FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE

SPRING SESSION EXAMINATION 2003

ITC242 INTRODUCTION TO DATA COMMUNICATIONS
DAY & DATE:
WRITING TIME:

TIME:
Three (3) Hours

READING TIME: Ten minutes

MATERIALS SUPPLIED BY UNIVERSITY:

1 x 24pp Answer Booklet

MATERIALS PERMITTED IN EXAMINATION:

Pens and Pencils, Calculator

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS:

Part A: Forty (40) multiple

choice questions
Part B: Ten (10) True/False
questions
Part C: Twenty (20) fill in the
spaces questions
Part D: Five (5) short answer
questions

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Write your answers to the written questions in the booklet provided.

Mark your answers to the multiple choice questions on the exam paper.
Mark your answers to the true/false questions on the exam paper.
Fill in your answers to the fill in the spaces questions on the exam paper.
Multiple choice questions are worth one mark each. (Total of 40 marks)
True/False questions are worth one mark each. (Total of 10 marks)
Fill in the spaces questions are worth one mark each. (Total of 20 marks)
Written questions are worth 6 marks each. Choose any 5 questions out of 8.(Total of
30 marks)
A total mark possible is 100.

INSTRUCTIONS TO INVIGILATORS:
1.

QUESTION PAPER MUST BE COLLECTED

STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT SIGNATURE:

STUDENT NO:

PART A: Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the OSI model, the ____________________ layer is concerned with finding the best
path for the data from one point to the next within the network.

a.

Data Link

b.

Network

c.

Physical

d.

Application

2. The ____________________ layer can perform ASCII to non-ASCII character

conversions.

a.

Transport

b.

Data Link

c.

Presentation

d.

Application

3. Large networks that encompass parts of states, multiple states, countries and the world are
called:

a.

MANs

b.

LANs

c.

PANs

d.

WANs

4. What is the baud rate of a digital signal that employs Differential Manchester
encoding and has a data rate of 1000bps?
a.

500 baud

b.

1000 baud

c.

2000 baud

d.

4000 baud

5. Which category of UTP cable is the most current and commonly implemented?
a.

Category 4

b.

Category 5

c.

Category 5e

d.

Category 6

6. The ____________________ of a signal is the number of times a signal makes a complete

cycle within a given time frame .
a.

Bandwidth

b.

Frequency

c.

Amplitute

d.

Spectrum

7. In the OSI model, which layer performs encryption or data compression?

a.

Application

b.

Network

c.

Data Link

d.

Presentation

8. In a sliding window Go-Back-N ARQ system, A sends packets 0,1,2,3,4,5 and 6.

Packet 3 arrives at B corrupted. What do A and B send to each other next?
a.

B sends REJ-3 , A then sends packets 3,4,5,6,7,0 and 1

b.

B sends REJ-2, A then sends packets 3,4,5,6,7,0 and 1

c.

B sends REJ-3, A then sends just packet 3

d.

B sends REJ-2, A then sends just packet 3

9. The loss of signal strength is called:

a.

Attenuation

b.

Amplitute

c.

Noise

d.

Crosstalk

10. The ____________________ class of digital encoding schemes solves the

synchronization problem by ensuring that each bit has some type of signal change .

a.

Manchester

b.

NRZ

c.

4B/5B

d.

Both a and b.

11. Ethernet is said to be non-deterministic because of which of the following?

a.

It is not possible to determine how long it will take to get a frame from one
device to another.

b.

It is not possible to determine whether an error has occurred during the

transmission of a frame.

c.

It is not possible to determine if another device wishes to transmit.

d.

It is not possible to determine the maximum time a device will have to

wait to transmit.

12. ___________________ technology can be applied to wireless communications, making

them virtually impervious to interception.
a.

Pulse code modulation

b.

Frequency modulation

c.

Spread Spectrum

d.

None of the above

13. Electromagnetic interference is often generated by:

a.
Motors
b.

Fluorescent lights

c.

Power lines

d.

All of the above

14. The ____________________ component of the interface standard describes the function
of each pin or circuit that is used in a particular interface.

a.

Electrical

b.

Mechanical

c.

Functional

d.

Procedural

15. ____________________ identifies terminating devices such as terminals and computers .

a.

DTE

b.

DCE

c.

CSU

d.

DSU

16. The multiplexer creates a frame that contains data only from those input sources that have
something to send in ____________________ multiplexing.
a.

Frequency Division

b.

Statistical Time Division

c.

Synchronous Time Division

d.

