Week-16

Telecommunications and Networks

 The Telecommunications Revolution

The 1990's mark the beginning of a "Telecommunications
Revolution". This can mean a quantum change in the
information available to people and organizations.

Although the transition will be slow for some, the development
seems inevitable. Eventually, all of us will be affected and all of
us will be dependent upon the new technology as a basic
information resource.

The explosive growth of information

There has been a recent, explosive growth in the quantity of
information that is accessible and useful for individuals and
organizations.

Text and data are routinely composed on computers. This
information can now be organized to allow access through
global networks in ways that were difficult or impossible in the
past.

The quality of information has also changed dramatically. And
although new kinds of costs are incurred, the overall cost of
information is going down.

Links between people and organizations over universal
networks (LAN with WAN)

Communication has also increased. Our social, political and
management systems are becoming more sophisticated and
dependent upon effective communication.

Organizations rely upon a wider variety of supports and
relationships.

Complex organizations are entering into collaborative
relationships requiring extensive communication.

These is also greater recognition of the value of links with
persons in other communities who share common experiences
and challenges.

A new paradigm: Everyone can read - - Everyone can publish

The Telecommunications Revolution has led to a paradigm shift
in the creation and distribution of information.

In open access systems, everyone can search out and read
available material from throughout a community and around the
world. More importantly, everyone can contribute - can
comment, or create new material for others to read.

Distributed processing: Linking personal computers back
together

Personal computers gave users more control over powerful
tools for organizing and analyzing information.

Distribution was encouraged within organizations and
communities - as the means for working with information was
more widely distributed.

Networking computers together allows the creation of an
information network without reducing local control over the
tools to process and use information.

An emerging "basic" computer - multi-media/ CD/ digital
phone/ cable

There is a common misperception that the hardware and
software requirements of the information highway are many
years away and likely to be too expensive for many.

Powerful multi-media computers with color graphics, substantial
disk storage, "GUI" (graphics) software interfaces,
communications cards and even CD players are now standard
in $1500 computer systems and are present in every normal
home today.

Digital phone and cable systems will soon offer inexpensive,
very efficient and competitive choices in most communities.
Until then, more limited modem connections seem adequate for
general purposes.

The time required to organize people and information and to
adjust to the opportunities Information networks are more about
people and organizations than about technology.
 Telecommunications System
Components

Fig 16.1: Components of a

telecommunications system

There are many, many pieces of equipment between those two
computers: look again at Figure 16.1. We'll dissect and examine
the equipment and the functions each element serves.

Protocols are used to tell the hardware components how to
transmit data within a network and between networks.

They can also be thought of as a set of rules and procedures
for exchanging information between computers in networks.

They define how the various communication links are
established, how information is transmitted, and how errors are
detected and corrected between networks.

Most important, the use of protocols allows different makes and
types of computers to talk to each other.

Examples: HTTP, SMTP, FTP, TCP and IP etc,

Types of Signals: Analog and Digital

Everything going into a computer system must be transformed
into digital signals, and operate at shorter distances.

In the networking world, however, most of the data are
transmitted over telephone lines. These lines don't recognize
zeros and ones. They only understand what are called analog
signals, and operate at larger distances. To change the
signals back and forth between analog and digital transmission
methods, you need a modem.

The purpose of a modem (modulator/demodulator) is to:

Change digital signals from computers to analog signals that
telephone lines can carry change analog signals back to digital
signals that the computer can understand.

A channel is the facility through which information is
transmitted between physical locations in a network.

That's just a fancy way of saying that a channel is the highway
on which data travel. Think again about the interstate highway
systems.

Communications Processors and Software

In most cases you won't use front-end processors, multiplexers,
concentrators, or controllers on your personal computer. These
pieces of equipment are used on larger networks and are
reserved for the technologies. They are interesting pieces of the
puzzle, though, so let's go ahead and look at them.

Sometimes the host computer on a large network gets
overloaded processing data, monitoring transmissions,
controlling the system, etc. That's where front-end processors
come in handy. Front-end processors don't store data or
application programs. You can't use them for general
computing. This type of computer does nothing but process the
electronic transmissions between computers on a network
system. It's there to relieve the host computer from
transmission processing so the host can serve your basic
computing needs.

A Concentrator is a telecommunications computer that collects
data signals and holds them.

