Datatransmission

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Datatransmission,digitaltransmissionordigitalcommunicationsisthetransferofdata(adigitalbit
streamoradigitizedanalogsignal[1])overapointtopointorpointtomultipointcommunicationchannel.
Examplesofsuchchannelsarecopperwires,opticalfibers,wirelesscommunicationchannels,storage
mediaandcomputerbuses.Thedataarerepresentedasanelectromagneticsignal,suchasanelectrical
voltage,radiowave,microwave,orinfraredsignal.

Analogoranaloguetransmissionisatransmissionmethodofconveyingvoice,data,image,signalorvideo
informationusingacontinuoussignalwhichvariesinamplitude,phase,orsomeotherpropertyin
proportiontothatofavariable.Themessagesareeitherrepresentedbyasequenceofpulsesbymeansofa
linecode(basebandtransmission),orbyalimitedsetofcontinuouslyvaryingwaveforms(passband
transmission),usingadigitalmodulationmethod.Thepassbandmodulationandcorresponding
demodulation(alsoknownasdetection)iscarriedoutbymodemequipment.Accordingtothemost
commondefinitionofdigitalsignal,bothbasebandandpassbandsignalsrepresentingbitstreamsare
consideredasdigitaltransmission,whileanalternativedefinitiononlyconsidersthebasebandsignalas
digital,andpassbandtransmissionofdigitaldataasaformofdigitaltoanalogconversion.

Datatransmittedmaybedigitalmessagesoriginatingfromadatasource,forexampleacomputerora
keyboard.Itmayalsobeananalogsignalsuchasaphonecalloravideosignal,digitizedintoabitstream
forexampleusingpulsecodemodulation(PCM)ormoreadvancedsourcecoding(analogtodigital
conversionanddatacompression)schemes.Thissourcecodinganddecodingiscarriedoutbycodec
equipment.

Contents

1 Distinctionbetweenrelatedsubjects

2 Protocollayersandsubtopics

3 Applicationsandhistory

4 Serialandparalleltransmission

5 Typesofcommunicationchannels

6 Asynchronousandsynchronousdatatransmission

7 Seealso

8 Notes
Distinctionbetweenrelatedsubjects
Coursesandtextbooksinthefieldofdatatransmission[1]aswellasdigitaltransmission[2][3]anddigital
communications[4][5]havesimilarcontent.

Digitaltransmissionordatatransmissiontraditionallybelongstotelecommunicationsandelectrical
engineering.Basicprinciplesofdatatransmissionmayalsobecoveredwithinthecomputer
science/computerengineeringtopicofdatacommunications,whichalsoincludescomputernetworkingor
computercommunicationapplicationsandnetworkingprotocols,forexamplerouting,switchingandinter
processcommunication.AlthoughtheTransmissioncontrolprotocol(TCP)involvestheterm
"transmission",TCPandothertransportlayerprotocolsaretypicallynotdiscussedinatextbookorcourse
aboutdatatransmission,butincomputernetworking.

Thetermteletransmissioninvolvestheanalogaswellasdigitalcommunication.Inmosttextbooks,the
termanalogtransmissiononlyreferstothetransmissionofananalogmessagesignal(withoutdigitization)
bymeansofananalogsignal,eitherasanonmodulatedbasebandsignal,orasapassbandsignalusingan
analogmodulationmethodsuchasAMorFM.Itmayalsoincludeanalogoveranalogpulsemodulatated
basebandsignalssuchaspulsewidthmodulation.Inafewbookswithinthecomputernetworkingtradition,
"analogtransmission"alsoreferstopassbandtransmissionofbitstreamsusingdigitalmodulationmethods
suchasFSK,PSKandASK.Notethatthesemethodsarecoveredintextbooksnameddigitaltransmission
ordatatransmission,forexample.[1]

Thetheoreticalaspectsofdatatransmissionarecoveredbyinformationtheoryandcodingtheory.

