CHAPTER SIX

Data communication/
transmission

1
 Topics covered
• Transmission basics
• Data modulation
• Clocking/Synchronization
• Transmission direction
• Parallel/serial transmission
• Multiplexing
• Bandwidth allocation
• Transmission flaws and solutions

2
 What is a signal ?
• Data is communicated by means of a signal, and
a signal is a change in voltage over time

• NICs, hubs and other devices generate signals

which travel along the network media

• The signals are converted to data as they travel

through the OSI layers

3
 Definitions
• Voltage – the force which moves an electrical current
against resistance
• Waveform – the shape of the signal derived from its
amplitude and frequency over a fixed time
• Amplitude – the maximum value of a signal
• Frequency (pitch) – the number of cycles produced in a
second. Measured in 1/seconds – Hertz (Hz)
• Phase - progress of a wave over time in relationship to a
fixed point
• Wavelength - distances between corresponding points on a
wave’s cycle

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 Definition (contd.)

0.8

0.6

0.4

Amplitude
0.2

0
1 22 43 64 85 106 127 148 169 190 211 232 253 274 295 316 337 358 379 400 421 442 463 484 505 526 547 568 589 610 631 652 673 694 715

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1

Frequency

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 Transmission Basics
• Transmission could have two meanings:
– Process of issuing data signals on a
medium
– Progress of data signals over a medium
• On a data network, information can be
transmitted via one of two methods
– Analog
– Digital
6
 Analog vs. digital
• Both analog and digital signals are
generated by electrical current,
pressure of which is measured in volts
• In analog signals, voltage varies
continuously
• In digital signals, voltage turns off and
on repeatedly

7
 Analog signals
• Human Voice
• Ear recognises sounds 20KHz or less
• AM Radio – 535KHz to 1605KHz
• FM Radio – 88MHz to 108MHz

8
 Analog advantages
• Best suited for audio and video
• Available worldwide
• Less susceptible to noise

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 Digital signals
• Suitable for electronic devices
• Not available everywhere
• More susceptible to noise

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

10
 Digital advantages
• Best for computer data
• Can be easily compressed
• Can be encrypted
• Equipment is more common and less
expensive
• Can provide better clarity

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 Data modulation
• Carrier signal - a waveform that is modified to
represent the information to be transmitted
• Modulation – process of varying a carrier signal
in order to use that signal to convey information
• Demodulation - Process of returning a
modulated signal to its original form
• Modem - Device that converts digital and analog
signals
– At the source, a modem converts digital signals to a
form suitable for transmission over analog
communication facilities - modulation
– At the destination, the analog signals are returned to
their digital form - demodulation
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 Modulation techniques
 Modulation is the process of encoding source data
onto a carrier signal with frequency fc.
 All modulation techniques involve operation on one or
more of the three fundamental frequency-domain
parameters:
• Amplitude
• Frequency
• Phase
• The input signal m(t) may be analog or digital and is
called the modulating signal, or baseband signal.
• The result of modulating the carrier signal is called the
modulated signal s(t).
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 There are four combination of encoding and
modulating a given signal.
 Each of the four possible combinations depicted in
Figure is in widespread use.
 The reasons for choosing a particular combination
for any given communication task vary.
 We list here some representative reasons:
1. Digital data, digital signal. In general, the
equipment for encoding digital data into a digital
signal is less complex and less expensive than
digital-to-analog modulation equipment.

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2. Analog data, digital signal. Conversion of analog
data to digital form permits the use of modern
digital transmission and switching equipment.
3. Digital data, analog signal. Some transmission
media, such as optical fiber and the unguided
media, will only propagate analog signals.
4. Analog data, analog signal. Analog data in
electrical form can be transmitted as baseband
signals easily and cheaply.

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16
 DIGITAL DATA, ANALOG SIGNALS
• It is transmission of digital data using analog
signals.
• The most familiar use of this transformation is for
transmitting digital data through the public
telephone network.
• The telephone network was designed to :-
– receive,
– switch, and
– transmit
analog signals in the voice-frequency range of about 300 to
3400 Hz.

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 Modulating Techniques(con’t)
 We mentioned that modulation involves operation
on one or more of the three characteristics of a
carrier signal: amplitude, frequency, and phase.

 Accordingly, there are three basic encoding or

modulation techniques for transforming
digital data into analog signals:
– Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)
– Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
– Phase-shift keying (PSK)
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 Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)
• In ASK, the two binary values are represented by
two different amplitudes of the carrier frequency.
• Commonly, one of the amplitudes is zero.
• that is, one binary digit is represented by the
presence, at constant amplitude, of the carrier.
• the other by the absence of the carrier.
• The resulting signal is:

where the carrier signal

is Acos(2Πfct).

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The ASK technique is used to transmit digital data
over optical fiber.
 On voice-grade lines, it is typically used only up to
1200 bps.

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 Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
• In FSK, the two binary values are represented by
two different frequencies near the carrier
frequency.
• The resulting signal is

where f1and f2 are typically offset from the carrier frequency f,

by equal but opposite amounts.