When enough signals are collected, the computer sends them
on to the host as a batch.

A Controller computer simply processes signals between the
CPU and terminals, printers, or other peripheral devices
attached to the network.

Multiplexers are the equipment, that combines many channel
(signals) into single channel (signal). i.e. Many to one.

What the New York bank will do is install a multiplexer
component in the branch to which each of the 10 terminals will
be connected. The multiplexer gathers the signals from each
terminal and transmits them to the New York bank over a single
transmission line. Now you're talking efficiency

Routers

How does your Internet Service Provider manage to send your
email to the right place? We're talking millions and millions of
people sending email every day. How in the world do you keep
from getting Mary's email intended for Billy in Atlanta? If you
ever noticed, each computer user connected to a network has a
separate, individual address. No two addresses are exactly the
same. All of these addresses are stored on various computers
placed around the networks.

Software stored on routers uses these addresses to route the
data to the right location.

Routers use protocols to help route data around the many
networks to get them to their correct destination.
 Communications Networks
and
Standards

The topology, which is the shape or configuration of a network,
or physical layout of the network.

Network Topologies

One way of describing a network is by its shape:

Star, Bus, or Ring.

The star network is usually used in larger companies with lots
of communications traffic.

All nodes are connected to centralized location, which is a hub
or switch.

The distinct drawback is that if the hub or switch goes down
(malfunction), the whole network goes down. You've
experienced this type of situation if you've tried to access a
Web site and you get a message that says the host computer is
down.

There is no centralized node with the bus network. Rather, all
the computers in the network are linked with cables.

This type of network is usually used in smaller companies with
few computers and a much lower volume of traffic.

Like the bus network, the ring network doesn't have a
centralized node either.

However, with this topology, if one computer goes down, the
other computers can still process data and transactions.

Types of Networks

PAN, LAN, MAN, WAN

You are already familiar with these types of networks according
to geographical area.
 Routing to another LAN

• walkthrough: routing from host A to host B via

Router R
 Routing to another LAN
❒ A creates IP packet with source A, destination B
❒ A uses ARP (or table) to get R’s MAC address for 111.111.111.110 (Router with IP address)
❒ A creates Ethernet frame with R's MAC address as destination, Ethernet frame contains
A-to-B IP datagram
❒ A’s data link layer sends Ethernet frame
❒ R’s data link layer receives Ethernet frame
❒ R removes IP datagram from Ethernet frame, sees that it is destined to B
❒ R uses ARP (or table) to get B’s MAC address
❒ R creates frame containing A-to-B IP datagram and sends it to B
 The Network Core

❒ Mesh of interconnected
routers
❒ the fundamental question:
how is data transferred
through network?
❍ circuit switching:
dedicated circuit per
call: telephone net
❍ packet-switching: data
sent through network in
discrete “chunks”.
 Ethernet

A local-area network (LAN) protocol developed by
Xerox Corporation in cooperation with DEC and Intel
in 1976. It is one of the most widely implemented LAN
standards.

Originally transmission rates were 3 Megabits per
second (Mb/s) over thick coaxial cable. Media today
include fiber, twisted-pair (copper), and several coaxial
cable types. Rates are upto 10 Gigabits per second or
10,000 Mb/s.

One of the most common local area network (LAN)
wiring schemes, Ethernet has a transmission rate of
10 megabits per second; a newer standard called Fast
Ethernet will carry 100 megabits per second.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision
Detection is a network access method in which
devices that are ready to transmit data first
check the channel for a carrier. If no carrier is
sensed, a device can transmit. If two devices
transmit at once, a collision occurs and each
computer backs off and waits a random amount
of time before attempting to retransmit. This is
the access method used by Ethernet.


Differential Manchester Encoding scheme is
used by Ethernet.
 Token Ring

LAN technology in which packets are conveyed
between network end stations by a token
moving continuously around a closed ring
between all the stations. Runs at 4 or 16 Mbps.

A LAN architecture with transmission speeds of
4 or 16 Mbits/sec. Though less popular than
Ethernet, it performs better under heavy load. It
conforms to international standards and is
supported by all major network software
suppliers.
 ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode A high bandwidth, High
speed (up to 155 Mbps), controlled-delay fixed-size
packet switching and transmission system integrating
multiple data types (voice, video, and data). Uses
fixed-size packets also known as "cells" (ATM is often
referred to as "cell relay").

