Data Communication Systems

Electronic systems used to transfer data from one point to another are called Data Communication Systems. Unlike computers that process data, data communication systems transmit data from one point to another.

Sender (Source) Creates & Sends a Message

Medium

Receiver (Sink) Receives the Message

Characteristics of Data Communications System

The effectiveness of a data communication system depends on four fundamental characteristics: 1. Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be received by the intended device or user & only by that device or user. 2. Accuracy: The system must deliver the data accurately. Data that have been altered in transmission & left uncorrected are unusable.

3. Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Data delivered late are useless. In the case of video & audio, timely delivery means delivering data as they are produced, in the same order that they are produced and without significant delay. This kind of delivery is called real-time transmission. 4. Jitter: jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video packets. E.g. let us assume that video packets are sent every 30ms. If some of the packets arrive with 30ms delay & others 40 ms delay, an uneven quality in the video is the result.

Components of a Data Communication System

A data communication system has five components. 1. Message: The message is the information to be communicated. Popular forms of information include text, numbers, pictures, audio & video. 2. Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset etc. 3. Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset etc.

Components of a Data Communication System

4. Transmission Medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by which a message travels from sender to receiver. E.g. twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fibre-optic cable & radio waves. 5. Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communication. It represents an agreement b/w the communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but not communicating, just as a person speaking French can not be understood by a person who speaks only Japanese.

Future Trends in Computer Communications and Networking

There are three major trends driving the future of communications and networking. All are interrelated, so it is difficult to consider one without the others. 1. Pervasive Networking: Pervasive networking means that communication networks will one day be everywhere; virtually any device will be able to communicate with any other device in the world. This is true in many ways today, but what is important is the staggering rate at which we will eventually be able to transmit data. The fig. next illustrates the dramatic changes over the years in the amount of data we can transfer.

Future Trends in Computer contd

E.g. in 1980, the capacity of traditional telephone based N/W was about 300 bits per second.
Telephone & Access Technologies

Speck of dust

pea Grain of sand

PingPong Ball

Basket ball

One car garage

1980 1990 2000 Modem Modem Modem 300bps 9600bps 56Kbps

2000 DSL 1.5Mbps

2003 Wireless 40Mbps

2007 Wireless 10Gbps

 In relative terms, we could picture this as a pipe that would enable you to transfer one speck of dust every second. By the year 1990s, we were routinely transmitting data at 9600 bps or about a grain of sand every second. By 2000, we were able to transmit either a pea or a ping ball (DSL at 1.5 Mbps) every second over that same telephone line. In the very near future, we will have the ability to transmit 40 Mbps using wireless technologies or in relative terms one basket ball per second.

 A new laser based technology promises data rates of 10 Gbps in the not-so-distant future- the relative equivalent of a one-car garage per second.
LAN & Backbone Technologies One car garage Beach Ball Sugar Cube Ping Pong Ball Base ball

1980 1990 128 Kbps 1-4Mbps

2000 Desktop 10Mbps

2000 Backbone 100Mbps

2000 Backbone 10Gbps

 Between 1980 and 2000, LAN & backbone technologies increased capacity from about 128Kbps to 10Mbps or 100Mbps, soon backbones routinely will be running at 10Gbps or the relative equivalent of a one-car garage per second.
WAN & Internet Technologies 50 Storey Skyscraper Ping Pong Ball Pea Bicycle Tire Foot Ball

1980 56 Kbps

1990 1.5 Mbps

2000 Typical 45 Mbps

2000 High Speed 622 Mbps

2005 High Speed 25 Tbps

 The changes in WAN & internet circuits has been even more dramatic. From a typical size of 56 Kbps in 1980 to the 622 Mbps of a high-speed circuit in 2000, most experts now predict a high-speed WAN or internet circuit will be able to carry 25 Tbps in a few years- the relative equivalent of a skyscraper 50 stories tall & 50 stories wide.

2. The Integration of Voice, Video & Data: A second key trend is the integration of voice, video & data communication sometimes called Convergence. In the past, the telecommunications systems used to transmit video signals, voice signals & data were completely separate. One network was used for data, one for voice & one for cable TV. This is rapidly changing. The integration of voice & data is largely complete in WANs. The IXCs, such as AT&T, provide telecommunication services that support data & voice transmission over the same circuits, even intermixing voice & data on the same physical cable.

