CHAPTER-5|Data Communications system

CHAPTER-5
DATA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

5.1. INTRODUCTION
Data communication is the movement of data and information from one point to another
point by means of electrical or electromagnetic devices, fibre-optic cables or microwave
signals.

5.2. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

Telecommunications system has five components. These are
1. Sender: - input devices.
2. Channel & Media:-channel characteristics.
• Transmission Speed.
• Transmission Mode.
• Transmission direction
Media
• Bounded.
• Unbounded.
3. Hardware: -
• Host Computer,
• Front end Processor,
• Modem,
• Multiplexer,
• Switch.
• Bridge
• Gateway
• Bus.
4. Software:-
• Access Control.
• Transmission control.
• Network control & Management.
• Error detection & Correction.
• Network Security.
5. Receiver:-Output Devices.

5.2.1. Telecommunications Channels

A data communications channels is a path through a medium that data can take from sending
stations to receiving stations.
Characteristic of channels are:

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• Transmission Speed: -
It is the capacity of a telecommunication channel depending on the bandwidth. The greater
bandwidth the greater amount of information transmitted over the channel. There are three
types of bandwidth:-
 Voice-band (300 bps to9600 bps),
 Medium band (9600bps to 256000bps).
 Broadband (256000bps to a very large number.)
• Transmission Mode:-There are two types of transmission mode
 Synchronous:-In this transmission a group of characters transmit at a time.
 Asynchronous: - In this transmission one character transmit at a time.
• Transmission direction:- It is the direction in which data is transmitted . There are three
types of directions:
 Simplex: - In this direction data communication devices that can either send or
receive data, but can not do both.
 Half duplex: - In this case two devices are send or received data, but not at a time.
 Full duplex: - In this case two devices are send or received data at a time.

5.2.2. Telecommunications Media

There are two types of media over with data is transmitted.
• Bounded media-The signals are confined to the medium. Ex-Twisted pair cable, fibre-optic
cables, coaxial cable.
• Unbounded media-The signal are not restricted to the medium. Ex-Microwaves.

5.3. DATA COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE

 Host Computer:-The host performs the data processing for the network. The incoming
messages are handled in the same manner as data received from any other type of input unit
.After the processing, messages can be transmitted back to the front –end processor for
routing.
 Front-end processor:-The front-end processor is a minicomputer that acts as a buffer
between the client device and the host computer. It increases the operating efficiency of the
network by taking care of routine tasks such as coordinating peripherals and ensuring error-
free transmission.
 Modem:-It stands for modulator-demodulator. It is used for Digital signals are converted into
analog signals and vice-versa.
 Multiplexer:-It is a device that permits the simultaneous sending and receiving of multiple
messages over a signal channel. A multiplexer collects signals from several terminals and
transmits them over a single channel.
 Switch:-It is a device which is determines the data transmission path. Switches can control
the transmission path across national or local networks.
 Bridge and gateway:-
• A bridge is a device that separates two or more network segments with in one logical
network (e.g. a single IP-subnet). A bridge is usually placed between two separate groups

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of computers that talk with each other, but not that much with the computers in the other
group.
• A gateway is a node (a router) on a TCP/IP network that serves as an access point to
another network. A default gateway is the node on the computer network that the network
software uses when an IP address does not match any other routes in the routing table.
 Bus: - A collection of wires through which data is transmitted from one part of a computer to
another.

5.4. DATA COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE

 Software enables all of the data communication hardware units to work as one system. Most
of the software is located in the host and in the front-end processor, but some can be located
in the cluster control units and the terminals.
 It is necessary that communications software must interface the user’s applications programs
with the access method that has been selected to control the network, keeping in view that the
telecommunications access methods themselves are control programs of a sort.
 Various types of computer software are:
 Access control software: This software establishes access between different devices,
terminals and computers in the network and checks the transmission mode, transmission
speed and transmission direction. It has two types:-1.centralised.2.decentralised.
 Terminal Control Software: This software controls the transmission of data over the
network.
 Terminal emulation software: This software enables a microcomputer to behave like
specific terminal when in interact with a mainframe.
 Network control software: The software coordinates controls and manages the complete
operation of the network. It establish priority for data waiting to be transmitted, check for
any transmission error, route message, and maintain statistics system used.
 Error correction and detection software: It ensures that errors, caused by any other
problem, are detected and connected.
 Security software: The software prevents unauthorized access to data and monitors the
use of the network.

