Datacom and Telecom Protocol Structures
Staff -- Test & Measurement World, 7/1/2000
All forms of digital communication require some structure, for a receiver has to know how to decode incoming messages. Communications systems from the Universal Serial Bus (USB) on your PC to the Internet contain protocols that send data in groups. These groups are called packets, frames, or cells. Each contains a header that tells the receiver how to decode the incoming data. Headers also tell networks where to route each group so the data reaches its proper destination. Below, you will find the structure for the following communications protocols:
• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• Ethernet
• IEEE 1394
• I2C bus
• TCP/IP (used on the Internet)
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
• ISDN
• MPEG-2 Transport Stream
• Frame Relay
If you want to suggest other protocols for us to add, please e-mail us at tmw@cahners.com.
Download all of these charts as a pdf.
