COMMUNICATION DEVICES

Communication Devices
MODEM:
MODEM is a communication device that allows computers to connect with an internet over
an old telephone line.
 Modem stands for Modulator – Demodulator.
Modulator : performs Modulation.
Demodulator: performs De Modulation.
Modulation: Modulation is the process of converting digital signals into analog signals.
Demodulation: Demodulation is the process of converting analog signals into digital Signals.
Transmission rate: Number of bits per second a MODEM can transmit and receive.
• MODEM can transmit data at a maximum range of 56.5kbps.
• Modem operates on physical layer.

Types of MODEM:
1. INTERNAL MODEM
2. EXTERNAL MODEM
3. WIRELESS MODEM
INTERNAL MODEM:
 A modem card that you can plug into an expansion slot on the motherboard.
 It can not be detached from computer.
 No additional cable is required.

EXTERNAL MODEM:
• Connected to a PC through a cable which is plugged into serial port on the back of the system
unit.
• It can be easily detached from computer.
• Additional cable is required.

WIRELESS MODEM:
• It is used with computer without a wire.
• It is mostly used for an internet.
 NETWORK INTERFACE CARD
 Also known as LAN adapter or LAN card, and sometimes also referred as Ethernet card or simply
an NIC.
 NIC is an expansion card that enables a computer to connect to a network ( such as Home
network , internet etc. ) using an Ethernet cable with RJ-45 connecter.
 Each card has a unique number assigned to it which is used for addressing ,called MAC(Media
Access Control) address or physical address.
 Today, most branded computers have network card pre-installed.
 NIC operates on both Physical and Data Link layer.
 TYPES OF NIC
Internal NIC:
 Motherboard has a slot for internal NIC where it is to be inserted.
External NIC:
 External NIC are of two types.
1. Wireless based NIC
2. USB based NIC
Wireless based NIC:
 Wireless based NIC card needs to be inserted into the motherboard.
However no network cable is required to connect to the network.
 TYPES OF NIC
USB based NIC:
 USB based NIC is easy to use and connect via USB port.
 Computers automatically detect USB NIC and can install the drivers required
to support the USB NIC automatically.
 REPEATER
• Repeater is a network device which receives a signal and retransmits the signal
with higher power or simply it is a device that is used to amplify the signal.
• Repeater can amplify both Analog & Digital signal.
• Repeater works on physical layer.

TYPES OF REPEATER
1. Analog Repeater: is used to amplify a signal.
2. Digital Repeater: is used to amplify the signal as well as reconstruct or
regenerate the signal (to make signal purified i.e. eliminates the impurities).
 HUB or ETHERNET HUB
 A network device that is used to connect multiple devices together.
 HUB is also known as multiport repeater because it can also amplify and
regenerate the signals (of both analog and digital).
 Hub operates on Physical Layer.

TYPES OF HUB:
1. Active Hub
2. Passive Hub
3. Intelligent or Manageable Hub
Active Hub:
 Active Hub uses electricity to amplify and regenerate the signals.

Passive Hub:
 Passive Hub just distribute the receiving signals and it does not amplify or
regenerate the signals.
 These types of hubs do not require electricity.

Intelligent Hub or Smart Hubs:

