COMPUTER COMMUNICATION &

NETWORKING
Definition of Data Communication
This refers to the electronic transfer of data, instructions, and information from one device to
another via a transmission media.

ELEMENTS FOR DATA COMMUNICATION

• Sender: The computer or device that generates and sends data is called the sender,
source or transmitter. It can be a computer, workstation (node), telephone handset,
video camera. Etc

• Message: This is the information or data to be communicated. It consists of text,

numbers, pictures, sound or video.

• Transmission Medium: is the physical pathway by which a message travels from sender
to receiver.

• Receiver: The device or computer that receives the message is called receiver. The
receiver can be a computer, printer, a fax machine, etc.

• Protocol: This is a set of rules that allow devices to exchange information

• A protocol defines the format for communication between systems. For example the
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) defines the format for communication between
Web browsers and Web servers on the internet.

DATA COMMUNICATION TOOLS

• Data communication tools are devices that enable the users to send and receive
messages. Etc. Data communication tools can be categorized into two: electronic and
manual data communication tools.
Electronic data communication tools use electric power. Examples include Computers,
Mobile phones and internet.
Manual data communication tools don’t use electricity. Examples include drums, bells
and messengers.
Types of electronic data communication tools

• As technology progresses, new communications are born and old fade away. When
you're trying to connect with employees, colleagues, bosses, clients, customers or
suppliers electronic media are critical to getting business done efficiently and cost-
effectively.

Examples of data communications tools include

• Computers, Fax machines, Radio and Television, Mobile Devices like phones and PDAs,
internet services (Email, Websites, Social networking, chartrooms Forums, etc)

DATA TRANSMISSION MEDIA

• The term transmission media refers to any physical or non-physical link / pathway
between two or more devices and in which a signal can be made to flow from source to
destination. A data signal cannot be sent from one place to another without a medium
of communication.

DATA COMMUNICATION MEDIA

• Physical /Wired / Bounded/ Guided transmission media

• Wireless / Unbounded / Unguided transmission media

PHYSICAL /WIRED / BOUNDED/ GUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

• Physical transmission media use wire, cable, and other physical materials to send
communications signals. Physical media transmits data signals from the source to the
destination through a restricted pathway such as a cable.

Examples of physical transmission media

• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable

• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable

• Coaxial Cable

• Fiber Optic Cable

DATA TRANSMISSION MEDIA

TWISTED PAIR CABLE:

• Twisted pair cable is made up of solid copper wire strands wound in pairs within a single
media. The winding of the wires is meant to avoid the development of an
electromagnetic field around the two wires as they transmit data. TP is commonly used
to interconnect devices on a Local Area Network

TYPES OF TWISTED PAIR CABLING

• There are two common types of twisted pair cabling, STP and UTP. The S stands for
Shielded, the U stands for Unshielded.

• The extra covering in shielded twisted pair wiring protects the transmission line from
electromagnetic interference leaking into or out of the cable, but makes it more
expensive.

SHIELDED TWISTED PAIR CABLE

• The extra covering in shielded twisted pair wiring protects the transmission line from
electromagnetic interference leaking into or out of the cable. STP cabling often is used
in Ethernet networks, especially fast data rate Ethernets
UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR CABLES

• UTP stands for Unshielded Twisted Pair cable. UTP cable is a 100 ohm copper cable that
consists of 2 to 1800 unshielded twisted pairs surrounded by an outer jacket. They have
no metallic shield. This makes the cable small in diameter but unprotected against
electrical interference

COAXIAL CABLES
• The Coaxial cable has a single copper conductor at its center. A plastic layer provides
insulation between the center conductor and a braided metal shield . The metal shield
helps to block any outside magnetic interference from fluorescent lights, motors, and
other

• Coaxial cables have bandwidths in Gigabits per second. Hence, they are installed in a
network to form the network backbone.

• Although coaxial cabling is difficult to install, it is highly resistant to signal interference.

In addition, it can support greater cable lengths between network devices than twisted
pair cable. The two types of coaxial cabling are thick coaxial and thin coaxial.
FIBER OPTIC CABLE
• The fiber optic cable consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of
protective materials. It transmits light rather than electronic signals eliminating the
problem of electrical interference.

• This makes it ideal for certain environments that contain a large amount of electrical
interference.

• It has also made it the standard for connecting networks between buildings, due to its
immunity to the effects of moisture and lighting.

• Fibre optic cable utilizes light to transmit data from one point to another on the
network. The electrical signal from the source are converted to light signals, and then
propagated along the fiber optic cable

Advantages of physical transmission media

• It is fast and supports high bandwidth

• Can be used in hazardous places (high flammable) because they do not generate
electrical signal

• They can carry voice, data and video signal simultaneously.

