DATA TRANSMISSION

Data transmission, digital transmission, or digital communications is the

physical transfer of data (a digital bit stream or a digitized analog
signal over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication
channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibers,
wireless communication channels, storage media and computer buses.
The data are represented as an electromagnetic signal, such as an
electrical voltage, radio wave, microwave, or infrared signal.

While analog transmission is the transfer of a continuously varying

analog signal over an analog channel, digital communications is the
transfer of discrete messages over a digital or an analog channel. The
messages are either represented by a sequence of pulses by means of a
line code (baseband transmission), or by a limited set of continuously
varying wave forms (pass band transmission), using a digital modulation
method. The pass band modulation and corresponding demodulation
(also known as detection) is carried out by modem equipment.
According to the most common definition of digital signal, both
baseband and pass band signals representing bit-streams are
considered as digital transmission, while an alternative definition only
considers the baseband signal as digital, and pass band transmission of
digital data as a form of digital-to-analog conversion.

Data transmitted may be digital messages originating from a data

source, for example a computer or a keyboard. It may also be an analog
signal such as a phone call or a video signal, digitized into a bit-stream
for example using pulse-code modulation (PCM) or more advanced
source coding (analog-to-digital conversion and data compression)
schemes. This source coding and decoding is carried out by codec
equipment.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN RELATED SUBJECTS

Digital transmission or data transmission traditionally belongs to
telecommunications and electrical engineering. Basic principles of data
transmission may also be covered within the computer
science/computer engineering topic of data communications, which also
includes computer networking or computer communication applications
and networking protocols, for example routing, switching and inter-
process communication. Although the Transmission control protocol
(TCP) involves the term "transmission", TCP and other transport layer
protocols are typically not discussed in a textbook or course about
data transmission, but in computer networking.

The term tele transmission involves the analog as well as digital

communication. In most textbooks, the term analog transmission only
refers to the transmission of an analog message signal (without
digitization) by means of an analog signal, either as a non-modulated
baseband signal, or as a pass band signal using an analog modulation
method such as AM or FM. It may also include analog-over-analog pulse
modulated baseband signals such as pulse-width modulation. In a few
books within the computer networking tradition, "analog transmission"
also refers to pass band transmission of bit-streams using digital
modulation methods such as FSK, PSK and ASK.

SERIAL TRANSMISSION
In telecommunications, serial transmission is the sequential
transmission of signal elements of a group representing a character or
other entity of data. Digital serial transmissions are bits sent over a
single wire, frequency or optical path sequentially. Because it requires
less signal processing and less chances for error than parallel
transmission, the transfer rate of each individual path may be faster.
This can be used over longer distances as a check digit or parity bit can
be sent along it easily.

PARALLEL TRANSMISSION
In telecommunications, parallel transmission is the simultaneous
transmission of the signal elements of a character or other entity of
data. In digital communications, parallel transmission is the
simultaneous transmission of related signal elements over two or more
separate paths. Multiple electrical wires are used which can transmit
multiple bits simultaneously, which allows for higher data transfer
rates than can be achieved with serial transmission. This method is
used internally within the computer, for example the internal buses,
and sometimes externally for such things as printers, The major issue
with this is "skewing" because the wires in parallel data transmission
have slightly different properties (not intentionally) so some bits may
arrive before others, which may corrupt the message. A parity bit can
help to reduce this. However, electrical wire parallel data transmission
is therefore less reliable for long distances because corrupt
transmissions are far more likely.

Types of communication channels

Data transmission circuit

Simplex

Half-duplex

Full-duplex

Point-to-point

Multi-drop:

Bus network

Ring network

Star network

Mesh network

Wireless network

Synchronous and asynchronous transmission

Given the problems that arise with a parallel-type connection, serial

connections are normally used. However, since a single wire transports
the information, the problem is how to synchronize the transmitter and
receiver, in other words, the receiver can not necessarily distinguish
the characters (or more generally the bit sequences) because the bits
are sent one after the other. There are two types of transmission that
address this problem:

An asynchronous connection, in which each character is sent at

irregular intervals in time (for example a user sending characters
entered at the keyboard in real time). So, for example, imagine that a
single bit is transmitted during a long period of silence... the receiver
will not be able to know if this is 00010000, 10000000 or 00000100...

To remedy this problem, each character is preceded by some

information indicating the start of character transmission (the
transmission start information is called a START bit) and ends by
sending end-of-transmission information (called STOP bit, there may
even be several STOP bits).
In a synchronous connection, the transmitter and receiver are paced
by the same clock. The receiver continuously receives (even when no
bits are transmitted) the information at the same rate the transmitter
send it. This is why the transmitter and receiver are paced at the same
speed. In addition, supplementary information is inserted to guarantee
that there are no errors during transmission.

During synchronous transmission, the bits are sent successively with no

separation between each character, so it is necessary to insert
synchronization elements; this is called character-level
synchronization.

The main disadvantage of synchronous transmission is recognizing the

data at the receiver, as there may be differences between the
transmitter and receiver clocks. That is why each data transmission
must be sustained long enough for the receiver to distinguish it. As a
result, the transmission speed cannot be very high in a synchronous
link.