What is Data Transmission? Types of Data Transmission.

WRITTEN BY DINESH THAKUR Category: Communication Networks

Definition Data Transmission When we enter data into the computer via keyboard, each keyed element is encoded by the electronics within the keyboard into an equivalent binary coded pattern, using one of the standard coding schemes that are used for the interchange of information. To represent all characters of the keyboard, a unique pattern of 7 or 8 bits in size is used. The use of 7 bits means that 128 different elements can be represented, while 8 bits can represent 256 elements. A similar procedure is followed at the receiver that decodes every received binary pattern into the corresponding character.

The most widely used codes that have been adopted for this function are the Extended Binary Coded Decimal (EBCDIC) and the American Standard Code for Information Interchange codes (ASCII). Both coding schemes cater to all the normal alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation characters, collectively referred to as printable characters and a range of additional control characters, known as non-printable characters.

Data transmission refers to the movement of data in form of bits between two or more digital devices. This transfer of data takes place via some form of transmission media (for example, coaxial cable, fiber optics etc.) Types of Data Transmission

1. Parallel transmission

Defination: Within a computing or communication device, the distances between different subunits are too short. Thus, it is normal practice to transfer data between subunits using a separate wire to carry each bit of data. There are multiple wires connecting each sub-unit and data is exchanged using a parallel transfer mode. This mode of operation results in minimal delays in transferring each word.

In parallel transmission, all the bits of data are transmitted simultaneously on separate communication lines. In order to transmit n bits, n wires or lines are used. Thus each bit has its own line. All n bits of one group are transmitted with each clock pulse from one device to another i.e. multiple bits are sent with each clock pulse. Parallel transmission is used for short distance communication. As shown in the fig, eight separate wires are used to transmit 8 bit data from sender to receiver.

Advantage of parallel transmission

It is speedy way of transmitting data as multiple bits are transmitted simultaneously with a single clock pulse.

Disadvantage of parallel transmission

It is costly method of data transmission as it requires n lines to transmit n bits at the same time.

2. Serial Transmission

Defination: When transferring data between two physically separate devices, especially if the separation is more than a few kilometers, for reasons of cost, it is more economical to use a single pair of lines. Data is transmitted as a single bit at a time using a fixed time interval for each bit. This mode of transmission is known as bit-serial transmission.

In serial transmission, the various bits of data are transmitted serially one after the other. It requires only one communication line rather than n lines to transmit data from sender to receiver. Thus all the bits of data are transmitted on single line in serial fashion. In serial transmission, only single bit is sent with each clock pulse. As shown in fig., suppose an 8-bit data 11001010 is to be sent from source to destination. Then least significant bit (LSB) i,e. 0 will be transmitted first followed by other bits. The most significant bit (MSB) i.e. 1 will be transmitted in the end via single communication line. The internal circuitry of computer transmits data in parallel fashion. So in order to change this parallel data into serial data, conversion devices are used. These conversion devices convert the parallel data into serial data at the sender side so that it can be transmitted over single line. On receiver side, serial data received is again converted to parallel form so that the interval circuitry of computer can accept it

Serial transmission is used for long distance communication.

Advantage of Serial transmission

Use of single communication line reduces the transmission line cost by the factor of n as compared to parallel transmission.

Disadvantages of Serial transmission

1. Use of conversion devices at source and destination end may lead to increase in overall transmission cost. 2. This method is slower as compared to parallel transmission as bits are transmitted serially one after the other.

Types of Serial Transmission

There are two types of serial transmission-synchronous and asynchronous both these transmissions use 'Bit synchronization' Bit Synchronization is a function that is required to determine when the beginning and end of the data transmission occurs. Bit synchronization helps the receiving computer to know when data begin and end during a transmission. Therefore bit synchronization provides timing control.

Asynchronous Transmission

Asynchronous transmission sends only one character at a time where a character is either a letter of the alphabet or number or control character i.e. it sends one byte of data at a time. Bit synchronization between two devices is made possible using start bit and stop bit.

 Start bit indicates the beginning of data i.e. alerts the receiver to the arrival of new group of bits. A start bit usually 0 is added to the beginning of each byte. Stop bit indicates the end of data i.e. to let the receiver know that byte is finished, one or more additional bits are appended to the end of the byte. These bits, usually 1s are called stop bits.

Addition of start and stop increase the number of data bits. Hence more bandwidth is consumed in asynchronous transmission. There is idle time between the transmissions of different data bytes. This idle time is also known as Gap The gap or idle time can be of varying intervals. This mechanism is called Asynchronous, because at byte level sender and receiver need not to be synchronized. But within each byte, receiver must be synchronized with the incoming bit stream.

Application of Asynchronous Transmission

1. Asynchronous transmission is well suited for keyboard type-terminals and paper tape devices. 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.

2. Asynchronous transmission is best suited to Internet traffic in which information is transmitted in short bursts. This type of transmission is used by modems.

