Q1. What is data communication? Identify and explain the five components of a data communication system.

We all are acquainted with some sorts of communication in our day to day life. For communication of information and messages we use telephone and postal communication systems. Similarly data and information from one computer system can be transmitted to other systems across geographical areas. Thus data transmission is the movement of information using some standard methods. These methods include electrical signals carried along a conductor, optical signals along an optical fibres and electromagnetic areas. The five components are sender, receiver, protocol, medium and message Q2. What are the basic elements of a communication system The following are the basic requirements for working of a communication system. 1. The sender (source) who creates the message to be transmitted 2. A medium that carries the message 3. The receiver (sink) who receives the message In data communication four basic terms are frequently used. They are: Data : A collection of facts in raw forms that become information after processing. Signals : Electric or electromagnetic encoding of data. Signaling : Propagation of signals across a communication medium. Transmission : Communication of data achieved by the processing of signals. Q3. Explain communication protocols.

The data communication software instructs computer systems and devices as to how exactly data is to be transferred from one place to another. The procedure of data transformation in the form of software is commonly known as protocol. The data transmission software or protocols perform the following functions for the efficient and error free transmission of data. 1. Data sequencing : A long message to be transmitted is broken into smaller packets of fixed size for error free data transmission. 2. Data Routing : It is the process of finding the most efficient route between source and destination before sending the data. 3. Flow control : All machines are not equally efficient in terms of speed. Hence the flow control regulates the process of sending data between fast sender and slow receiver. 4. Error Control : Error detecting and recovering is the one of the main functions of communication software. It ensures that data are transmitted without any error. Q4. What are the advantages of Computerized Communication. (a) Telephonic calls, using Internet, can be made to any part of the world with the same expenses as a local telephone call made within the city. (b) Pictures, sound and written matter can be sent within minutes and a confirmation about it reaching at the destination can be obtained immediately. (c) Message can be sent in coded form so that they are not understood by anybody else except the person who is sending and the person who is receiving them. (d) Message can be sent in any language from any place of world to any place. (e) Users need not take highly specialized training for sending or receiving message. Q5 Explain data transmission modes. There are three ways for transmitting data from one point to another. 1. Simplex : In simplex mode the communication can take place in one direction. The receiver receives the signal from the transmitting device. In this mode the flow of information is Uni-directional. Hence it is rarely used for data communication. 2. Half-duplex : In half-duplex mode the communication channel is used in both directions, but only in one direction at a time. Thus a half-duplex line can alternately send and receive data. 3. Full-duplex : In full duplex the communication channel is used in both directions at the same time. Use of full-duplex line improves the efficiency as the line turnaround time required in half-duplex arrangement is eliminated. Example of this mode of transmission is the telephone line. Q6 Discuss digital and analog signal transmission. Data is transmitted from one point to another point by means of electrical signals

that may be in digital and analog form. In analog signal the transmission power varies over a continuous range with respect to sound, light and radio waves. On the other hand, a digital signal may assume only discrete set of values within a given range. Examples are computer and computer related equipment. Analog signal is measured in Volts and its frequency is in Hertz (Hz). A digital signal is a sequence of voltage represented in binary form. When digital data are to be sent over an analog form the digital signal must be converted to analog form. So the technique by which a digital signal is converted to analog form is known as modulation. And the reverse process, that is the conversion of analog signal to its digital form, is known as demodulation. The device, which converts digital signal into analog, and the reverse, is known as modem. 10000001 Q7. What are the advantage of Digital Transmission over Analog Transmission (a) The voice data, music and images can be interspersed to make more efficient use of the same circuits and equipment. (b) Much higher transmission rates are possible using telephone lines. (c) Digital transmission is much cheaper than analog transmission. (d) Maintenance of a digital system is easier than maintenance of analog system. (e) A digital signal can pass through an arbitrary number of regenerators in with no loss in signal and thus travel long distances with no information loss. In contrast, analog signal always suffer some information loss when amplified, and this loss is cumulative. Q8. Explain different Transmission Modes i.e. Simplex, Half-duplex and Full-duplex. There are three modes of data transmission. These are:

(a)

(b) (c)

Simplex Simplex communication imply a simple method of communication. In simplex communications mode, there is a one way communication transmission. Television transmission is a very good example of this type of communication. Half-duplex - In half-duplex mode, both units communicate over the same medium, but only one unit can send at a time. While one is in send mode, the other unit is in receiving mode. It is like two polite people talking to each otherone talks, the other listens, but neither one talks at the same time. Full-duplex - In a half-duplex system, the line must be "turned around" each time the direction is reversed. This involves a special switching circuit and requires a small amount of time(approximately 150 milliseconds). With high speed capabilities of the computer, this turn-around

Q9 Explain Asynchronous and Synchronous Transmission. Asynchronous Transmission: Asynchronous transmission is often referred to as start-stop transmission because of its nature, that is the sender can send a character at any time convenient and the receiver will accept it. Asynchronous communication lines remain in an idle state until the hardware on the line is ready to transmit. Since the line is idle, a series of bits have to be sent to the receiving node to notify it that there is more data coming. When data is finished, the node has to be notified that the transmission is complete and to go back to an idle state, hence the STOP bits are to be sent. This pattern continues for the duration of the time the link is operative. This is the characteristic of many terminals when on a terminal, the time spent between successive keystrokes would vary. Thus, in asynchronous transmission, data is transmitted character by character at irregular intervals. Synchronous Transmission: Synchronous devices need not use Start and Stop bits; so coordination between the two nodes, i.e. the sender and the receiver, is handled differently. In synchronous communications, there are two "channels" - one for data and another for link Synchronization. The channel for synchronization uses the integral clock in the hardware for link synchronization between the two nodes when one of the nodes is ready to transmit data, a unique combination of bits called a Sync Character is sent to the receiver. Since the first character will probably get trashed, a second one usually follows to ensure that synchronization is complete. Q10. Compare between Asynchronous and Synchronous Transmission: Synchronous communications tend to be more expensive than asynchronous ones as the hardware involved is more costly due to integral clocking mechanism that have to be used as wellas more sophisticated engineering efforts. Synchronous transmission is well suited to remote communication between a computer and such devices as buffered card readers and printers. It is also used for computer to computer communications. The primary advantage of synchronous transmission is its efficiency. Not only does it eliminate the need for individual start-stop bits on each character, but much higher data rates can be used than with asynchronous transmission. Asynchronous transmission is well suited to many keyboard type terminals. The advantage of this method is that it does not require any local storage at the terminal or the computer as transmission takes place character by character. Hence it is cheaper to implement.