Introduction to Computer Networks

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER
NETWORKS
Books

References
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Network,
Prentice-Hall
Data Communication And Networking ,Forouzan
Doughlas E. Comer, Computer Networks and
Internet
http://www.cisco.com/public/support/tac/documenta
tion.html
http://home.iitk.ac.in/~navi/sidbinetworkcourse
 Communications
• Communications
– The message (data and information) is
communicated via the signal
– The transmission medium “carries” the signal

Transmission
medium

Sender Signal Receiver

 Communications

• The transmission of data from one computer to another, or

from one device to another. A communications device,
therefore, is any machine that assists data transmission. For
example, modems,cables, and ports are all communications
devices.
• Communications software refers to programs that make it
possible to transmit data.
Note: A port is generally a specific place for being physically connected to
some other device,usually with a socket and plug of some kind.
 Telecommunications
• Telecommunications
– The electronic transmission of signals for
communications, including such means as:
• Telephone
• Radio
• Television
• Telecommunication medium
• Anything that carries an electronic signal and interfaces
between a sending device and a receiving device
 Communications and
Telecommunications
• In human speech, the sender transmits a signal through
the transmission medium of the air
• In telecommunications, the sender transmits a signal
through the transmission medium of a cable

Schematic
 Data Communications
• Data communications
– A specialized subset of telecommunications
that refers to the electronic collection,
processing, and distribution of data -- typically
between computer system hardware devices
 Computer Network
• Computer network…
– The communications media, devices, and
software needed to connect two or more
computer systems and/or devices
– Used to share hardware, programs, and
databases across the organization
– Fosters teamwork, innovative ideas, and new
business strategies
 Terminology
• Analog Signal
– A continuous, curving signal
• Digital Signal
– A signal represented by bits
• Modems
– Devices that translate data from digital to
analog and analog to digital
 Analog /Digital
• Almost everything in the world can be described or represented in one of two forms:
analog or digital.
• The principal feature of analog representations is that they are continuous. In
contrast, digital representations consist of values measured at discrete intervals.
• Describes any system based on discontinuous data or events.Computers are digital
machines because at their most basic level they can distinguish between just two
values, 0 and 1, or off and on. There is no simple way to represent all the values in
between,such as 0.25. All data that a computer processes must be encoded
digitally, as a series of zeroes and ones.
• Digital watches are called digital because they go from one value to the next
without displaying all intermediate values. Consequently,they can display only a
finite number of times of the day. In contrast, watches with hands are analog,
because the hands move continuously around the clock face. As the minute hand
goesaround, it not only touches the numbers 1 through 12, but also the infinite
number of points in between.
 Analog /Digital
• Although digital representations are approximations of analog events,
they are useful because they are relatively easy to store and manipulate
electronically. The trick is in converting from analog to digital, and back
again.
• This is the principle behind compact discs (CDs). The music itself exists
in an analog form, as waves in the air, but these sounds are then
translated into a digital form that is encoded onto the disk When you play
a compact disc, the CD player reads the digital data,translates it back into
its original analog form, and sends it to the amplifier and eventually the
speakers.
• Internally, computers are digital because they consist of discrete units
called bits that are either on or off. But by combining many bits in complex
ways, computers simulate analog events. In one sense, this is what
computer science is all about.
 How a Modem Works
• Modem
– Modulates a digital signal into an analog
signal for transmission via analog medium,
then demodulates the signal into digital for
receiving

Pretty picture
 Modem

• Acronym for modulator-demodulator. A modem is a device or

program that enables a computer to transmit data over
telephone lines. Computer information is stored digitally,
whereas information transmitted over telephone lines is
transmitted in the form of analog waves. A modem converts
between these two forms.
 Data Transmission
• Data Transmission refers to the movement
of data in form of bits between two or more
digital devices.
Data Transmission

Parallel Serial

Synchronous Asynchronous
 Serial and Parallel
Communication
• In telecommunication and computer science, serial
communication is the process of sending data one bit at a time,
sequentially, over a communication channel. This is in contrast to
parallel communication, where several bits are sent together, on a
link with several parallel channels.
• Serial communication is used for all long-distance communication
and most computer networks, where the cost of cable and
synchronization difficulties make parallel communication impractical.
• Serial computer buses are becoming more common even at shorter
distances, as improved signal integrity(entire) and transmission
speeds in newer serial technologies have begun outweigh the
parallel bus's advantage of simplicity.
 Comparison with serial links
Before the development of high-speed serial technologies, the choice of parallel links
over serial links was driven by these factors:
• Speed: Superficially, the speed of a parallel data link is equal to the number of bits
sent at one time times the bit rate of each individual path; doubling the number of bits
sent at once doubles the data rate.So paraleel transmission is a speedy way of
transmitting data.
• Cable length: Crosstalk creates interference between the parallel lines, and the effect
worsens with the length of the communication link. This places an upper limit on the
length of a parallel data connection that is usually shorter than a serial connection.
• Parallel transmission is used for short distance communication.
• Parallel transmission is costly method of data transmission.
 Modes of Serial
Communication:
• Two modes of operation:
– asynchronous: transmitter and receiver clocks are
independent
– synchronous: transmitter and receiver are
synchronized
• Asynchronous Transmission
• In asynchronous transmission, data is transmitted one byte at a
‘time’. This type of transmission is most commonly used by
microcomputers. The data is transmitted character-by-character as
the user types it on a keyboard.
• An asynchronous line that is idle (not being used) is identified with a
value 1, also known as ‘Mark’ state or stop state. This value is used
by the communication devices to find whether the line is idle or
disconnected. When a character (or byte) is about to be transmitted,
a start bit is sent. A start bit has a value of 0, also called a space
state or start state. Thus, when the line switches from a value of 1 to
a value of 0, the receiver is alerted that a character is coming.
 Synchronous transmission