Communication technology that uses high-bandwidth,
low-delay transport technology, and multiplexing
techniques. Through dedicated media connections it
provides simultaneous transport of voice, video, and
data signals more than 50 times faster than current
technology. May be used in phone and computer
networks of the future.
 ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of
CCITT/ITU standards for digital transmission over ordinary
telephone copper wire as well as over other media. Home and
business users who install an ISDN adapter (in place of a
modem) can see highly-graphic Web pages arriving very quickly
(up to 128 Kbps). ISDN requires adapters at both ends of the
transmission so your access provider also needs an ISDN
adapter.

Integrated Services Digital Network is a telephone network
facility for transmitting digital and analog information over a
digital network connection.

Integrated Services Digital Network is a way to move data over
existing regular phone lines but at a fast rate. In theory, ISDN
can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over a
regular phone line, though in practice, most people will be
limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second
 Frame relay

Frame relay is a telecommunication service designed for cost-
efficient data transmission for intermittent traffic between local
area networks (LANs) and between end-points in a wide area
network (WAN).

A packet-switching protocol for connecting devices on a Wide
Area Network (WAN). Frame relay networks in the United
States support data transfer rates at T-1 (1.544 Mbps) and T-3
(45 Mbps) speeds. Most telephone companies now provide
frame relay service for customers who want connections from
56 Kbps to T-1 speeds.

A fast packet switching protocol. Used mainly in Wide Area
Networks. It differs from ATM in that packets can have variable
length.

Is an efficient data transmission technique used to send digital
information quickly and cheaply to one or many destinations
from one or many end-points. Commonly implemented for voice
and data as an encapsulation technique, used between local
area networks (LANs) over a wide area network (WAN). Each
end-user gets a private line (or leased line) to a frame relay
node.
 Network Standards

OSI Layers Model


TCP/IP Layers Model
 OSI Layers Model

Physical layer: how to transfer bits correctly
− conversion of bits into signals, what is 0, 1? How long does
a bit lasts?
− Concerned with the physical characteristics of interfaces and
media.
− Concerned with Physical topology, Transmission rate and
transmission mode.
•
edit] Evolution of graphic user interfaces

Data link layer: how to transfer frames correctly
reliably transfer frames over a link, how to identify a frame, error
control, Physical addressing, Access control, Flow control
− Divided into Media Access Control (MAC) and Logical Link
Control (LLC) layers

Network layer: how to send a packet to the destination (hop by
hop)?
− Forwarding, routing, congestion control, segmentation &
reassembly, Logical addressing

Transport: end to end communication or process to process
communication.
− That layer that runs at end points but not at intermediate
hops.
− Connection establishment/management/termination, error
control/flow control/multiplexing, Service-point addressing.
− Reliability

Session layer: allows users to establish session, enhanced
services or Provides mechanism for managing a dialogue
between end-user application processes.
− Supports duplex or half- duplex operations.
− Dialogue control and Synchronization.

Presentation layer: provides general solutions to users.
− Compression/Decompression, syntax translation conversion,
Encryption/Decryption

Application layer: Interfaces directly to and performs common
application services for application processes.
− Variety of protocols/services that are commonly used like
− File transfer (FTP)
− Network virtual terminal. (Telnet).
− Mail services (Email).
− Directory services (Domain/DNS).
 TCP/IP Layers Model

TCP/IP reference model:

Application layer (Telnet, FTP SMPT, DNS, NNTP, HTTP)

Transport layer (TCP, UDP)

Internet layer (IP)

Host to Network layer (Ethernet, FDDI, X.25)
TCP/IP reference model

Application layer (Telnet, FTP, SMPT, DNS, HTTP)
– Interfaces directly to and performs common application services for
application processes.

Transport layer (TCP, UDP)
– Allow entities at end hosts to communicate
– TCP (transmission control protocol): reliable connection-oriented
– UDP (user datagram protocol): unreliable connectionless

Internet layer (IP)
– A packet switching network based on connectionless
communication. Hosts send packets into the network and then the
packets travel independently to their destinations.
– Format conversion: for different networks.
– Packet format and protocol: IP

Host to Network layer (Ethernet, FDDI, X.25)
– Undefined, rely on the existing technology - must be able
to send IP packets over this layer.
OSI and TCP/IP Models