What is Data Communications?

Exchange of data between two devices via some forms

of transmission medium(such as wire cable) is Data
Communications.

For data communications to occur, the communicating

devices must be part of a communication system
made of a combination of hardware and software.
The five components of data communication are:

1. Message - It is the information to be communicated. Popular

forms of information include text, pictures, audio, video etc.
2. Sender - It is the device which sends the data messages. It
can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset etc.
3. Receiver - It is the device which receives the data messages.
It can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset etc.
4. Transmission Medium - It is the physical path by which a
message travels from sender to receiver. Some examples
include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, radio waves etc.
5. Protocol - It is a set of rules that governs the data
communications. It represents an agreement between the
communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may
be connected but not communicating.
Data flow can occur in three ways:

1. Simplex:In simplex mode,the communication is

unidirectional.only one of the devices on a link can
transmit, the other can only receive. e.g.
keyboards,monitors,etc.

2. Half-duplex:In this mode,each station can both transmit and

receive,but not at the same time.When one device is
sending,the other can only receive,and vice-versa. e.g.
walkie-talkies,CB(citizens band) etc.
3.Full Duplex : In full duplex mode, both stations can transmit
and receive simultaneously. One common example of full
duplex is the Telephone network.
When two people are communicating by a telephone line,
both can talk and listen at the same time. The full-duplex
mode is used when communication in both directions is
required all the time.
 Signals

 There are two types of signals to transfer data.

Signal

Analog Digital
signal signal
 Analog Signals

An analog signal are continuous and passes through or includes

an infinite number of continuous values along its path. The
curve representing the analog signal passes through an
infinite number of points.
 Digital Signals:

A digital signal can have only a limited number of

defined values. Although each value can be any
number,it is as simple as 1 and 0.
Transmission Media

The means through which data is transformed from one place

to another is called transmission or communication media.
There are two categories of transmission media used in
computer communications. Electromagnetic radiation can be
transmitted through an optical media, such as optical fiber, or
through twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, or dielectric-slab
waveguides. It may also pass through any physical material
that is transparent to the specificwavelength, such as water,
air, glass,or concrete. Sound is, by definition, the vibration of
matter, so it requires a physical medium for transmission, as
does other kinds of mechanical waves
and heat energy.
Types of Transmission Media

Transmission Media

Guided Media Unguided Media

Guided Media

Guided media are the physical links through which signals are
confined to narrow path. These are also called guide media.
Bounded media are made up o a external conductor (Usually
Copper) bounded by jacket material. Bounded media are great
for LABS because they offer high speed, good security and low
cast. However, some time they cannot be used due distance
communication. Three common types of bounded media are
used of the data transmission. These are

 Coaxial Cable
 Twisted Pairs Cable
 Fiber Optics Cable
 Coaxial cable

 Coaxial cable is very common & widely used commutation media.

For example TV wire is usually coaxial. Coaxial cable gets its name
because it contains two conductors that are parallel to each other.
The center conductor in the cable is usually copper. The copper can
be either a solid wire or stranded martial.

 Outside this central Conductor is a non-conductive material. It is

usually white, plastic material used to separate the inner
Conductor form the outer Conductor. The other Conductor is a
fine mesh made from Copper.
Twisted Pair Cable

 The most popular network cabling is Twisted pair. It is light

weight, easy to install, inexpensive and support many different
types of network. It also supports the speed of 100
mbps.Twisted pair cabling is made of pairs of solid or
stranded copper twisted along each other. The twists are done
to reduce vulnerably to EMI and cross talk. The number of
pairs in the cable depends on the type. The copper core is
usually 22- AWG or 24-AWG, asmeasured on the American
wire gauge standard. There are two types of twisted pairs
cabling
 1. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
 2. Shielded twisted pair (STP)
 Fiber optic cable
 Fiber optic cable uses light signals to
transmit data. In fiber optic cable light
only moves in one direction for two way
communication to take place a second
connection must be made between the
two devices. It is actually two stands of
cable. Each stand is responsible for one
direction of communication. A laser at
one device sends pulse of light through
this cable to other device. These pulses
translated into “1’s” and “0’s” at the
other end.
 In the center of fiber cable is a glass
stand or core. The light from the laser
moves through this glass to the other
device around the internal core is a
reflective material known
asCLADDING. No light escapes the
glass core because of this reflective
cladding.
 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

UTP is more common. It can be

either voice grade or data grade
depending on the condition. UTP
cable normally has an impedance
of 100 ohm. UTP cost less than
STP and easily available due to its
many use. There are five levels of
data cabling
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

 It is similar to UTP but has a

mesh
shielding that’s protects it from
EMI(Electro Magnetic Interference)
which allows for higher
transmission rate.
Unguided Media

Unguided media or wireless media doesn't use any physical

connectors between the two devices communicating. Usually
the transmission is send through the atmosphere but sometime
it can be just across the rule. Wireless media is used when a
physical obstruction or distance blocks are used with normal
cable media. The three types of wireless media are:
 Radio waves
 Micro waves
 Infrared waves
Devices used in Networking

Mainly four devices are used in networking:-

 Modem

 Hub

 Switch

 Router
MODEM-(modulator-demodulator)
MODEM

A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal

to encode digital information and also demodulates such a
carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The
goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and
decoded to reproduce the original digital data. Modems can
be used over any means of transmitting analog signals,
from light emitting diodes to radio.
There are two types of modem:-

1. Internal modem
2. External modem
HUB

A common connection point for

devices in
a network. A hub
contains
multiple ports. When a packet
arrives at one port, it is copied to the
other ports so that all segments of
the LAN can see all packets.
Switch
A network switch is a small hardware
device that joins multiple computers
together within one local area network
(LAN). Network switches appear nearly
identical to network hubs, but a switch
generally contains more intelligence
than a hub. Unlike hubs, network
switches are capable of inspecting data
packets as they are received,
determining the source and destination
device of each packet, and forwarding
them appropriately. By delivering
messages only to the connected device
intended, a network switch conserves
network bandwidth and offers generally
better performance than a hub.
 Router

A router is a device that forwards data packets between

computer networks, creating an overlay internetwork. A router
is connected to two or more data lines from different networks.
When a data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router
reads the address information in the packet to determine its
ultimate destination.
Then, using information in its routing table it directs the packet
to the next network on its journey. Routers perform the "traffic
directing" functions on the Internet. A data packet is typically
forwarded from one router to another through the networks that
constitute the internetwork until it gets to its destination node.