computer network
computer network
a)wireless LAN
Wireless LAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network. It is also called LAWN (Local Area Wireless
Network). WLAN is one in which a mobile user can connect to a Local Area Network (LAN)
through a wireless connection.The IEEE 802.11 group of standards defines the technologies for
wireless LANs. For path sharing, 802.11 standard uses the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA
(carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance). It also uses an encryption method i.e.
wired equivalent privacy algorithm.
Wireless LANs provide high speed data communication in small areas such as building or an
office. WLANs allow users to move around in a confined area while they are still connected to
the network.
In some instance wireless LAN technology is used to save costs and avoid laying cable, while in
other cases, it is the only option for providing high-speed internet access to the public. Whatever
the reason, wireless solutions are popping up everywhere.
Advantages of WLANs
o Flexibility: Within radio coverage, nodes can communicate without further restriction.
Radio waves can penetrate walls, senders and receivers can be placed anywhere (also non-
visible, e.g., within devices, in walls etc.).
o Planning: Only wireless ad-hoc networks allow for communication without previous
planning, any wired network needs wiring plans.
o Design: Wireless networks allow for the design of independent, small devices which can
for example be put into a pocket. Cables not only restrict users but also designers of small
notepads, PDAs, etc.
Disadvantages of WLANs
o Quality of Services: Quality of wireless LAN is typically lower than wired networks. The main
reason for this is the lower bandwidth due to limitations is radio transmission, higher error
rates due to interference and higher delay/delay variation due to extensive error
correction and detection mechanisms.
o Proprietary Solutions: Due to slow standardization procedures, many companies have
come up with proprietary solutions offering standardization functionality plus many
enhanced features. Most components today adhere to the basic standards IEEE 802.11a
or 802.11b.
o Restrictions: Several govt. and non-govt. institutions world-wide regulate the operation
and restrict frequencies to minimize interference.
b)Sensor networks
A sensor network is a group of sensors where each sensor monitors data in a different location
and sends that data to a central location for storage, viewing, and analysis.
There are many applications for sensor networks, from monitoring a single home, to the
surveillance of a large city, to earthquake detection for the whole world.
Home security
The primary goal of a home security sensor network is to detect an intruder. Many different
types of sensors can help collect data towards that goal, such as magnetic open sensors on doors
and windows, acoustic-based glass break sensors, security cameras, and motion detectors.
Environmental monitoring
Researchers, farmers, and governments need to monitor aspects of the natural environment
such as air pollution, water quality, soil conditions, and weather metrics. The traditional
approach to monitoring is to collect a sample, bring it back to a lab, analyze it, and record the
results. Needless to say, that approach is slow and dependent on human labor, so traditional
monitoring doesn't produce a lot of data.
A more automated and scalable approach is to use a sensor network. Sensors can be distributed
across an area, collect the environmental data, and send it back to a central server for
processing.
In the Great Lakes of the United States, dozens of buoys use sensors to collect data about
wind speed, water temperature, air temperature, and wave height.
2.Methods for error detection and correction.
Error detection
• 1 is added as a parity bit to the data block if the data block has an odd number of 1's.
• 0 is added as a parity bit to the data block if the data block has an even number of 1's.
This procedure is used for making the number of 1's even. This is commonly known as even
parity checking.
Disadvantage:
• Only single-bit error is detected by this method, it fails in multi-bit error detection.
• It can not detect an error in case of an error in two bits.
For every row and column, parity check bits are calculated by a simple method of parity check.
Parity for both rows and columns is transmitted with the data sent from sender to receiver. At
the receiver’s side, parity bits are compared with the calculated parity of the data received.
Error Correction
When the data is sent from the sender side to the receiver's side it needs to be detected and
corrected. So an error correction method is used for this purpose. Following are the two ways
through which error correction can be handled:
In this method, When any error is found in the data at the receiver's end. Then the request for
resending the whole data unit is sent by the receiver.
In this method, an error-correcting code is used by the receiver that automatically corrects the
errors.
2𝑟>=𝑑+𝑟+12r>=d+r+1
The Data Link Layer is responsible for transmission of data between two nodes. Its main
functions are-
• Data Link Control
• Multiple Access Control
.
Advantages :
Disadvantages :
• It is complex to implement
• It require the accurate information about the channel
Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA): CSMA is a widely used multiple access protocol in which
devices listen for carrier signals on the communication channel before transmitting. If a carrier
signal is detected, the device waits for a random amount of time before attempting to transmit
to reduce the likelihood of collisions.
