COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER NETWORK

Data Communication
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Is the exchange of data (in the form of 0’s and 1’s) between two devices via some form of
transmission medium (such as a wire cable) when devices communicate, they are sharing information. This
sharing can be local or remote the term telecommunications, which includes telephony, telegraphy, and
television, means communication at a distance.

A data communication system is made up of five components:

1. Message: is the information (data) to be communicated. It can consist of text, number, picture,
sound, or video, or any combination of these.
2. Sender: is the device that sends the data message. it can be a computer ,workstation, telephone
handset, video camera, and so on .
3. Receiver: is the device that receives the message. it can be a computer ,workstation, telephone
handset, video camera, and so on .
4. Medium: is the physical path by which a message travels from sender to receiver. It can consist
of twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic, laser, or radio wave.
5. Protocol: is asset of rules that govern data communication. It represents an agreement between
the communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but not
communicating just as a person specking French cannot be understood by a person who speaks
only Japanese.

COMPUTER NETWORK
A combination of computer hardware, cabling, network devices, and computer software used
together to allow computers to communicate with each other.. In computer network two or more
computers are linked together with a medium and data communication devices for the purpose of
communicating data and sharing resources. The computer that provides resources to other
computers on a network is known as server. In the network the individual computers, which access
shared network resources, are known as workstations or nodes. Computer Networks may be
classified on the basis of geographical area in three broad categories.
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1. Local Area Network (LAN)
2. Wide Area Network (WAN)
3. Metropolitan-Area Network (MAN)

Local Area Network

A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common
communications line or wireless link to a server. Typically, a LAN encompasses computers and
peripherals connected to a server within a distinct geographic area such as an office or a commercial
establishment. Computers and other mobile devices use a LAN connection to share resources such as a
printer or network storage.
Major Characteristics of LAN
 Every computer has the potential to communicate with any other computers of the network
 High degree of interconnection between computers
 Easy physical connection of computers in a network
 Inexpensive medium of data transmission
 High data transmission rate
Use of LAN
Followings are the major areas where LAN is normally used
 File transfers and Access
 Word and text processing
 Electronic message handling
 Remote database access
 Personal computing
 Digital voice transmission and storage
Wide Area Network
The term Wide Area Network (WAN) is used to describe a computer network spanning a regional,
national or global area. For example, for a large company have regional branches in many place of
the world. The distance between computers connected to WAN are larger entities utilize WANs to
relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations. In
essence, this mode of telecommunication allows a business to effectively carry out its daily
function regardless of location. The Internet can be considered a WAN as well and is used by
businesses, governments, organizations, and individuals for almost any purpose imaginable
Characteristics of WAN
Followings are the major characteristics of WAN.

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 1. Communication Facility: For a big company spanning over different parts of the country the
employees can save long distance phone calls and it overcomes the time lag in overseas
communications.
2. Remote Data Entry: Remote data entry is possible in WAN. It means sitting at any location
you can enter data, update data and query other information of any computer attached to the WAN
but located in other cities.
3. Centralized Information: In modern computerized environment you will find that big
organizations go for centralized data storage. This means if the organization is spread over many
cities, they keep their important business data in a single place. As the data are generated at
different sites, WAN permits collection of this data from different sites and save at a single site.

Metropolitan-Area Network (MAN)

It means of connecting numbers of LANs in to larger Network so that the resources may be shared
LAN to LAN as well as device to device .A metropolitan-area network (MAN) is a network that
spans (‫ )مسافه‬a metropolitan area such as a city or suburban area. A MAN usually consists of two or
more LANs in a common geographic area.

Network Components
The people who create a computer network, referred to as network engineers, create networks
by combining the four things mentioned in the formal definition of a network:
■ Computer hardware (including NICs)
■ Cables
■ Networking devices
■ Computer software

Digital and Analog Transmission

Data is transmitted from one point to another point by means of electrical signals that may be in
digital and analog form. So one should know the fundamental difference between analog and
digital signals. In analog signal the transmission power varies over a continuous range with respect
to sound, light and radio waves. On the other hand a digital signal may assume only discrete set of
values within a given range. Examples are computer and computer related equipment. Analog
signal is measured in Volts and its frequency in Hertz (Hz). A digital signal is a sequence of
voltage represented in binary form. When digital data are to be sent over an analog form the digital
signal must be converted to analog form. So the technique by which a digital signal is converted to
analog form is known as modulation. And the reverse process, that is the conversion of analog

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signal to its digital form, is known as demodulation. The device, which converts digital signal into
analog, and the reverse, is known as modem.

