Debre Tabor University

Faculty of Technology
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Data Communication and Computer Networks
Course Title
Data Communication and Computer Networks

Course Code
ECEg 4191 ECTS 5
Degree Program B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (Computer and Communication
Engineering)
Target Group Semester:- I
Regular 4th year ECE Students
Pre-requisites
1. Computer Architectures & Organization (ECEg 3143)
2. Introduction to Communication Systems(ECEg 3152)

Attendance requirement A student must attend at least 85 % of the classes is Mandatory if not the
grade will be incomplete and cannot be seat at final exam.
Active participation in class is essential and it will have its own value in
your grade
Continuous Assessment=50%
Assessment methods and
(Quizzes(20) ,Assignments(20), lab exam(10))
weights
Final exam =50%
Course instructor
Amlakie A.
Text and Reference books 1. William Stallings: Data & Computer Communications
2. Larry L. Peterson and Bruce Davie: computer networks
CHAPTER ONE
OUTLINES
 CONCEPT OF DATA COMMUNICATION

DATA REPRESENTATION

COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION

DATA FLOW

 EFFECTIVENESS OF DATA COMMUNICATION

NETWORK CRITERIA

NETWORK CATEGOTRIES

LAN CONNECTING DEVICES

LAN TOPOLOGIES
DATA COMMUNICATION
Data: is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed.
Information: When data is processed, organized, structured or
presented in a given context so as to make it useful
Communication: means of sending or receiving information or
exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using
some other medium.
Data communication :is the exchange of data (in the form
of 0’s and 1’s) between two devices (computers) via
some form of the transmission medium.
Data Communication System For Data Communication to
occur, the communicating devices must be a part of a
communication system made up of some specific kind of
hardware & software
DATA REPRESENTATION

Text

Numbers

Images

Audio

Video
COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION
 A data communication system is made up of
five components
COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION
1. Message: the information (data) to be communicated
– Consist of text, numbers, pictures, audio, or video
2. Sender: the device that sends the data message
– Computer, workstation, telephone handset, video camera, …
3. Receiver: the device that receives the message
– Computer, workstation, telephone handset, television, ….

4. Medium: The physical path by which a message travels from

sender to receiver
– twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber-optic, radio waves
COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION
5. Protocol: a set of rules that govern data communications
– An agreement between the communicating devices
– Devices may be connected but not communicating (no
protocol)
– Arabic speaker with Japanese speaker
EFFECTIVENESS OF DATA COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM

 It depends on:
1. Delivery : The system must deliver data to correct destination. Data
received by the indented user only
2. Accuracy: The system must deliver data accurately (no change).
 Data changed & uncorrected is unusable
CON…..
3. Timeliness: The system must deliver data in timely
manner
 Data arrived late are useless
4. Jitter: Variation in the packet arrival time (uneven
quality in the video is the result)
DATA FLOW

Communication between two devices can be:

 Simplex
 Half-Duplex

 Full-Duplex
 DATA FLOW
Simplex (one way street)
 The communication is unidirectional
 Only one device on a link can transmit; the other can only receive

 Use the entire capacity of the channel to send data

 Example: Keyboards, Monitors

Data
 DATA FLOW
Half-Duplex (one-line with two-directional traffic)
 Each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same
time
 When one device is sending, the other can only receive, and

vice versa
 The entire capacity of a channel is taken over by the

transmitting device
 Example: Walkie-talkies

Data Data
 DATA FLOW

Full-Duplex (Duplex) (two-way street)
Both stations can transmit and receive at same time
Signals going in either direction sharing the capacity of the link

Sharing can occur in two ways:

 Link has two physically separate transmission paths

 One for sending and the other for receiving
 The capacity of the channel is divided between signals travelling in both
directions
 Example: Telephone network

Data Data
 NETWORKS

 Network : A set of devices (nodes) connected by

communication links
Node : computer, printer, …

Network Criteria
– Network must meet a certain number of criteria
– The most important of the network criterions are:
– Performance
– Reliability
– Security
 Performance
Transit
time: Amount of time required for a message to travel
from one device to another
 Response time: Elapsed time between an inquiry and a response
 NETWORKS