Collision Detection (CD): CD is a feature of some multiple access protocols that allows devices
to detect when a collision has occurred and take appropriate action, such as backing off and
retrying the transmission.
o Centralized algorithm: It is also known as global routing algorithm as it computes the least-
cost path between source and destination by using complete and global knowledge about
the network. This algorithm takes the connectivity between the nodes and link cost as
input, and this information is obtained before actually performing any calculation. Link
state algorithm is referred to as a centralized algorithm since it is aware of the cost of each
link in the network.
o Isolation algorithm: It is an algorithm that obtains the routing information by using local
information rather than gathering information from other nodes.
Connection Establishment –
1. Sender starts the process with the following:
• Sequence number (Seq=521): contains the random initial sequence number generated at
the sender side.
• Syn flag (Syn=1): request the receiver to synchronize its sequence number with the above-
provided sequence number.
• Maximum segment size (MSS=1460 B): sender tells its maximum segment size, so that
receiver sends datagram which won’t require any fragmentation. MSS field is present
inside Option field in TCP header.
• Window size (window=14600 B): sender tells about his buffer capacity in which he has to
store messages from the receiver.
2. TCP is a full-duplex protocol so both sender and receiver require a window for receiving
messages from one another.
• Sequence number (Seq=2000): contains the random initial sequence number generated at
the receiver side.
• Syn flag (Syn=1): request the sender to synchronize its sequence number with the above-
provided sequence number.
• Maximum segment size (MSS=500 B): receiver tells its maximum segment size, so that
sender sends datagram which won’t require any fragmentation. MSS field is present
inside Option field in TCP header.
Since MSSreceiver < MSSsender, both parties agree for minimum MSS i.e., 500 B to avoid
fragmentation of packets at both ends.
Termination
1. Graceful connection release –
In the Graceful connection release, the connection is open until both parties have closed
their sides of the connection.
2. Abrupt connection release –
In an Abrupt connection release, either one TCP entity is forced to close the connection or
one user closes both directions of data transfer.
Abrupt connection release :
An abrupt connection release is carried out when an RST segment is sent. An RST segment can
be sent for the below reasons:
1. When a non-SYN segment was received for a non-existing TCP connection.
2. In an open connection, some TCP implementations send an RST segment when a segment
with an invalid header is received. This will prevent attacks by closing the corresponding
connection.
6.OSI reference model.
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model is a conceptual framework that divides network
communications functions into seven layers. Sending data over a network is complex because
various hardware and software technologies must work cohesively across geographical and
political boundaries. The OSI data model provides a universal language for computer networking,
so diverse technologies can communicate using standard protocols or rules of communication.
Every technology in a specific layer must provide certain capabilities and perform specific
functions to be useful in networking. Technologies in the higher layers benefit from abstraction
as they can use lower-level technologies without having to worry about underlying
implementation details.
Physical layer
The physical layer refers to the physical communication medium and the technologies to
transmit data across that medium. At its core, data communication is the transfer of digital and
electronic signals through various physical channels like fiber-optic cables, copper cabling, and
air. The physical layer includes standards for technologies and metrics closely related with the
channels, such as Bluetooth, NFC, and data transmission speeds.
The data link layer refers to the technologies used to connect two machines across a network
where the physical layer already exists. It manages data frames, which are digital signals
encapsulated into data packets. Flow control and error control of data are often key focuses of
the data link layer. Ethernet is an example of a standard at this level. The data link layer is often
split into two sub-layers: the Media Access Control (MAC) layer and Logical Link Control (LLC)
layer.
Network layer
The network layer is concerned with concepts such as routing, forwarding, and addressing across
a dispersed network or multiple connected networks of nodes or machines. The network layer
may also manage flow control. Across the internet, the Internet Protocol v4 (IPv4) and IPv6 are
used as the main network layer protocols.
Transport layer
The primary focus of the transport layer is to ensure that data packets arrive in the right order,
without losses or errors, or can be seamlessly recovered if required. Flow control, along with
error control, is often a focus at the transport layer. At this layer, commonly used protocols
include the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), a near-lossless connection-based protocol, and
the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a lossy connectionless protocol. TCP is commonly used where
all data must be intact (e.g. file share), whereas UDP is used when retaining all packets is less
critical (e.g. video streaming).
Session layer
The session layer is responsible for network coordination between two separate applications in a
session. A session manages the beginning and ending of a one-to-one application connection and
synchronization conflicts. Network File System (NFS) and Server Message Block (SMB) are
commonly used protocols at the session layer.
