2018

M. Arbaz aslam
Reg 2017- ch- 432

Submitted to
Engr.umair furqan

COMPUTER NETWORK
DEVICES AND OPTOCAL FIBRE
Computer Networking Devices:
Computer networking devices, are physical devices which are required for communication and
interaction between devices on a computer network. Specifically, they mediate data in a
computer network. Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data
terminal equipment.

Different networking devices:

Repeater:
A repeater is an electronic device that amplifies the signal it receives. In other terms, you can
think of repeater as a device which receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher
power so that the signal can cover longer distances.

Repeaters are used to extend LAN. It has only two ports and can connect only two
segments of a network. Multiple repeaters can be used to connect more segments. (Segment is
a logical section of the same network).

 They are useful when computers in a network are located far away from each other.
Repeaters amplify the signal so that the signal is as strong as the original signal. They
can thusextend the reach of a network.

Network Interface Card (NIC)

 Short for Network Interface Card, the NIC is also referred to as an Ethernet card and
network adapter. It is an expansion card that enables a computer to connect to a network;
such as a home network, or the Internet using an Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector
  Due to the popularity and low cost of the Ethernet standard, most new computers have a
network interface build directly into the motherboard. The top image shows the SMC EZ
Card 10/100 PCI network card, one of the more common examples.
 The bottom picture shows a PC Card, more specifically the SMC EZ Card 10/100
wireless network card; found in laptop computers that do not have onboard wireless
capabilities.

Network Hub:
Network Hub is a networking device which is used to connect multiple network hosts. A
network hub is also used to do data transfer. The data is transferred in terms of packets on a
computer network. So when a host sends a data packet to a network hub, the hub copies the data
packet to all of its ports connected to. Like this, all the ports know about the data and the port for
whom the packet is intended, claims the packet.

How network hubs work:

Network hubs are categorized as Layer 1 devices in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)
reference model. They connect multiple computers together, transmitting data received at one
port to all of its other ports without restriction. Hubs operate in half-duplex.This model raises
security and privacy concerns, because traffic could not be safeguarded or quarantined. It also
presents a practical issue in terms of traffic management. Devices on a hub function as a network
segment and share a collision domain. Thus, when two devices connected to a network hub
transmit data simultaneously, the packets will collide, causing network performance problems.
This is mitigated in switches or routers, as each port represents a separate collision domain.

Types of hubs:
There are two types of network hubs: active and passive. A third designation, intelligent hubs, is
synonymous with a switch.

 Active hubs repeat and strengthen incoming transmissions. They are also sometimes
referred to as repeaters.
 Passive hubs simply serve as a point of connectivity, without any additional capabilities.

Network Switch:
Like a hub, a switch also works at the layer of LAN (Local Area Network) but you can say that a
switch is more intelligent than a hub. While hub just does the work of data forwarding, a switch
does ‘filter and forwarding’ which is a more intelligent way of dealing with the data packets.

Role of switches in a network:

Switches may operate at one or more layers of the OSI model, including the data link and
network layers. A device that operates simultaneously at more than one of these layers is known
as a multilayer switch.
Bridges
A bridge is a computer networking device that builds the connection with the other bridge
networks which use the same protocol. It works at the Data Link layer of the OSI Model and
connects the different networks together and develops communication between them. It connects
two local-area networks; two physical LANs into larger logical LAN or two segments of the
same LAN that use the same protocol.

Types of Bridges:
There are mainly three types in which bridges can be characterized:

Transparent Bridge: As the name signifies, it appears to be transparent for the other devices on
the network. The other devices are ignorant of its existence. It only blocks or forwards the data
as per the MAC address.
Source Route Bridge: It derives its name from the fact that the path which packet takes through
the network is implanted within the packet. It is mainly used in Token ring networks.

Translational Bridge: The process of conversion takes place via Translational Bridge. It
converts the data format of one networking to another. For instance Token ring to Ethernet and
vice versa.

Switches superseding Bridges:

Ethernet switches are seen to be gaining trend as compared to bridges. They are succeeding on
the account of provision of logical divisions and segments in the networking field. Infact
switches are being referred to as multi-port bridges because of their advanced functionality.