 The integration of voice & data has been much slower in LANs & local telephone services. Some companies have successfully integrated both on the same network, but some still lay two separate cable networks into offices, one for voice & one for computer access. The integration of video into computer networks has been much slower, partly because of past legal restrictions & partly because of the immense communications needs of video. However, this integration is now moving quickly, owing to inexpensive video technologies. CNN, in conjunction with Intel, now offers its CNN & Headline News broadcasts digitally. Subscribers to this service receive the regular TV broadcasts in a format that can be transmitted over LANs. This way users can receive the same audio & video TV images in a window on their computer.

3. New Information Services: A third key trend is the provision of new information services on these rapidly expanding networks. In the same way that the construction of the American Interstate highway system spawned new businesses, so will the construction of worldwide integrated communication networks. The WEB has changed the nature of computing so that now, anyone with a computer can be a publisher. You can find information on virtually anything on the web. The problem becomes one of assessing the accuracy & value of information. In the future, we can expect information services to appear that help ensure the quality of the information they contain.

 Today many companies are beginning to use Application Service Providers (ASPs) rather than developing their own computer system. An ASP develops a specific system (e.g. a payroll system) & companies purchase the services without ever installing the system on their own computers. They simply use the service. Some experts are predicting that by 2010, ASPs will have evolved into Information Utilities.

 An information utility is a company that provides a wide range of standardized information services, the same way that electric utilities today provide electricity or telephone utilities provide telephone service. Companies would simply purchase most of their information services (e.g. e-mail, web, accounting) from these information utilities rather than attempting to develop their systems & operate their own servers.

Bit Stream
A bitstream or bit stream is a time series of bits. A bytestream is a series of bytes, typically of 8 bits each, and can be regarded as a special case of a bitstream. Bitstreams are used extensively in telecommunications and computing: for example, the SDH communications technology transports synchronous bitstreams, and the TCP communications protocol transports a bytestream without synchronous timing.

 When a bitstream is captured and stored in a computer storage medium, a computer file is created. The term bitstream is frequently used to describe the configuration data to be loaded into a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

 Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), are two closely related multiplexing protocols for transferring multiple digital bit streams using lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) over the same optical fiber. The method was developed to replace the Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) system for transporting larger amounts of telephone calls and data traffic over the same fiber wire without synchronization problems. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a semiconductor device that can be configured by the customer or designer after manufacturing hence the name "field-programmable".

Type of Communication Systems

The communication system can be classified into three categories Simplex Full Duplex Half Duplex

Simplex
Simplex A simplex system is a communication system in which the message can be send in one direction only. Radio and TV boardcasting are eg User Transmitter Receiver User
Sender Simplex Receiver

Half-Duplex
A half-duplex system provides for communication in both directions, but only one direction at a time (not simultaneously). Typically, once a party begins receiving a signal, it must wait for the transmitter to stop transmitting, before replying.

Sender (or Receiver)

OR

Sender (or Receiver)

Half Duplex
An example of a half-duplex system is a twoparty system such as a "walkie-talkie" style twoway radio, wherein one must use "Over" or another previously designated command to indicate the end of transmission, and ensure that only one party transmits at a time, because both parties transmit on the same frequency. A good analogy for a half-duplex system would be a one lane road with traffic controllers at each end. Traffic can flow in both directions, but only one direction at a time with this being regulated by the traffic controllers.

Full Duplex
full-duplex, or sometimes double-duplex system allows communication in both directions, and unlike half-duplex, allows this to happen simultaneously. Land-line telephone networks are full-duplex since they allow both callers to speak and be heard at the same time. A good analogy for a full-duplex system would be a twolane road with one lane for each direction. Examples: Telephone, Mobile Phone, etc.

Sender ( & Receiver)

AND

Sender ( & Receiver)

Full Duplex
Full-duplex Ethernet connections work by making simultaneous use of two physical pairs of twisted cable (which are inside the jacket), where one pair is used for receiving packets and one pair is used for sending packets (two pairs per direction for some types of ethernet), to a directly connected device. This effectively makes the cable itself a collisionfree environment and doubles the maximum data capacity that can be supported by the connection

Advantages of Full Duplex over Half Duplex

First, time is not wasted since no frames need to be retransmitted as there are no collisions. Secondly, the full data capacity is available in both directions because the send and receive functions are separated. Third, stations (or nodes) do not have to wait until others complete their transmission since there is only one transmitter for each twisted pair

Message
The collection of data, organized in segments, exchanged to convey meaning between partners engaged in EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), is called message. It is also called document or transaction.