Computer & Digital Awareness Module
Networking, Internet & Communication Protocols
Computer networking enables distributed data transmission, resource sharing, and global internet communication across interconnected hardware nodes. Network architectures are classified into Local Area Networks (LAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), and Wide Area Networks (WAN), organized across star, ring, bus, and mesh topologies. Data communication standards follow the 7-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model—Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application—and the practical 4-layer TCP/IP protocol suite. Key protocols include IPv4/IPv6 for network packet routing, TCP and UDP for transport reliability, DNS for domain name resolution, and HTTP/HTTPS for encrypted web communications.
Key Concepts & Examination Highlights
- The OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) reference model, developed by the ISO in 1984, defines 7 architectural layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application.
- Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a connection-oriented, reliable protocol providing guaranteed packet delivery, whereas User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a connectionless, low-latency protocol.
- IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numeric values written in dotted-decimal format (e.g., 192.168.1.1), while IPv6 uses 128-bit hexadecimal addresses to dramatically expand available address space.
- The Domain Name System (DNS) translates human-readable domain names (such as example.com) into numerical IP addresses required for routing network packets.
Curriculum & Reference Sources: Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF RFCs), ISO/IEC Standards 7498, and IEEE Communications Society.