Chapter-1

Introduction to Computer Networks

1
Review Topics
• Components, Data Representation, Data Flow
• Network Criteria, Network Models, Categories of
Networks
• Connection Oriented Networks
• Connectionless Networks, Wireless LAN, Gigabit
• Interconnection of Networks: Internetwork
• Protocol Layering, OSI Model
• TCP/IP Model
• OSI vs TCP/IP

2
Data Communications
• The word telecommunication, includes telephony, telegraphy, and
television, means communication at a distance (tele is Greek word
for “far”).
• Telecommunication – Exchange of information over distance using
electronic equipment.
• Data refers to information presented in whatever form is agreed upon
by the parties creating and using the data.
• Data Communications are the exchange of data between two
devices via some form of transmission medium such as a wire cable.
• A communication system is made up of a combination of hardware
(physical equipment) and software (programs).
• Effectiveness of a data communication system depends on four
fundamental characteristics – delivery, accuracy, timeliness, and
jitter.

3
Data Communications
• Effectiveness of a data communication system
• Delivery: system must deliver data to the correct destination.
• Accuracy: system must deliver data accurately.
• Timeliness: system must deliver data in a timely manner.
• Jitter: it refers to the variation in the packet arrival time or A
phenomenon in real-time traffic caused by gaps between
consecutive packets at the receiver.
• Components of a data communication system
• Adata communication system has five components.

4
Data Communications
• Components of a data communication system
1. Message: is the information (data) to be communicated.
Information includes – text, numbers, pictures, audio and
video.
2. Sender: is the device that sends the message. It can be a
computer, workstation, telephone handset, video camera etc.
3. Receiver: is the device that receives the message. It can be a
computer, workstation, telephone handset, video camera etc.
4. Transmission medium: is the physical path by which a
message travels from sender to receiver. It can be twisted–pair
wire, coaxial cable, fiber – optic cable and radio waves.
5. Protocol: it is a set of rules that governs data communications.
It represents an agreement between communicating devices.

5
Data Communications
• Data Representation
• Information can be represented in different forms such as text,
numbers, images or pictures, audio and video.
• Text: text is represented as a bit pattern, different sets of bit
patterns have been designed to represent text symbols. Each set
is called code, and the process of representing symbols is called
coding. For example: 32 bit Unicode, ASCII code, etc.
• Numbers: numbers are represented by bit patterns, number is
directly converted to binary number. ASCII is not used to
represent numbers.
• Images: images are also represented by bit patterns. An image is
composed of a matrix of pixels (small dot), size of pixel depends
on the resolution.
• For pure black – white image: 1 bit is enough to represent a pixel
(1:white, 0: black).
6
Data Communications
• Data Representation
• Images:
• If image is not pure black – white image (gray scale): 2 bit patterns
are used to show four levels of gray scale – 00: a black pixel,
01: a dark gray pixel, 10: a light gray pixel, 11: a white pixel.
• For color images: RGB (red, green, blue) and YCM (yellow, cyan,
magenta) methods are used.
• Audio: it refers to recording or broadcasting of sound or music.
It is continuous, not discrete. We can use microphone to change
voice or music to an electric signal (analog or digital).
• Video: it refers recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie.
It can be either continuous entity (by a TV camera) or it can be
combination of images, each is a discrete entity, arranged to
convey the idea of motion. We can change video to a digital or
an analog signal.

7
Data Communications
• Data Flow
• Communication between two devices can be Simplex, Half –
Duplex or Full – Duplex.

8
Data Communications
• Data Flow
• Simplex: communication is unidirectional, 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.
• Half - Duplex: each station can transmit and receive, but
not at the same time. When one device is sending, the
other can only receive, and vice – versa. Walkie - talkies
and CB (citizen band) radios are both Half – Duplex
systems.
• Full - Duplex: both stations can transmit and receive
simultaneously, also called as Duplex. It is used when
communication in both directions is required all the time.
Common example is the telephone network.
9
Networks
• A Network is a set of devices (often referred as nodes)
connected by communication links. A node can be a computer,
printer or any other device capable of sending and / or
receiving data generated by other nodes on the network.
• Networks allow users to share resources, such as hardware,
software, data and information.
• Advantages of using a Network
• Facilitates communications because people can communicate
efficiently and easily via e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms,
telephony, and videoconferencing.
• Allow tight control over who has access to what data.
• Reduce cost by sharing hardware (a printer) and software
(using a network version or site license of a program).
• Sharing data and information stored on other computers on the
network.
10
Networks
• Disadvantages of using a Network
• The hardware, software, and expertise required to set up a
network can be expensive.
• Networks are vulnerable to security problems.
• If the server fails to work, the complete network may also fail
to work.
• Distributed Processing: most of the networks use distributed
processing, in which task is divided among multiple
computers.

11
Networks
• Network Criteria: a network must be able to meet a certain
number of criteria, most important criteria are – performance,
reliability, and security.
• Performance: performance is measured by transit time and
response time.
• Transit time – is the amount of time required for a
message to travel from one device to another.
• Response Time – is the elapsed time between an enquiry
and a response.
• Performance of a network depends on a number of factors
such as number of users, type of transmission medium,
capabilities of connected hardware and efficiency of
software.
• Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics:
throughput and delay.
12
Networks
• Network Criteria:
• Reliability: in addition to accuracy of delivery, reliability is
measured by the frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to
recover from failure.
• Security: network security issues include protecting data from
unauthorized access, protecting data from damage and
development, and implementing polices and procedures for
recovery from breaches and data losses.

13
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• Based on the size, distance covered and transmission
media used, networks are categorized into three types
namely: LAN, MAN, WAN.
• LAN (Local Area Network):
• Used to interconnect computers and PCs within a relatively
small area such as a building, office or campus.
• LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared between
workstations.
• Covers distance up to 5 - 10 km.
• Early LANs had data rate/speed in the range of 4-16 Mbps.
• Today LANs have data rate/speed 100 or 1000 Mbps.

14
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• LAN (Local Area Network)

15
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network):
• It covers the area inside a town or Metropolitan city.
• It connects many LANs located at different offices or
campuses within a city.
• It has size between a LAN and a WAN.
• Covers distance up to few hundred km.
• It has data rate/speed in the range of 1.5 - 150 Mbps.
• A good example of MAN is the part of the telephone
company network that can provide a high speed DSL line
to the customer.

16
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network):

17
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• WAN (Wide Area Network):
• Used to interconnect computers over a very large
geographic area such as different cities within the country
or continent or even the whole world.
• Covers distance up to few thousand km.
• It has data rate/speed in the range of 1.5 Mbps to 2.4 Gbps.
• An early example of Switched WAN is X.25 network
designed to provide connectivity between end users.
• Today, a good example of switched WAN is ATM network.

18
Networks
• Categories of Networks:
• WAN (Wide Area Network):

19
Networks
• Interconnection of Networks: Internetwork or Internet
• It is very rare to see a LAN, a MAN, or a WAN in isolation;
they are connected to one another.
• When two or more networks are connected, they become an
Internetwork or internet.
• The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our daily lives.
It has affected the way we do business as well as the way we
spend our leisure time.
• The Internet is a communication system that has brought a
wealth of information to our fingertips and organized it for our
use.
• NAP: Network Access Point – Acomplex Switching station.
• National ISP: National Internet Service Providers.
• Regional ISP and Local ISP.

20
Networks
• Interconnection of Networks: Internetwork or Internet

21
Network Models
• Layered Tasks:
• We use the concept of layers in our daily life. As an example, let us
consider two friends who communicate through postal mail.
• Sender, Receiver, and Carrier that transports the letter.
• There is hierarchy of tasks involved.