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Following are the major communication devices used to day.
Twisted Pairs Wire: Wire pairs are commonly used in local telephone communication and for
short distance digital data communication. They are usually made up of copper and the pair of
wires is twisted together. Data transmission speed is normally 9600 bits per second in a distance of
100 meter.

Coaxial Cables: Coaxial cable is groups of specially wrapped and insulted wires that are able to
transfer data at higher rate. They consist of a central copper wire surrounded by an insulation over
which copper mesh is placed. They are used for long distance telephone lines and local area
network for their noise immunity and faster data transfer.

Fiber Optic Cable Optical fiber is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in the form of
light. Light is a form of electromagnetic energy. It travels at its fastest in a vacuum: 300KM/S.

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The speed of light depends, on the density of the medium through which it is traveling. Optical
fiber use reflection to guide light through a channel. A glass or plastic core is surrounded by a
cladding of less dense glass or plastic so that a beam of light moving through the core is
reflected off light cladding. Information is encoded onto a beam of light as a series of on-off
flashed that represent 1 and 0 bits. Fiber is thinner than a human hair but stronger than a steel
fiber of similar thickness

Microwave: Microwave system uses very high frequency radio signals to transmit data through
space. The transmitter and receiver of a microwave system should be in line-of-sight because the
radio signal cannot bend. With microwave very long distance transmission is not possible. In order
to overcome the problem of line of sight and power amplification of weak signal, repeaters are
used at intervals of 25 to 30 kilometers between the transmitting and receiving end.

Cellular Networks: is a communication network where the last link is wireless. The network is
distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver,
but more normally three cell sites or base transceiver stations. These base stations provide the
cell with the network coverage which can be used for transmission of voice, data, and other
types of content. A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to
avoid interference and provide guaranteed service quality within each cell.

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 Communication Satellite: satellite is a body that moves around another body in a particular path.
A communication satellite is nothing but a microwave repeater station in space. It is helpful in
telecommunications, radio and television along with internet applications.
A repeater is a circuit, which increases the strength of the received signal and then transmits it.
But, this repeater works as a transponder. That means, it changes the frequency band of the
transmitted signal from the received one. The frequency with which, the signal is sent into the
space is called as Uplink frequency. Similarly, the frequency with which, the signal is sent by the
transponder is called as Downlink frequency. The following figure illustrates this concept clearly.

Network Topology
The term topology refers the way a network is laid out, either physically or logically. The physical topology of a
network is the geometric representation of the relationship of the entire link and nodes to each other while the
logical topology which is the method used to pass information between workstations .There are five basic physical
topology:

1. Bus topology.
2. Ring topology.
3. Star topology.
4. Tree topology.
5. Mesh topology.
Topology defines the physical or logical arrangement of links in a network

 Bus topology
A bus topology is multipoint one long cable act as a backbone to link all the devices. Nodes are connected to the
bus by the drop line and taps. A drop lines a connection running between device and the main cable. a tap is a
connector.

Advantages

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  Cheap and easy to implement
 Require less cable
 Does not use any specialized network equipment.

Disadvantages

 Entire network shuts down if there is a break in the main cable.

 Terminators are required at both ends of the backbone cable.
 Difficult to identify the problem if the entire network shuts down.
 Network disruption when computers are added or removed

 Ring topology

In a ring topology, each device has a dedicated point-to-point line configuration only with two devices on either
side of it. A signal is passed along in one direction, from device to device, until it reaches its destination. Each
device in the ring incorporates a repeater.

Advantages

 System provides equal access for all computers

 A ring is relatively easy to install and reconfiguration in addition
 Performance is even despite many users
 Signal is circulating at all times
 Break in the ring can disable the entire network, this weakness can be solved by using a
dual ring or switch capable of closing off the break .

Disadvantages

 Failure of one computer can impact the rest of the network

 Problem are hard to isolate
 Network reconfigurations disrupts operation

 Star Topology

Each device has a dedicated point-to-point link only to a central controller, usually called a hub. The devices are
not directly linked to one another. A star topology does not allow direct traffic between devices. The controller
acts as an exchange: If one device wants to send data to another, it sends the data to the controller, which then
relays the data to the other connected device.

