IP Overview and Key Operational Characteristics

(Page 1 of 2) The Internet Protocol (IP) is the core of the TCP/IP protocol suite and its main protocol at the network layer. The network layer is primarily concerned with the delivery of data, not between devices on the same physical network, but between devices that may be on different networks that are interconnected in an arbitrary manner: aninternetwork. IP is the mechanism by which this data is sent on TCP/IP networks. (It does have help from other protocols at the network layer too, of course!) Let's look at the TCP/IP layer model and consider what IP does from an architectural standpoint. As the layer three protocol, it provides a service to layer four in the TCP/IP stack, represented mainly by the TCP and UDP protocols. This service is to take data that has been packaged by either TCP or UDP, manipulate it as necessary, and send it out. This service is sometimes called internetwork datagram delivery, as shown in Figure 54. As we will see, there are many details to how exactly this service is accomplished, but in a nutshell, that's what IP does: sends data from point A to point B over an internetwork of connected networks.

Figure 54: The Main Function of IP: Internetwork Datagram Delivery The fundamental job of the Internet Protocol is the delivery of datagrams from one device to another over an internetwork. In this generic example, a distant client and server communicate with each other by passing IP datagrams over a series of interconnected networks. Key Concept: While the Internet Protocol has many functions and characteristics, it can be boiled down to one primary purpose: the delivery of datagrams across an internetwork of connected networks. Key IP Characteristics

Of course there are a myriad of ways in which IP could have been implemented in order to accomplish this task. To understand how the designers of TCP/IP made IP work, let's take a look at the key characteristics used to describe IP and the general manner in which it operates. The Internet Protocol is said to be:
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Universally-Addressed: In order to send data from point A to point B, it is necessary to ensure that devices know how to identify which device is

point B. IP defines the addressing mechanism for the network and uses these addresses for delivery purposes.
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Underlying-Protocol Independent: IP is designed to allow the transmission of data across any type of underlying network that is designed to work with a TCP/IP stack. It includes provisions to allow it to adapt to the requirements of various lower-level protocols such as Ethernet or IEEE 802.11. IP can also run on the special data link protocols SLIP and PPP that were created for it. An important example is IP's ability to fragment large blocks of data into smaller ones to match the size limits of physical networks, and then have the recipient reassemble the pieces again as needed. Delivered Connectionlessly: IP is a connectionless protocol. This means that when A wants to send data to B, it doesn't first set up a connection to B and then send the datait just makes the datagram and sends it. See the topic in the networking fundamentals section on connection-oriented and connectionless protocolsfor more information on this. Delivered Unreliably: IP is said to be an unreliable protocol. That doesn't mean that one day your IP software will decide to go fishing rather than run your network. It does mean that when datagrams are sent from device A to device B, device A just sends each one and then moves on to the next. IP doesn't keep track of the ones it sent. It does not provide reliability or service quality capabilities such as error protection for the data it sends (though it does on the IP header), flow control or retransmission of lost datagrams. For this reason, IP is sometimes called a best-effort protocol. It does what it can to get data to where it needs to go, but makes no guarantees that the data will actually get there.

Delivered Without Acknowledgments: In a similar manner to its unreliable nature, IP doesn't use acknowledgements. When device B gets a datagram from device A, it doesn't send back a thank you note to tell A that the datagram was received. It leaves device A in the dark so to speak.
In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program can observe (do type introspection) and modify its own structure and behavior at runtime.[1] In many computer architectures, program instructions are stored as data - hence the distinction between instruction and data is merely a matter of how the information is treated by the computer and programming language. Normally, instructions are executed and data is processed; however, in some languages, programs can also treat instructions as data and therefore make reflective modifications. Reflection is most commonly used in high-level virtual machine

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programming languages like Smalltalk and scripting languages, and less commonly used in manifestly typed and/or statically typed programming languages such as Java, C, ML or Haskell.

Uses
Reflection can be used for observing and/or modifying program execution at runtime. A reflection-oriented program component can monitor the execution of an enclosure of code and can modify itself according to a desired goal related to that enclosure. This is typically accomplished by dynamically assigning program code at runtime. In object oriented programing languages such as Java, reflection allows inspection of classes, interfaces, fields and methods at runtime without knowing the names of the interfaces, fields, methods at compile time. It also allows instantiation of new objects and invocation of methods. Reflection can also be used to adapt a given program to different situations dynamically. For example, consider an application that uses two different

X and Y interchangeably to perform similar operations. Without reflection-oriented programming, the application might be hard-coded to call method names of X and class Y. However, using the reflection-oriented programming paradigm, the application could be designed and written to utilize reflection in order to invoke methods in classes X and Y without hard-coding method names. Reflection-oriented programming almost always requires additional knowledge, framework, relational
classes class mapping, and object relevance in order to take advantage of more generic code execution. Hard-coding can be avoided to the extent that reflection-oriented programming is used. Reflection is also a key strategy for metaprogramming.

