Data Transmission

Wired connections

 Wires can be:

Serial

 One bit is sent at a time across a single wire

Figure 1: A sender sends a stream of bits in sequence, one after the

one across a single wire

Parallel

 Multiple bits are sent at a time across several wires.

 Transmission is asynchronous as some bits may arrive quicker than
others. This is known as skewing or skewed data.
o Asynchronous transmission means data does not always arrive at
the same time

Figure 2: A sender sends a stream of bits in sequence, one after the

other across multiple wires at the same time


o Simplex
 Simplex transmissions are unidirectional and travel in only one
direction
o Half-duplex
 Half-duplex transmissions are bidirectional i.e. can travel in both
directions, but not simultaneously!
o Full-duplex
 Full-duplex transmissions are bidirectional but can transmit
signals in both directions at the same time
 Wires can be combinations of serial, parallel, simplex, half-duplex and full-duplex

Simplex Half-duplex Full-duplex

Serial Serial-Simplex Serial-Half-duplex Serial-Full-duplex
Parallel Parallel-Simplex Parallel-Half-duplex Parallel-Full-duplex
 Figure 3: Wire types can be combined between serial/parallel and
simplex/half-duplex/full-duplex


o Serial-Simplex
 Data is transmitted one bit at a time in a single
direction on one wire
o Serial-Half-duplex
 Data can be transmitted in both directions on a single wire but
only one bit at a time can be transmitted in one direction at a
time
o Serial-Full-duplex
 Data can be transmitted in both directions at the same time on
a single wire one bit at a time
o Parallel-Simplex
 Multiple wires transmit one bit at a time in one direction
o Parallel-Half-duplex
 Multiple wires send multiple bits of data in both
directions but only one direction at a time
o Parallel-Full-duplex
 Multiple wires send multiple bits of data in both directions at
the same time

Advantages and disadvantages of each method

Advantages Disadvantages

Serial  The data will arrive in the  Data transmission is slow,

order it is sent especially over long distances
 It is less likely to have errors as only small quantities of
 Serial transmission data can be transmitted at a
is cheap over short and long time
distances as the cost of wire is
fairly inexpensive  Serial transmission is
expensive over very long
distances as the cost of wire
dramatically increases

Parallel  Parallel transmission  Parallel transmission

is fast as large quantities is expensive over short
of data can be transmitted at distances as multiple wires
any one time need to be purchased.
Transmission is very
expensive over long distances
as the cost of wires
dramatically increases with
 the distance

 Delays can be caused if

data arrives asynchronously
as the receiver has to wait
for all of the bits before
accepting new data. This is
especially true over longer
distances
o Buffers may be used
to store data
temporarily while
waiting for all bits to
arrive

Simplex  Simplex wires  Data transmission

are cheap as only one wire is slow as data still travels
is used one bit at a time in only
one direction at a time

 Simplex transmission
requires two sets of
wires for bidirectional
transmission meaning it
can become expensive

Half-duplex  Half-duplex transmission

 Transmission is
is cheaper than
still slow as data travels
simplex for bidirectional
one bit at a time in only
transmission as it requires
one direction at a time
fewer wires

Full-duplex
 Full-duplex transmission
is faster as data can travel
 Full-duplex
in both directions
is expensive as the wire
simultaneously. The
technology to transmit in
receiver does not have to
both directions is more
wait for the sender to stop
difficult to implement
before they can start
transmitting their data

Example scenarios of using each method

 Serial
o Connecting an external hard drive to a computer
o Transmitting data over a telephone line
 Parallel
 o Transmitting data from a computer to a printer using a multi-wire
connector
 Simplex
o Transmitting data from a computer to a printer. The printer doesn’t
need to send data back to the computer
 Modern versions of devices such as printers may send
acknowledgement signals to confirm they have received the
data. This may require half-duplex rather than simplex
connections
 Half-duplex
o Phone conversations where only one person needs to speak at a
time
o A walkie-talkie is a two-way radio with a push to speak button. The
receiver is turned off while the transmitter is turned on. This
prevents you from hearing the other person while you speak
 Full-duplex
o Broadband connections to the internet. Data must be sent and
received at the same time. Accessing information on the internet is
known as downloading information. Putting information onto the
internet for others to access is known as uploading
o Phone conversations where both people can talk and be heard at
the same time allowing them to interrupt each other

Worked example

A company has a website that is stored on a web server

The company uses parallel half-duplex data transmission to transmit the data for
the new videos to the web server.

Explain why parallel half-duplex data transmission is the most appropriate

method.

[6]

 Parallel would allow for the fastest transmission [1]

 as large amounts of data [1]
 can be uploaded and downloaded [1]
 but this does not have to be at the same time [1]
 Data is not required to travel a long distance [1]
 Therefore, skewing is not a problem [1]
 USB

 The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an asynchronous and serial method

of transmitting data between devices and has become an industry
standard.
 Many devices use USB such as keyboards, mice, video cameras, printers,
portable media players, mobile phones, disk drives, network adapters, etc
 Different USB connectors exist for different devices. Some examples are:
o USB-A (flash drives, mice, keyboards, external HDD, etc)
o USB-B (printers, scanners, optical drives, floppy drives, etc)
o USB-C
 USB-C is becoming the new standard of USB due to its small size and
speed

 When a device is connected to a USB port the computer is:

o Automatically detects that the device has been connected
o Automatically recognised and the appropriate device driver
is loaded so that the device can communicate with the
computer
 If the device is new, the computer will look for a matching device driver. If one
cannot be found then the user must download and install an appropriate driver
manually

Advantages and disadvantages of USB

Advantages Disadvantages

 Devices are automatically

detected and drivers are  The maximum cable length is roughly
automatically loaded for 5 metres meaning it cannot be used
communication. This simplifies the data over long distances, limiting its use
transmission process for the user

 Cable connectors fit in only one way.  Older versions of USB have limited
This prevents incorrect connections transmission rates for example USB
and ensures compatible data
 transmission 2.0 has 480Mbps

 As USB usage is standardised, there is  Very old USB standards may not be
a lot of support available online and supported in the near future (USB 1.1,
from retailers USB 2.0, etc)

 Several different data transmission

rates are supported. The newest
transmission rate as of 2022 is USB4
2.0 with 80 Gbps (81,920 Mbps, 170x
faster than USB 2.0)

 Newer USB
standards are backwards
compatible with older USB standards

Worked example

Julia uses a USB connection to transfer data onto her USB flash memory drive.

(i) One benefit of using a USB connection is that it is a universal connection.

State two other benefits of using a USB connection.
[2]

 Any two of:

o It cannot be inserted incorrectly [1]
o Supports different transmission speeds [1]
o High speed transmission [1]
o Automatically detected [1]
o Powers the device for data transfer [1]

(ii) Identify the type of data transmission used in a USB connection.

[1]

 Serial [1]