Presentation layer
The presentation layer is primarily concerned with the syntax of the data itself for applications to
send and consume. For example, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), JavaScipt Object Notation
(JSON), and Comma Separated Values (CSV) are all modeling languages to describe the structure
of data at the presentation layer.
Application layer
The application layer is concerned with the specific type of application itself and its standardized
communication methods. For example, browsers can communicate using HyperText Transfer
Protocol Secure (HTTPS), and HTTP and email clients can communicate using POP3 (Post Office
Protocol version 3) and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
Error is a condition when the receiver’s information does not match the sender’s information.
During transmission, digital signals suffer from noise that can introduce errors in the binary bits
traveling from sender to receiver. That means a 0 bit may change to 1 or a 1 bit may change to
0.
Data (Implemented either at the Data link layer or Transport Layer of the OSI Model) may get
scrambled by noise or get corrupted whenever a message is transmitted. To prevent such errors,
error-detection codes are added as extra data to digital messages. This helps in detecting any
errors that may have occurred during message transmission.
Types of Errors
Single-Bit Error
A single-bit error refers to a type of data transmission error that occurs when one bit (i.e., a
single binary digit) of a transmitted data unit is altered during transmission, resulting in an
incorrect or corrupted data unit.
Single-Bit Error
Multiple-Bit Error
A multiple-bit error is an error type that arises when more than one bit in a data transmission is
affected. Although multiple-bit errors are relatively rare when compared to single-bit errors,
they can still occur, particularly in high-noise or high-interference digital environments.
Burst Error
When several consecutive bits are flipped mistakenly in digital transmission, it creates a burst
error. This error causes a sequence of consecutive incorrect values.
Burst Error
8.Channel allocation problem in medium access control sublayers.
Channel allocation is a process in which a single channel is divided and allotted to multiple
users in order to carry user specific tasks. There are user’s quantity may vary every time the
process takes place. If there are N number of users and channel is divided into N equal-sized
sub channels, Each user is assigned one portion. If the number of users are small and don’t
vary at times, then Frequency Division Multiplexing can be used as it is a simple and efficient
channel bandwidth allocating technique.
Channel allocation problem can be solved by two schemes: Static Channel Allocation in LANs
and MANs, and Dynamic Channel Allocation.
Station Model:
Assumes that each of N stations independently produce frames. The probability of producing a
packet in the interval IDt where I is the constant arrival rate of new frames.
Single Channel Assumption: In this allocation all stations are equivalent and can send and
receive on that channel.
Collision Assumption: If two frames overlap in time-wise, then that’s collision. Any collision is
an error, and both frames must re transmitted. Collisions are only possible error.
Internet Protocols are a set of rules that governs the communication and exchange of data
over the internet. Both the sender and receiver should follow the same protocols in order to
communicate the data. In order to understand it better, let’s take an example of a language.
Any language has its own set of vocabulary and grammar which we need to know if we want to
communicate in that language. Similarly, over the internet whenever we access a website or
exchange some data with another device then these processes are governed by a set of rules
called the internet protocols.
The internet and many other data networks work by organizing data into small
pieces called packets. Each large data sent between two network devices is divided into
smaller packets by the underlying hardware and software. Each network protocol defines the
rules for how its data packets must be organized in specific ways according to the protocols
the network supports.
Types Of Cryptography
1. Symmetric Key Cryptography
It is an encryption system where the sender and receiver of a message use a single common key
to encrypt and decrypt messages. Symmetric Key cryptography is faster and simpler but the
problem is that the sender and receiver have to somehow exchange keys securely. The most
popular symmetric key cryptography systems are Data Encryption Systems (DES) and Advanced
Encryption Systems (AES).
2. Hash Functions
There is no usage of any key in this algorithm. A hash value with a fixed length is calculated as
per the plain text which makes it impossible for the contents of plain text to be recovered. Many
operating systems use hash functions to encrypt passwords.
A communication satellite is an artificial satellite that acts as a large repeater in the sky. It receives
signals from the source transmitter, amplifies using transponders, and relays them to the receiver.
Thus, it creates a communication channel between locations of the earth that would not have
been able to communicate due to long distance or obstruction by earth’s curvature.
• Internet
• Military operations
• Television
• Telephone
• Radio
Communication satellites are broadly categorized into three types depending upon the orbit in
which they are placed.
• Geostationary Satellite (GEO) − They are at 36,000 km from the earth’s surface. They have
same orbital period as earth’s rotation. So they appear to be still in the sky. At least 3 GEOs
are needed for global coverage.