Performance
 Performance depends on :
1- Number of users: large number slow response time.
2- Type of transmission medium: fiber-optic cabling faster
than others cables.
3- Capabilities of the connected hardware: affect both the
speed and capacity of transmission.
4- Efficiency of the software: process data at the sender
and receiver and intermediate affects network
performance.
 NETWORKS
Reliability
 Reliability is measured by:
1. Frequency of failure
2. Recovery time of a network after a failure
3. Network’s robustness protect by good back up
network system
 NETWORKS

Security
 Protecting data from unauthorized access
 Protecting data from damage and development
 Implementing policies and procedures for recovery from
breaches and data losses (Recovery plan)
CATEGORIES OF NETWORKS

 Network Category depends on its size

 PAN(PERSONAL AREA NETWORK)
LAN(LOCAL AREA NETWORK)
MAN(METROPOLAN NETWORK)
WAN(WIDE AREA NETWORK)
 PAN(PERSONAL AREA NETWORK)
 Privately owned
 Links devices in the same office,
 2 PCs & 1 printer in home or office
LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
 Size is limited to a few kilometers
 Allow resources to be shared (hardware,
software, or data)
 Connecting buildings or campus
 LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
 LAN is distinguished by:
Size (# users of OS, or licensing restrictions)
Transmission medium (only one type)
Topology (bus, ring, star)

Data Rates (speed):

Early: 4 to 16 Mbps
Today: 100 to 1000 Mbps
 METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORKS (MAN)
 Size between LAN and WAN
 Inside a town or a city
 Example: the part of the telephone company
network that can provide a high-speed DSL to the
customer
Wide/world Area network(WAN)
Connecting world wide country, continent …..
DATA ENCODING
ANALOG AND DIGITAL DATA

Analog Data: refers to information that is continuous; For example, an analog clock that has hour, minute, and
second hands gives information in a continuous form; the movements of the hands are continuous.

Analog data, such as the sounds made by a human voice, take on continuous values. When someone speaks, an
analog wave is created in the air. This can be captured by a microphone and converted to an analog signal or
sampled and converted to a digital signal.

Digital data refers to information that has discrete states. For example, a digital clock that reports the hours
and the minutes will change suddenly from 8:05 to 8:06.

Digital data takes on discrete values. For example, data are stored in computer memory in the form of 0s and 1s.
They can be converted to a digital signal or modulated into an analog signal for transmission across a
medium.
ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS
DIGITAL SIGNALS In addition to being represented by an analog signal,
information can also be represented by a digital signal. For example, a 1 can be
encoded as a positive voltage and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have
more than two levels. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each level.

ANALOG SIGNALS has infinitely many levels of intensity over a period of time. As the wave
moves from value A to value B, it passes through and includes an infinite number of
values along its path. A digital signal, on the other hand, can have only a limited number
of defined values. Although each value can be any number, it is often as simple as 1 and
O.
TRANSMISSION MEDIA
A transmission medium can be broadly defined as anything that can carry information from a source to a
destination. For example, the transmission medium for two people having a dinner conversation is the air.

Guided Media Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit from one device to another.

Twisted-Pair Cable A twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper), One of the wires is used to
carry signals to the receiver, and the other is used only as a ground reference.

Coaxial Cable Coaxial cable (or coax) carries signals of higher frequency ranges than those in twisted pair cable,
Instead of having two wires, coax has a central core conductor of solid or stranded wire (usually copper)
enclosed in an insulating sheath

Fiber Optic Cable: A fiber-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in the form of light.
 UNGUIDED MEDIA(WIRELESS)
Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. This type of communication
is often referred to as wireless communication. Signals are normally broadcast through free space and thus are
available to anyone who has a device capable of receiving them.

1. Radio Waves Waves ranging in frequencies between 3 kHz and 1 GHz are called radio waves. Radio waves, for
the most part, are omnidirectional. When an antenna transmits radio waves, they are propagated in all
directions.

2. Microwaves Electromagnetic waves having frequencies between I and 300 GHz are called microwaves.
Microwaves are unidirectional. When an antenna transmits microwave waves, they can be narrowly focused.

3. Infrared waves, with frequencies from 300 GHz to 400 THz (wavelengths from 1 mm to 770 nm), can be
used for short-range communication. Infrared waves, having high frequencies, cannot penetrate walls.
 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT
Signals travel through transmission media, which are not perfect. The imperfection causes signal impairment. This
means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is not the same as the signal at the end of the medium.

