Data Communications and Net-Centric computing

Data Communication & Net-Cetric-Comp-COSC2238

Data Communication & Net-Centric-Comp (COSC2238)
Assignment 1

HAND OUT DATE: 8th September 2011

HAND IN DATE: 29th September 2011

WEIGHTAGE: 15%

Instructions to student:
• This is an individual Report.
• Complete this cover sheet and attach it to your report – this should be your first page!

Student declaration:
I declare that:
 I understand what is meant by plagiarism
 The implication of plagiarism have been explained to me by our lecturer
This assignment is my own work.
Name Student ID
Komalah Mugundan 1002R74627


Content Page

Contents Page Number

Introduction 1

Basic Network Diagram, Cables, Connectors 3

The Cards and Wireless Receivers/Card 4

The Network Equipment and Peripherals 5

The Network Topology 7

OSI Model 9

Agreement Conditions for Exhibitors 10

Conclusion & References 11


Introduction

I, Komalah Mugundan hereby had done my assignment one of Data Communications & Net-
Centric-Computing successfully and would like to thank my lovely lecturer, Ms Sumathi
Balakrishnan because she assist me throughout this coursework. Moreover, I would like to thank
my friends to assist me where the parts that I did wrong and teach me the correct way, as well as my
parents to support me by giving a good courage and feedback during my progression for the
assignment.

Upon completion of this coursework, it had helped me much to gain more knowledge and essential
skills about networking. Basically, I began to research deeply about the networking especially for
this assignment, I can say that the assignment triggered me to do a lot of findings and research to
complete it successfully. Moreover, I had referred some reference books from school library where
the contents are acquire and sufficient about the networking. I discovered a lot of things more out of
lecture and tutorial session conducted by Ms Sumathi Balakrishnan. Information about the network
cables, connectors, cards and wireless receivers card, network topology as well as OSI Model really
encouraged me discover more in this assignment.

Actually, the coursework is about for proposing the Network Essentials and Infrastructures needed
for an Exhibition at Multi Purpose Hall(MPH), Taylor’s Lakeside Campus. So they have requested
the students to offer our knowledge on the network proposal. Hence, we should provide a basic
network-diagram equipped with the elements of cables, connectors, cards & wireless receivers and
suitable network topology. Moreover, OSI Model must be described in detail and students required
to do the Terms and Conditions Agreement Condition Form for the exhibitors to take part in the
exhibition.

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Basic Network Diagram

The Cables
Cable is the medium through which data usually moves from one network device to another. I
choose fibre optic cable is the suitable cable to connect those network peripherals. As seen in figure
below, fibre optic cabling consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective
materials that help to eliminate the signal interferences. This make ideal for environment which
most likely to have more signal interferences like exhibition. It has also made it the standard for the
networks between the several floor within building. Moreover, fiber optic cabling enables signal
transmission over much longer distances than coaxial and twisted pair. Most likely, coaxial and
twisted pair cabling just enable the transmission of signals within certain distance. The enclosed
area where exhibition is going to take place consist compters spread out over a single floor of a
building or several floor. We cannot surely said that the distance from a floor to another maybe
some of them far where the other cabling do not support the signal transmission or maybe the error
will be happens in signal transmission once installed. Furthermore, the another fact why I choose
fibre optic cabling is the capability to carry information at vastly great speeds.

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Besides that, fibre optic cabling has a built in security as no one cannot intercept data as can
perform with other cable mediums.

Security mechanism is more iportant feature for an exhibition that take place in an university where
we have the possibility that information fraud or theft may happen. Hence, fibre optic cabling made
for security reasons but other cablings are not.

The Connectors
There are some sort of connectors available for fibre optic cabling.
 Fibre Local Connector – is the fibre optic cable connector.
 MT-RJ Connector – is the fibre optic cable connector.
 ST(Straight-Tip) Connector – one of a connector that originally developed by AT&T.
 USB Connector - to standardize the connection of computer peripherals.

