University of Perpetual Help

College of Computer Studies

Network Technology
MH 2-3/ 3-4:30

1
 Network Concepts and
Communications Basics

❚ Objectives Lesson 1: Networking Terms and Definitions

❙ Be able to describe the basic communications model.
❙ Be able to identify the basic components of a network
❙ Be able to define the basic terms associated with communications
and computer networks.
❙ Compare and contrast the general characteristics of Unshielded
Twisted Pair (UTP), Coaxial Cable and Optical Fiber.
❙ Describe three types of wireless communication commonly used
in networking
❙ Explain the difference between synchronous and asynchronous
transmission.
❙ Define baud rate
 Everything is Connected to
Everything

❚ Going online to do everything from banking to buying

groceries, just a fad or is it here to stay?
❚ Going online:
❙ do banking
❙ pay bills
❙ buy groceries
❙ book vacation travel
❙ send messages
❙ participate in discussions
❙ do research
❙ play games
Simplified Communications
Model
 Basic Networking
Components

❚ Types of connection - Physical connection vs. wireless

❙ Network: A Collection of computers, display terminals,

printers, and other devices linked either by physical or
wireless means.

❙ Node: Any device on a network. Each device has a

unique address assigned to it by the network.

❙ Network links: Connections between computers and

other electronic devices.
Simplified Network Models
Switching
node
Wide-area
network

Source System Destination System

Trans-
Trans- Destina-
Source mission Receiver
mitter tion
System

Local area
network
 NETWORK Topologies

❚ 1. Point-to-Point Topology
❚ 2. Bus Topology
❚ 3. Star Topology
❚ 4. Ring Topology
❚ 5. Mesh Topology
❚ 6. Special Topology
 Point-to-Point Topology

❚ Point-to-point topology is the simplest of the physical

layouts of network devices.
❚ Point-to-point connections mean that two devices (nodes)
have a single path for data to travel between them and
there is nothing that breaks up that path.

Figure 2-1: Point-to-Point connections can be established between many devices.

 Bus Topology
❚ all devices share a common wire to transmit and receive
data through in the bus topology
❚ This approach is very economical as a single cable is
cheaper to purchase than several individual cables for each
device.

Figure 2-2: Devices all share a common cable for transferring data in a bus topology LAN. Signals are eventually absorbed by the terminator.
 Star Topology

❚ Star topology derives its name from the arrangement of

devices so that they radiate from a central point. At the
central point we usually see a device generically called a
hub.

Figure 2-3: The star topology involves one or more devices radiating out from a central point
(i.e. hub).
 Ring Topology

❚ The logical creation of a ring allows information on such a

LAN to travel in one direction.

Figure 2-4: Even though token ring LANs utilize a star topology physically, this illustration shows
that a logical ring is created inside the MAU.
 Mesh Topology

❚ Mesh topology is uncommon today because of its sheer

impracticality.
❚ every node is connected to every other node
❚ The pervading thought behind this is to offer the maximum
amount of reliability for data transit and fault-tolerance
 Special Topology

❚ Special topologies refer to those networks that are made of

several different topologies.
❚ Another name given special topologies is hybrid topology.
❚ This topology description usually refers to a collection of
networks.

Figure 2-6: Special or hybrid topologies are often the combination of several different kinds of other
topologies.
 A local area network can be composed of
several components

❚ 1. Servers
❚ 2. Workstations
❚ 3. Network Interface Cards
❚ 4. Hubs
❚ 5. Peripherals
❚ 6. Software
The Physical Topology: Links

❚ The physical media used to connect the networks are:

Twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, and space.

❚ The first type of physical media:

❙ Twisted pair:
❘ Two wires twisted together.
❘ Less susceptible to acting like an antenna and
picking up radio frequency information or appliance
noise.
❘ Used by the telephone company.
• Installed infrastructure
❘ Most common
❘ Application = DSL (BW ~ 8Mb @ 9000 ft)
❚ Twisted pair comes in two different varieties - shielded and
unshielded.
❚ Connectors used with TP included RJ-11 and RJ-45 modular
connectors in current use by phone companies.
❙ RJ-11 connectors accommodate 4 wires or 2 twisted
pairs, while RJ-45 houses 8 wires or 4 twisted pairs.
The Physical Topology: Links

❚ The second type of physical media used to connect

networks together.