5.5. COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

There are five types of communication networks:
1. Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs)
2. Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs)
3. Local Area Networks (LANs)
4. Wide Area Networks (WANs)
5. Value Added Networks (VANs)

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5.5.1. Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs)

 PBX (private branch exchange) is a telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls
between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of
external phone lines.
 The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost of requiring a line for each user to the
telephone company's central office.
 The PBX is owned and operated by the enterprise rather than the telephone company (which
may be a supplier or service provider).
 Private branch exchanges used analog technology originally.
 Today, PBXs use digital technology (digital signals are converted to analog for outside calls
on the local loop using plain old telephone service (POTS ).
 A PBX includes:
• Telephone trunk (multiple phone) lines that terminate at the PBX
• A computer with memory that manages the switching of the calls within the PBX and in and
out of it.
• The network of lines within the PBX.
• A console or switchboard for a human operator (optional)

5.5.2. Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs):

 The ISDN is a digital communication network that uses the public telephone network and
allows users to transmit data, voice, text, and video communication in digital form over
telephone lines. So it is called a digital network.
 It eliminates the need for a modem to convert analog signals into digital signals and vice
versa.
 It does not require any rewiring. It uses the coaxial or fiber optic cables,
 It promotes uniformity and standardisation through a set of standard interfaces.
 The basic building block of ISDN is a 64 kbps (thousands bits per second) channel, referred
to as a B-channel.
 Each B-channel is used to transmit user information.
 Another channel called the D-channel, carries signaling and control information used to
initiate, redirect, or terminate cells.
 ISDN works basically on five principles:
 Openness;
 Modularity;
 Communication based intelligence;
 Network management and control;
 Integrated products and services;
 Openness: It means that all ISDN products will be standardised. This brings order and
uniformity to the complex task of developing a network.

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 Modularity: It enables the organisation to upgrade or replace any part in a network without
replacing the entire network.
 Communication based intelligence: It provides users with a way to configure their network
connections to meet their requirements.
 Network management and control: It is one of the complex and challenging tasks that
information system managers face.
 Integrated products and services: It allows the use of wide variety of products and services
on the network such as voice networking, data networking, teleconferencing, etc. Recent
comupterised railway reservation network throughout the country is one of the examples of
ISDN.

5.5.3. Local Area Networks (LANS)

 A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a
common communications line or wireless link.
 It is connected devices share the resources of a single processor or server within a small
geographic area (for example, within an office building).
 The server has applications and data storage that are shared in common by multiple computer
users.
 A local area network may serve as few as two or three users (for example, in a home
network) or as many as thousands of users (for example, in an FDDI network).
 Major local area network technologies are: Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI.
 Ethernet is the most commonly used LAN technology.
 A number of corporations use the Token Ring technology.
 FDDI is sometimes used as a backbone LAN interconnecting Ethernet or Token Ring LANs.
 Another LAN technology, ARCNET, once the most commonly installed LAN technology, is
still used in the industrial automation industry.
 A suite of application programs can be kept on the LAN server.
 Users who need an application frequently can download it once and then run it from their
local hard disk.
 Users can order printing and other services as needed through applications run on the LAN
server.
 A user can share files with others at the LAN server; read and write access is maintained by a
LAN administrator.
 A LAN server may also be used as a Web server if safeguards are taken to secure internal
applications and data from outside access.

5.5.4. Wide Area Networks (WANS)

 It is a collection of computers and network resources connected via a network over a
geographic area.
 Wide-Area Networks are commonly connected either through the Internet or special
arrangements made with phone companies or other service providers.