Protocollayersandsubtopics
CoursesandtextbooksinthefieldofdatatransmissiontypicallydealwiththefollowingOSImodel
protocollayersandtopics:

Layer1,thephysicallayer:
Channelcodingincluding
Digitalmodulationschemes
Linecodingschemes
Forwarderrorcorrection(FEC)codes
Bitsynchronization
Multiplexing
Equalization
Channelmodels
Layer2,thedatalinklayer:
Channelaccessschemes,mediaaccesscontrol(MAC)
PacketmodecommunicationandFramesynchronization
Errordetectionandautomaticrepeatrequest(ARQ)
Flowcontrol
Layer6,thepresentationlayer:
Sourcecoding(digitizationanddatacompression),andinformationtheory.
Cryptography(mayoccuratanylayer)
Applicationsandhistory
Data(mainlybutnotexclusivelyinformational)hasbeensentvianonelectronic(e.g.optical,acoustic,
mechanical)meanssincetheadventofcommunication.Analogsignaldatahasbeensentelectronically
sincetheadventofthetelephone.However,thefirstdataelectromagnetictransmissionapplicationsin
moderntimeweretelegraphy(1809)andteletypewriters(1906),whicharebothdigitalsignals.The
fundamentaltheoreticalworkindatatransmissionandinformationtheorybyHarryNyquist,RalphHartley,
ClaudeShannonandothersduringtheearly20thcentury,wasdonewiththeseapplicationsinmind.

Datatransmissionisutilizedincomputersincomputerbusesandforcommunicationwithperipheral
equipmentviaparallelportsandserialportssuchasRS232(1969),Firewire(1995)andUSB(1996).The
principlesofdatatransmissionarealsoutilizedinstoragemediaforErrordetectionandcorrectionsince
1951.

Datatransmissionisutilizedincomputernetworkingequipmentsuchasmodems(1940),localarea
networks(LAN)adapters(1964),repeaters,hubs,microwavelinks,wirelessnetworkaccesspoints(1997),
etc.

Intelephonenetworks,digitalcommunicationisutilizedfortransferringmanyphonecallsoverthesame
coppercableorfibercablebymeansofPulsecodemodulation(PCM),i.e.samplinganddigitization,in
combinationwithTimedivisionmultiplexing(TDM)(1962).Telephoneexchangeshavebecomedigital
andsoftwarecontrolled,facilitatingmanyvalueaddedservices.Forexample,thefirstAXEtelephone
exchangewaspresentedin1976.Sincethelate1980s,digitalcommunicationtotheenduserhasbeen
possibleusingIntegratedServicesDigitalNetwork(ISDN)services.Sincetheendofthe1990s,broadband
accesstechniquessuchasADSL,Cablemodems,fibertothebuilding(FTTB)andfibertothehome
(FTTH)havebecomewidespreadtosmallofficesandhomes.Thecurrenttendencyistoreplacetraditional
telecommunicationservicesbypacketmodecommunicationsuchasIPtelephonyandIPTV.

Transmittinganalogsignalsdigitallyallowsforgreatersignalprocessingcapability.Theabilitytoprocessa
communicationssignalmeansthaterrorscausedbyrandomprocessescanbedetectedandcorrected.
Digitalsignalscanalsobesampledinsteadofcontinuouslymonitored.Themultiplexingofmultipledigital
signalsismuchsimplertothemultiplexingofanalogsignals.

Becauseofalltheseadvantages,andbecauserecentadvancesinwidebandcommunicationchannelsand
solidstateelectronicshaveallowedscientiststofullyrealizetheseadvantages,digitalcommunicationshas
grownquickly.Digitalcommunicationsisquicklyedgingoutanalogcommunicationbecauseofthevast
demandtotransmitcomputerdataandtheabilityofdigitalcommunicationstodoso.

Thedigitalrevolutionhasalsoresultedinmanydigitaltelecommunicationapplicationswheretheprinciples
ofdatatransmissionareapplied.Examplesaresecondgeneration(1991)andlatercellulartelephony,video
conferencing,digitalTV(1998),digitalradio(1999),telemetry,etc.

Datatransmission,digitaltransmissionordigitalcommunicationsisthephysicaltransferofdata(adigital
bitstreamoradigitizedanalogsignal[1])overapointtopointorpointtomultipointcommunication
channel.Examplesofsuchchannelsarecopperwires,opticalfibers,wirelesscommunicationchannels,
storagemediaandcomputerbuses.Thedataarerepresentedasanelectromagneticsignal,suchasan
electricalvoltage,radiowave,microwave,orinfraredsignal.