 Intelligent Hub amplifies and regenerate the signals.
 These type of hubs are specifically used for to help Network Administrator
to monitor the network traffic.
 Every port of intelligent hub can be individually configured.
 Summary
 Hub is an electronic network device that is used to connect multiple devices
together.
 It receives a signal, after amplification and regeneration of signal it simply
forward the signal to all the connected devices.
 It is kind of broadcasting the signal i.e. if the signal has to be transmitted from
port 1 to port 6, it will transmit the signal to all the ports but other ports will
drop that because every signal/data has its receiving address.
 Note: broadcasting is itself an issue because in network it causes Congestion.
 NETWORK BRIDGE
 Network bridge is used to connect multiple network segments.
 Bridges reduces the amount of traffic on a LAN by dividing it into two
segments or collision domains.
 It maintains the forwarding table where it keeps the information about i.e.
MAC addresses of connected hosts.
 Network bridge works on Data link Layer as well as Physical Layer.
 Being a physical layer device, it regenerates the signal it receives, here it acts
as a repeater.
 NETWORK BRIDGE
Types of bridge:
Simple Bridge :
 simple bridge is the most primitive bridge which links two network
segments.
 It has a SINGLE FORWARDING TABLE which contains the address of
each station included in both the segment.
Multiport Bridge:
 Multiport bridge links more than two network segments.
 It has the number of forwarding tables equals to the number of
network segments it connects.
 Each forwarding table contains the addresses of all the stations reachable
from the corresponding port.
 SWITCH
 Switch is also known as switching hub , bridging hub , or officially MAC bridge
or Multiport network bridge.
 Switch is a network device that connects network devices or segments.
 Switch receives the message from the source device in the form of frames and
than transmits the message or data only to the destination device.
 Switch is a full duplex device.
 Switches are also known as INTELLIGENT HUB because they build address table
to keep track of different hardware addresses and the port to which each
hardware is associated.
 Switch is more intelligent device than hub or network bridge because it reduces
the problem of congestion(Network traffic).
 Switch creates a separate collision domain for each switch port ( As we know
that network bridge device only have 2 ports/2 collision domain) but switch
can divide LAN into more than two segments but it depends on the number of
ports in the switch.
 SWITCH
• Every switch has a CONTROL UNIT and a SWITCH TABLE. The control unit
process the frame to find the destination address of the frame and consults the
switch table to find on which link the intended receiver is connected.
Types of Switching or Switches :
Store and Forward :
 Store and forward contains one buffer area, when it receives the Frame, it
stores Frame into buffer, after Error checking (If any error found in frame it will
drop it) else forward it.
 In store and forward switch, data transmission is reliable but slow due to error
checking time.
Cut through :
 In cut through , switch forwards the packet as soon as the destination address
of the frame is identified.
 There is no error checking in the cut through switches.
 They are the fastest type of switching or switches but the data transmission is
not reliable.
Fragment Free Switches:
 Collisions is detected up to first 64 bytes of the frame.
 If the error found in first 64 bytes, it will be dropped, else it is forwarded.
 Error checking is left for the end – device.
Adaptive Switching Method:
 In this method, switching automatically selects the best one approach from the
store and forward, cut through and fragment free.
Note: Latest switches uses store and forward switching
ADVANTAGES OF SWITCH:
 High speed data exchange i.e. data transfer rate is up to GB’s.
 Full Duplex communication.
 Low latency.
 Provide dedicated communication between devices.
Note: switch works on Layer 2 i.e. Data Link Layer.
There are some switches that can operate on Network Layer as well, and known as
Multi Layer switches.
 ROUTER
• Router is special network device that connects two or more than two
networks.
• That’s why it is also called internetworking device.(A network that connects
two or more than two networks together, or simply network of networks).
• Router contains its own Operating system(OS) or software that allows to
route the data from one network to another.
• Router operates on layer 3 i.e. network layer.
• The primary functions of router are:
1. To connect multiple networks together
2. Controls broadcast traffic
3. Move data between networks
4. Learn and advertise free paths
5. Acts as a default Gateway
 MORE ABOUT ROUTER
Router has two routing techniques:
1. Non-adaptive routing
2. Adaptive routing
Non-adaptive Routing
In Non adaptive routing, once a path has been selected, the router sends all the
packets for that destination through that selected path only.
Adaptive Routing
In adaptive routing, each time a router chooses a new path for each packet.
There are some routing algorithms like Distance Vector routing, Link State
routing, Dijkstra algorithm, etc. that computes the shortest and cheapest path
for transmission of a packet.
 GATEWAYS

 Gateway is a hardware device or a computer running software, or in

broad terms, Gateway is the combination of networking hardware and
software that is used to connect two dissimilar kind of networks i.e. networks
that have different kinds of protocols or architectures.
 The Gateway has the responsibility of acting as a switch that allows the
packets to go from one network to another.
 Gateways are very intelligent devices, it can translate information between
different networks or network architectures.
 It can translate TCP/IP to AppleTalk so computers supporting TCP/IP can
communicate with Apple brand computers.
 It can operate on multiple layers. Most gateways operates on Application
Layer but can operate at the Network Layer or session Layer.
 ROUTER VS GATEWAY
ROUTER GATEWAY
A complex network needs a They make communication
device, which not only knows possible between different
the address of each segment, architectures and environments.
but also can determine the best They repackage and convert
path for sending data and data going from one
filtering broadcast traffic to the environment to another so that
local segment. Such device is each environment can
called a Router. understand the other's
environment data.