22
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Established in 1947, the International Standards Organization (ISO) is a
multinational body dedicated to worldwide agreement on international
standards.
• An ISO standard that covers all aspects of network communications is
the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
• It was first introduced in the late 1970s.
• An Open System is a set of protocols that allows any two different
systems to communicate regardless of their underlying architecture.
• ISO is the organization and OSI is the model.
• An international standard that is referred by most network vendors for
their products and services.
• Best tool for teaching people about sending and receiving data on a
network.
• Consist of 7 layers: Physical (L1), Data Link (L2), Network (L3),
Transport (L4), Session (L5), Presentation (L6) and Application (L7).
• Each of the layer illustrates a particular network function.
• This separation of networking functions is called layering.
23
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Advantages of multi – layered model
• Reduce complexity: simplified teaching and learning.
• Standardize interface, accelerate evolution.
• Prevent the change of one layer from affecting the other layers.
• Characteristics for the 7 – layer model
• Peer – to – Peer process: layer N of one computer can communicate
with laye N on another computer through protocols of that layer.
• A layer N gets a service from the layer N – 1 and provide a service to
the layer N + 1.
Layer 7: Application
Layer 6: Presentation
Layer 5: Session
Layer 4: Transport
Layer 3: Network
Layer 2: Data link
Layer 1: Physical

24
Network Models: The OSI Model
• The Interaction between layers in the OSI model.

25
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Data Encapsulation: Wrapping of data with necessary protocol
information before network transit (adding header or trailer or
both).

26
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Why Data Encapsulation?
• To add control information (in the form of header or trailer or
both) to the data being encapsulated in order to ensure accurate and
secure communication.
• The data after encapsulated is called Protocol Data Unit (PDU).
• Note: Headers are added to the data at layers 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.
Trailers are usually added only at layer 2.
• The control information falls into the three categories:
• Address: The address of the sender and / or receiver may be
indicated.
• Error-detecting code: some sort of frame check sequence.
• Protocol control: additional information is included to
implement the protocol functions such as priority, quality of
service and security.

27
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Physical Layer
• Physical characteristics of interfaces and media: interface between the
devices and the transmission medium (e.g. NIC). It also defines the type of
transmission medium (e.g. Wire).
• Representation of Bits: encoding the bits (0s and 1s ) into electrical or
optical signals. This layer also defines the type of encoding (e.g. ASK or
FSK).

28
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Physical Layer
• Data Rate: the transmission rate in terms of number of bit sent each
second (e.g. 56 Kb/s).
• Synchronization of Bits: the sender and the receiver clocks must be
synchronized.
• Line Configuration: the connection of devices to the medium (point –
to – point or multipoint configuration).
• Physical Topology: the configuration for the devices to be connected to
form a network (mesh, star, ring or bus topology).
• Transmission Mode: The physical layer also defines the direction of
transmission between two devices: Simplex, Half-Duplex, or Full-
Duplex.
• Example for the physical layer protocol: Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP),
Ethernet, FDDI etc.

29
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Data Link Layer
• The data link layer is responsible for node–to–node delivery, it makes the
physical layer appear error free to the upper layer (network layer). It also
take care of the following functions:
• Framing: The data link layer divides the stream of bits received from the
network layer into manageable data units called frames.
• Physical Addressing: The data link layer adds a header to the frame to
define the physical address (MAC) of the sender (source address) and/or
receiver (destination address) of the frame.

30
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Data Link Layer
• Flow control: If the rate at which the data are absorbed by the receiver is
less than the rate produced in the sender, the data link layer will impose a
flow control mechanism to prevent overwhelming the receiver.
• Error control: Mechanism that can detect and retransmit damaged or lost
frames and also prevent duplication of frames. Error control is normally
achieved by the trailer at the end of the frame.
• Access control: When one or more devices are connected to the same link,
data link layer protocols are necessary to determine which device has
control over the link at any given time.

20 25 32 48 62

DT Data 20 62
Trailer Source address Destination address
31
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Data Link Layer
• The data link layer is responsible for Node–to–Node or Hop–to–Hop
delivery.

32
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Network Layer
• The network layer is responsible for the source–to–destination delivery
of a packet possibly across multiple networks, if two systems are
connected to the same link, no need for a network layer.
• Logical addressing: network layer adds a header to the incoming packet
from the upper layer with a logical address of the sender. If a packet passes
the network boundary, this universal (logical) address helps to distinguish
whether the packet belong to the source or destination systems.

33
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Network Layer
• Routing: Router (or gateways) connect independent networks together,
network layer routes the packet to their final destination by router
(gateway).
• The figure shows the case for a computer "S" communicating with a
remote computer "D". S and D are the logical addresses of the source
and destination computers respectively, where 02 and 79 are the local
physical addresses of the source and destination computers respectively.
S A

DT Data S D 29 79 D
02 37
DT Data S D 23 09 Router
F 46
DT Data S D 02 46 X T
23 29 79
Router L 09 78
K
Ring
61 15
U R C

34
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Network Layer
• Network Layer responsible for Source–to–Destination delivery.

35
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Transport Layer
• Responsible for Source–to–Destination (End–to–End) delivery of the
entire message.
• Segmentation occurs and this layer also ensures the whole message arrives
intact and in order.
• A logical path can be set up (fixed pathway) between the Source and
Destination for all packets in a message for additional security.
• This layer has more control over sequencing, flow and error detection
and correction.

36
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Transport Layer
• Connection control: The transport layer can be either Connectionless or
Connection–Oriented.
• Flow control: It perform End to End flow control which differs from the
data link layer which is responsible for flow control in single link.
• Error control: It performs End to End error control which make sure the
entire message arrives at the receiving transport layer without error
(damage, loss or duplication). Error correction is done by re-transmission.
• Transport layer is responsible for the delivery of a message from one
process to another.

37
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Session Layer
• It is network dialog controlling layer. It establishes, maintains, and
synchronizes the interaction between communication systems.
• Dialog control: It allows two systems to enter into a dialog. The
communication between two processes can be controlled in either half-
duplex or full-duplex.
• Synchronization: - It allows a process to add checkpoints into a stream
of data, when data loss during transmission occurred, more efficient re-
transmission can be performed.

38
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Presentation Layer
• The presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the
information exchange between two systems.
• Translation: It encodes the sender – dependent format of the message into
a common format that can be readable by any receiving system.
• Encryption: It can transform the original information into an encrypted
form to assure privacy.
• Compression: Data compression can reduce the number of bits to be
transmitted, which is important for multimedia transmission.

39
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Functions of Application Layer
• This layer enable the user (human or software) to access the network by
user interfaces. Other services provided by this layer are:
• Network virtual terminal: remote log-in to other host in the internet.
• File transfer, access, and management: store, retrieve or manage the
files from a remote computer. e.g. File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
• Mail services: e.g. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
• Directory services: access for global information and services e.g. Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

40
Network Models: The OSI Model
• Summary for the functions of OSI Layers

41
Network Models: TCP/IP Protocol Suite
• TCP/IP vs OSI model: The layers in the TCP/IP protocol suite do not
exactly match those in the OSI model. The original TCP/IP protocol suite
was defined as having four layers: host-to-network, internet, transport,
and application. However, when TCP/IP is compared to OSI, we can say
that th TCP/I protocol suite is mad of five layer : physica , data link,
network, transport, and application.
• TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.
• Is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet.
• It can also be used as a communications protocol in the private networks
such as Intranets and Extranets.
• TCP/IP is a two – layered program
• TCP – Manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets.
• IP – Handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right
destination.

