Lecture

Computer Communications
& Networks 02
Networks around us
Categories of Networks:
We can categorize networks in so many ways, e.g.
with respect to:
Geographical coverage area
Technology/protocols used
Fixed vs. wireless
Telecomm vs. Data Comm

We’ll start to understand networks initially by

dividing them on the basis of their coverage area

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Networks Coverage Area:

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Networks: cont…
Personal Area Network
Up to 10s of meters
Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15)
Local Area Network
Up to 1 kilometer
Ethernet (802.3), Token Ring (802.5), WLAN (802.11)
Metropolitan Area Network
Up to 10s of kilometers
WiMAX (802.16)
Wide Area Network
Up to hundreds/ thousands of kilometers
Can be a private network
Internet
Global scale public network
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Personal Area Networks: (PANs)
IEEE 802.15 Standard
Defines three classes:
Class-1 = 100m
Class-2 = 10m
Class-3 = 1m
Has Master-Slave architecture
A Master can have seven
slaves

IEEE = Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

BluetoothTM

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Local Area Networks: (LANs)
Small geographical coverage area
Building or small campus
Usually the organization that uses LAN also owns it
Maintenance is organization’s responsibility
Initial connectivity cost is high
Available Data rates are higher
Error rates are low
Isolated network; less data security threats to face

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LAN Topologies:
Network Topology:
Physical interconnection of computer systems
Wired Topologies:
Bus (Horizontal)
Ring
Star
Tree (Hierarchical)

Wireless Topologies:
Centralized (Infrastructure mode)
Distributed (ad hoc mode)
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Wired LANs:

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Star Topology: (Example)
IEEE 802.3 Standard
Nodes interconnected via
some central node
Central node called
Hub or Switch
Most widely used wired
topology

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Bus or Horizontal Topology:

Earlier version of IEEE 802.3 Standard (Ethernet)

All nodes connected via a shared medium
Signal transmitted by one node is received by all other
nodes on the LAN
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Ring Topology:
IEEE 802.5 Standard
Nodes interconnected
with each other in a ring
shape
Data flow is usually
unidirectional
Modern form is FDDI
FDDI = Fiber Distributed
Data Interface

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Wireless LANs:
IEEE 802.11 WLAN Standard
ETSI HiperLAN Standard
Two configurations are possible
Centralized (Access Point serves as infrastructure)
Distributed (No infrastructure required, ad hoc mode)

(Centralized) (Distributed)
ETSI = European Telecommunication Standards Institute
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Metropolitan Area Networks: (MANs)
Covering 30-50 km area
Whole city
Number of remote areas
Wired MANs could not get popularity
Wireless MANs are expected to get the market
IEEE 802.16 Standard (WiMAX)
(recently largely deployed in Pakistan by Wateen, Mobilink, PTCL)
IEEE 802.20 Standard
(Support for high speed mobility)

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Wireless MAN:

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Wide Area Networks:
Large geographical area
Normally a public network
Connecting millions of people
Prevailing technologies
Circuit switching
Packet switching
Frame relay
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

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WAN Architecture:

Intermediate switching nodes in core network forward packets of end

nodes located at edges of the network

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Circuit Switching:
Dedicated communication path is established for
the duration of the conversation
Path consists of sequence of physical lines
between the nodes
Data generated by source is transmitted only on
this path
It is fast, no delay at intermediate nodes
Example: Telephone network

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Circuit Switching: cont…

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Packet Switching:
No dedicated path is reserved
Data is divided into a sequence of small packets
All packets doesn’t necessary to pass from same path
Some extra information (header) is attached with each
packet
At each node packet is stored briefly and then transmitted to
the next hop
Some delays at intermediate nodes are introduced so, it is
slow but link utilization is improved
Example: Internet

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Packet Switching: cont…

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Packet Switching: cont…

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Differences b/w Circuit & Packet Switching:

Circuit-switching Packet-Switching

Guaranteed capacity No guarantees (best effort)

Capacity is wasted if data is

Better utilization of capacity
bursty
Before sending data, path is
Send data immediately
established
All data in a single flow follow Different packets of flow might
same path follow different paths
No reordering; constant delay; no Packets may be reordered,
packet drops delayed, or dropped
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 Questions ???

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