• Medium Earth Orbit Satellite (MEO) − They are placed between the two Van Allen belts, at
a distance between 2,000 km to 36,000 km from the earth’s surface. At least 10 MEOs are
needed for global coverage.
• Low Earth Orbit Satellite (LEO) − They are situated below the Lower Van Allen belt. Their
orbital altitude is 160 km to 2000 km. For global coverage, as high as 50 LEOs are required.
Advantages :
• Through satellite transmission, coverage over geographical area is quite large mainly for
sparsely populated areas.
• High bandwidth and broadcast possibilities .
• Wireless and mobile communication applications can be easily established by satellite
communication independent of location.
• It is used in wide variety of applications such as global mobile communication, private
business networks, Long distance telephone transmission, weather forecasting, radio/TV
signal broadcasting, gathering intelligence in military, navigation of ships and air crafts,
connecting remote areas, television distribution etc.
Disadvantages :
• Design, development, investment, and insurance of satellite requires higher cost.
• There can be a congestion of frequencies.
• propagation issues and interference may arise.
• Launching satellites into orbit is an expensive process.
• To reach the satellite from Earth, time can vary between 270 milliseconds and return again
to 320 milliseconds. This propagation delay can cause an echo over telephone connections
• Satellites are not easy to repair and maintain.
To establish a reliable service between two machines on a network, transport protocols are
implemented, which somehow resembles the data link protocols implemented at layer 2. The
major difference lies in the fact that the data link layer uses a physical channel between two
routers while the transport layer uses a subnet.
Types of Service
The transport layer also determines the type of service provided to the users from the session
layer. An error-free point-to-point communication to deliver messages in the order in which they
were transmitted is one of the key functions of the transport layer.
Error Control
Error detection and error recovery are an integral part of reliable service, and therefore they are
necessary to perform error control mechanisms on an end-to-end basis. To control errors from
lost or duplicate segments, the transport layer enables unique segment sequence numbers to the
different packets of the message, creating virtual circuits, allowing only one virtual circuit per
session.
Flow Control
The underlying rule of flow control is to maintain a synergy between a fast process and a slow
process. The transport layer enables a fast process to keep pace with a slow one.
Acknowledgements are sent back to manage end-to-end flow control. Go back N algorithms are
used to request retransmission of packets starting with packet number N. Selective Repeat is used
to request specific packets to be retransmitted.
Connection Establishment/Release
The transport layer creates and releases the connection across the network. This includes a
naming mechanism so that a process on one machine can indicate with whom it wishes to
communicate. The transport layer enables us to establish and delete connections across the
network to multiplex several message streams onto one communication channel.
Multiplexing/De multiplexing
The transport layer establishes a separate network connection for each transport connection
required by the session layer. To improve throughput, the transport layer establishes multiple
network connections. When the issue of throughput is not important, it multiplexes several
transport connections onto the same network connection, thus reducing the cost of establishing
and maintaining the network connections.
Addressing
Transport Layer deals with addressing or labelling a frame. It also differentiates between a
connection and a transaction. Connection identifiers are ports or sockets that label each frame,
so the receiving device knows which process it has been sent from. This helps in keeping track of
multiple-message conversations. Ports or sockets address multiple conservations in the same
location.
It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are transmitted. It is also known as
Bounded media.
Twisted pair:
Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A twisted pair
cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation of the twisted pair cable is
easy, and it is a lightweight cable. The frequency range for twisted pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.
A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.
The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined by the number of turns per foot.
Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.
An unshielded twisted pair is widely used in telecommunication. Following are the categories of
the unshielded twisted pair cable:
o Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone lines that have low-speed data.
o Category 2: It can support upto 4Mbps.
o Category 3: It can support upto 16Mbps.
o Category 4: It can support upto 20Mbps. Therefore, it can be used for long-distance
communication.
A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the mesh surrounding the wire that allows the
higher transmission rate.
o The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very high and not very low.
o An installation of STP is easy.
o It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded twisted pair cable.
o It has a higher attenuation.
o It is shielded that provides the higher data transmission rate.
Disadvantages
The sliding window is a technique for sending multiple frames at a time. It controls the data
packets between the two devices where reliable and gradual delivery of data frames is needed. It
is also used in TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).
In this technique, each frame has sent from the sequence number. The sequence numbers are
used to find the missing data in the receiver end. The purpose of the sliding window technique is
to avoid duplicate data, so it uses the sequence number.