Routers
Routers are network layer devices and are particularly identified as Layer- 3 devices of the OSI
Model. They process logical addressing information in the Network header of a packet such as IP
Addresses. Router is used to create larger complex networks by complex traffic routing. It has
the ability to connect dissimilar LANs on the same protocol. It also has the ability to limit the
flow of broadcasts. A router primarily comprises of a hardware device or a system of the
computer which has more than one network interface and routing software.

Gateways
Gateway is a device which is used to connect multiple networks and passes packets from one
packet to the other network. Acting as the ‘gateway’ between different networking systems or
computer programs, a gateway is a device which forms a link between them. It allows the
computer programs, either on the same computer or on different computers to share information
across the network through protocols. A router is also a gateway, since it interprets data from one
network protocol to another.

Others such as bridge converts the data into different forms between two networking systems.
Then a software application converts the data from one format into another. Gateway is a viable
tool to translate the data format, although the data itself remains unchanged. Gateway might be
installed in some other device to add its functionality into another.

Modems:
Modem is a device which converts the computer-generated digital signals of a computer into
analog signals to enable their travelling via phone lines. The ‘modulator-demodulator’ or modem
can be used as a dial up for LAN or to connect to an ISP. Modems can be both external, as in the
device which connects to the USB or the serial port of a computer, or proprietary devices for
handheld gadgets and other devices, as well as internal; in the form of add-in expansion cards for
computers and PCMCIA cards for laptops.
Configuration of a modem differs for both the external and internal modem. For internal
modems, IRQ – Interrupt request is used to configure the modem along with I/O, which is a
memory address. Typically before the installation of built-in modem, integrated serial interfaces
are disabled, simultaneously assigning them the COM2 resources..

Upon installation, the second step to ensure the proper working of a modem is the installation of
drivers. The modem working speed and processing is dependent on two factors:

 Speed of UART – Universal Asynchronous Receiver or Transmitter chip (installed in the

computer to which the modem connection is made)
 Speed of the modem itself

OPTICAL FIBRE
An optical fiber or optical fibre is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or
plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often
as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic
communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at
higher bandwidths(data rates) than wire cables
How fiber-optics works
Light travels down a fiber-optic cable by bouncing repeatedly off the walls. Each tiny photon
(particle of light) bounces down the pipe like a bobsleigh going down an ice run. Now you might
expect a beam of light, traveling in a clear glass pipe, simply to leak out of the edges. But if light
hits glass at a really shallow angle (less than 42 degrees), it reflects back in again—as though the
glass were really a mirror. This phenomenon is called total internal reflection. It's one of the .The
other thing that keeps light in the pipe is the structure of the cable, which is made up of two
separate parts. The main part of the cable—in the middle—is called the core and that's the bit the
light travels through. Wrapped around the outside of the core is another layer of glass called the
cladding. The cladding's job is to keep the light signals inside the core. It can do this because it is
made of a different type of glass to the core. (More technically, the cladding has a lower
refractive index.)

Types of Optical Fiber:

Optical fibers carry light signals down them in what are called modes. That sounds technical but
it just means different ways of traveling: a mode is simply the path that a light beam follows
down the fiber. One mode is to go straight down the middle of the fiber. Another is to bounce
down the fiber at a shallow angle. Other modes involve bouncing down the fiber at other angles,
more or less steep.

Single mode
The simplest type of optical fiber is called single-mode. It has a very thin core about 5-10
microns (millionths of a meter) in diameter. In a single-mode fiber, all signals travel straight
down the middle without bouncing off the edges (red line in diagram). Cable TV, Internet, and
telephone signals are generally carried by single-mode fibers, wrapped together into a huge
bundle. Cables like this can send information over 100 km (60 miles).

Multi-mode
Another type of fiber-optic cable is called multi-mode. Each optical fiber in a multi-mode cable
is about 10 times bigger than one in a single-mode cable. This means light beams can travel
through the core by following a variety of different paths (purple, green, and blue lines)—in
other words, in multiple different modes. Multi-mode cables can send information only over
relatively short distances and are used (among other things) to link computer networks together.
Uses for fiber optics:
The following uses of Fiber Optics

 Computing Networking
 Broadcasting
 In Medicine
 In Military