How is the Internet so fast when it comes to Data Transmission??
We all know very well that Internet has not only made our lives easy at another level but also has been a part of it. While using it you may have wondered ‘How does a particular webpage appears on my screen in fraction of milliseconds?’. For getting that fastest speed in front of the stage, Internet mainly uses ‘Packet Switching’ at the back of the stage. That’s what we are gonna discuss in detail today.
Packet Switching is a technique that’s mainly used by Internet for Data Transmission at high speeds through the transmission link. This technique breaks the data in small chunks and transmits those chunks from the sender to the receiver through a network of transmission links. It is not necessary that each packet should go from a particular transmission link. In fact the packet can take any transmission link and reach the destination. There after when all these chunks arrive, they reassemble according to their particular order and serve the receiver. Let’s discuss this in more depth using the following parameters :
1] Delay :
Delay is the time taken by a chunk to cross the distance between the sender and the receiver. In this we come across four types of delays.
a. Transmission Delay
b. Propagation Delay
c. Queuing Delay
d. Processing Delay
2] Reliability :
The Packet Switching technique uses the Store and Forward method, i.e. when a chunk travels through a particular switch of transmission links, the switch stores the data in buffer and then forwards it to the next node. Hence even if a chunk of data is lost in the network, that particular chunk can be obtained from the switch it has travelled through. The chunk contains the details about the sender, the receiver, its data and other details. Hence the same chunk can be obtained even if gets lost in the network. This adds to the reliability of the technique making it more efficient.
3] Data Transmission :
As mentioned above the data is divided into small chunks and sent on the transmission link. This involves two techniques, they are :
a. Datagram Packet Switching : This doesn’t involve the reservation of the path for transmission. It increases the efficiency, but also the delay for Data Transmission.
b. Virtual-Circuit Packet Switching : This involves the reservation of the path for transmission. This is used for real time data transmission like a voice call.
4] Network Performance :
Due to the usage of Datagram Packet Switching in the Internet, the delay is more. Until a chunk of data is processed and sent, the successive chunk has to wait which adds to the delay. The chunks are out of order hence to reassemble them adds to delay, increasing it. But it is efficient as well. Whereas in Virtual-Circuit Packet Switching the delay is a bit less, but it also has less efficiency. However the chunks are in order as they are sent decreasing the delay.
5] Implementation :
Packet Switching is implemented using the Pipelining concept. In this, each and every switch decides how the chunk of data can be sent to the next switch using the shortest possible path from the available paths. Hence the successive chunk has to wait until the current chunk is sent on the transmission link.
6] Error Handling :
The chunk of Data if lost during transmission, that particular chunk can be obtained again from the switch it has travelled through. In this way Packet Switching handles the errors efficiently.
7]Applications :
The wide application of Packet Switching is Internet and things on Internet. They use this technique for the efficient and quick Data Transmission.
That’s it from my side. Thank You!!