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Data Communications and Components

Data communications involve the exchange of data between devices via transmission mediums like cables or radio waves. An effective system must deliver data accurately and in a timely manner to the intended recipient. The key components of a data communications system are the message, sender, receiver, transmission medium, and communication protocols. Communication can occur in simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex modes depending on whether transmission is unidirectional or bidirectional.

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12 views

Data Communications and Components

Data communications involve the exchange of data between devices via transmission mediums like cables or radio waves. An effective system must deliver data accurately and in a timely manner to the intended recipient. The key components of a data communications system are the message, sender, receiver, transmission medium, and communication protocols. Communication can occur in simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex modes depending on whether transmission is unidirectional or bidirectional.

Uploaded by

Aiman Fatima
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data Communications:

Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some
form of transmission medium such as a wire cable.
The effectiveness of a data communications 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 and only by that device or
user.
2. Accuracy The system must deliver the data accurately. Data should not be
altered. If the data is altered in transmission and 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 and 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 It refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. Jitter is the uneven
delay in the delivery of audio or video packets.
Example: Let us assume that video packets are sent every 3ms. If some of the packets
arrive
with 3ms delay and others with 4ms delay, an uneven quality in the video is the result.

Components:

A data communications system has five components:

1. Message: The message is the information (data) to be communicated.


Popular forms of information include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and
video.
2. Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a
computer, workstation, telephone handset, video camera, and so on.
3. Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a
computer, workstation, telephone handset, television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by
which a message travels from sender to receiver. Some examples of
transmission media include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic
cable, and radio waves.
5. Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It
represents an agreement between the communicating devices. Without a
protocol, two devices may be connected but not communicating, just as a
person speaking French cannot be understood by a person who speaks
only Japanese.

Fig 1: Components of Data Communication.

Direction of Data flow:

Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-duplex, or full-


duplex.

Simplex: The communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street.

Only one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive.

Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex devices.

The simplex mode can use the entire capacity of the channel to send data in one
direction as shown in Fig 2.a

Half-Duplex: Each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same
time.

The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road with traffic allowed in both
directions.

The entire capacity of a channel is taken over by whichever of the two devices
is transmitting at the time as shown in Fig 2.b

Walkie-talkies and CB (citizens band) radios are both half-duplex systems.

Full-Duplex:

Both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously.


Signals going in one direction share the capacity of the link with signals going
in the other direction as shown in Fig 2.c.

One common example of full-duplex communication is the telephone network.

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