42
Network Models: TCP/IP Protocol Suite

43
Network Models: TCP/IP Protocol Suite
• Application Layer: It contains all the higher level protocols such as
SMTP, FTP, HTTP, DNS, SNMP, TELNET, TFTP etc.
• Transport Layer: Designed to allow peer entities on the source and
destination hosts carry on a conversation. Contains protocols such as TCP,
UDP and SCTP. TCP and UDP are end-to-end Protocols.
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): connection-oriented protocol
that manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets
that are transmitted over the Internet.
• UDP (User Datagram Protocol): Connectionless protocol for
applications that do not want TCP’s sequencing or flow control
(Speech or Video).
• SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol): provides support
for newer applications such as Voice over Internet. It combines the
best features of TCP and UDP.

44
Network Models: TCP/IP Protocol Suite
• Internet Layer: defines an official packet format and protocol called as IP
(Internet Protocol). Internet Layer delivers IP packets to where they are
supposed to go (packet routing). Contains protocols such as ARP, RARP,
ICMP, IGMP, RIP, OSPF etc.
• ARP (Address Resolution Protocol): used to associate the logical
address to physical address.
• RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol): allows the host to
discover it’s logical address when it knows only it’s physical address.
• ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol): it is used by hosts and
gateways to send the notification of datagram problems back to sender.
• IGMP (Internet Group Message Protocol): it allows simultaneous
transmission of message to a group of recipients.
• RIP (Routing Information Protocol): It is a distance vector route
discovery protocol. RIP broadcast their route table throughout the
network. The broadcasted information lists destination networks and
their distances from the broadcasting router in terms of hops, must be
crossed. it does not work well in large and complicated inter-networks.
45
Network Models: TCP/IP Protocol Suite
• Internet Layer: Contains protocols such as ARP, RARP, ICMP, IGMP, RIP,
OSPF etc.
• OSPF (Open Shortest Path First): It was developed to address RIP’s
weakness. It is a link state route discovery protocol that provides
the ability to discover the network’s specific topology. It exhibits
better performance than RIP in large inter-network. Since it facilitates
Class-of-Service based on routing and load balancing.
• Host – to – Network Layer (Physical and Data Link Layer): at
physical and data link layer, TCP/IP does not define any specific protocol.
Host connects to the network using relevant protocols so it can send IP
packets over it.

46
• Connection Oriented Networks / Service
• Connection-oriented services involves 5 phases:
1. Idle – No Connection
2. Connection Establishment
3. Data transfer
4. Connection Release Packet Switched Network
5. Idle – No Connection
Idle – No Connection
• It provides substantial amount of care for the
user data.
Connection Establishment
• Provides Acknowledgement, Flow Control and
Error Recovery.
Data Transfer
• Involves more overheads because of many
support functions. Connection Release
• Reliable but Slower service.
• Example: TCP’s service. Idle – No Connection
( ACK, Flow Control, Error Recovery )

47
• Connectionless Networks / Service
• Connectionless services involves 3 phases:
1. Idle – No Connection
2. Data transfer
3. Idle – No Connection
• Also called as datagram networks.
Packet Switched Network
• No connection establishment and Connection
release phase. Idle – No Connection
• Does not provide Acknowledgement, Flow
Control and Error Recovery.
• It involves less overhead. Data Transfer
• Faster service but unreliable Service.
• Example: UDP’s service. Idle – No Connection

( No - ACK, Flow Control, Error Recovery )

48
Wired LANs: Ethernet
• Ethernet: It is a LAN protocol that is used in Bus and Star topologies and
implements CSMA/CD as the medium access method.
• Original Ethernet (“ether” – physical medium) developed in 1980 by
three companies - Digital, Intel, Xerox (DIX).
• In 1985, the Computer Society of the IEEE started a project, called
Project 802, to set standards to enable intercommunication among
equipment from a variety of manufacturers.
• Project 802 is a way of specifying functions of the physical layer and the
data-link layer of major LAN protocols.
• Ethernet Evolution:
• Ethernet has gone through four generations:
• Standard Ethernet – IEEE 802.3 (10 Mbps)
• Fast Ethernet – IEEE 802.3u (100 Mbps)
• Gigabit Ethernet – IEEE 802.3z (1 Gbps)
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet – IEEE 802.3ae (10 Gbps)

49
Wired LANs: Ethernet
• IEEE standards for LANs
• In IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Data link layer is split into two sub-layers:

50
Wired LANs: Ethernet
• IEEE standards for LANs
• In IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Data link layer is split into two sub-layers:
• Top part - LLC (Logical Link Control): The layer is called IEEE
802.2, Provides error and flow control if needed.
• It makes the MAC sub-layer transparent
• Allows interconnectivity between different LANs data link
layers.
• Used to multiplex multiple network layer protocols in the data
link layer frame.
• Implemented in software.
• Bottom part - MAC Layer: The layer is called IEEE 802.3, Handles
framing, MAC addressing, Medium Access control.
• Specific implementation for each LAN protocol
• Defines CSMA/CD as the access method for Ethernet LANs
and Token passing method for Token Ring.
• Implemented in hardware.
51
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• We refer to the original Ethernet technology with the data rate of 10 Mbps
as the Standard Ethernet.
• Characteristics of the Standard Ethernet.
• Speed - 10Mbps
• Access Method - CSMA/CD
• Cable - UTP or Coaxial
• Min frame size is 512 bits (64 bytes)
• Max frame size is 12144 bits (1518 bytes)
• 2500 meter distance between the furthest stations.
• Two categories: Baseband and Broadband. The word “Base" specifies
a digital signal (Manchester encoding), the word “Broad" specifies an
analog signal (Phase Shift Keying encoding).
• IEEE 802.3 initially divides the Baseband category into four different
standards: 10Base5, 10Base2, 10Base-T and 10Base-F.
• One specification for the Broadband category: 10Broad36.

52
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Ethernet Access Method - CSMA/CD
Host wants to Collision in Ethernet
transmit
Yes
Is carrier (Busy)
sense?
No (Free)
Assemble
frame
Start
transmitting

Is collision Yes Broadcast jam

detected signal
No
Keep Attempts =
transmitting attempts + 1
No Algorithm
Is No calculates
transmission Attempts >
done? too many? backoff
Yes Yes
Wait for t
Transmission Too many collision abort seconds
completed transmission
53
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Ethernet Access Method - CSMA/CD
• CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple access with collision detection)
media access protocol is used.
• Data is transmitted in the form of frames.
• Sense the channel prior to actual frame transmission.
• Transmit frame only if channel is sensed idle; else, defer the
transmission until channel becomes idle.
• After frame transmission is started, the node monitors its own
transmission to see if the frame has experienced a collision.
• If the frame is observed to be undergoing a collision, the transmission
is aborted and the frame is retransmitted after a random interval of
time using Binary Exponential Back-off algorithm.

54
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Ethernet Frame format
• Preamble - contains seven bytes (56 bits) of alternating 0s and 1s, used for
timing, synchronization and alert.
• Start Frame delimiter (SFD) - one byte (10101011) of the 802.3 frame that
shows the beginning of the frame (addresses and data).
• Destination address (DA) - contains the physical address (MAC address) of
the Frame's next destination.
• Source address (SA) - contains the physical address (MAC address) of the
last device that forward this Frame.
• Type / Length of PDU - two bytes that indicates the number of byte in the
coming PDU.
• 802.2 frame (PDU) - The PDU consists of 46 to 1500 bytes that is generated
by the upper (LLC), Min. length = 64 bytes and Max. length = 1518 bytes.
• CRC - 4 bytes that generated by the sending device to check for the frame
error / damage at receiver (CRC-32).