Refractive index
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Refraction of light at the interface between two media.

In optics the refractive index or index of refraction of a substance or medium is a measure of the speed of light in that medium. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the considered medium.[1] [2] [3] This can be written mathematically as: n = speed of light in a vacuum / speed of light in medium. For example, the refractive index of water is 1.33, meaning that light travels 1.33 times as fast in vacuum as it does in water. (See typical values for different materials here.) As light moves from a medium, such as air, water, or glass, into another it may change its propagation direction in proportion to the change in refractive index. This refraction is governed by Snell's law, and is illustrated in the figure to the right. Refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength of light. This is called dispersion and results in a slightly different refractive index for each color.[4]

The wavelength of light in a material is determined by the refractive index according to = 0 / n, where 0 is the wavelength of the light in vacuum.Brewster's angle, the critical angle for total internal reflection, and the reflectivity of a surface is also affected by the refractive index. These material parameters can be calculated using the Fresnel equations.[4] The concept of refractive index is widely used within the full electromagnetic spectrum, from x-rays to radio waves. It can also be used with wave phenomena other than light, e.g. sound. In this case the speed of sound is used instead of that of light and a reference medium other than vacuum must be chosen. [5]

Definitions
The refractive index, n, of a medium is defined as the ratio of the speed, c, of a wave phenomenon such as light or sound in a reference medium to the phase speed, vp, of the wave in the medium in question:

It is most commonly used in the context of light with vacuum as a reference medium, although historically other reference media (e.g. air at a standardized pressure and temperature) have been common. It is usually given the symbol n. In the case of light, it equals

where

is the material's relative permittivity, and r is its relative permeability. For most naturally occurring materials, r is very close to 1 at optical

frequencies,[6] therefore n is approximately . Contrary to a widespread misconception, the real part of a complex n may be less than one, depending upon the material and wavelength (see dispersion (optics)). This has practical technical applications, such as effective mirrors for X-rays based on total external reflection. The phase speed is defined as the rate at which the crests of the waveform propagate; that is, the rate at which the phase of the waveform is moving. The group speed is the rate at which the envelopeof the waveform is propagating; that is, the rate of variation of the amplitude of the waveform. Provided the waveform is not distorted significantly during propagation, it is the group speed that represents the rate at which information (and energy) may be transmitted by the wave (for example, the speed at which a pulse of light travels down an optical fiber). For the analytic properties constraining the unequal phase and group speeds in dispersive media, refer to dispersion (optics). Another common definition of the refractive index comes from the refraction of a light ray entering a medium. The refractive index is the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence 1 and refraction 2 as light passes into the medium[7] or mathematically

The angles are measured to the normal of the surface. This definition is based on Snell's law and is equivalent to the definition above if the light enters from the reference medium (normally vacuum). A complex refractive index is often used to take absorption into account. This is further discussed in the Dispersion and absorption section below. A closely related quantity is refractivity, which in atmospheric applications is denoted N and defined as N = 106(n - 1). The 106 factor is used because for air, n deviates from unity at most a few parts per thousand.

Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object. The amount of bending depends on the relative size of the wavelength of light to the size of the opening. If the opening is much larger than the light's wavelength, the bending will be almost unnoticeable. However, if the two are closer in size or equal, the amount of bending is considerable, and easily seen with the naked eye.

In the atmosphere, diffracted light is actually bent around atmospheric particles -- most commonly, the atmospheric particles are tiny water droplets found in clouds. Diffracted light can produce fringes of light, dark or colored bands. An optical effect that results from the diffraction of light is the silver lining sometimes found around the edges of clouds or surrounding the sun or moon. The illustration above shows how light (from either the sun or the moon) is bent around small droplets in the cloud.
Posted by cuckoo_cool(student), on 17/3/11

Diffraction refers to various phenomena which occur when a wave encounters an obstacle. Italian scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi coined the word "diffraction" and was the first to record accurate observations of the phenomenon in 1665.

[2][3]

In classical physics, the diffraction phenomenon is described as the apparent bending of waves around

small obstacles and the spreading out of waves past small openings. Similar effects occur when light waves travel through a medium with a varying refractive index or a sound wave through one with varying acoustic impedance. Diffraction occurs with all waves, includingsound waves, water waves, and electromagnetic waves such as visible light, xrays and radio waves. As physical objects have wave-like properties (at the atomic level), diffraction also occurs with matter and can be studied according to the principles of quantum mechanics.