Dense Wavelength

17. In frequency division multiplexing, the medium must be capable of carrying a range of
frequencies that can support the ____________________ of all the individual frequency
ranges

a.

Difference

b.

Sum

c.

Product

d.

None of the above

18. ISDN basic rate interface (BRI) multiplexes only ____________________ separate
channels.

a.

One

b.

Two

c.

Three

d.

Four

19. Error detection is performed at the ____________________ layer of the OSI model ?
a.

Data Link

b.

Transport

c.

Network

d.

Both a and b

20. ____________________ is a very powerful error detection technique and should be

considered for all data transmission systems ?

a.

Vertical redundancy check

b.

Cyclic redundancy checksum

c.

Simple parity

d.

Horizontal parity

21. In a ____________________ topology the workstations are connected by a linear coaxial

cable.

a.

Bus

b.

Star-wired bus

c.

Star-wired ring

d.

Ring

22. Which protocol requires that a host cease to transmit for a random interval once a
collision is detected on the wire?
a.

CSMA/CD

b.

Round robin

c.

Reservation

d.

All of the above

23. Which layer addresses do routers use to determine a packet's path?

a.

Data Link

b.

Network

c.

Physical

d.

Application

24. Which type of bridge observes network traffic flow and uses this information to make
future decisions regarding frame forwarding?
a.

Remote

b.

Source routing

c.

Transparent

d.

Spanning tree

25. Learning network addresses and converting frame formats are the function of which
device?
a.

Switch

b.

Hub

c.

MAU

d.

Bridge

26. The device that can operate in place of a hub is a:

a.

Switch

b.

Bridge

c.

Router

d.

Gateway

27. The CSMA/CD network is described by which frame specification?

a.

IEEE 802.2

b.

IEEE 802.3

c.

IEEE 802.4

d.

IEEE 802.5

28. In a ____________________ subnet, no unique dedicated physical path is established to

transmit the data packets across the subnet ?
a.

Circuit-switched

b.

Packet-switched

c.

Large

d.

Heavily loaded

29. A dial-up telephone system uses which type of subnet?

a.

Circuit-switched

b.

Packet-switched

c.

Broadcast

d.

Logically switched

30. The postal system is a good example of which type of communication?

a.

Broadcast

b.

Connection oriented

c.

Connectionless

d.

Both a and c

31. Which type of routing allows each node to maintain its own routing table ?
a.

Distributive

b.

Adaptive

c.

Centralised

d.

Static

32. The length of an IP address is:

a.

8 bits

b.

16 bits

c.

32 bits

d.

48 bits

33. ____________________ is a set of codes inserted into a document intended for display
on a web browser

a.

HTML

b.

HTTP

c.

FTP

d.

Telnet

34. The protocol that allows dynamic assignment of IP Addresses to workstations is known
as:

a.

ICMP

b.

DHCP

c.

SMTP

d.

SNMP

35. ____________________ is a packet-switched network designed for transmitting data

over fixed lines.
a.

ATM

b.

ADSL

c.

SONET

d.

Frame Relay

36. An ISDN BRI consists of ____________________ channels.

a.

Two B

b.

Two B and one D

c.

Two D

d.

Two D and one H

37. Which type of virus mutates with every infection, thus making it difficult to locate?
a.

Macro

b.

Trojan horse

c.

Polymorphic

d.

Worm

38. A commonly employed encryption method used by businesses to send and receive secure
transactions is:

a.

Manchester encoding

b.

Data Encryption Standard (DES)

c.

Pulse Code Modulation

d.

Kerberos

39. The equation to calculate availability is?

a.

(Total Time Available + Downtime) * Total Time Available

b.

(Total Time Available - Downtime)

c.

(Total Time Available + Downtime)

d.

(Total Time Available - Downtime) / Total Time Available

40. The average time a device or system will operate before it will fail is called the:
a.

MTBF

b.

MTTR

c.

Reliability

d.