55
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Ethernet Addressing
• Each station on an Ethernet network (such as a PC, workstation, or
printer) has its own network interface card (NIC).
• The NIC fits inside the station and provides the station with a Data
Link layer address.
• The Ethernet address is 6 bytes (48 bits), normally written in
hexadecimal notation, with a colon between the bytes.
• For example, the following shows an Ethernet MAC address:
00:60:2F:3A:07:BC

56
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Implementation of Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• The Standard Ethernet defined several implementations, but only four
of them became popular during the 1980s.
• Summary of Standard Ethernet implementation

57
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Implementation of Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• 10Base5 implementation

• 10Base2 implementation

58
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Implementation of Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• 10BaseTimplementation
• Uses twisted pair Cat3 cable and star topology.
• A hub functions as a repeater with additional functions.
• Fewer cable problems, easier to troubleshoot than coaxial cable.
• Cable length at most 100 meters.

59
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Implementation of Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• 10BaseF implementation
• Uses Fiber optic cable and star topology.
• A hub functions as a repeater with additional functions.
• Cable length at most 2000 meters.

60
Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Implementation of Standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3
• Switched Ethernet (full duplex) implementation
• Improve the performance of 10Base-T Ethernet by replacing the hub with a
switch.
• For data transmission with a hub, when a station (A) sends a frame to a hub
all the station will receive it (i.e. B, C, D and E). Therefore, only one station
can send a frame at anytime without collision.
• By replacing the hub with a switch, the frame arrived to the switch will only
be routed to the corresponding port according to the destination address. The
rest of the connected stations can have data transmission simultaneously.

Ethernet using a Hub Ethernet using a Switch

61
Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u
• Implementation of Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u
• In the 1990s, Ethernet made a big jump by increasing the transmission rate to
100 Mbps, known as Fast Ethernet.
• Fast Ethernet is a version of Ethernet with a 100 Mbps data rate with no
change in frame format and access method.
• Fast Ethernet that operates at 100Mbps can be used for computer-aided design
(CAD), image processing and real-time audio and video.
• The collision domain (maximum data travel distance between two stations) of
Ethernet is decreased (from 2500m to 250m) if the data rate is increased
(from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps) by using CSMA/CD access method.
• The fast Ethernet is also a star topology.
• Two categories designed by IEEE:
• 100Base-X (uses two cables): is divided into two types:
• 100Base-TX (UTP-cat-5: two pairs) – distance 100 m.
• 100Base-FX (Optical fiber: two wires) - distance 2000 m.
• 100Base-T4 (uses four cables): UTP cat-3 - distance 100 m.

62
Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u
• Implementation of Fast Ethernet IEEE 802.3u
• Fast Ethernet topology

63
Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3z
• Implementation of Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3z
• IEEE 802.3 form a high speed group to investigate Ethernet speed in Gbps
range.
• Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) employs the same CSMA/CD protocol, same frame
format and same frame size as the 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernets,
therefore it is compatible with these existing (slower) Ethernets.
• The network investment can be extended to gigabit speeds at reasonable
initial cost without the need to re-educate their support staffs and users, and
without the need to invest in additional protocol stacks or middleware.
• There are 4 types of physical-layer for GbE
• 1000Base-LX (Long wave): duplex link (wires-2), maximum length 5000 m.
• 1000Base-SX (Short wave): duplex link (wires-2), maximum length 550 m.
• 1000Base-T: four pairs (wires-4) of category 5 UTP copper wire maximum
length 100 m.
• 1000Base-CX (Cooper wire): Each link is consist of a separate shielded
twisted-pair (wires-2) maximum length <25m.

64
Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3z
• Implementation of Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3z
• Gigabit Ethernet topology

65
10Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ae
• Implementation of 10Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ae
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is the natural evolution of the of the well-
established IEEE 802.3 standard (proposed as IEEE 802.3ae).
• Many previous Ethernet standards remain unchanged for 10GbE. 10GbE uses
the IEEE802.3 Ethernet Media Access Control (MAC) protocol, the IEEE
802.3 Ethernet frame format and the minimum and maximum IEEE802.3
frame size.
• 10GbE is a full-duplex only and fiber-only technology, it does not need
(CSMA/CD) protocol.
• Maximum link distances cover 300 m to 40 km
• Not only increase the speed of Ethernet to 10Gbps but also extend its
operating distance and connectivity. 10 GbE is no longer designed for the
LAN, it can extend to metropolitan and wide area networks.
• Because of the uniform nature of Ethernet across all environments when IEEE
802.3ae is deployed, services can be delivered at line rates over all network
physical infrastructures in the LAN, MAN and WAN. Convergence of voice
and data networks becomes a real option.

66
10Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ae
• Implementation of 10Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ae
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is the natural evolution of the of the well-
established IEEE 802.3 standard (proposed as IEEE 802.3ae).
• Three implementations are the most common
• 10GBase-S (Short wave): 850 nm, multimode, maximum length: 300 m.
• 10GBase-L (Long wave): 1310 nm, single mode, maximum length: 10 km.
• 10GBase-E (Extended): 1550 nm, single mode, maximum length: 40 km.

67
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• What is Wi-Fi?
• Short form for Wireless Fidelity.
• It is a wireless technology that uses radio frequency to transmit data through the air.
• Wi-Fi is based on the 802.11 standard:
• 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g
• Wi-Fi Alliance
• Non-profit standards organization.
• Global organization that created the Wi-Fi brand name.
• Formerly the Wireless Ethernet CompatibilityAlliance.
• Wi-Fi Certification
• The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo from the Wi-FiAlliance.
• Rigorous interoperability testing requirements.
• Certifies the interoperability of 802.11 products from the many different
vendors.

68
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Brief History
• IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) established the 802.11
Group in 1990. Specifications for standard ratified in 1997.
• Initial speeds were 1 and 2 Mbps.
• IEEE modified the standard in 1999 to include:
• 802.11b
• 802.11a
• 802.11g was added in 2003.
• IEEE Created standard, but Wi-Fi Alliance certifies products.
• Wireless LANs Provide…
• Flexible data communication systems
• Implemented as an extension to the wired networks (LAN).
• Minimizes the need for wired connections.
• Users can access shared information without looking for a place to plug in.
• Network managers can set up networks without installing or moving wires.
• Electromagnetic waves (radio or infrared) are used to transmit and receive data
over the air.

69
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• What’s Different About Wireless?
• Stations are not always connected
• Mobility and power management.
• Stations destination address does not equal to destination location
• In wired LANs an address is equivalent to a physical location.
• This is implicitly assumed in the design of wired LANs.
• In 802.11, the addressable unit is a station (STA) which is a message destination,
but usually not a fixed location.
• Packet error rate of RF is much higher than cable
• Interference is possible from other sources.
• Not all stations “hear” the same thing
• Hidden node problem.

70
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Architecture
• Defines 2 basic services: Basic Service Set (BSS) and Extended Service Set (ESS)
• Basic Service Set (BSS): is the building block of a WLAN. A BSS is made of
stationary or mobile wireless stations and an optional central base station called as
Access Point (AP).
• The BSS without an AP is a stand-alone network and cannot send data to
other BSSs, called as Ad Hoc architecture network.
• The BSS with an AP is called as an Infrastructure architecture network.
• Extended Service Set (ESS): it consist of two or more BSSs with APs. The BSSs
are connected through a distribution system, which is usually wired LAN.
• The distribution system connects the APs in the BSSs.
• Station Types:
• No transition: it is either stationary or moving only inside a BSS.
• BSS-transition: can move from one BSS to another, but the movement is
confined inside one ESS.
• ESS-transition: can move from one ESS to another.
• Note: IEEE 802.11 does not guarantee that the communication is continuous
during the move.
71
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Architecture

72
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• MAC Layers in IEEE 802.11 Standard
• IEEE defines
• MAC Sub layer
• Physical
• IEEE defines two MAC sub layers:
1. Distributed Coordination Function(DCF)
2. Point Coordination Function (PCF)

73
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• MAC Layers in IEEE 802.11 Standard
• 1. Distributed Coordination Function (DCF):
• Best effort contention service – uses CSMA/CA.
• No central control, all stations compete for channel.
• Need to address Hidden and Exposed Stations problem.
• 2. Point Coordination Function (PCF):
• It is optional method implemented in an Infrastructure Network and not in
Ad-hoc Network.
• Implemented on top of the DCF.
• It has centralized, contention free polling access method.
• AP performs polling for stations that are capable of being polled.
• The stations are polled one after another and sending data to AP.
• CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance): Flow Chart
• DIFS: Distributed Inter Frame Space, SIFS: Short Inter Frame Space
• Wait a DIFS time to avoid collision.
• Send RTS and wait for CTS reply to obtain the use of the Medium (air).
• Use of SIFS time for control information.

