Data Communication Technology: Components, Types, And Emerging Innovations

On completion of this assessment students should be able to:

1. Explain the basic types and components of data communications networks;
 
2. Discuss the importance of network models based on layers and the role of network standards;

3. Explain the nature and structure of the Internet as a communications channel;

5. Analyse and evaluate emerging data communications technologies.

Types of Data Communication Networks

The most prominent innovation of this cyber age is data communication. The development of Information Technology can be credited to data sharing. This article discusses different aspects of data communication technology. The components and types of the data communication networks have been discussed along with the role of network standards. The article also focuses on the nature and structure of the communication channels considering the internet. Fibre optics communication has been evaluated in the article as an emerging development in the considered technology. A physical network diagram of the ISP (Internet service provider) is included in the article. Finally, the report has been concluded with suggested improvement in the drawn diagram.

Data communication networks represent the network that transfers data using the computing services along with communication technologies (Gitlin, Hayes & Weinstein, 2012). Digital or electronic data are transferred across multiple nodes regardless of the data content, medium of the technology or the geographical location.

The types of data communication networks can be classified depending on the locations:

LAN: Local-Area Network is equipped with a premise or geographically close systems for the communicational purposes (Wang et al., 2015).

WAN: Wide-Area Network is adapted for the systems that have high geographical distance. The connection is established using telephonic lines or different forms of waves (Wang et al., 2015).  

The core components of the considered subject have been discussed as follows:

DATA: The information that is to be communicated. The information is converted to binary number for transmission (pixels in case of images) (Wang & You, 2014).

SENDER: Sender also known as the source is the node (computer, mobile devices, workstations and others) that transmits the information.

RECEIVER: Receiver also known as sink represents the node that receives the information for the further application.

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL: The channel represents the medium by which the data is transmitted (Ye, Pan & Hillard, 2013). Wires act as a communication channel for local transmission and different locations transmission fibre optics, telephonic lines, microwave or satellite can be opted as a communication channel.

ENCODER/DECODER: The information is encoded as Analog signals at the sender’s node before transmitting and then decoded back to its digital form at the receiver’s end (Ribeiro, Lucarz & Fracasso, 2013). Computing devices work on digital signals while the transmission is done as Analog signals (Secondini, Forestieri & Prati, 20143). Hence, to ensure compatibility the process of encoding and decoding is performed.

Networks are organised as a series of levels (layers) one over another to reduce the complexity of the design. This concept divides the network into small pieces and the lower layers adds up the services to provide a complete set of services to the highest layer (Das & Appenzeller, 2013). The benefits of such designing consist of explicit interfaces and modularity.

Components of Data Communication Networks

Reduction in network design complexity is the most noted significance of layer based networks. The layers also assist in the protocol designing as the protocol operating on a specific layer have been specified to interact with the above and below layers. The networks are divided into layers so multiple tasks can be done during a single instance. The layers are designed and linked in such a way that one layer does not affect the working of other layers hence, reducing error percentage. Another importance of the layered network models is that they are operational over a single language for describing the network capabilities and functions. Hence the importance of the layered network models can be understood by the fact that the tech giants are adopting the model to increase the flexibility, scalability and maintainability of the networks.

Network standards ensures the ability of the system over exchange and processing of data by defining a set of protocols for communication of the networked systems. The former plays a significant role in simplification of the network design (Espina et al., 2014). The standard also offers a framework for sustained growth (by providing a logical roadmap) when equipped with a structured cabling system. Interconnection of fibre optics systems is an issue (if different firms manufacture the systems) that have been resolved by the introduction of network standards. The standards have also helped in decreasing the bandwidth size required for encoding of video and voice signals. The role of network standard is not limited to the facts mentioned above; it also has its implementation at the international level. CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee) have offered platforms for the development of different standards depending on the need (Campbell-Kelly & Garcia-Swartz, 2013).

The structure of communication channel has been shown below with the help of a diagram (Atakan, Akan & Balasubramaniam, 2012).

The components of the communication channel have been explained below concerning internet as the channel.

Input: The input here represents the user who is instructing operation over the network.

Output: It represents the feedback received from the network after processing the instructions.

Processor: Processor represents the system where the instructions are being evaluated to get the desired output. Search algorithm of Google is an example of the processor.

Main memory: It is the represents the storage where the data is stored for processing (in case of websites) or further evaluation (user’s end).

Data Bus: It refers to the system within the device that allows transmission of information. In case of the google, it is their server and hard drive connected to the wires for the users.

Layered Network Models

Address Bus: Unlike data bus, it refers to the transmission of information between the servers.

Fibre optics communication is the method where fibre optics cable is equipped for the communication channel (Amiri et al., 2015). It is currently one of the most exceptional modes of data communication available in the market. It uses quantum packets for the transmission of data.

Components: The core components of the fibre optics communication system are described as follows:

Transmitter circuit: It consists of an electrical to optical transducer made up of LED (Light emitting diode) and LD (Laser diode) to convert the electrical signals to the quantum packets (Fujimoto & Mochizuki, 2013).

Receiver Circuit: This circuit refers to the optical to an optical to electrical transducer which is made up of PIN diode and Avalanche diode used for the conversion of received data to an electrical signal for computing systems (Fujimoto & Mochizuki, 2013).

Fibre optics cable: It is the communication channel of the considered communication system.