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 Advantages

 Easy to add devices as the network expands

 One cable failure does not bring down the entire network (resilience)
 Hub provides centralized management
 Easy to find device and cable problems
 Lots of support as it is the most used
Disadvantage

 Requires more cable length than a linear topology.

 If the hub, switch, or concentrator fails, nodes attached are disabled.
 More expensive than linear bus topologies because of the cost of the hubs, etc.

.Tree Topology

A tree topology combines characteristics of linear bus and star topologies. It consists of groups of star-
configured workstations connected to a linear bus backbone cable. Tree topologies allow for the expansion of
an existing network, and enable schools to configure a network to meet their needs

Advantages

 Point-to-point wiring for individual segments.

 Supported by several hardware and software venders.
 Allows more devices to be attached to a signals central hub and therefore increase the distance a
signal can travel between devices
 It allow the network to isolate communications from different computers

Disadvantages

 Overall length of each segment is limited by the type of cabling used.

 If the backbone line breaks, the entire segment goes down.
 More difficult to configure and wire than other topologies.

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  Mesh topology

In a mesh topology, every device a dedicated point-to-point link to every other device.

A fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical channels to link n devices .

Mesh topology

Advantages

1. Guarantees that each connection can carry it data, thus eliminating the traffic problems.

2. It is robust. If one link becomes unusable it does not affect the entire system.
3. Privacy or security. When every massage travels along a dedicated line, only the intended recipient
sees it.
4. Point-to-point link, make fault identification and fault isolation easy.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantages of the mesh are related to the amount of cabling and the number of I/O pots and
required (installation is difficult and the hardware required is expensive) .

2. Logical Topology

The logical topology of a network determines how the hosts communicate across the medium. The two most
common types of logical topologies are broadcast and token passing. The use of a broadcast topology (Ethernet)
indicates that each host sends its data to all other hosts on the network medium. There is no order that the stations
must follow to use the network. It is first come, first serve. Ethernet works this way as will be explained later in the
course. The second logical topology is token passing. In this type of topology, an electronic token is passed
sequentially to each host. When a host receives the token, that host can send data on the network. If the host has no
data to send, it passes the token to the next host and the process repeats itself. Two examples of networks that use
token passing are Token Ring and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). A variation of Token Ring and FDDI
is Arcnet. Arcnet is token passing on a bus topology

Data communication hardware

It refers to electric device and system for transferring data or information from place to another

Repeaters:

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A repeater is an electronic device that operates. The purpose of a repeater is to regenerate and retime
network signals at the bit level, allowing them to travel longer distance on the medium. The repeater does
not change the functionality of the network anyway

Hubs:

The purpose of a hub is to regenerate and retime network signal because hubs and repeaters have similar
characteristics, a hub is also called a multiport repeater. Whereas a repeater receives on one port and
repeaters on the other, a hub receives on one port and transmits on all other ports All devices that are
attached to hub hear all traffic. Therefore hubs maintain a signal collision domain. A collision is situation
where two end stations send data over the network wire at the same time.

Bridges:

Bridges are used to divide larger networks into smaller sections. They do this by sitting between two
physical network segments and managing the flow of data between the two. By looking at the MAC address
of the devices connected to each segment, bridges can elect to forward the data (if they believe that the
destination address is on another interface), or block it from crossing (if they can verify that it is on the
interface from which it came. Bridge creates more collision domains; allow more than one device to
transmit simultaneously without causing a collision.

Filtering: if the bridge determines that the data's destination MAC address is from the same network
segment as the source, it does not forward the data to another segment of the network this process is known
as filtering.

Flooding: if the destination MAC address is unknown to the destination MAC address is unknown to the
bridge, the bridge transmits data out all interfaces on a bridge except the one on which it was received. This
process is known as flooding.

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Switches
A switch has many ports with many network segments connected to them. A switch chooses the port to
which the destination device or workstation is connected.
Each of switch port can be thought as a micro bridge. Each switch port acts as a separate bridge and gives
each the mediums full bandwidth. This process is called micro segmentation. By forwarding data only to the
connection that should receive it, the switch can improve network performance in two ways. First, by
creating a direct path between two devices and controlling their communication, it can greatly reduce the
number of collisions on the network.

Router
A router is a type of internetworking device that passes data packet between networks. A router can
make decisions regarding the best path for delivery of data on the network because routers forward data on
network address. In other words, unlike switches or bridges. The main functions of a router are as follows:
 Selection the best paths for incoming data packets.
 Switching of packets to the proper outgoing interfaces.
 Router accomplishes these functions by building routing tables and exchanging the network
information with other routers.
 Routers are the most important traffic-regulating devices on large networks.