74
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance): Flow Chart

75
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• CSMA/CA and NAV(NetworkAllocation Vector)
• Before sending a frame, the source station senses the medium by checking the
energy level at the carrier frequency.
• Station uses persistence strategy with back-off until the channel is ideal.
• After the station found channel ideal, station waits for a period-DIFS, then
sends a control frame RTS.
• After receiving RTS, the destination waits for a period-SIFS, sends a control frame
CTS, indicates, it is ready for receiving the data.
• The source station sends data after waiting for a period – SIFS.
• The destination station, receives data, waits for a period – SIFS, sends an ACK, to
show that the frame has been received.
• NAV (Network Allocation Vector): When a station sends RTS frame, it includes
the duration of time that it needs to occupy the channel. The stations that are
affected by this transmission create a timer called NAV.

76
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• IEEE 802.11 Frame Structure
FourAddresses

Power
To, or From Management
the Inter-cell
Data, Control
network Payload is WEP encrypted
or Management
Retransmission (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
RTS, CTS, More Fragments
ACK etc.
77
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• IEEE 802.11 Frame Structure
• Frame control (FC): it is 2 bytes and defines the type of frame and some control
information.
• Duration (D): it is 2 bytes and defines the duration of the transmission i.e. used to
set value of NAV.
• Addresses: four address fields, each is 6 bytes, meaning of each address field
depends on the value of the To DS and From DS subfields.
• Sequence Control (SC): it is 2 bytes and defines the sequence number of frame to
be used in flow control.
• Frame Body: it can be between 0 - 2312 bytes and contains information based on
the type and subtype defined in the FC field.
• Frame Check Sequence (FCS): it is 4 bytes and contains a CRC-32 detection
sequence.
• IEEE 802.11 Frame types
• Management frames: are used for initial Communication between station & APs.
• Control frames: are used for accessing the channel and acknowledging frames.
RTS, CTS and ACK.
• Data frames: are used for carrying data and control information.

78
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Frame control (FC): Following are the subfields of FC.
Field- bits Explanation
Version(2) Current version is 0
Type(2) Type of information: management (00), control (01), or data (10)
Sub type(4) Sub type of each type
To DS (1) Defined *
From DS (1) Defined *
More flag (1) When set to 1, means more fragments
Retry (1) When set to 1, means retransmitted frame
Power mgmt (1) When set to 1, means station is in power management mode
More data (1) When set to 1, means station has more data to send
WEP (1) Wired Equivalent Privacy (encryption implemented)
Rsvd (1) Reserved

• Subtype of each type: control frame(01) values of subfield in control frames are
Subtype Meaning
1011 Request to Send (RTS)
1100 Clear to Send (CTS)
1101 Acknowledgement (ACK)
79
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• IEEE 802.11 Control Frames
• The Control frames are used for accessing the channel and acknowledging frames.
RTS, CTS and ACK are control frames.

• Addressing Mechanism:
• IEEE 802.11 addressing mechanism specifies four cases, defined by the value of
two flags in the FC field, To DS and From DS. Each flag can be either 0 or 1,
resulting in four different situations.
• 00 – from one station to another station in BSS, 01 – from AP to a station.
• 10 – from a station to AP and 11 – from one APto another AP.

TO From Address Address Address Address

DS DS 1 2 3 4
0 0 Destination Source BSS ID N/A
0 1 Destination Sending AP Source N/A
1 0 Receiving AP Source Destination N/A
1 1 Receiving AP Sending AP Destination Source

80
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Addressing Mechanism:

Case 1: 0 0 Case 2: 0 1

Case 3: 1 0 Case 4: 1 1

81
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Hidden Station Problem: B is outside the
range of C. C is outside the range of B.
• A is in range of both B and C.
• B is sending data to A, in the mid of the
transmission C also have data for A and C is
out of range of B hence C thinks that the
medium is free.

• Exposed Station Problem: A is

transmitting to B. C has data for D
which can be send without interfering
with transmission of A & B.
• As C is in range of A, C is exposed to
the transmission of A and B.
• Hence C refrains from sending data to D.
• C is too conservative and wastes the
capacity of the channel.

82
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• Physical Layer:
• All implementations, except the infrared, operate in the Industrial, Scientific and
Medical band, which defines three unlicensed bands in the three ranges.
• ISM band
• Industrial (I) 26 MHz (902 MHz to 928 MHz).
• Scientific (S) – 83.5 MHz (2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz).
• Medical (M) – 12.5 MHz (5.725 GHz to 5.850 GHz).

IEEE Technique Band Rate Mbps)

802.11 FHSS 2.4 GHz 1 and 2
DSSS 2.4 GHz 1 and 2
Infrared 1 and 2
802.11a OFDM 5.725 GHz 6 to 54
802.11b HR-DSSS 2.4 GHz 5.5 and 11
802.11g OFDM 2.4 GHz 22 and 54

83
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• IEEE 802.11 Infrared:
• Uses Infrared light in the range of 800 to 950 nm (wavelength).
• The modulation technique is called Pulse Position Modulation (PPM).
• For 1 Mbps data rate, 4-bit sequence is first mapped into a 16 – bit sequence in which only
one bit is set to 1 and rest are set to 0.
• For 2 Mbps data rate, 2-bit sequence is first mapped into a 4 – bit sequence in which only one
bit is set to 1 and rest are set to 0.
• The mapped sequences are then converted to optical signals (analog).
• The presence of light specifies 1, the absence of light specifies 0.
• Provides Data rate 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps. It is not popular.
• IEEE 802.11 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS):
• It uses the ISM – 2.4 GHz band. The band is divided into 79 sub bands of 1 MHz
• A pseudo random number generator selects the hoping sequence.
• The modulation technique is Frequency Shift Keying (FSK).
• Data rate is 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps. Provides Good security!
• IEEE 802.11 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS):
• Similar to CDMA & uses ISM – 2.4 GHz band. It expands the bandwidth of original signal.
• It replaces each data bit with n bits using a spreading code i.e. each bit is assigned a code of n
bits called chips, where the chip rate is n times that of data bit (11 chips/bit).
• Modulation technique is Phase Shift Keying (PSK). Provides Data rate 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps.
84
Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11 or Wireless LAN
• IEEE 802.11a Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM):
• Uses OFDM method for signal generation in 5 GHz ISM band. OFDM is similar to FDM, one
difference is that all sub bands are used by one source at a given time.
• Sources contend with one another at data link layer for access.
• The band is divided into 52 sub bands, with 48 sub bands for sending 48 groups of bits at a
time and 4 sub bands for control information.
• Dividing band into sub bands diminishes the effect of interference.
• If the sub bands are used randomly, security can also be used.
• The modulation technique is Phase Shift Keying (PSK). Provides Data rate 6 to 54 Mbps.
• IEEE 802.11b High Rate - Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (HR-DSSS):
• Uses HR-DSSS method for signal generation in 2.4 – GHz ISM band.
• HR-DSSS is similar to DSSS except for the encoding method, which is called as
Complementary Code Keying (CCK). CCK encodes 4 or 8 bits to one CCK symbol.
• HR-DSSS provides data rates: 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 Mbps.
• For 1, 2 Mbps uses same modulation techniques as DSSS.
• For 5.5 Mbps 4–bit CCK and for 11 Mbps 8–bit CCK encoding technique used.
• IEEE 802.11g Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM):
• Uses OFDM method for signal generation in 2.4 GHz ISM band.
• It is backward compatible with 802.11b, but the modulation technique is OFDM.
• Provides Data rate 22 or 54 Mbps.
85
Review Topics
• Hardware Architecture
• Topologies, Media: guided and unguided,
Devices, Transmission Techniques
• Twisted pair, Coaxial Cable, Fiber optics,
Wireless Transmission Switching
• Circuit Switching, Message Switching
• Packet Switching