None of the above

PART B: True/False Questions

(Circle the correct answer. Each question is worth 1 mark)
1. The main difference between infrared and Bluetooth transmission is that Bluetooth
needs line of site whilst infrared does not.
a.
b.

true
false

2. 4B/5B encoding is more efficient than Manchester encoding.

a.
b.

true
false

3. Synchronous Time Division multiplexing will not allocate a time slot to a source
that is idle.
a.
b.

true
false

4. Dumb terminals are used for simple data entry and data retrieval operations.
a.
b.

true
false

5. The bottom layer in the OSI model, the data link layer, handles the transmission of bits
over a communications channel.

a.
b.

true
false

6. The physical organization of a star-wired ring is actually not circular.

a.
b.

true
false

7. A source routing bridge keeps an internal table.

a.
b.

true
false

8. In a virtual circuit packet-switched subnet, all packets that belong to a logical connection
can follow the same path through the network.

a.
b.

true
false

9. Every object on the Internet has a unique URL.

a.
b.

true
false

10. Ciphertext is data before any encryption has been performed .

a.
b.

true
false

PART C: Fill in the spaces

(Each question is worth one mark)
1. Multiplexing occurs at the ______physical___________ layer of the OSI reference
model.
2. The three basic components of all signals are _________amplitude____________ ,
_______frequency______________ and _________phase____________ .
3. ________Impulse_________ noise is a non-constant noise that is one of the most
difficult errors to detect because it can occur randomly.
4. Transmitting multiple signals on one medium is called
_________multiplexing___________.

5. ________Analogue____________ data and signals are represented as continuous

waveforms that can be at an infinite number of points between some given minimum and
maximum.

6. The _______Internet or TCP/IP _____ Model is a communications architectural

model that incorporates TCP/IP and has 4 layers.
7. _______Baseband_____________ coaxial technology uses digital signaling in which the
cable carries only one channel of digital data

8. _______Terrestrial_____________ microwave transmission systems transmit tightly

focused beams of radio signals from one ground-based microwave transmission antenna to
another.

9. In an _______asynchronous_____________ connection, a single character, or byte of data,

is the unit of transfer between sender and receiver .
10. The _____local loop _______________ is the stretch of telephone wire that runs between
a house and the telephone company's exchange.
11. ________Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) ____________ multiplexing allows
multiple users to share a common set of frequencies by assigning unique digital codes to each
user.
12. A _______collision_____________ results when two or more workstations listen to the
medium at the same moment, hear nothing, and then transmit their data at the same moment.

13. Modern star-wired bus topology logically acts as a bus, but

___________physically_________ looks like a star.
14. A _________hub___________ is a device that interconnects two or more workstations in
a star-wired bus local area network and broadcasts incoming data onto all outgoing
connections.
15. The process of adding transport header information on the front of the data packet is
called ________encapsulation_____________.
16. A ________connection oriented____________ network application provides some
guarantee that information traveling through the network will not be lost and the information
packets will be delivered to the intended receiver.
17. The ________Internet____________ is a massive collection of networks, routers, and
communications lines.
18. The _________Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) ___________ protocol takes an IP
address in an IP datagram and translates it into the appropriate CSMA/CD address for
delivery on a local area network.
19. A _______Denial of service (DOS) _____________ attack is one where a computer site is
bombarded with so many messages that the site cannot perform its normal duties.
20. ________Benchmarking___________ involves generating system statistics in a controlled
environment and then comparing those statistics against known measurements.

PART D: Short Answer Questions

(Each question is worth 6 marks each. Answer the questions in the Answer
booklet provided).
Choose ONLY 5 Questions to answer

1. Name and briefly define the seven layers of the OSI model.
Answer
7. Application Layer is where applications using network services
reside. Example applications include HTTP, FTP, Telnet.
6. Presentation Layer presentation, encryption and compression of
data between sender and receiver.
5. Session Layer responsible for establishing, maintaining and
terminating sessions between endpoints.
4. Transport Layer reliable end to end transport. Contains end to
end error control and flow control.

3. Network Layer Path determination, routing, the sending of

packets through a network. IP addressing.
2. Data Link Layer responsible for accessing the medium.
1. Physical Layer transmission of bits over a communications
channel.
Marking Guide
Deduct 1 mark for each layer not labeled correctly.
Deduct 1 mark for each layer not defined correctly.
2. Is stop-and-wait ARQ a half duplex protocol or a full duplex protocol? Explain
your response.
Answer
Stop-and-wait ARQ is a half duplex protocol. That is because at any
point in time only one endpoint may transmit to another. Endpoint A
transmits one packet of data to endpoint B, then stops and waits for
a reply from B. If the packet arrives without error, B responds with a
positive acknowledgement. If the data arrives with errors, B will
respond with a negative acknowledgement.
Marking Guide
Deduct 3 marks for not stating that stop-and-wait ARQ is a half
duplex protocol.
Deduct between 1 and 3 marks for not explaining why.
3. Describe the function of a switch. At what layer of the OSI model does it operate?
Answer
A switch is a combination of a hub and a bridge. It connects multiple
workstations like a hub. It also filters frames like a bridge. Filtering
occurs based on the layer 2 MAC Address within each frame. It
performs filtering based on the MAC addresses of frames as they
are transmitted through the switch. There are a number of different
ways that a switch may perform this filtering. The first is
transparent bridging, where the switch will observe network traffic
and make future decisions on frame forwarding based on learning
out which switch port each MAC address resides. Source route
bridging relies on information contained within each frame to make
the filtering decision.
A switch operates at Layer 2, the Data Link Layer of the OSI model.
Marking Guide
Deduct between 1 to 4 marks for not correctly describing the
function of a switch.
Deduct 2 marks for not identifying the correct layer.

