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2.1 Data communication

Computer Studies · Grade 10 · 6 lessons in the design

What this covers

  • Basic data communication concepts
  • The five components of a data communication system
  • Characteristics of data communication
  • Analogue and digital signals
  • Data rate, baud rate and bandwidth
  • Modes of data flow: simplex, half-duplex and full-duplex
  • The evolution of data communication systems

What you will be able to do

  • define basic data communication concepts
  • describe the characteristics of data communication in computer networking
  • analyse the components of a data communication system
  • simulate the modes of data flow in communication systems
  • acknowledge the significance of data communication systems in networking

Key questions

“How have data communication systems evolved?”

Lessons

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  1. Data communication: concepts and components
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    What data communication is, the five parts every communication system has, and the key terms - signals, protocols, TCP/IP and the OSI model.
  2. Signals, data rates, and modes of data flow
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Analogue and digital signals; the difference between data rate, baud rate and bandwidth; and the three modes in which data flows.
  3. Characteristics of effective data communication
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The four tests of a communication system: delivery, accuracy, timeliness and jitter, and what ruins each of them.
  4. Serial, parallel, synchronous and asynchronous transmission
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How bits leave the sender: many wires at once or one after another, and whether the two ends share a clock.
  5. How data communication evolved, and why it matters in Kenya
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    From the post office to M-Pesa and fibre: what each step added, and the significance of data communication systems in Kenyan networking.
  6. Simulating a data communication system
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    A practical: five learners act the five components, then the class breaks one component at a time and records what fails.