Packet Switching
Switching is process to forward packets coming in from one port to port leading towards destination. And it is mainly done in two ways. Circuit switching and Packet switching.
There are many more routes present between the two ends. Now the data has got two options. First to follow a single path and other that each data packet will follow different path according to their choice. Here comes the idea of switching.
Packet switching is a technique in which the data packets gets transmitted through different path according to their choice.
Now let's see some constraints related to packet switching.
1. Delay:
The delay in packet switching is not uniform as it depends on the traffic, bandwidth of routers in path etc. In network path there are many routers because of which causes delay in transmission of data. The routers in path some time to process and decide the path of the packet which is often termed as processing delay.
2. Reliability:
The packet switching process is reliable in that the destination can identify any missing packets. However, circuit switched networks deliver packets in order along the same route and are therefore less likely to experience missing packets in the first place.
3. Data Transmission:
The data transmission begins as soon as the data is placed over the network. Each packet contains Source and destination address using which they independently travel through the network. In other words, packets belonging to the same file may or may not travel through the same path. Operating System helps to merge the data packets at the receiver end.
4. Error Handling:
In a case, if the data packet has not reached to the receiver then the receiver demands for the missing data packet. The retransmission takes place and the sender send the missing data packet the receiver.The circuit switching doesn’t provide this flexibility. Either your data will be completely reached or completely lost in between.
5. Network Performance:
In network performance, the improved efficiency means less network bandwidth wastage. No need to reserve the circuit even when it's not in use means the system is good in performance.
6. Implementation:
In this technique of switching , the data packets are first assembled and then numbered. Then data packets travel across a predefined route, sequentially. Address information is not needed in circuit switching because all data packets are sent in a sequence on same path.
7. Applications:
- Packet switching technique which provides many network users to share the same channel at same time.
- It is cost effective,because switching devices do not need massive amount of secondary storage.
- Packet switching is used to optimize the use of the channel capacity available in digital telecommunication networks, such as computer networks.
- Packet can be rerouted if there is any problem, such as busy or disabled links.