-
Serial Communications
- Serial communication sent one data bit at a time across one wire
- Parallel communication sends multiple bits over more wires simultaneously
-
Problems with Parallel Connection
- Clock Skew
- Cost
- Interference
-
Clock Skew
- In a parallel connection, bits may not arrive at the same time(clock skew)
- The receiving end must synchronize itself with the transmitter and then wait until all the bits have arrived
- Clock skew slows parallel transmission well below theoretical speed
- Problem with clock skew increases with more parallel wires and longer distance
- Serial connection is however, not affected by clock skew because most serial links do not need clocking
-
Cost
- Serial communications use fewer wires, cheaper cables, and fewer connector pins
- Serial communications are considerably cheaper to implement than parallel communication
-
Interference
- Parallel wires are physically bundled in a parallel cable, and signals can imprint themselves on each other
- At higher frequencies, crosstalk may causes bytes to be dropped
-
Serial communication
Due to the problems with parallel communication, almost all WAN communications uses serial connections
-
Time Division Multiplexing(TDM)
- Before multiplexing, each telephone call required its own physical link. This was an expensive and unscalable solution
- Bell Laboratories invented time-division multiplexing (TDM) to maximize the amount of voice traffic carried over a medium
- TDM divides the bandwidth of a single link into separate channels or time slots
- TDM transmits two or more channels over the same link by allocating a different time interval (time slot) for the transmission of each channel
- In effect, the channels take turns using the link
- TDM shares available transmission time on a medium by assigning timeslots to usersThe multiplexer (MUX) accepts input from attached devices in a round-robin fashion and transmits the data
- The multiplexer (MUX) accepts input from attached devices in a round-robin fashion and transmits the data
- T1/E1 and ISDN telephone lines are common examples of synchronous TDM
-
Statistical TDM (STDM)
- In TDM, the the time slot is still allocated even when the device has no data to transmit
- Hence TDM may be inefficient if the traffic is intermittent STDM overcome this inefficiency by using a variable time slot length allowing devices to compete for any free slot space.
- This requires each transmission to carry identification information
-
TDM Example - ISDN
- ISDN basic rate (BRI) has three channels consisting of two 64 kb/s B-channels (B1 and B2), and a 16 kb/s D-channel
- The TDM has nine timeslots, which are repeated in the sequence shown in the figure.
-
Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and Data Communications Equipment (DCE)
- DTE is the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)
- DTE is generally a router, but can also be a terminal, computer, printer, or fax machine if they connect directly to the service provider network.
- The DCE, commonly a modem or CSU/DSU, is the device used to convert the user data from the DTE into a form acceptable to the WAN service provider transmission link.
-
WAN Encapsulation Protocols
- Data is encapsulated into frames before crossing the WAN link.
- The choice of encapsulation protocol depends on the WAN technology and the communicating equipment
- HDLC - The default encapsulation type on point-to-point connections, dedicated links, and circuit-switched connections when the link uses two Cisco devices.
- PPP - Provides router-to-router and host-to-network connections over synchronous and asynchronous circuits. PPP works with several Network layer protocols, such as IP and IPX. PPP also has built-in security mechanisms such as PAP and CHAP.
- Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) - A standard protocol for point-to-point serial connections using TCP/IP. SLIP has been largely displaced by PPP.
-
HDLC Encapsulation
- HDLC is a synchronous Data Link layer protocol
- HDLC uses synchronous serial transmission to provide error-free communication between two points
- HDLC defines a Layer 2 framing structure that allows for flow control and error control through the use of acknowledgments
- Cisco has developed an extension to the HDLC protocol to provide multiprotocol support
- Cisco HDLC(cHDLC) frames contain a field for identifying the network protocol being encapsulated
 - Flag - The frame always starts and ends with an 8-bit flag field. The bit pattern is 01111110. When frames are transmitted consecutively, the end flag of the first frame is used as the start flag of the next frame
- Address - The address field contains the HDLC address of the secondary station
- Control - T
|
|