Advantages of Asynchronous transmission

1. This method of data transmission is cheaper in cost as compared to synchronous e.g. If lines are short, asynchronous transmission is better, because line cost would be low and idle time will not be expensive. 2. In this approach each individual character is complete in itself, therefore if character is corrupted during transmission, its successor and predecessor character will not be affected. 3. It is possible to transmit signals from sources having different bit rates. 4. The transmission can start as soon as data byte to be transmitted becomes available. 5. Moreover, this mode of data transmission in easy to implement.

Disadvantages of asynchronous transmission

1. This method is less efficient and slower than synchronous transmission due to the overhead of extra bits and insertion of gaps into bit stream. 2. Successful transmission inevitably depends on the recognition of the start bits. These bits can be missed or corrupted.

Synchronous Transmission

Synchronous transmission does not use start and stop bits. In this method bit stream is combined into longer frames that may contain multiple bytes. There is no gap between the various bytes in the data stream.

 In the absence of start & stop bits, bit synchronization is established between sender & receiver by 'timing' the transmission of each bit. Since the various bytes are placed on the link without any gap, it is the responsibility of receiver to separate the bit stream into bytes so as to reconstruct the original information. In order to receive the data error free, the receiver and sender operates at the same clock frequency.

Application of Synchronous transmission

Synchronous transmission is used for high speed communication between computers.

Advantage of Synchronous transmission

1. This method is faster as compared to asynchronous as there are no extra bits (start bit & stop bit) and also there is no gap between the individual data bytes.

Disadvantages of Synchronous transmission

1. It is costly as compared to asynchronous method. It requires local buffer storage at the two ends of line to assemble blocks and it also requires accurately synchronized clocks at both ends. This lead to increase in the cost.

2. The sender and receiver have to operate at the same clock frequency. This requires proper synchronization which makes the system complicated.

Comparison between Serial and Parallel transmission

Comparison between Asynchronous and Synchronous.

Analog vs Digital - Difference and Comparison

Transmission is the method by which computer networks send electrical signals. Data communication is concerned with the process of exchanging data electronically between two communication devices. In a local area network, all communication functions are performed through direct cables. Computers located far away are connected through a special form of data communication link. The existing telephone or telegraphic network may also be used for connecting computers located at remote locations. Two types of signals are widely used for transmission. They are

o o

Analog signals Digital signals

Analog Signal Transmission Transmission of data in analog form is done in the form of continuous waveforms. An analog signal resembles the one shown in Figure.

Information is first converted into an electrical signal known as base band electrical signal.Transmission is done by sending this base band signal directly. A special process called modulation is used in analog transmission to accommodate more than one information signal into a single channel. Modulation means varying anyone of the parameters of a high frequency waveform proportional to the amplitude of the base band signal. The parameters of the carrier often used for the modulation are amplitude, frequency, and phase. A model amplitude modulated waveform is shown in Figure.

Digital Signal Transmission Digital data transmission is the transmission of discrete data using two distinct electric states. A '1' for "on" and '0' for "off" represents these two states. Digital communication is more efficient than analog communication due to its discrete nature. Communication between computers is carried out in digital, as computers can recognize only binary data.

Digital signals also can be modulated or encoded to represent binary data. Following are some of the techniques used in current state strategies

Amplitude shift keying Frequency shift keying Phase shift keying

Amplitude shift keying encodes data using two signals of same frequency but different amplitudes. For example, a binary a might be represented by a 1volt signal and a binary 1might be represented by a 4 volts signal.

Frequency shift keying encodes binary data by varying the signal's frequency between two or more values. For example, the signal used for representing a binary 0 would be in one frequency and the signal for a binary 1 would be in some other frequency.

Phase shift keying encodes binary data by varying the phase of the signal to indicate a value. For example, a 180" phase-shifted signal could represent binary 1, and signal without phase shift could represents a binary 0. Figure illustrates the three keying schemes.

What is a Digital Signal? Characteristics of Digital Signal

Computers are digital in nature. Computers process, store, and communicate information in binary form, i.e. in the combination of 1s and 0s which has specific meaning in computer language. A binary digit (bit) is an individual 1 or O. Multiple bit streams are used in a computer network. Contemporary computer systems communicate in binary mode through variations in electrical voltage. Digital signaling, in an electrical network, 'involves a signal which varies in voltage to represent one of two discrete and well-defined states as depicted in Figure such as either a positive (+) voltage and a null or zero (0) voltage (unipolar) or a positive (+) or a negative (-) voltage (bipolar).

Although analog voice and video can be converted into digital, and digital data can be converted to analog, each format has its own advantages.

1. 2. 3. 4.

It can have only a limited number of defined values such as 1 and O. The transition of a digital signal from one value to other value is instantaneous. Digital signals are represented by square wave. In digital signals 1 is represented by having a positive voltage and 0 is represented by having no voltage or zero voltage as shown in figure. All the signals generated by computers and other digital devices are digital in nature.

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Characteristics of Digital Signals

1. Bit interval

It is the time required to send one single bit

2. Bit rate

(i) It refers to the number of bit intervals in one second. (ii) Therefore bit rate is the number of bits sent in one second as shown in fig. (iii)Bit rate is expressed in bits per second (bps). (iv)Other units used to express bit rate are Kbps, Mbps and Gbps.

