Data Communication & It's Components

Data Communication

Data Communication means sharing the information. This sharing can be local or remote or with in a building. Local communication usually occurs face to face, while remote communication take place over distance.

This term telecommunication includes telephony, television mean communication at a distance. The world tele is a Greek word which means “far”. The word data refers to the facts. In the context of computer information system, data are represented by binary information unit produced in the form of 0s (zero) and 1s (one).

Data Communication is the exchange of data between the two devices via some of transmission medium. Data communication devices must be the part of the communication system made up of a combination of Hardware and Software. The effective data communication has three fundamental characteristics.

1. Delivery. System must deliver the data to the correct destination.
2. Accuracy. System must deliver accurate data.
3. Timeliness. System must deliver the data in a timely manner.

Components of Data Communication

There are five major components of data communication system: -

1. Message. The information which is to be communicated.
2. Sender. Sending data communication device are the devices that sends data message. It can be computer, workstation, telephone, radio, camera and so on.
3. Receiver. Receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer, workstation, telephone, TV and so on.
4. Medium. It is a physical path by which the message travels from sender to receiver.
5. Protocol. It is the set of rules that governs the data communication. It is agreement between the communication devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but they are not communicating (With each other). Just as a person speaking Tamil cannot understand the language of the person who speaks only Punjabi.

Transmission Technologies

Transmission Technologies

The following are some technologies that apply to communications: -

. Broadband Transmission
. Baseband Transmission

Broadband Transmission

Broadband transmission enables two or more communication channels to share the bandwidth of the transmission media. Broadband networks can simultaneously accommodate video, voice, and data. ISDN is an example of a WAN communication service that can provide broadband transactions.

Bandwidth is basically the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies in a given range. This refers to the capacity of the media. The greater the bandwidth, the faster the data-transfer capabilities will be.

For example: - Ethernet has a bandwidth of 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and Token Ring has a bandwidth of either 4Mbps or 16Mbps.

Baseband Transmission

Baseband transmission uses digital signals over a single frequency. With baseband transmission, the entire communication channel capacity is used to transmit a single data signal. Most LANs use baseband technology.