MT-RJ Connector ST(Straight-Tip) Connector

3


The Cards and Wireless Receivers/Card
(Wired and Wireless Network Diagram)

Network card is an expansion card which installed into a computer and enables the computer to
pysically connected to local area network. The most common card that used for local area network
currently is Ethernet Card. Other types of network cards as wireless network card called as Token
Ring network card.
Network cards are usually or commonly called as network adapter or network interface card or NIC.
Moreover, there are cards available such as USB network card and PCMCIA network card. The
PCMCIA(Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) most popular when the year
portable computers that are laptops or notebooks introduced. Most laptops may utilize PCMCIA
network card sice most laptops are used in the exhibition.
Video cards are should be available in the exhibition to enable displaying cards, graphics cards,
graphics controllers, or graphics accelerator cards, convert binary data (bytes) into display images
in exhibition.

4


The Network equipments and Peripherals
Networking hardware refers to equipment which typically enables compuers to network include
hardware such as
 modem
 router
 switches or hubs
 network interface cards
 wireless access points.

Modem – A modem enables a computer to transmit data over long distancesr hubs - using cables or
telephone lines. Whenever computer data is in digital form, it should be converted for transmission
over the cable/telephone line which only carries the analog waves. This conversion is triggered or
done by modem.

Router – A router referred to a computer which has the ability to perform tasks as routing and
forwarding data using hardware and software. Router generally contains a operating system along
with such devices as RAM, NVRAM, flash memory, and one or more processors.

Switches or hubs – Switches are simply defines as devices that join multiple computers together in
the hall with better facilities offered than hubs. Hubs are the devices that are simple, uncomplicated,
economical devices with a lower levvel of networking facilities. This device plays important role in
transmission of data between computers in hall.

Network Inetrface Card – This piece of networking hardware is more essential for any computer
network, it is providing access between a computer in a hall and network connection. Aafter
installing this device only, the computers in hall connected to internet without any interrupt.

Wireless access point – The wireless access point9WAP) enables wireless devices to connect to a
wired network using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and other standars in the hall. Mostly the people in hall
prone to use the wireless devices as they are portable and innovative.

5


Network Topology

The most suitable physical topology that I suggest for the exhibition hall is Star topology as above
diagram described. Star topology is designed with each node(network equipments and peripherals)
connected directly to a central hub or maybe server or switch. Data on a star network passes through
the hub/server/switch, before continuing to its destination. The hub is the master of the network and
controls every single functions in the network, though called as repeater for data flow.The hub plays
role as to regenerate the electrical signal and sends it to all the computers conneted to it. Moreover,
it had more advantages than disadvantages. If a computer fails, it does not bring down entire
network unless the hub fails. Moreover, it is east to detect the faults and remove the defected parts.
Besides that, the star topology is easy to install and there are no any networkk disruptions when
adding or removing devices. These all features are very important for the exhibition hall and most
importantly the network would be large for the exhiition and star topology is most suitable for this.

When comparing with bus topology, eventhough the installation takes cheap we should think about
circumstances about the error-detection and it is not suit for larger network. It is difficult to identify
when the entire network is down and is not recommended for larger network. If more than few
dozen computers added to the bus topology, the performance will be slower. In addition, If the
backbone of the bus network fails, the entire network shut down.Hence, the exhibition is using 2 to
hundreds computers for the exhibition purpose, hence this network does not suit for this event.

6


When comparing with tree or expanded star topology, the overall segments limited by the cabling
type that used. Moreover, it is difficult to install compared to any other topologies and it is difficult
to configure also. When the backbone of the network break, this will bring down the entire network
down and it is not easy to detect where the error happened as mentioned earlier.

The ring network eventhough widely used in many organisations, I would not like to recommend
this kind of topology. This is because the failure of network can happens anytime because it depend
on a single computer on the network. If a computer failed to perform, this will bring down the entire
network. Eventhough this ring network always checking for the errors, still it is not made to
troubleshoot the error easily. Hence, the troubleshooting the ring network is not easy thing to do.
Furthermore, if the exhibition really wants to add or remove any device, this action will disturbs the
network and maybe this will ends in network failure completely.