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 A WAN is different from a MAN because of the distance between each of the networks. In a
WAN, one network may be anywhere from several hundred miles away, to across the globe
in a different country.
 There are different types of set up a WAN are:-direct distance dialling (DDD), Wide area
telephone service lines (WATS), leased lines and satellites.
 Example:-banking networks, airline reservation systems and railway reservation systems.

5.5.5. Value Added Networks (VANS)

 The public data networks that add value to the basic communication services provided by
common carriers by offering specialised services are termed as value added networks.
 The specialized services include access to commercial databases and software, correction of
transmission errors, providing compatibility between incompatible computers and terminals,
Email, and video conferencing.
 A subscriber to a VAN service pays monthly fee depending on its level of use.

5.6. DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

 When small computers became popular, organizations changed their strategy and began
distributing the minis and micros throughout the organisation. When these systems are
interconnected, the technique is known as distributed systems.

Data base

Large central
Processor

Local
Data - Local
base Data -
base

Small processor Small processor

Terminals Terminals
Fig: Distributed Data Processing

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 There are a number of variations of distributed systems depending on the distribution of

hardware and data:
• Separate computer system in each location
 Each system has its own data
 Systems share data
 Systems share data managed by designed by a designated computer
• Central computer with
 Devices in other locations connected to central computer
 Data preparation and data entry equipment at other locations.

 When physically separated computers are interconnected through communications facilities

the configuration is called distributed computing.
 Alternatively there may be a ring structure of minicomputers of equal power and no large
central processor. Each minicomputer does local processing and access data from the other
locations as required.
 The way a distributed processing system is configured usually depends on the needs of the
application.
 Advantages of distributed computing over a centralized computer. Since the bulk of
computing is performed at the local site, communication costs can be considerably reduced.
 Also if one processor does function its processing can be shifted to other processors and there
is minimal disturbance to the entire system.

5.7. TOPOLOGY OF COMPUTER NETWORK

 Topology is a usually schematic description of the arrangement of a network, including its
nodes and connecting lines.
 There are two ways of defining network geometry: the physical topology and the logical (or
signal) topology.
 The physical topology of a network is the actual geometric layout of workstations.
 There are several common physical topologies are:
 Bus Topology:
In the bus network topology, every workstation is connected to a main cable called the bus.
Therefore, in effect, each workstation is directly connected to every other workstation in the
network.

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 Star Topology:
In the star network topology, there is a central computer or server to which all the workstations are
directly connected. Every workstation is indirectly connected to every other through the central
computer called hub

 Ring Topology: In the ring network topology, the workstations are connected in a closed loop
configuration. Adjacent pairs of workstations are directly connected. Other pairs of workstations
are indirectly connected, the data passing through one or more intermediate nodes. If a Token
Ring protocol is used in a star or ring topology, the signal travels in only one direction.

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 Mesh Topology: The mesh network topology employs either of two schemes, called full mesh
and partial mesh. In the full mesh topology, each workstation is connected directly to each of the
others. In the partial mesh topology, some workstations are connected to all the others, and some
are connected only to those other nodes with which they exchange the most data.

 Tree Topology: The tree network topology uses two or more star networks connected together.
The central computers of the star networks are connected to a main bus. Thus, a tree network is a
bus network of star networks.

5.8. PROTOCOLS AND NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

 Protocol
 When two devices are communicating, there must be agreement as to the meaning of
control information being sent with the data and agreement as to the control information
and data shall be packaged.
 Thus protocols are the rules and formats that ensure efficient and error free electronic
communication.
 A protocol has three major components a set of characters having same meaning to the
sender and to the receiver a set of rules for timing and sequencing messages and a set of
methods for detecting and correcting errors.
 Some popular protocols are TCP/IP, systems network architecture system application
architecture (SAA), XMODEM, YMODEM and Kermit.
 Network Architecture
 Network architecture is a set of standards, or protocols, for telecommunication hardware
and software.
 It is intended to maximize modularity, user friendliness, reliability, and ease of network
maintenance.
 It must establish standards for all its elements, the hardware, the software and the user
interface.