Operation: The following points describe the operating method of the fibre optics communication system:

• The information packets are converted to quantum signals from digital signals for transmission by transmitting circuit. The circuit uses LED to smaller distances and low requirement of data applications (because of its power capabilities and lower bandwidth). LD is equipped for more considerable distances as it offers higher bandwidth and narrower spectrum coverage.
• The transmission is pursued in the electromagnetic spectrum of light inside of a fibre optics cable. The signals are kept separated from each other by using the refracting and diffracting properties of the light signals.
• The receiving circuitry detects the received optical signal by use of the photon detector, and the conversion is done by the PIN diode (for lower bandwidth and low data rate) or Avalanche diode (for high data rate and high bandwidth).

Advantages:

The advantages of the fibre optics communication are listed as follows (Pospischill et al., 2013):

• It has a wide range of operational area.
• It offers relatively high speed in comparison to other communication models.
• Maintenance of the system is quite simple.
• It has the ability of multiple transmission (in multimode cables).
• Immunity to electromagnetic and electrical interferences is one of the most considerable advantages offered by it.
• Wiretapping is quite tricky in this mode of communication offering high security.

Limitations:

The limitations of the considered system are mentioned as follows (Agarwal, 2012):

• Transmission of the information over the system gets limited by dispersion and attenuation.
• It is not cost efficient system as its single mode cabling system is very costly. Though maintaining of the system is simple, it is not cheap.
• Limited availability of the system is also an issue for the interested users. Most of the ISP (Internet service providers) are not offering the services of fibre optics communication.

It refers to the ability of a system to stay operational in case of any hardware failure. Following methods can be adapted to add fault tolerance to the system:

• For power protection, the system can be attached to a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Source). It is a rechargeable battery hence, in case of power loss, the battery will offer backup. Dual Power supply computer systems can also be equipped.
• RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks) Level 1 Disk Mirroring (to image the data on another drive during operations) and RAID Level 5 Stripe Sets with Parity (it spreads the information over all the drives in stripe sets) can be equipped as hardware fault tolerance.

Modem router is directly connected to the core network router, and its connection with the server has been removed. Redesigning the network have resolved the connectivity problems and has also offered a boost in the network speed. An additional benefit of redesigning the network is that the telephone users can now directly access the ISN’s server.

Conclusion: 

The article can be emphasised to state that data communication is a revolutionary technology and it is still in its development stage. The latest development in the data communication technology is Fibre optics communication. It is offering high scalability and speed when compared to its predecessor. The technology mentioned above is also offering various other advantages over its predecessors. Though it also possesses some limitations that had been mentioned in the article. The article also discusses the network diagram of an ISP for better understanding. The ISP network has been evaluated to determine the advantages and faults of the systems before concluding with recommendations for improvement.

References:

Agrawal, G. P. (2012). Fiber-optic communication systems(Vol. 222). John Wiley & Sons.

Amiri, I. S., Ghorbani, S., Naraei, P., & Ahmad, H. (2015). Chaotic carrier signal generation and quantum transmission along fiber optics communication using integrated ring resonators. Quantum Matter, 4(2), 151-155.

Atakan, B., Akan, O. B., & Balasubramaniam, S. (2012). Body area nanonetworks with molecular communications in nanomedicine. IEEE Communications Magazine, 50(1).

Campbell-Kelly, M., & Garcia-Swartz, D. D. (2013). The history of the internet: the missing narratives. Journal of Information Technology, 28(1), 18-33.

Das, S., & Appenzeller, J. (2013). Where does the current flow in two-dimensional layered systems?. Nano letters, 13(7), 3396-3402.

Espina, J., Falck, T., Panousopoulou, A., Schmitt, L., Mülhens, O., & Yang, G. Z. (2014). Network topologies, communication protocols, and standards. In Body sensor networks (pp. 189-236). Springer London.

Fujimoto, N., & Mochizuki, H. (2013, March). 477 Mbit/s visible light transmission based on OOK-NRZ modulation using a single commercially available visible LED and a practical LED driver with a pre-emphasis circuit. In National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (pp. JTh2A-73). Optical Society of America.

Gitlin, R. D., Hayes, J. F., & Weinstein, S. B. (2012). Data communications principles. Springer Science & Business Media.

Pospischil, A., Humer, M., Furchi, M. M., Bachmann, D., Guider, R., Fromherz, T., & Mueller, T. (2013). CMOS-compatible graphene photodetector covering all optical communication bands. Nature Photonics, 7(11), 892-896.

Ribeiro, R. M., Lucarz, F., & Fracasso, B. (2013, July). Proposal and design of an all-optical encoder for digitising radio-over-fibre transceivers. In Network and Optical Communications (NOC), 2013 18th European Conference on and Optical Cabling and Infrastructure (OC&i), 2013 8th Conference on (pp. 35-42). IEEE.

Secondini, M., Forestieri, E., & Prati, G. (2013). Achievable information rate in nonlinear WDM fiber-optic systems with arbitrary modulation formats and dispersion maps. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 31(23), 3839-3852.

Wang, T., & You, Z. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,908,573. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Wang, Y., Chi, N., Wang, Y., Tao, L., & Shi, J. (2015). Network architecture of a high-speed visible light communication local area network. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 27(2), 197-200.

Ye, Y., Pan, Y. J., & Hilliard, T. (2013). Bilateral teleoperation with time-varying delay: A communication channel passification approach. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 18(4), 1431-1434.