❙ Coaxial cable:
❘ One wire is formed into a tube which is electrically
grounded.
❘ The other wire is placed down the center of this
tube and the space between is filled with a special
nonconducting material.
❘ BW ~ 1/ π (1+b/a)(ε r)1/2
Coax Layers
outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)

insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor
The Physical Topology: Links

❚ The third type of physical media used to connect networks

together.

❙ Fiber-optic cable:
❘ Optical cable allowing light to pass along the cable.
❘ Light is electromagnetic, and because of its higher
frequencies, transmits a lot more information
through a single strand.
❘ BW up to THz possible
 Fiber Optic Layers

❚ consists of three concentric sections

plastic jacket glass or plastic fiber core

cladding
 Cabling Summary Twisted Pair Cable

Advantages Disadvantages

1. Inexpensive 1. Susceptible to RFI and EMI

2. Often available in existing phone system 2. Not as durable as coax
3. Well tested and easy to get 3. Doesn't support as high a speed as other media

Coaxial Cable

Advantages Disadvantages

1. Fairly resistant to RFI and EMI 1. Can be effected by strong interference

2. Supports faster data rates than twisted pair 2. More costly than TP
3. More durable than TP 3. Bulkier and more rigid than TP

Fiber Optic Cable

Advantages Disadvantages

1. Highly secure 1. Extremely costly in product and service

2. Not affected by RFI and EMI 2. Sophisticated tools and methods for installation
3. Highest bandwidth available 3. Complex to layout and design
4. Very durable
 Guided Transmission Media

❚ Three physical types of links used in networks.

 Wireless Links

❚ Three types of wireless communication commonly used

in networking: Infrared, Radio frequency, Microwave.

❚ The first type of wireless communication:

❙ Infrared:
❘ Commonly used in TV and VCR remote controls.
❘ Use infrared frequencies of electromagnetic
radiation that behave much like visible light.
❘ Must be in the line of sight.
❘ Often used to connect keyboards, mice, and
printers.
 Wireless Links

❚ The second type of wireless communication used in

networking:

❙ Radio frequency:
❘ Uses radio frequencies.
❘ Not commonly used because of the possible
interference from other sources of electromagnetic
radiation such as old electric drills and furnace
motors.
 Wireless Links

❚ The third type of wireless communication used in

networking:

❙ Microwave:
❘ Often used to communicate with distant locations.
❘ Must be line of sight.
❘ Satellite communications use microwaves.
 Wireless Communication
Links

❚ Wireless communication.
 Connectivity

❚ Connectivity refers to the attachment of dissimilar devices

together in a network.
❚ These devices might include servers, workstations or other
key components that allow for the expansion of the
network to other networks or resources.
❚ Four components that facilitate connectivity - repeaters,
bridges, routers and gateways.
 The Open Systems
Interconnection Model

❚ The Open Systems Interconnection model was created by

the Inter-national Standards Organization in the late 70's.
❚ It was to serve as a blueprint for all network
communication technologies dividing up all the processes
of networking activity into seven distinct layers.
❚ The highest layer is the application that a device is running
and with which a user may interact.
❚ The lowest layer is simply the physical medium of data
transfer such as coaxial cable.
 Layer Function

7. Application Allows user interaction and generation of data to be transmitted. Programs

communicate with other programs at this level so it includes file transfers
and transactions.

6. Presentation Manages the way data is formatted or encoded for transfer. It may place
data in an ASCII or EBCDIC format.

5. Session Oversees dialogue between users. Establishes and oversees logical

relationships set up between users.

4. Transport Maintains quality of communication. Acts as the traffic cop making sure
flow is orderly. Ensures message validity and integrity.

3. Network Establishes a communication route between devices on different local

networks.

2. Data Link Puts messages together out of the stream of bits coming in and out of the
wire or other media. It also governs data flow.

1. Physical The medium that carries data.

 Repeaters

❚ It takes an incoming signal and repeats it, but at a higher

power and noise-free.
❚ The repeater is not an amplifier only, as such a device
would amplify the good part of the signal as well as the
bad. Instead repeaters employ what is known as "signal
regeneration“
❚ This simply means that the original signal is absorbed,
copied and retransmitted along another segment of
cabling. This new signal has been beefed up and cleaned
up. When it leaves the repeater it is both renewed and
noise-free.
 Figure 3-1: Repeaters allow us to extend beyond typical distance limitations by regenerating signals.