1. Go-Back-N ARQ
2. Selective Repeat ARQ
Go-Back-N ARQ
Go-Back-N ARQ protocol is also known as Go-Back-N Automatic Repeat Request. It is a data link
layer protocol that uses a sliding window method. In this, if any frame is corrupted or lost, all
subsequent frames have to be sent again.
The size of the sender window is N in this protocol. For example, Go-Back-8, the size of the sender
window, will be 8. The receiver window size is always 1.
If the receiver receives a corrupted frame, it cancels it. The receiver does not accept a corrupted
frame. When the timer expires, the sender sends the correct frame again.
Selective Repeat ARQ is also known as the Selective Repeat Automatic Repeat Request. It is a data
link layer protocol that uses a sliding window method. The Go-back-N ARQ protocol works well if
it has fewer errors. But if there is a lot of error in the frame, lots of bandwidth loss in sending the
frames again. So, we use the Selective Repeat ARQ protocol. In this protocol, the size of the sender
window is always equal to the size of the receiver window. The size of the sliding window is always
greater than 1.
If the receiver receives a corrupt frame, it does not directly discard it. It sends a negative
acknowledgment to the sender. The sender sends that frame again as soon as on the receiving
negative acknowledgment. There is no waiting for any time-out to send that frame.
A state occurring in network layer when the message traffic is so heavy that it slows down
network response time.
Effects of Congestion
• As delay increases, performance decreases.
• If delay increases, retransmission occurs, making situation worse.
Imagine a bucket with a small hole in the bottom.No matter at what rate water enters the
bucket, the outflow is at constant rate.When the bucket is full with water additional water
entering spills over the sides and is lost.
Similarly, each network interface contains a leaky bucket and the following steps are involved
in leaky bucket algorithm:
1. When host wants to send packet, packet is thrown into the bucket.
2. The bucket leaks at a constant rate, meaning the network interface transmits packets at a
constant rate.
3. Bursty traffic is converted to a uniform traffic by the leaky bucket.
4. In practice the bucket is a finite queue that outputs at a finite rate.
• Token bucket Algorithm
• The leaky bucket algorithm has a rigid output design at an average rate independent of the
bursty traffic.
• In some applications, when large bursts arrive, the output is allowed to speed up. This calls
for a more flexible algorithm, preferably one that never loses information. Therefore, a
token bucket algorithm finds its uses in network traffic shaping or rate-limiting.
• It is a control algorithm that indicates when traffic should be sent. This order comes based
on the display of tokens in the bucket.
• The bucket contains tokens. Each of the tokens defines a packet of predetermined size.
Tokens in the bucket are deleted for the ability to share a packet.
• When tokens are shown, a flow to transmit traffic appears in the display of tokens.
• No token means no flow sends its packets. Hence, a flow transfers traffic up to its peak
burst rate in good tokens in the bucket.
Nowadays, computing systems play a significant role in every aspect of human activity. Every
marketing, software, banking, healthcare, and education application uses this computing
technology. However, you might be curious about how businesses protect their data and maintain
the privacy of their banking activities.
"Cryptography" is the answer to each of these questions. In today's connected world, sensitive
information must be protected, which is why cryptography has influenced the current information
age.
Additionally, Gmail data is secured using cryptography and is transmitted throughout Google data
centers in an encrypted manner. Cryptography is therefore regarded as the essential component
for protecting shared information.
Cryptography
Cryptography uses codes to protect data and communications so only the intended receivers can
decode and understand them. Consequently, restricting access to information from outside
parties.
"Crypto" indicates "hidden," and "graphy" indicates "writing," respectively. The techniques used
in cryptography to secure data are based on mathematical principles and a set of rule-based
calculations known as algorithms to modify signals in a way that makes them challenging to
decode.
These algorithms generate cryptographic keys, create digital signatures, safeguard data privacy,
enable online browsing on the Internet, and ensure the confidentiality of private transactions like
credit and debit card payments.
History of Cryptography
Cryptography started with ciphers, the initial among which was the Caesar Cipher. Contrasted to
modern algorithms for cryptography, ciphers were much simpler to decode, yet both employed
plaintext and keys.Though simple, the earliest forms of encryption were ciphers. Modern
cryptosystems and algorithms are considerably more advanced. They employ numerous iterations
of ciphers and encrypt the ciphertext of messages to ensure the most secure data transportation
and storage.
Purpose of cryptography
Cryptography aims to keep data and messages private and inaccessible to possible threats or bad
actors. It frequently works invisibly to encrypt and decrypt the data you send through email, social
media, applications, and website interactions.
o Email messages
o SIM card authentication
o Web security
o Exchange of private keys