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 The simple network management protocol is popular network architecture.

5.9. OPEN SYSTEM INTERCONNECTION (OSI)

 The problem on incompatibility between data communication products affected users on a
worldwide basis, and the international standards organisation in 1978, developed a system of
network protocols and named it the OSI model.
 It is a model that allows any two different computers can communicate with each other
without paging attention on their architecture.
 The purpose of this model is to open the communication between un-related systems. It
means the OSI model allows communication between two different computers without
requiring changes to the logic of the underline hardware and software used in the computers.
 The OSI model is not a protocol it is model for understanding and designing network
architecture i.e. flexible or robust.
 The seven layers of the OSI model are:-
 Physical layer
 Data link layer
 Network layer
 Transport layer
 Session layer
 Presentation layer
 Application layer
 Physical layer: Transmits the data from one node to another node.
 Data link layer: Formats the data into a record called a frame and performs error detection.
 Network layer: It causes the physical layer to transfer the frames from node to node.
 Transport layer: It enables the user and host nodes to communicate with each other. It also
synchronises fast and slow-speed equipment as well as overburdened and idle units.
 Session layer: It initiates, maintains, and terminates each session. A session consists of all
the frames that compose a particular activity, plus signals that identify the beginning and end.
A session is like a telephone call that begins with “hello” and ends with “good bye”. Standard
log on and user identification routines are used to initiate data communication sessions.
 Presentation layer: Formats the data for presentation to the user or the host.
 Application layer: It controls user input from the terminals and executes the users
application program in the host.
 The bottom three layers appear in all nodes, but the upper four layers appear in only the host
and user nodes.
 Layer 1 is the only layer that physically exists.
 The other layers use the physical layer use the physical layer for transmission of their signals.

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5.10. NETWORK MANAGEMENT:

Networks are the nervous system of the organizations operations, and failure can cost corers
of rupees every minute if the network is out service. Network management aimed at reducing
the opportunity for network failures, primarily through planning and control.
 Network planning
It consists of all the activity aimed at anticipating the organizations network needs. It includes
three main components-Capacity planning, staff planning, and performance monitoring.
 Capacity planning: it analyses and plans for traffic volumes that the network can
handle.
 Staff planning: It helps determine the number of persons necessary to manage a
network and their required level of expertise.
 Performance monitoring: It includes analysing response times for a given level of
traffic to anticipate the effects of potential changes in network performance.
 Network control
It involves the day to day monitoring of the network to ensure that is maintains the desired
level of operations. It includes procedures such as fault detection, fault isolation, and network

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restoration. Ideal network control systems alert the operator to network failures or operational
failures, identify the troubled components and help correct the problem. To achieve and
maintain network control, organisation need operation standards, design strategies, failure
control procedures, and problem solving methodologies. These control elements should be
updated as changes occur in computing technology the network or the organisation.
 Network manager
It is responsible for planning, implementing and controlling the organisation data
communication network.
Main functions of network management are:
 Establish lines of communication among different network administrators
 Develop standards throughout the organisation for the use of network resources and
applications.
 Establish corporate security policies that ensure that :(a) critical or proprietary data are
well protected;(b) network configuration is carefully documented,(c)distributed to all
network managers,(d) updated frequently.
 Established backup procedures for all corporate data and strictly enforce backup policies.
 Eliminate or at least reduce redundancies in firm’s data bases.
 Electronic Data Interchange(EDI)
It is a direct computer to computer exchange of data over a telecommunications network, thus
eliminating the need for retyping data. Although EDI has been around for a long time, n
recent years, many organizations are using EDI as a way to reduce processing errors and cut
operating costs. Costs associated with EDI are software, hardware, VAN changes, software
interface, program maintenance, and process reengineering. EDI is a powerful technology
because it can create meaningful partnerships and replace sluggish bureaucracies with
responsive organizations.

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