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 FSK is less susceptible to error than ASK.
 On voice-grade lines, it is typically used up to 1200
bps.
It is also commonly used for high-frequency (3 to
100 MHz) radio transmission.
It can also be used at even higher frequencies on
local area networks that use coaxial cable.

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 Phase shift keying
• In PSK, the phase of the carrier signal is shifted to
represent data.

23
• The resulting signal is

with the phase measured relative to the previous

bit interval.

More efficient use of bandwidth can be achieved if

each signaling element represents more than one
bit.

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• For example, instead of a phase shift of 180 0, as
allowed in PSK, a common encoding technique,
known as quadrature phase-shift keying.
• (QPSK) uses phase shifts of multiples of 90 0:

Thus, each signal element represents two bits

rather than one.
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26
 Synchronization
• When two devices are about to communicate, the
transmitter should somehow notify the receiver as
to when to expect to receive data.
• This allows the receiver to prepare itself for
receiving the data.
• Furthermore, such notifications should occur
frequently enough so that both devices maintain an
agreement about the exact distribution of data over
time.
• This process is called synchronization.

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• There are two basic methods of synchronization:
• synchronous transmission and
• asynchronous transmission.
Synchronous transmission
• In synchronous transmission, a clock signal is
used as a common source of reference by both the
transmitter and the receiver.
• By tying the data signal to the clock signal, either
device can look at the clock signal to know where
data bits may begin or end.
• The clock signal may be provided on a separate
line, or be embedded in the data signal itself
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 Because having a separate clock line increases the costs,
it is only used for covering very short distances (e.g., for
connecting personal computers).
Transmission is in blocks, not single characters.
Faster than asynchronous (no overhead of bits)
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 Asynchronous transmission
• Asynchronous transmission is so called because
the timing of the signal is not important.

• The information that is received or transmitted

follows a predefined pattern.

• As long as the patterns are followed, the receiving

device can retrieve the information without any
regard to the timing of the signal sent.

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• In asynchronous transmission, the beginning and
end of each byte of data is marked by start and stop
bits.
• This enables the receiver to work out the byte
boundaries.
• Because of its simplicity, asynchronous transmission
is cheaper to implement and is therefore more widely
used.

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 Transmission direction
• Simplex
– Signals travel in only one direction
• Half-duplex
– Signals may travel in both directions over a medium
but in only one direction at a time
• Full-duplex
– Signals are free to travel in both directions over a
medium simultaneously
– Also referred to just as duplex

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Transmission direction (contd.)

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 Parallel and serial communication

• Serial transmission
– Signals are sent one bit at a time
– Travels long distances
– Example: telephone wires
• Parallel transmission
– Multiple signals are sent in parallel
– Cannot travel long distances
– Example: printer connections

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 Multiplexing
• It involves the sharing of expensive network
resources by several connections or information
flows.
• Allows multiple signals to travel simultaneously over
one medium
• To accommodate multiple signals, single medium
is logically separated into sub channels
• For each type of multiplexing:
– Multiplexer (mux) is required at sending end of
channel
– Demultiplexer (demux) separates the combined
signals and regenerates them in original form
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 Time division Multiplexing (TDM)
• Divides channel into multiple intervals of time.

• In TDM, each logical channel is allocated a time slot to transmit over

a shared physical channel.

• For example, each logical channel may be given a 5 millisecond time

slot to transmit,

• during which time it will have the entire bandwidth of the line to itself.

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37
 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
• In FDM, the frequency bandwidth of the line is
divided into a number of partitions, each of which is
used as a separate logical channel.

• Multiple signals modulated on different frequency

carrier waves.

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39
 Relationships Between Nodes
• Point-to-point
– Transmission involving one transmitter and one
receiver
• Broadcast
– Transmission involving one transmitter and
multiple receivers
• Multi-cast
Transmission involving one transmitter and a
small number of receiver.
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Relationships Between Nodes

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 Transmission Flaws
• Data gets degraded for a number of reasons
– Attenuation
– Noise
• Crosstalk
• Electromagnetic Interference
• Radiofrequency interference

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Transmission Flaws - Analog

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Transmission Flaws - Digital

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 Attenuation
• Decrease in signal amplitude over the
length of a link.

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 Attenuation - solutions
• Signals pass through an amplifier, which increases not
only voltage of a signal but also noise accumulated
• Regeneration
– Process of retransmitting a digital signal
• Repeater
– Device used to regenerate a signal

46
 Crosstalk
• Noise is any electrical energy on the
transmission cable that makes it difficult for a
receiver to interpret the data sent from the
transmitter
• Crosstalk involves the transmission of signals
from one wire to a nearby wire
– When voltages change on a wire, electromagnetic
energy is generated. This energy radiates outward
from the transmitting wire from a transmitter.
– Adjacent wires in the cable receive the transmitted
energy, which interferes with data on those wires

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 Noise (contd.)
• Electromagnetic interference (EMI)
– Interference that may be caused by motors,
power lines, television, copiers, fluorescent lights,
or other sources of electrical activity

• Radiofrequency interference (RFI)

– Interference that may be generated broadcast
signals from radio or TV towers

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 Noise - solutions
• Twisting cables – effect of one signal
cancels the other
• Shielding – reduce interference from
outside source

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