❚ In reference to the OSI model, the repeater is said to function

on the Physical layer.
 Bridges

❚ A bridge is a device that is smarter than a repeater. A

repeater knows nothing about the data passing through it
or the destination of that data.
❚ A bridge on the other hand is informed of where data is
going to, and based on that information, can make an
intelligent call whether or not to allow the data to go to the
destination.
❚ Bridges are able to perform their decision-making because
they operate on the Data Link layer of the OSI model.
Figure 3-2: Bridges can help control network traffic.
 Routers
❚ Routers uses type of logical addressing information to
perform a very useful task.
❚ They are able to determine the best route from a source to
a destination regardless of what lies in between.
❚ Work on the Network layer OSI model.

Figure 3-3: Routers may serve as boundaries to distinguish networks. Here the router at
Network A would choose Path A to send data to Network D because it requires the
smallest number of hops (trips through other routers). In fact there are no other routers
between Networks A and D .
 Gateways

❚ Gateways are unique in that they have the capability of

functioning on any level of the OSI model, whatever is
necessary to bring together the vastly dissimilar networks.

Figure 3-4: Gateways enable such diverse systems as PC LANs and mainframe networks to
communicate. The gateway typically functions on upper layers of the OSI model.
 Connectivity Summary:
Internetworking Devices

Device OSI Layer Performance Sophistication

Repeater Physical Fast Low

Bridge Data Link Fast Fairly low

Router Network Mid-range Complex

Gateway Any Slow Very complex

 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
Link Transmission Properties:
Signal Type

❚ 1. Type of signal communicated.

❙ Analog - A continuously changing signal similar to that

found on the speaker wires of a high-fidelity stereo
system.

❙ Digital - Signals consist of pulses of electrical energy

that represent 0’s or 1’s.
 Analog Signaling

❚ represented by sine waves

phase
amplitude (volts)

1 cycle difference

time
(sec)

frequency (hertz)
= cycles per second
 Digital Signaling

❚ represented by square waves or pulses

amplitude (volts)

1 cycle

time
(sec)

frequency (hertz)
= cycles per second
 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
Link Transmission Properties:
Signal Speed

❚ 2. Speed of signal.

❙ In digital systems: Speed is measured in...

❘ Bits per second (bps).

• The number of bits (0’s and 1’s) that travel down
the channel per second.
❘ Baud rate
• The number of bits that travel down the channel
in a given interval.
• The number is given in signal changes per
second, not necessarily bits per second.
 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
Link Transmission Properties:
Data Movement

❚ 3. Type of data movement.

❙ Three types of data movement can occur on a channel:

❘ Simplex transmission - One way transmission.

❘ Half-duplex transmission - Can flow only one way

at a time.

❘ Full-duplex transmission - Two-way transmission at

the same time.
 Data Movement
Classifications

❚ Simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex transmission.

 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
Link Transmission Properties:
Transmission Method

❚ 4. Method of transmission.
❙ Two types of data transmission, each requiring a
different modem.

❙ Asynchronous transmission -
❘ Information is sent byte by byte.
❘ Cheaper and more commonly used.
❙ Synchronous transmission -
❘ Data is sent in large blocks rather than in small pieces.
❘ Preceded by special information, concerning error
detection and block size.
❘ These modems are expensive but very fast.
 Link Transmission Properties

❚ Properties of Transmission:
❙ Each link has common attributes

❙ 1. Type of signal communicated (analog or digital)

❙ 2. The speed at which the signal is transmitted.
❙ 3. The type of data movement allowed on the channel.
❙ 4. The method used to transport the data.
❙ 5. Single channel and multichannel transmission.
Link Transmission Properties:
Channel Type

❚ 5. Single channel versus multichannel transmission

❙ Channel - A path of a signal.

❙ Single channel - Capable of only sending/receiving

one signal at a time.
❘ Phone line - Single line = single phone call at a time.

❙ Multichannel - Capable of more than one channel at a

time.
❘ Fiber-optic cable, microwaves, Satellite
transmissions.
QUESTION