86
Physical Structure / H/W Architecture
• Type of Connection:
• A network is two or more devices connected through links.
• A link is a communication path between two devices.
• For communication to occur, two devices must be connected in some
way to the same link at the same time. Two types of connections
• Point–to–point: it provides a dedicated link between two devices.
• Multipoint: also called as multi-drop connection, in which more
than two devices shares the same link.

87
Topologies
• The physical structure by which computers are connected, represents
the physical topology of the network.
• Term “topology” refers to the way in which the end points or
stations or computer systems, attached to the network.
• Topology Selection parameters: ease of installation, ease of
reconfiguration, ease of trouble shooting and number of nodes
affected in case of media failure.
• Five basic topologies are
• Mesh
• Star
• Bus
• Ring
• Tree

88
Topologies
• Mesh Topology
• It has dedicated point–to–point link
between devices.
• It requires n(n-1)/2 physical channels to
connect ‘n’ devices (every device must
have n -1 I/O ports).
• Advantages
• Dedicated link eliminates the traffic
problem.
• Failure of one link does not affect the entire
network/system.
• Privacy is maintained because of dedicated
link.
• Point-to-Point link makes fault
identification and fault isolation easy.
• Disadvantages
• High amount of cabling.
• High number of I/O ports.
89
Topologies
• Star Topology
• Every computer is connected through a cable
to a centrally located device called as Hub or
Switch.
• Advantages
• Easy to modify and add new computer.
• Less expensive than mesh topology.
• Each device needs only one link and one I/O
port.
• Easy to install and configure.
• Single node failure does not affect the
network.
• Easy to diagnose the network faults.
• Disadvantages
• Failure of central hub/switch brings the entire
network down.
• More cabling required as compared to ring
and bus topology.
90
Topologies
• Bus Topology
• One long cable acts as a back bone.
• Nodes are connected to bus by using drop lines and taps (T connectors)
and terminating points (terminators) are placed at each end.
• Advantages
• Simple, reliable, easy to use and less cabling.
• Easy for installation and cheaper than other topologies.
• Disadvantages
• Used only in relatively small networks and a fault on the back bone cable
stops all transmission.
• Adding new node and also Fault identification is difficult.
• Increase in number of computers degrades the performance of the network.

91
Topologies
• Ring Topology
• Each device has a dedicated point to point line configuration only with two
devices on either side of it.
• Signals travel in one direction from one node to all other nodes around the
loop.
• Advantages
• Easy to install and reconfigure, adding or deleting new node is easy.
• No signal loss since data is regenerated at each node and No terminators.
• Disadvantages
• A break in ring can stop the transmission in the network.
• Difficult to trouble shoot and expensive than other topologies.

92
Topologies
• Tree Topology
• It is similar to star topology, but the nodes are
connected to the secondary hub which in
turn connected to the central hub.
• A central hub is an Intelligent hub
(switching and regenerates the signals).
• Secondary hubs are either active or passive
hubs.
• Hybrid Topology
• It is a combination of two or more topologies.

93
Transmission Media
• The physical path through which computers can send and receive electronic signals
is called as transmission media.
• Electronic signals can be send by using electric currents, radio waves,
microwaves, light spectrum etc.
• Classified into two main types: Guided and Unguided Transmission Media
• Guided Transmission Media
• It has a central conductor enclosed in a plastic jacket.
• They are typically used for small LANs.
• Uses lower end of electromagnetic spectrum such as simple electricity and some
times radio waves (in electronic circuits).
• Examples: Twisted pair, Coaxial cable, Fiber optic cable, etc.
• Unguided Transmission Media
• Known as wireless media.
• Uses higher electromagnetic frequencies such as radio waves, microwaves and
infrared.
• Necessary for mobile computers.
• Examples: Radio waves, Microwaves, Infrared, etc.

94
Transmission Media
• To choose best type of transmission media for the network following factors are
considered.
1. Cost
2. Installation
3. Bandwidth capacity: capacity of medium is usually measured in bandwidth,
(bandwidth is measured in terms of Mega bits per second).
4. Node capacity: it is how many computers you can easily attach to the network
cable.
5. Attenuation: electromagnetic signals tends to weaken during transmission,
refers to attenuation. This phenomenon imposes limits on the distance a signal
can travel through medium without an unacceptable degradation.
6. Electromagnetic interference (EMI): it affects the signal that is send through
the transmission media. EMI is caused by outside electromagnetic waves such
as noise.

95
Guided Transmission Media
• Twisted – Pair
• It is commonly used as telecommunications cable.
• To decrease the amount of cross talk and outside interference, the wires are twisted
to each other.
• Two color coded, insulated copper wires that are twisted around each other.
• Consist of one or more twisted pairs in a common jacket.

96
Guided Transmission Media
• Twisted – Pair: UTP (Unshielded Twisted pair)
• Consist of number of twisted-pairs with simple plastic casing.
• Commonly used in telephone systems and computer systems.
• EIA (Electrical Industries Association) divides UTP into different categories.

97
Guided Transmission Media
• Twisted – Pair: UTP (Unshielded Twisted pair)
CATEGORY BANDWIDTH MAXIMUM DATA RATE APPLICATION
(MHz)
CAT1 <1 < 100 Kbps Telephone/ISDN
CAT2 4 4 Mbps IBM Token ring LANs / T1-Lines
CAT3 16 16 Mbps 10 Base-T LANs
(3-4 twists / foot) Currently used in Telephone Lines
CAT4 20 20 Mbps 16 Mbps Token ring LANs
CAT5 100 100 Mbps 100 Base – T (Fast Ethernet)
1000 Mbps (using 4 pairs) 155 Mbps ATM / Gigabit Ethernet
(3-4 twists / inch)
CAT5E 100 100 Mbps 100 Base – T (Fast Ethernet)
1000 Mbps (using 4 pairs) 155 Mbps ATM / Gigabit Ethernet
CAT6 200-250 1 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet
CAT7 600 1 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet
(over long distance than CAT6)

98
Guided Transmission Media
• Twisted – Pair: STP (Shielded Twisted pair)
• Consist of shield (aluminum / polyester) between outer jacket and wires.
• Shield makes STP less susceptible to EMI because it is grounded.
• More reliable for LANs, it was the first TP cable used in LANs .
• Used in IBM’s token ring Networks.
• It offers 16 Mbps data rate.