Lastly, there is a topology called as Mesh Topology, and this is quite expensive to install compared
to others due to the quantity of cabling and number of input and output ports. Furthermore, large
space or place is required for the cablings because there will be a big amount cabling. Hence, this is
not strongly recommended for the university exhibition hall.

7


OSI Model

Description of Each Layer:
Physical Layer – This layer defines electrical impulses, light or radio signal through the network at
the electrical and mechanical level. In addition, it define cables, cards, and their physical features.
The major functions of this layer are establishment and termination of a connection, manages flow
control among multiple users, and modulation. The protocols for this layer are Token ring,
bluetooth, IEEE 802.15.4.

Data Link Layer – At this layer, data packets are encoded and decoded into bits. It furnishes
transmission protocol knowledge and also handles errors in the physical layer. There are two sub
layers in this layer called as MAC(Media access control) and LLC(Logical Link Control). The
MAC controls how a computer access data and how it transmits it. LLC Layer controls frame
sychronization and error checking. The protocols for this layers are TCP and PCP(Point-to-Point
protocol).

8


Network Layer – This layer plays an important role in networking that is switching and routing. Not
only that, it will create a logical path for transmitting data from node to node. Besides that, this
layer manages flow of control, error handling, packet sequencing, and call establishment processes.
The protocols for this layer are IP v4, IPv6, and etc.

Transport Layer – This layer provides reliable, ensures end-to-end data transfer and integrity across
the network. Not only that, this layer ensures also completion of data tranfer and assembles packets
for routing by network layer. UDP(User Transmission Control) and TCP are the most common
protocols for this layer.

Session Layer – This layer establishes, manages, controls connections between applications. It
coordinate connections, and interaction between applications, and manages data flow
synchoronization. This layer responsible for closure of sessions, which is the property of TCP.

Presentation Layer – This layer negotiates syntactic presentations and performs data trasformations
like compression and data conversion.

Application Layer – This layer supports where applications and end-user processes. Everything at
this layer considered as application-specific. This layer provide application services like FTP(File
Transfer Protocol), emails and other network services.

9


Agreement conditions for Exhibitors
a) Venue
Jalan SS 15/8,
SS 15, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor,
Multi Purpose Hall, Level 2,
Contact Number : 03-56362641
Website : http://www.taylors.edu.my
b) Exhibition Dates
23/11/2011 till 30/11/2011
c) View of Lakeside Campus :

d) Exhibit Fees : RM250.00 (Taylor's University Student/Staff), RM 280.00 (Parents/Relations of
students/staff), RM350.00(Outsiders)
*IMPORTANT NOTE : Who are bring over the leaflet will enjoy discount up
to 20% from the mentioned fees above.
e) The things the exhibitor should bring :
- Network interface Card in order to enjoy network facilities provided.
f) Exhibits
– The Multi purpose hall may accommodate 500 exhibitors and it costs expensive to built
it into as an exhibition hall.
– The transmission speed required for this exhibition is approximately 10Mbps
g) Dismantling exhibits
Exhibitor agrees not to dismantle the exhibit or do any packaging of its materials before the
closing hour of the last exhibit day as set forth in the Exhibitor Prospectus and agrees to remove
its Exhibit and all exhibit materials by the specified time closing of Wednesday, 30 November
2011. Exhibitor agrees to pay a RM300 fee for any violation of the foregoing damages.

10


Conclusion
I, Komalah Mugundan hereby would like to thank all the kind and generous hearts who are willing
to spend time on my assignment by checking what is going on wrong or right.

The main Thanks go to Ms Sumathi Balakrishnan and my fellow friends who had spent their time
for discussing about the assignment. We shared our ideas and we came out with the final progress of
our assignment with the assistance of our cute lecturer.

References
1) Data Communications networking devices : operations, utilization, and LAN, WAN
Internetworking/ Gilbert Held
Author : Held, Gilbert
2) Lecture Notes provided by Lecturer.

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Data Communications and Net-Centric computing

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