• In synchronous transmission, large volumes of

information can be transmitted at a time. In this type of
transmission, data is transmitted block-by-block or word-
byword simultaneously. Each block may contain several
bytes of data.
• In synchronous transmission, a special communication
device known as synchronized clock’ is required to
schedule the transmission of information. This special
communication device or equipment is expensive.
• In a synchronous connection, the transmitter and receiver are paced
by the same clock. The receiver continuously receives (even when no
bits are transmitted) the information at the same rate the transmitter
send it. This is why the transmitter and receiver are paced at the same
speed. In addition, supplementary information is inserted to guarantee
that there are no errors during transmission.
• During synchronous transmission, the bits are sent successively with no
separation between each character, so it is necessary to insert
synchronisation elements; this is called character-level
synchronisation.
• The main disadvantage of synchronous transmission is recognising the
data at the receiver, as there may be differences between the transmitter
and receiver clocks. That is why each data transmission must be
sustained long enough for the receiver to distinguish it. As a result, the
transmission speed can not be very high in a synchronous link.
 101 010 110
Sender Receiver

Synchronous Transmission
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/1983494/Basic
s-of-Communications
 Data Transmission Modes

• The term transmission mode defines the direction

of data flow between two linked devices. The
manner or way in which data is transmitted from
one place to another is called Data Transmission
Mode. There are three ways for transmitting data
from one location to another. These are:
• Simplex mode
• Half-Duplex mode
• Full-Duplex mode
 Simplex Mode
• In Simplex mode, the communication can take place in only one direction.
• In this mode, a terminal can only send data and cannot receive it or it can
only receive data but cannot send it. It means that in this mode
communication is uni-directional.
• Today, this mode of data communication is not popular, because most of
the modem communications require two-way exchange of data. However,
this mode of communication is used in business field at certain point-of-
sale terminals in which sales data is entered without a corresponding
reply. The other examples of simplex communication modes are Radio
and T.V transmissions.
• In computer system, the keyboard, monitor and printer are examples of
simplex devices. The keyboard can only be used to enter data into
computer, while monitor and printer can only accept (display/print) output.
 Half-duplex mode
• In Half-duplex mode, the communication can take place in
both directions, but only in one direction at a time. In this
mode, data is sent and received alternatively. It is like a
one-lane bridge where two-way traffic must give way in
order to cross the other.
• In half-duplex mode, at a time only one end transmits data
while other end receives. In addition, it is possible to
perform error detection and request the sender to re-
transmit information. The Internet browsing is an example
of half duplex. When we issue a request to download a
web document, then that document is downloaded and
displayed before we issue another request.
 Full-duplex
• In Full-duplex mode, the communication can
take place in both directions simultaneously, i.e.
at the same time on the same channel. It is the
fastest directional mode of communication.
Example of this mode is conversation of the
persons through telephone. This type of
communication is similar to automobile traffic on
a two-lane road. The telephone communication
system is an example of full-duplex
communication mode.
 Multiplexor/Demultiplexer

• A communications device that multiplexes (combines) several

signals for transmission over a single medium. A demultiplexor
completes the process by separating multiplexed signals from a
transmission line.
– So Mux allows several telecommunications signals to be transmitted
over a single communications medium at the same time

• Frequently a multiplexor and demultiplexor are combined into a

single device capable of processing both outgoing and incoming
signals.

• A multiplexor is sometimes called a mux.

 Communications
link

Multiplexor Front-end Host

processor computer
 Front-End Processor
• Front-end processor…
– Special purpose computers that manage
communication to and from a computer
system

Pretty picture
 Job 1
Incoming and
outgoing jobs

Job 2

Job 3

Main Front-end
system processor

Job 4
• There are three basic methods of multiplexing
channels.They are:
1. Time division Multiplexing
2. Frequency division Multiplexing
3. Space division Multiplexing
 TDM
• The bit rate of a transmission medium always
exceeds the required rate of the digital
signal.This fact is utilized for time division
multiplexing.
• In TDM,the total time available in the channel is
divided between several users and each user of
the channel is alloted a time slot (a small time
interval) during which he may transmit a
message.
• The channel capacity is fully utilized in TDM by
interleaving a number of data streams belonging
to different users into one data stream.
• Streams of data sent through the physical
channel must be demultiplexed at the receiving
end.Individual chunks of messages sent by each
user are reassembled into a full message at the
receiving end.
• TDM may be used to multiplex digital or analog
signals.
 FDM
• In FDM,the available bandwidth of a physical medium is split up into
several smaller,disjoint logical band widths.Each of the component
band widths is used as a separate communication line(channel).
• The best example of FDM is the way we receive stations in a
radio.Each radio station is assigned a frequency range within a
bandwidth of radio frequencies.Several radio stations may be
transmitting electro magnetic signals simultaneously over the
physical channel.A radio receiver’s antenna receives signals
transmitted by all the stations.Finally,the tuning dial in the radio is
used to isolate the speech signal of the station tuned.
• In FDM,the signals to be transmitted must be analog
signals.Thus,digital signals must be converted to analog form if they
are to use FDM.