Evolution of Computer Networking

We dive into the history of networking, how it developed and how the technology we have now is influenced by these simple inventions and discoveries.

1. Evolution of Networking Computer Science Art integrated project Submitted By: Sharan Keshav · XI A8 30 Ilamparithi M · XI A8 07 Anirudh A.G. · XI A8 02 Rajiv Sukesh · XI A8 20

2. From the very early days, communication over long distances had fascinated people. Today, we will briefly go over how the present-day Internet took shape from a private research project to a worldwide interconnection.

3. In the 1960s a research project was commissioned by Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in the U.S. Department of Defence to connect the academic and research institutions located at different places for scientific collaborations. This would mark the start of the world wide network of the present. Interconnectivity in the USA over the years 1. The ARPANET

4. The first message was communicated between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI). ARPANET grew rapidly in the early 1970s. Many universities and government computers joined the network during this time. In 1975, ARPANET was declared operational and was used to develop further communications technology. In time, several computers in other countries were also added using satellite links. Honeywell DDP-516 – The first ARPANET host ← Terminal used for communication – Interface Message Processors “The goal was to exploit new computer technologies to meet the needs of military command and control against nuclear threats, achieve survivable control of US nuclear forces, and improve military tactical and management decision making” ~ Stephen J. Lukasik, Director of DARPA (1970) 1. The ARPANET

5. Many packet-based networks quickly came into operation after ARPANET became popular. These various networks could not communicate with one another due to the requirements of standardized equipment in the existing networks. Therefore, The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was developed as a protocol to enable communication between different networks. It was first put into operation in 1977. 2. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

6. TCP/IP enabled an interconnected network of networks and is the foundational technology of the internet. In 1983, TCP/IP replaced NCP as the underlying packet-switching technology of ARPANET. TCP is a reliable and connection-oriented protocol used for establishing a connection between two devices over a network. It guarantees the delivery of data packets in the right order, without any data loss. Packets are received in the same order they are sent in TCP’s 3-way handshake for establishing connection 2. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

7. Before we get to know what DNS is and how it works, we need to know why it was introduced. To connect to computers or servers in the network, one had to have the IP Address to it. The IP Address (IPv4) is a unique set of numbers (now evolved to be hexadecimals with IPv6) which acts like an identifier that lets the client know which server to connect to. Normally, before the DNS was even conceptualized, people had to remember IP Addresses in order to connect to servers. This was often inconvenient to do. So, in the process of simplifying the networking, the Domain Name Server (DNS) was born. 164.100.166.133 IPv4 address of the NCERT homepage. (Try putting it in a browser!) Each section is 8 bits (a byte) and is called an octet 2401:4900:1f2d:d646:4139:c51:e5c9:9945 Example IPv6 Address 4. Domain Name System (DNS)

8. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the technology that maps human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) to the numerical IP addresses used by computers on the Internet. It is an essential part of the Internet's infrastructure, allowing web browsers to find websites, send emails, and more. DNS works by translating domain names into numerical IP addresses, which allows computers to communicate with each other. It is an integral part of the Internet's architecture, helping to make it easier for users to find websites and services. Working of the Domain Name System 4. Domain Name System (DNS)

9. In 1981, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) aimed to create an academic research network facilitating access by researchers to the supercomputing centers funded by NSF in the United States. The NSF established the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) as a general-purpose research network, a hub to connect five supercomputing centers. As time passed by, the NSFNET provided connectivity to eleven regional networks and through these networks to many smaller regional and campus networks. The NSFNET ‘s Backbone and Regional Networks, 1991 4. The NSFNET “… its user-ship is enormously up, its cost to the users has come down. […] you certainly have our congratulations for that excellent success.” ~ Dr. Stephen Wolff, Director of NSF's Division of Networking & Communications Research & Infrastructure (DNCRI)

10. Earlier, to access files residing in different computers, one had to login individually to each computer through the Internet. Besides, files in different computers were sometimes in different formats, and it was difficult to understand each other’s files and documents. Sir Tim Berners-Lee — a British computer scientist invented the revolutionary World Wide Web in 1990 by defining three fundamental technologies that lead to creation of web: HTML, URI/URL, and the HTTP. 5. The World Wide Web (WWW)

11. HTML–Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a language which is used to design standardised Web Pages so that the Web contents can be read and understood from any computer. Basic structure of every webpage is designed using HTML. URI–Uniform Resource Identifier. It is a unique address or path for each resource located on the web. It is also known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Every page on the web has a unique URL. A URL is not only the domain name. It contains other information that completes a web address, as depicted in the adjoining figure HTTP – The Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a set of rules which is used to retrieve linked web pages across the web. The more secure and advanced version is HTTP Secure (HTTPS) Simple present-day HTML code Structure of a full URI Simple HTTP working principle 5. The World Wide Web (WWW)

12. The history of Wireless Communication dates way back to the 19th century when Heinrich Hertz first discovered electromagnetic waves, which led to Radio communication. Over the years, many iterations of Radio communication utilizing various frequencies were developed. Packet radio is a radio communication technology that sends data as packets. The first packet radio network was developed at the University of Hawaii in 1971. ALOHAnet connected seven campuses on four different islands, ensuring that they could all communicate with each other through a central computer located on the island of Oahu. Terminal Node Controller 2400 bits/s packet radio modem 6. Wireless Networking

13. In 1985, the FCC chose to open up three frequency bands on the wireless spectrum for unlicensed use. Those bands, also known as "the garbage bands", were 900MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz. These bands were popularly in use for many things, most notable being microwave ovens, that cook food using radio waves. The condition for using these bands for communication purposes, was therefore being able to work around those interferences. Many vendors did it by using their own, proprietary, non-interoperable standards. They slowly came to see the need for a shared wireless standard, much like Ethernet had become a successful industry standard for wired network communication. Drawing of the 2.4 GHz band (2.40-2.48) shared with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and microwave ovens. To minimize the interference from these devices, Bluetooth uses the frequency-hoping spread spectrum technology (up to 1600 rotations per second) which parcel out the data being sent and transmitted. Wi-Fi 802.11a and 802.11g technologies use the radio spectrum bandwidth 20 MHz. 6. Wireless Networking

14. In 1991, NCR Corporation with AT&T Corporation invented the precursor to 802.11, intended for use in cashier systems. The first wireless products were under the name  WaveLAN . The Australian radio-astronomer John O’Sullivan with his colleagues developed a key patent used in Wi-Fi as a by-product of a research project -- “a failed experiment to detect exploding mini black holes the size of an atomic particle”. In 1992 and 1996, CSIRO obtained patents for a method later used in Wi-Fi to “ unsmear ” the signal. The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997, and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. This was updated in 1999 with 802.11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds, and this proved to be popular. Fun Fact: Wi-Fi uses a large number of patents held by many different organizations. In Australia, Wi-Fi is seen as an Australian invention. This view is not shared globally, and has generated controversy. 6. Wireless Networking