Understand How Computers in Digital Networks Communicate With Each Other

Modern society across the world is becoming increasingly dependent on communication networks. We depend on them for the smooth operation of economic and social activities. The ALISON free online course “Digital Communication Networks” examines networks as the means of interconnecting devices so that two-way communication is possible. It examines protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP, and ATM as well as the OSI reference model, and provides an overview of the topic for learners who have no significant prior knowledge of the subject.

This course will be of interest to professionals who work in information technology, network design, and network management, and will also be of interest to students who would like a greater understanding of how networks function.

Digital Communication Networks Course Content

In this course, you will learn about: Internet protocol (IP), the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). The course includes the following topics:

Technical descriptions of communication protocols and their operation;
Circuit-switched and packet-switched networks, and of connectionless and connection-oriented modes in packet-switched networks;
The role played by primitives in the OSI reference model;
How ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ communication takes place in the OSI reference model;
The main functions of the principal protocols in the TCP/IP architecture;
How application software interacts with the TCP/IP protocol software through application program interfaces;
Finding the network and host addresses from IPv4 addresses;
The main functions of each of the layers of the ATM reference model;
The role that virtual path identifiers and virtual channel identifiers play in forwarding ATM cells;
How label switching can support IP over ATM.