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fibre optic cable?

Answer
Advantages:
Not affected by electromagnetic interference
Low noise and error rates
High speed transmission
Difficult to wiretap
Can be used over long distances
Disadvantages:
Can send signals in one direction only, theirfore a pair of fibre
is required between devices.
Relatively higher cost of fibre.
More expensive and difficult to install and terminate within a
building.
Marking Guide
Allocate 1 mark for each correct advantage and disadvantage
provided.

5. What is the difference between a deterministic and non-deterministic protocol?

Answer
In a deterministic protocol you can determine when a workstation
will be allowed to transmit. The order of transmission by each
workstation is known. Token Ring is an example of a deterministic
protocol.
In a non-deterministic protocol, you cannot calculate or determine
the time at which a workstation will transmit.
CSMA/CD is an example of a non-deterministic protocol, with
Ethernet being an implementation.
Marking Guide
Deduct between 2 to 6 marks for not providing a correct difference.
Allocate 1 mark each for providing examples of each type of
protocol.

6. What is the data transfer rate in bps of a signal that is encoded using phase
modulation with eight different phase angles and a baud rate of 3000?
Answer
Eight different phase angles mean that at any point in time the
signal may represent one of 8 states, or 3 binary numbers. (2^3 =
8)

Thus, data transfer rate = 3 x 3000

= 9000 bps.
Marking Guide
Full marks for obtaining the correct answer with working.
5 marks for obtaining the correct answer, with no working.
3 marks for showing that 8 phase angles allows for the transmission
of 3 bits at a time.
7. Name four (4) types of multiplexing giving a brief explanation of each.
Answer
1.
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM): the assignment of non
overlapping frequency ranges to each user of a medium. The
oldest and one of the simplest forms of multiplexing. An
example is the transmission of different television stations
using different frequencies.
2.
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM): the division of available
transmission time up into portions to be shared amongst each
user. Different types of TDM are synchronous TDM and
statistical TDM. ISDN is an example of TDM.
3.
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM): uses
different wavelength or colored light to transmit multiple
signals down a fibre optic cable.
4.
Code Division Multiplexing (CDM): assigns unique codes to
each user to allow them to share a common set of
frequencies. CDMA is an example of CDM.
Marking Guide
Deduct 2 marks for each type of multiplexing not identified.
Deduct 1 mark for each occurrence of not providing an accurate
brief explanation.

8. Define the main differences between the TCP and UDP protocols.
Answer
Reliability: TCP is a reliable protocol, UDP is an unreliable
protocol (best effort).
Connection: TCP is a connection oriented protocol, UDP is a
connectionless protocol.
Efficiency: TCP has more overhead and is less efficient than UDP.
Flow control: TCP provides flow control with windowing, UDP
does not.

Marking Guide
Allocate 2 marks for each correct difference identified.

Concise Answers
Section A
1b
2c
3d
4c
5c
6b
7d
8a
9a
10 a

11 d
12 c
13 d
14 c
15 a
16 b
17 b
18 c
19 d
20 b

Section B
1. false
2. true
3. false
4. true
5. false
6. true
7. false
8. true
9. true
10. false
Section C
1. physical
2. amplitude, frequency, phase
3. impulse
4. multiplexing
5. analogue
6. Internet or TCP/IP
7. baseband
8. terrestrial
9. asynchronous
10. local loop
11. code division multiplexing (CDM)
12. collision
13. physically
14. hub
15. encapsulation
16. connection oriented
17. internet
18. address resolution protocol (ARP)
19. denial of service (DOS)
20. benchmarking

21 a
22 a
23 b
24 c
25 d
26 a
27 b
28 b
29 a
30 c

31 a
32 c
33 a
34 b
35 d
36 b
37 c
38 b
39 d
40 a