Data communication modes
Parity bit : Character bit may include parity bit, set
Data communication modes define behavior of
data flow during communication which is based
on interval of time.
When devices are communicating, they must be
know when ever data has to send or receive (in
period of time). The two devices must establish
and maintain some type of timing between them
so that signals are produced, transmitted, and
detected accurately.
There are two main alternatives to establishing
and maintaining the timing for the sampling of
the signals. These two timing alternatives are
known as asynchronous and synchronous, also
known as data communication modes.
Data Link Layer : all synchronization occurs on the
data link layer (2nd layer of TCP/IP), where the data
in form of frame.
Asynchronous communication- The transmission of
data in which each character is a self-contained
unit with its own start and stop bits. Intervals
between characters may be irregular.
Start bit inform that transmission has to
start with binary value of 0.
Stop bit inform to equipment that
transmission has been stop with binary
value of 1.
When no character is being transmitted,
the line between transmitter and receiver
is in an idle state (binary 1 level).
A minimum length for the stop element is
specified, and this is usually 1, 1.5, or 2
times the duration of an ordinary bit.
Data contain may be 5 -8 character bits.
by the transmitter such that the total number of
ones in the character, including the parity bit, is
even (even parity) or odd (odd parity). The
receiver uses this bit for error detection.
There are two types of parity bit
even parity bit
odd parity bit
Even parity bit - when using even parity, the parity
bit is set to 1 if the number of ones in a given set
of bits (not including the parity bit) is odd, making
the number of ones in the entire set of bits
(including the parity bit) even. If the number of
ones in a given set of bits is already even, it is set
to a 0.
an even parity bit will be set to "1" if the number of
1s + 1 is even
Odd parity bit - when using odd parity, the parity
bit is set to 1 if the number of ones in a given set
of bits (not including the parity bit) is even,
keeping the number of ones in the entire set of
bits (including the parity bit) odd. And when the
number of set bits is already odd, the odd parity
bit is set to 0.
an odd parity bit will be set to "1" if the number of
1s +1 is odd
at end of transmission no maximum value
is specified, because the stop element is
the same as the idle state, the transmitter
will continue to transmit the stop element
until it is ready to send the next character.
Synchronous communication- The transmission of
data in block set and time intervals between
characters may be regular.
each block of data is formatted as a frame
that includes a starting and an ending
flag, and is transmitted in a steady stream
without start and stop codes.
 Characteristic Asynchronous Synchronous
Clock speed : time interval (clock speed) must be
synchronized, to prevent timing drift between Transmission Used serial Used parallel
transmitter and receiver; techniques communication communication
can use separate clock line Comparative Data transmit one Data transmit block
embed clock signal in data capacity character at one time (bunch of character) at
one time
By adding clock line add specific time of break
between sender and receiver. Distance Farther (long) Shorter
limitation
By adding clock signal add clock information in
frame. Sync method Start and stop bit Clock speed
In synchronous transmission, there is Comparative Low speed due to More efficient due to
another level of synchronization required, speed serial transmission parallel transmission
to allow the receiver to determine the
beginning and end of a block of data. Costing Simple and cheap Much cost due to
mechanism
each block begins with a preamble bit
pattern (opening flag) and generally ends Bandwidth loss 20% to 30% over 5% over capacity
with a post-amble bit pattern (closing flag). capacity

preamble bit The preamble is a 64-bit (8

byte) field that contains a synchronization
pattern consisting of alternating ones and
zeros and ending with two consecutive ones.
After synchronization is established, the
preamble is used to locate the first bit of the
packet. The preamble is generated by the LAN
interface card.
Data communication ports
For interconnection with other device every data
communication device have specific port /
interface, by data communication mechanism
two types of ports are available;

post-amble bit commonly used end of
synchronous transmission.
Control bit : start control bit contain
destination MAC, source MAC, and protocol;
and similar stop control bit contain CRC
information.
Serial port- a serial port is a serial communication
physical interface through which information
transfers in or out one bit at a time.
Parallel port- a parallel port is a parallel
communication physical interface. It is also
known as a printer port or centronics port.

Comparison - some comparison between Parallel port is standard of IBM known as (DB-25)
asynchronous communication and Synchronous 25-pin combinations. Some available speed of
communication as follow; parallel ports;

o Bi-directional 150 Kbps

o EPP 1.5 Mbps

o ECP 2.5 Mbps

o EPP PCI 4.5 Mbps

 UART- Universal asynchronous
receiver/transmitter
Asynchronous- no clocking information is
transferred between DTE and DCE
Primary functions of UART:
To perform serial to parallel and
vice-versa
To perform error detection(parity
bits)
To insert and detect start/stop
bits
Hardware consists of 2 sections:
Transmitter
receiver
Control word- to indicate no of bits, nature of
parity, and the no of stop bits.
Timing diagram of UART
TBMT-Transmit Buffer Empty
TD-Transmit Data
TDS-Transmit Data Strobe
TEOC-Transmit End of Char
TSO-Transmit serial out
Timing diagram of UART Receiver
RSI-receive serial input
RDA-receive data available
RPE- receive parity error
SWE- status word enable
RDE-receive data enable
RDAR-receive data available
Reset
USRT- Universal synchronous
receiver/transmitter
Synchronous- clocking information is
transferred between DTE and DCE
Primary functions of UART:
To perform serial to parallel and
vice-versa
To perform error detection(parity
bits)
To insert and detect SYN
characters(difference between
USRT& UART)
Serial Interface
Serial communication is the most
simplistic form of communication between two
devices.
RS-232 is a standard by which two serial
devices communicate
The connection must be no longer
than 50 feet.
Transmission voltages are 15V
and +15V.
It is designed around transmission
of characters (of 7 bits of length).
Defines a 25 wire cable with a DB
25S/9S connector.
Data rate of up-to 20kbps for a
distance of 50ft
driver, terminator, noise margin
Parallel interface
Transfers data between two devices eight
or more bits at a time.
Also referred to as serial by word
transmission
 advantage: faster transmission
Disadvantage: higher cost for
transmission
Eg: Centronics parallel interface, IEEE 488
bus
Types of modems
Broad classification can be made as:
Synchronous modems:
Clocking information is recovered
at the receiver
Use PSK or QAM modulation
technique
Used for mostly medium and high
speed applications(up to
57.6kbps)
Asynchronous modems:
No clocking information is sent
Mostly use ASK/ FSK
Restricted to use for low speed
applications(< 2.4 kbps)
Example of asynchronous modems are Bell
Systems 202 T/S modems, uses FSK
202 T- full duplex, four wire
operation
202 S- half duplex, two wire
operation
202T modems use 1700Hz carrier
Another modem standard is Bell Systems
103 modems, has full duplex over a two
wire line at a rate of 300bps
Has 2 data channels,(low band/ high
band) with each mark & space frequency
Low band channel- originate
channel
High band channel-answer
channel
Circuit which originates the call has to
transmit on low band and the receiver has
to respond on the high band channel
Synchronous modems
Used for medium and high speed
modems
For medium speed:
QPSK for 2.4Kbps(eg: Bell Systems
201C)
8-PSK for 4.8 Kbps(eg: Bell
Systems208A)
Both are full duplex, 4 wire
systems
For high speed:
16-QAM for a 9.6Kbps(eg: Bell
Systems 209A)
Full duplex, four wire
transmission
Sometimes asynchronous data format is
used in a synchronous modem, this is
referred to as isochronous transmission
Additional requirements for synchronous
modems:
Since the medium and high speed modems are
synchronous, these modems contain the
following additional hardware:
clock recovery
scramblers and descrambler circuit
equalizers