99
Guided Transmission Media
• Coaxial Cable
• Consist of two conductors shares the same axis.
• A solid copper wire runs down the center of the cable, surrounded by Insulator
(PVC), surrounded by second conductor (shield), surrounded by insulator and thick
plastic jacket forms the cover of the cable.
• Classified by size RG and cable’s resistance to DC and AC measured in ohms.
• Used in TV cable distribution, Long distance Telephone lines and LANs.
• It offers data rate typically 10 Mbps.
• Also carry over 10,000 voice channels (FDM)

10
0
Guided Transmission Media
• Coaxial Cable types & BNC (Bayonet Neill-Connector) Connectors

Type Application
50 ohm, RG-8 and RG-11 Thick Ethernet
50 ohm, RG-58 Thin Ethernet
75 ohm, RG-59 TV cable
93 ohm, RG-62 ARCnet

10
1
Guided Transmission Media
• Fiber Optic Cable
• It has inner core of glass / plastic that conducts the light, surrounded by cladding.
• Fiber is surrounded by plastic sheath which can be tight or loose.
• Tight configuration: plastic sheath is surrounded by fibers/wires to strengthen the
cable.
• Loose configuration: space between plastic sheath and outer jacket is filled with
liquid gel.
• It offers data rates from 100 Mbps – 2 Gbps. Also used in TV cables.
• For back bone networks offers data rate of 1600 Gbps.

10
2
Guided Transmission Media
• Fiber Optic Cable: Bending of Light rays

10
3
Guided Transmission Media
• Fiber Optic Cable: Propagation Modes
• Multimode: Multiple beams from a light source moves through the core.
• Step-index fiber
• The density of core remains constant from the center to the edge.
• A beam of light moves in a straight line – suddenness of the change.
• Graded-index fiber
• Density is highest at the center of the core and decreases gradually to its
lowest at the edge.
• Decreases the distortion of the signal (A distortion is the alteration of the
original shape).
• Single-mode: Single beam from a light source moves through the core.
• Single-mode uses step-index fiber and a highly focused source of light that
limits beams to a small range of angles.

10
4
Guided Transmission Media
• Fiber Optic Cable: Propagation Modes

10
5
Guided Transmission Media
• Fiber Optic Cable: types

• Fiber Optic Cable: Connectors

• SC (subscriber channel) connector: used in cable TV.
• ST (straight-tip) connector: used for connecting cable to networking devices.
• MT-RJ (Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack): a new connector with the same
size as RJ45 (UTP connector).

10
6
Unguided Transmission Media
• Unguided transmission media transport electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor.
• This type of communication is often referred to as wireless communication.
• For example: Radio waves, Micro waves, Infrared, etc.
• Electromagnetic spectrum used for wireless communication is 3 KHz – 900 THz.
• Bands
• The section of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as radio waves and
microwaves are divided into eight ranges, called as bands.
• Each range is regulated by government authorities.
• These bands are rated from Very Low Frequency (VLF) to Extremely High
Frequency (EHF).

10
7
Unguided Transmission Media
• Bands (Radio Waves and Micro Waves)

10
8
Unguided Transmission Media
• Propagation Methods
• Unguided signals can travel from source to destination in several ways:
ground propagation, sky propagation and line-of-sight propagation
• Ground Propagation: radio waves travel through the lowest portion of the
atmosphere. These low frequency signals emanate in all directions from the
transmitting antenna and follow the curvature of the planet. Distance
depends on the amount of power in the signal – greater the power, greater
the distance.
• Sky Propagation: higher-frequency radio waves radiate upward into the
ionosphere (the layer of the atmosphere where particles exist as ions)
where they are reflected back to the earth. This allows for greater distances
with lower output power.
• Line-of-sight Propagation: very-high frequency signals are transmitted in
straight lines directly from antenna to antenna.

10
9
Unguided Transmission Media
• Propagation Methods
• Ground Propagation, Sky Propagation and Line-of-sight Propagation

11
0
Unguided Transmission Media
• Radio Waves
• Electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies
between 3 kHz and 1 GHz are normally called
as radio waves.
• Radio waves: Omni directional – propagated
in all directions.
• Can travel for long distances and also penetrate
the walls (because of longest wavelength
i.e. > 10 cm) for example: AM radio.
• Applications: AM and FM radio, television,
cordless phones and paging are the examples of
multicasting (one sender many receivers).
• Omni directional antenna: send out signals in
all directions, used for multicast communications
such as radio, television and paging systems.

11
1
Unguided Transmission Media
• Micro Waves
• Electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz
are normally called as Micro waves.
• Micro waves: Unidirectional and narrowly focused (sending and receiving
antennas need to be aligned).
• Micro wave propagation is in line-of-sight and repeaters are often needed
for long distance communication.
• Very high frequency microwaves cannot penetrate walls (disadvantage).
• Microwave band is relatively wider almost, 299 GHz (due to wider sub-
bands high data rate is possible).
• Use of certain bands requires permission from authorities.
• Applications: Microwaves are very useful when Uni-cast (one to one)
communication is needed between sender and receiver.
• Used in cellular phones, satellite networks and wireless LANs.

11
2
Unguided Transmission Media
• Micro Waves: Unidirectional antennae
• Two types of antennas are used for Microwaves: parabolic dish and a horn.
• A parabolic dish antenna: it works as a funnel, catching a wide range of waves
and directing them to a common point.
• Outgoing transmissions are broadcasted through a horn aimed at the dish. The
microwaves hit the dish and are deflected outward in a reversal of the receipt path.
• A horn antenna: looks like gigantic scoop.
• Outgoing transmissions are broadcasted up in a stem and deflected outward in a
series of narrow parallel beams by the curved head.
• Received transmissions are collected by the scooped shape of the horn and
deflected down into the stem

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Unguided Transmission Media
• Micro Waves: Terrestrial Microwave
• Uses Parabolic dish, Uses Focused beam, Line of sight is maintained.
• Used in Long haul telecommunications.
• Repeaters are often needed for long distance communication.
• Higher frequencies give higher data rates.

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Unguided Transmission Media
• Micro Waves: Satellite Microwave
• Satellite acts as relay station (repeater).
• Satellite receives on one frequency (uplink), amplifies or repeats signal and
transmits on another frequency (downlink).
• Requires Geo-stationary (Geosynchronous) orbit - Height of 36,000 km.
• Geosynchronous means stationary w. r. t. the earth, hence the position of
particular Earth Station w. r. t. the satellite remains constant at all times.
• Used in Television, Long distance telephone and Private business networks.

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Unguided Transmission Media
• Infrared
• It uses Frequency range from 300 GHz – 400 THz.
• It can be used for short-range communication in a closed area using line-of-sight
propagation.
• Due to it’s high frequency range, cannot penetrate the walls.
• Cannot be used outside the building: interfered by the sun’s rays.
• Applications: IrDA (Infrared Data Association) has established standard for
using these signals for the communication between devices such as keyboards,
mice, PCs and printers (for example some manufacturers uses IrDA port that
allows communication between wireless mouse, keyboard and PC).
• The standard originally defined a data rate of 75 kbps for a distance of up to 8 m.
• The recent standard defines data rate of 4 Mbps.
• Also used in remote controls of TV,VCD player, DVD player etc.

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Networking Devices: NIC
• For any computer, a NIC performs two crucial tasks
• Establishes and manages the computer’s network connection.
• Translates digital computer data into signals (appropriate for the networking
medium) for outgoing messages, and translates signals into digital computer
data for incoming messages.
• The computer bus has series of parallel data lines: Parallel transmission.
• For all network media, signals transmission consist of a linear sequence of bits of
data: Serial transmission.
• To redistribute serial data to parallel lines (and vice versa), NIC’s memory is used,
which acts as a buffer.
• Data received in buffer, divided into number of chunks and each chunk consist of
SA, DA, data part and CRC field now chunk is referred as data frame.
• Then each Data frame is transmitted serially on the physical line.
• Each computer, whether it is attached to a network or not, has an unique physical
address located on the NIC, known as MAC address or burned-in-address.
• Media Access Control address (physical or hardware addresses) is burned into
ROM of NIC and copied into RAM when the NIC initializes.
• MAC addresses are 48 bits in length and are expressed as 12 hexadecimal digits.

