rates is to strip out most of the overhead
involved with error control.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), is a culmination of developments in circuit
switching and packet switching. ATM can be viewed as an evolution from frame
relay. ATM uses fixed-length packets, called cells. As with frame relay, ATM
provides little overhead for error control, depending on the inherent reliability
of the transmission system and on higher layers of logic in the end systems
to catch and correct errors. By using a fixed packet length, the processing
overhead is reduced even further for ATM compared to frame relay. The result
is that ATM is designed to work in the range of 10s and 100s of Mbps, and in
the Gbps range. ATM allows the definition of multiple virtual channels with
data rates that are dynamically defined at the time the virtual channel is
created.
1.6.2 Local Area Networks (LAN)
A LAN is a communications network that interconnects a variety of devices
and provides a means for information exchange among those devices. The
scope of the LAN is small, typically a single building or a cluster of buildings.
It is usually the case that the LAN is owned by the same organization that
owns the attached devices. The internal data rates of LANs are typically much
greater than those of WANs.
LANs come in a number of different configurations. The most common are
switched LANs and wireless LANs. The most common switched LAN is a
switched Ethernet LAN, others are ATM & Fibre Channel LANs. Wireless
networks provide advantages in the areas of mobility and ease of installation
and configuration.
1.6.3 Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)
Metropolitan Area Networks provide a middle ground between LANs and
WANs, typically spanning a city / metro area e.g private or public network
with higher speed connections.
1.7 The Internet
Internet is interconnection of different networks. It evolved from the
ARPANET, developed in 1969 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was the first operational packet-
switching network. The network was so successful that ARPA applied the same
packet-switching technology to tactical radio communication (packet radio)
and to satellite communication (SATNET). The need for interworking between
these led to Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn of ARPA developing methods and protocols
for such internetworking, which led eventually to the development of TCP/IP.
1.7.1 Internet Elements

Figure above illustrates the key elements that comprise the Internet, whose
purpose is to interconnect end systems, called hosts; including PCs,
workstations, servers, mainframes, and so on. Most hosts that use the
Internet are connected to a network, such as a local area network (LAN) or
a wide area network (WAN). These networks are in turn connected by
routers.
Example of Internet Configuration

In summary, you learned that;

i. Importance of data communications needs
ii. Communications model
iii. Definition of data communications
iv. Overview of networks
v. Overview Internet

Glossary
Data communication refers to the exchange of data between a source and
a receiver.
Distributed System is a collection of independent computers that appear to
the users of the system as a single computer.
Computer networks: connection of communications devices with the aim of
sharing computer resources. Networks exist in various types depend on
several factors.
Circuit-switching network, a dedicated communications path is established
between two stations through the nodes of the network.
A packet-switching network uses a quite different approach, without need
to dedicate transmission capacity along a path through the network.
Internet is interconnection of different networks architecture connected
globally
Further Reading
Data & Computer networks, Prakash Gupta
William Stallings, Data & Computer networks 10th edition
Any other data communication and networking relevant books, journals,
articles e.t.c

Topic Review
i) Briefly describe with the help of schematic diagram a digital data
communication main elements and components.
ii) You want your laptop and cell phone to exchange information. What
networking technology might be required as a feature for both laptop and
phone to accomplish this?
iii) What is the principal application that has driven the design of circuit-
switching networks?
iv) Use a diagram to review main component of internet configuration