Communication

Question 1

What is a symbol

Answer 1

A particular pattern of bits represented by a signal

Question 2

What is a Baud rate

Answer 2

The number of signal changes in the medium per second

Question 3

What is the Bit Rate

Answer 3

The number of bits that are transmitted over the medium per second

Question 4

Equation for Bit Rate

Answer 4

Baud Rate x # of bits per signal

Question 5

When will a communication mediums bit rate be higher than its Baud Rate

Answer 5

If there is more than one bit sent per signal

Question 6

What is Bandwidth

Answer 6

The range of frequencies that a communication medium is capable of transmittign

Question 7

What is the relationship between Bandwidth and Bit Rate

Answer 7

Direct Relationship

Question 8

What is Latency

Answer 8

The difference in time between an action being initiated and its effect being noticed

Question 9

What is latency measured in

Answer 9

Often in milliseconds

Question 10

What increases with distance

Answer 10

Latency

Question 11

What is a Protocol

Answer 11

A set of rules relating to communication between devices

Question 12

What are the two ways computers can transmit data between different components

Answer 12

Serially

Parallel

Question 13

Describe Serial Data Transmission

Answer 13

Data is sent one bit at a time over one communication line

Frequently used for transmitting data over medium to long distances

Question 14

Describe Parallel Data Transmission

Answer 14

Multiple Parallel Communication Lines are used

Multiple Bits are sent between components in a computer simultaneously

Question 15

What is skew

Answer 15

Bits that are sent together may not be received together

Question 16

Why is parallel data transmission is most often used over short distances

Answer 16

Skew is worst over long distances - Pulses overlap causing corruption of data

Parallel communication mediums are more expensive than their serial counterparts due to their multiple lines

Crosstalk can occur

Question 17

What is crosstalk

Answer 17

When signals from one line leak to another causing data corruption

Question 18

Describe Synchronous Transmission

Answer 18

A shared clock signal is used to time when signals are sent

Signals are sent at regular intervals and are received in the same order that they were sent

Question 18

When is synchronous data transmission often used

Answer 18

Within busses in the fetch execute cycle

Transmission information in real time systems

Question 19

Describe asynchronous transmission

Answer 19

No need for shared clock signal - start and stop bits are used

Stop bit is always opposite to the start bit

Sender and receiver must use the same Baud rate

Only need to synchronise their clocks for the duration of data transmission