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Networking Devices: NIC
• First 6 hexadecimal digits are the Organizational Unique identifier (OUI) which
identify the manufacturer. Remaining 6 digits are assigned by vendor (serial no).
• Operates at Data Link layer of OSI model.
• For example (types of NICs ): Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI.

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Networking Devices: Repeater
• Receives the signal before it becomes too weak or corrupted, amplify and
regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back onto the link.
• Allows the extension of the physical length of a network.
• Doesn’t change the functionality of the network in any way.
• Act only upon the electrical components of a signal and are therefore active only at
the physical layer of OSI model.
• The location of the repeater on the link is vital: it must be placed so that a signal
reaches it before any noise changes the meaning of the carried information.

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Networking Devices: Hub
• They have a number of incoming lines that are joined electrically. Frames coming
on one line (port) are sent on all the other lines (ports).
• It forms a single collision domain.
• If two frames are arriving at the same time, they will collide in same way as
on coaxial cable (Bus topology).
• They don’t use the MAC address and operates at the physical layer of OSI model.
• Passive hubs: Frames coming on one line are sent on all other lines passively
without amplifying.
• Active hubs: Frames coming on one line are sent on all other lines by amplifying
and it functions in a similar manner to a Repeater.

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Networking Devices: Switch
• Similar to bridge and both routes the frames based on frame addresses.
• The main difference is that switches interconnect individual computers.
• It functions at Data Link layer of OSI model.
• Switch must actively forward the frame from one station to another (i.e. A to B).
• Each port is its own collision domain.
• They never loose frames due to collisions.
• They may loose frames due to lack of buffer space (when frames come faster
than they can transmit).

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Networking Devices: Bridge
• Connect two or more LANs.
• Functions in Data Link layer of OSI model.
• Can divide a large network into smaller segments.
• Can relay frames between two originally separate
LANs.
• Keep the traffic for each segment - separated (by
filtering the traffic).
• They are useful to keep the congestion low.
• When frames arrive, software in the bridge extracts
the destination MAC address from the frame and
looks it up on a table to see where to send it.

LAN-1 LAN-1

LAN-2 LAN-2

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Networking Devices: Router
• Relay packets among multiple interconnected networks.
• Functions in Network layer of OSI Model.
• Accesses 2 or more networks at the same time based on IP address (network layer).
• A packet sent from a station on one network to a station on a neighboring network,
goes first to the jointly held router, which forwards it to the destination network.
• If the router is not connected to both source and destination network, then the
sending router transfers the packet across one of its connected networks (router), in
the direction of the destination, and so on, until the destination is reached.

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Networking Devices: Brouter
• Functions both as Bridge and a Router – hence called as Brouter.
• It can be programmed only to pass data frames using MAC protocol to a segment
in this case it functions like Bridge.
• It can be set to route data packets to the appropriate network with a routed protocol
such as IP - in this case it functions like Router.
Networking Devices: Gateway
• Connects 2 or more networks that can be of different types and provides protocol
conversion so that end devices with dissimilar protocols can communicate.
• Transport Gateways: operates at Transport Layer of OSI model.
• Connect 2 or more computers that uses different transport layer protocols.
• Transport gateway translates TCP/IP packets into SPX/IPX packets.
• Application Gateways: operates at Application Layer of OSI model.
• Understand format and content of the data and translate one format into another
• E-mail gateway translates E-mails into SMSs of the mobile phones.

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Networking Devices: Modem
• Allows computers to communicate over a telephone line.
• Allows communication between networks or connecting to the world beyond LAN.
• Computers cannot send digital signals directly on telephone line.
• MODEM:
• Sending end: MODulate the digital signal into analog signal and transmits.
• Receiving end: DEModulate the analog signal back into digital signal.
• Modems typically have the following I/O interface:
• A serial RS-232 communication interface.
• A RJ-11 telephone-line interface (a telephone plug).

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Switching
• Switching allows temporary connections to be established, maintained and
terminated between sources and destinations.
• Long distance transmission is typically done over a network of switched nodes.
• Nodes are not concerned with content of data.
• End devices are stations such as Computer, terminal, phone, etc.
• A collection of nodes and connections is called as a communications network.
• Data routed by being switched from node to node.
• Traditionally there are three methods of Switching
• Circuit Switching
• Packet Switching
• Message Switching

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Switching: Circuit Switching
• Dedicated communication path (physical connection) is established between two
stations (such as phones or computers). There are three phases such as
• Establish the connection
• Transfer the voice / data
• Disconnect the connection
• Must have switching capacity and channel capacity to establish connection.
• Must have intelligence to work out routing.
• Inefficient because
• Channel capacity is dedicated for the duration of connection.
• If no data, capacity is wasted.
• Setting up a connection - takes time. Once connected, transfer is transparent.
• Developed for voice traffic (phone).
• It uses today either of two technologies.
• Space division switches (Space division switched network)
• Time division switches (Time division multiplexed network)

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Switching: Circuit Switching
• Space division switches (Space division switched network)
• The paths in the circuit are separated from each other spatially.
• Originally designed for analog networks but currently used in both analog and
digital networks.
• Cross-bar switches: connects ‘n inputs to ‘m outputs in a grid by using micro-
switches (transistors) at each cross point.
• Multi-stage switches: it combines cross-bar switches in several stages.
Devices are linked to switches that in turn are linked to hierarchy of other
switches.

Space-division switched network

Example: Public Telephone Network
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Switching: Circuit Switching
• Space division switches (Space division switched network)
• Cross-bar switches and Multi-stage switches

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Switching: Circuit Switching
• Time division switches (Time division multiplexed network)
• Uses time division multiplexing to achieve switching.
• TSI (Time – Slot Interchange)
• It changes the ordering of slots based on the desired connections.
• TSI consist of a RAM with several memory locations (input, output locations
and control unit ).

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Switching: Packet Switching
• Note: Circuit switching is designed for voice communication. It is less suited to
data and other non-voice data.
• In packet switching packets are transmitted in discrete units of potentially variable
length blocks called as packets.
• Maximum length of packet is decided by the network.
• Each packet contains data and header (priority, source and destination address).
• Transmission: node to node, routed according to information in the header.
• Two popular approaches: datagram and virtual circuit packet switching.

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Switching: Packet Switching
• Datagram Packet Switching
• Each packet is treated independently from all other packets and are referred as
datagram packet.
• Datagram packets belongs to same message may go by different paths to reach at
the destination.
• Datagram packets arrive out of order at the destination.
• Transport layer reorders them at the destination.

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Switching: Packet Switching
• Virtual Circuit Packet Switching
• Relation between all packets belonging to same message is preserved.
• Route is selected at the beginning of the session.
• Packets of same message travels along the same route one after another.
• Implemented in two ways: Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) and Permanent
Virtual Circuit (PVC).
• Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC)
• Works like dial up lines in circuit switching. Circuit is created whenever
needed and exist only for the duration of specific exchange.

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Switching: Packet Switching
• Virtual Circuit Packet Switching
• Permanent virtual circuit (PVC)
• Like leased lines in circuit switching.
• In this same virtual circuit is provided between two users on a continuous
basis.
• Circuit is dedicated to specific users and no one else can use it.
• It can be used without connection establishment and connection termination.

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Switching: Message Switching
• Best known by the term store and forward.
• It was common in the 1960s and 1970s.
• A node receives a message, stores it until the appropriate route is free, then it sends
along.
• The messages are stored and relayed from secondary storage (disk).
• Requirement of large capacity storage media at each node.

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