• They are more resistant to radio and electromagnetic interference.

• Installation equipment are cheap and readily available.

Disadvantages of physical transmission media
• Connectivity devices and media are expensive.

• Installation is difficult because the cable must be carefully handled.

• It is relatively complex to configure

• It covers short distance since they use the physical wires

• Inconvenience due to inflexibility of restrictive cables

WIRELESS / UNBOUNDED / UNGUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

• Wireless or unbounded media is that is where data signals flow through the air. In this
case transmitting antenna and receivers aerial facilitates the communication Example of
wireless transmission media include:

• The major wireless transmission media include radio waves, microwaves, and infrared
which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is the range of all possible
frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.

• Wireless media send communications signals through the air or space using radio,
microwave, and infrared signals (electromagnetic waves).

MICROWAVES
• Microwaves are high-frequency electromagnetic radiations that are sent through space
to deliver telecommunications services. Microwaves are dependent on line of sight.
Microwave communication systems are mainly classified into satellite and terrestrial.
SATELLITE STATION

SATELLITE DISH RECEIVER

SATELLITE SPACE STATION

Microwaves
• Terrestrial microwave signals are sent from one ground-based antenna to another.

• Satellite microwave signals travel from Earth to a satellite in space and then back to a
station on the earth.

RADIO WAVES
• Radio waves frequencies are easy to generate and are widely used for communication,
both indoors and outdoors. Examples of communication technologies using radio waves
include Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wifi)
TECHNOLOGIES THAT USE RADIOWAVES
1. Bluetooth is a short range wireless based information transmission system which works
on the basis of microchips embedded in the digital devices like mobile phones, speakers
and laptops.

2. Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) is used to create a hotspots from where information signals can
be easily accessed by Wi-Fi enabled devices, forming a wireless local area network
(WLAN).

3. A hotspot is a specific location that provides Internet access via a wireless local area
network (WLAN). The term is generally synonymous with a Wi-Fi connection. A network
that creates a hotspot primarily includes a modem and wireless router. The radio
frequency (RF) waves sent by the wireless network extend in different directions from
its centralized location. These signals become weaker as they travel, either further from
the central location or due to interference.

4. Wimax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a

telecommunication technology providing wireless data over long distances in a variety
of ways from point to point links to full mobile cellular type access.

5. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses radio waves to automatically identify and

track tags attached to objects. The RFID tag can be affixed to an object and used to track
and manage inventory, assets, people, etc. For example, it can be affixed to cars,
computer equipment, books etc.

INFRARED
• Infrared uses electromagnetic waves with a smaller wavelength than radio. A TV
remote control is an example of an Infrared application.

• IrDA (Infrared Data Association) ports transmit data via infrared light waves. As long as
the devices are within a few feet and nothing obstructs the path of the infrared light
wave, data can be transferred without the use of cables
Asynchronous
• With asynchronous transmission, transmission occurs at irregular intervals in small bits
(i.e., not synchronized).

• Asynchronous transmission is relatively slow.

• With synchronous transmission, large blocks of bytes are transmitted at regular intervals
without any start/stop signals.

Characteristics of ATM
• It is scalable and flexible. It can support megabit-to-gigabit transfer speeds and is not
tied to a specific physical medium.

• It efficiently transmits video, audio, and data through the implementation of several
adaptation layers.

• Bandwidth can be allocated as needed, lessening the impact on and by high-bandwidth

users.

• It transmits data in fixed-length packets, called cells, each of which is 53 bytes long,
containing 48 bytes of payload and 5 bytes of header.

• It is asynchronous in the sense that although cells are relayed synchronously, particular
users need not send data at regular intervals.

• It is connection oriented, using a virtual circuit to transmit cells that share the same
source and destination over the same route.

SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION
• Synchronous transmission requires that both the sending and receiving devices be
synchronized before any bytes are transmitted.

• Synchronous transmission requires more expensive equipment but provides greater

speed and accuracy than asynchronous transmission.

• Synchronous transmission is a data transfer method which is characterized by a

continuous stream of data in the form of signals which are accompanied by regular
timing signals which are generated by some external clocking mechanism meant to
ensure that both the sender and receiver are synchronized with each other.
• Data are sent as frames or packets in fixed intervals

TRANSMISSION DIRECTION
• The direction in which data flows along transmission media is characterized as simple,
half-duplex, full-duplex or multiplex.

SIMPLEX TRANSMISSION

• Simplex transmission sends data in one direction only. Simplex transmission is used only
when the sending device does not require a response from the receiving device.