1. Attenuation Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal, simple or composite, travels through a medium,
it loses some of its energy in overcoming the resistance of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric
signals gets warm, if not hot, after a while.

2. Distortion: Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape. Distortion can occur in a composite
signal made of different frequencies. Each signal component has its own propagation speed through a medium
and, therefore, its own delay in arriving at the final destination.

3. Noise Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types of noise, such as thermal noise, induced noise,
crosstalk, and impulse noise, may corrupt the signal. Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire
which creates an extra signal not originally sent by the transmitter. Induced noise comes from sources such as
motors and appliances.
NETWORK CONNECTING DEVICES

 Hubs
are used in networks that use twisted-pair cabling to connect devices. Hubs are
simple devices that direct data packets to all devices connected to the hub,
regardless of whether the data package is destined for the device or not. This makes
them inefficient devices and can create a performance bottleneck on busy networks.

Switches
The difference between hubs and switches is in how the devices deal with the data
that they receive. Whereas a hub forwards the data it receives to all of the ports on
the device, a switch forwards it only to the port that connects to the destination
device. It does this by learning the MAC address of the devices attached to it, and
then by matching the destination MAC address in the data it receives.
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).
Routers
In a common configuration, routers are used to create larger
networks by joining two network segments. A router can be a
dedicated hardware device or a computer system with more than
one network interface and the appropriate routing software. All
modern network operating systems include the functionality to act
as a router.
Gateways
Any device that translates one data format to another is called a
gateway. Some examples of gateways include a router that
translates data from one network protocol to another.
The key point about a gateway is that only the data format is
translated, not the data itself.

Wireless Access Points

Wireless access points (APs) are a transmitter and receiver 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. APs also typically have several ports allowing a way to
expand the network to support additional clients.
Firewalls
A firewall is a networking device, either hardware or software
based, that controls access to your organization’s network. This
controlled access is designed to protect data and resources from
an outside threat. To do this, firewalls are typically placed at
entry/exit points of a network—for example, placing a firewall
between an internal network and the Internet. Once there, it can
control access in and out of that point.
 SIMPLE PHYSICAL TOPOLOGIES

Topology is the integral to type of network, cabling

infrastructure, and transmission media used
Physical topology: physical layout of nodes on a
network
Three fundamental shapes:
 Bus
 Ring
 Star
May create hybrid topologies
BUS
Single cable connects all network nodes without intervening connectivity devices
Devices share responsibility for getting data from one point to another
Terminators stop signals after reaching end of wire
 Prevent signal bounce
Inexpensive, not very scalable
Difficult to troubleshoot, not fault-tolerant
BUS (CONTINUED)
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF BUS TOPOLOGY

Advantages
Works well for small networks
Relatively inexpensive to implement
Easy to add to it
Disadvantages
Management costs can be high
Potential for congestion with network traffic
RING
 SIMPLE PHYSICAL TOPOLOGIES

Ring topology
 Each node is connected to the two nearest nodes so the entire network forms
a circle
 One method for passing data on ring networks is token passing
 ADVANTAGES OF RING TOPOLOGY
Easier to manage; easier to locate a defective node or cable problem
Well-suited for transmitting signals over long distances on a LAN
Handles high-volume network traffic
Enables reliable communication

DISADVANTAGES OF RING TOPOLOGY

Expensive
Requires more cable and network equipment at the start
Not used as widely as bus topology
 Fewer equipment options
 Fewer options for expansion to high-speed communication
STAR
 SIMPLE PHYSICAL TOPOLOGIES

Star topology
 Every node on the network is connected through a central
device
 STAR (CONTINUED)

Any single cable connects only two devices

 Cabling problems affect two nodes at most
Requires more cabling than ring or bus networks
 More fault-tolerant
Easily moved, isolated, or interconnected with other
networks
 Scalable
Supports max of 1024 addressable nodes on logical
network
 ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF STAR TOPOLOGY

0966002543 MEQUANINT
Advantages
Good option for modern networks
Low startup costs
Easy to manage
Offers opportunities for expansion
Most popular topology in use; wide variety of equipment available

Disadvantages
Hub is a single point of failure
Requires more cable than the bus