Wireless Access Points

Wireless access points (APs) are a transmitter and receiver (transceiver) device used to create a wireless
LAN (WLAN). APs are typically a separate network device with a built-in antenna, transmitter, and adapter.
APs use the wireless infrastructure network mode to provide a connection point between WLANs and a
wired Ethernet LAN.

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. APs also typically have several ports allowing a way to expand the network to support additional clients.
Depending on the size of the network, one or more APs might be required.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is a form of low-power wireless communication used by many electronic devices such as
laptops, systems, smart phones, etc. In a Wi-Fi setup, a wireless router serves as the
communication hub. These networks are extremely limited in range due to low power of
transmissions allowing users to connect only within close proximity to a router or signal
repeater. Wi-Fi is common in home networking applications which provides portability without
any need of cables. Wi-Fi networks need to be secured with passwords for security purposes in
order not to be accessed by others
Bluetooth Technology
Bluetooth technology allows you to connect a variety of different electronic devices wirelessly to a
system for the transfer and sharing of data and this is the main function of Bluetooth. Cell phones
are connected to hands-free earpieces, wireless keyboard, mouse and mike to laptops with the help
of Bluetooth as it transmits information from one device to other device. Bluetooth technology has
many functions, and it is used most commonly in wireless communications’ market.

Modems

A modem, short for modulator/demodulator, is a device that converts the digital signals generated by a
computer into analog signals that can travel over conventional phone lines. The modem at the receiving end
converts the signal back into a format the computer can understand. Modems can be internal add-in
expansion cards, external devices that connect to the serial or USB port of a system, the configuration of a
modem depends on whether it is an internal or external device. For internal devices, the modem must be
configured with an interrupt request (IRQ) and a memory I/O address.

Internet :

The internet is a globally connected network system that uses TCP/IP to transmit data via various
types of media. The internet is a network of global exchanges – including private, public, business,
academic and government networks – connected by guided, wireless and fiber-optic technologies.
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The Domain Name System lets you access websites by their domain name like
(www.khanacademy.org), so you don’t have to keep a list of numeric Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses like “212.78.1.25”. IP address is determined by where your computer connects to the
Internet. When you have a portable computer and you move from one location to another, you get a
new IP address at each new location. Since no one connects to your portable computer, it does not
matter if your IP address changes from time to time. But since so many people connect to a web
server, it would be inconvenient if the server moved to a new location and needed to change its IP
address

Internet Applications
•The World-Wide Web(WWW)
•Electronic Mail(E-Mail)
•File Transfer Protocol(FTP)
•Search Engine
•Chatting
•Video Conferencing
•E-Commerce
World Wide Web (WWW)
•The World Wide Web is a system of inter linked hypertext document accessed via the Internet

•With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other
multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks
It use a protocol called HTTP–Hypertext Transfer Protocol

•HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and
browsers should take in response to various commands.
A Uniform Resource Locator,or URL is the address of a document you'll find on the WWW.

•The elements in a URL: Protocol://server's address/filename

•Example: http://www.google.com/index.html
Types of website:
•Static A static web site is one that has webpages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a
client web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
•Dynamic
–A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically, based on
certain criteria
Electronic Mail (Email)

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•The transmission of messages over communications networks.
•It is a fast and efficient way to communicate with friends or colleagues.
•You can communicate with one person at a time or thousands; you can receive and send files and
other information.
Basic email functions:
–send and receive mail messages
–save your messages in a file
–print mail messages
–reply to mail messages
–attach a file to a mail message
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
•The protocol for exchanging files over the Internet.
•Used for moving files between two hosts on a TCP/IP network.
•FTP is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the Internet or to upload a file
to a server to do FTP; a user invokes one of two commands:
–get-the command for transferring file from another server to your own computer.

–put-the command for moving a file from your computer to another ne .

Search Engine
•A search engine is designed to search for information on the internet.

•Search engine presents the search results in the form of a search results list.

•The search results can be web pages, images, videos, and other type of files.

E-Commerce
Electronic commerce or E-Commerce consists of the buying and selling of products or services
over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. It includes the entire
online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products and
services.
Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following:
•Domestic and international payment systems
•Group buying
•Automated online assistants
•Online shopping and order tracking
•Online banking
•Shopping cart software
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•Electronic tickets

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