1 kilobit per second (Kbps) = 1,000 bits per second 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) = 1,000,000 bits per second 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) = 1,000,000,000 bits per second

Advantages of Digital Signals

Digital Data - Digital transmission certainly has the advantage where binary computer data is being transmitted. The equipment required to convert digital data

to analog format and transmitting the digital bit streams over an analog network can be expensive, susceptible to failure, and can create errors in the information. Compression - Digital data can be compressed relatively easily, thereby increasing the efficiency of transmission. As a result, substantial volumes of voice, data, video and image information can be transmitted using relatively little raw bandwidth. Security - Digital systems offer better security. While analog systems offer some measure of security through the scrambling of several frequencies. Scrambling is fairly simple to defeat. Digital information, on the other hand, can be encrypted to create the appearance of a single, pseudorandom bit stream. Thereby, the true meaning of individual bits, sets of bits, or the total bit stream cannot be determined without having the key to unlock the encryption algorithm employed. Quality - Digital transmission offers improved error performance (quality) as compared to analog. This is due to the devices that boost the signal at periodic intervals in the transmission system in order to overcome the effects of attenuation. Additionally, digital networks deal more effectively with noise, which always is present in transmission networks. Cost - The cost of the computer components required in digital conversion and transmission has dropped considerably, while the ruggedness and reliability of those components has increased over the years. Upgradeability - Since digital networks are comprised of computer (digital) components, they are relatively easy to upgrade. Such upgrading can increase bandwidth, reduces the incidence of error and enhance functional value. Some upgrading can be effected remotely over a network, eliminating the need to dispatch expensive technicians for that purpose. Management - Generally speaking, digital networks can be managed much more easily and effectively due to the fact that such networks consist of computerized components. Such components can sense their own level of performance, isolate and diagnose failures, initiate alarms, respond to queries, and respond to commands to correct any failure. Further, the cost of these components continues to drop.

What is an Analog Signal? Characteristics of Analog Signal.

Analog is best explained by the transmission of signal such as sound or human speech, over an electrified copper wire. In its native form, human speech is an oscillatory disturbance in the air. Which varies in terms of its volume or power

(amplitude) and its pitch or tone (frequency)? Analogous variations in electrical or radio waves are created in order to transmit the analog information signal for video or audio or both over a network from a transmitter (TV station or CATV source) to a receiver (TV set, computer connected with antenna). At the receiving end an approximation (analog) of the original information is presented. Information which is analog in its native form (audio and image) can vary continuously in terms of intensity (volume or brightness) and frequency (tone or color). Those variations in the native information stream are translated in an analog electrical network into variations in -the amplitude and frequency of the carrier signal. In other words, the carrier signal is modulated (varied) in order to create an analog of the original information stream.

The electromagnetic sinusoidal (waveform) or sine wave can be varied in amplitude at a fixed frequency, using Amplitude Modulation (AM). Alternatively, the frequency of the sine wave can be varied at constant amplitude using Frequency Modulation (FM). Additionally, both frequency and amplitude can be modulated simultaneously.

1. 2. 3.

Analog signal can have infinite number of values and varies continuously with time. Analog signal is usually represented by sine wave. As shown in figure each cycle consists of a single arc above the time axis followed by a single arc below the time axis. Example of analog signal is human voice. When we speak, we use air to transmit an analog signal. Electrical signal from an audio tape, can also be in analog form

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Characteristics of Analog Signal 1. Amplitude

(i) Amplitude of a signal refers to the height of the signal.

(ii) It is equal to the vertical distance from a given point on the waveform to the horizontal axis. (iii) The maximum amplitude of a sine wave is equal to the highest value it reaches on the vertical axis as shown in figure.

(iv) Amplitude is measured in volts, amperes or watts depending on the type of signal. A volt is used for voltage, ampere for current and watts for power.

2. Period

(i) Period refers to the amount of time in which a signal completes one cycle. (ii) It is measured in seconds. (iii) Other units used to measure period are millisecond (10-3 sec.) microsecond (1 06 sec), nanosecond (10-9 sec) and picoseconds (10-12 sec).

3. Frequency

(i) It refers to the number of wave patterns completed in a given period of time. (ii) To be more precise, frequency refers to number of periods in one second or number of cycles per second. (iii) Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz) (iv) Other units used to express frequency are kilohertz (103 Hz) Megahertz (106 Hz), gigahertz (109 Hz) and terahertz (1012 Hz). (v) Frequency and period are the inverse of each other. Period is the inverse of frequency and frequency is the inverse of period.

4. Phase

(i) Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time zero. (ii) Phase describes the amount by which the waveform shifts forward or backward along the time axis. (iii) It indicates the status of first cycle. (iv)Phase is measured in degrees or radians. (v) A phase shift of 3600 indicates a shift of a complete period, a phase shift of 180 indicates a shift of half period and a phase shift of 90 indicates a shift of a quarter of a period as shown in fig. below.

Advantages of Analog Signals (1) Best suited for the transmission of audio and video. (2) Consumes less bandwidth than digital signals to carry the same information. (3) Analog systems are readily in place around the world. (4) Analog signal is less susceptible to noise.