Essentially, network communication is the exchange of data/messages between nodes/devices. In the case of UW Orbital, it's the communication between the satellite and the ground station. Networks can get really complicated, so naturally, there are a set of protocols and rules that define how this communication should take place.
There are a wide variety of protocols available to use. The rest of this page will focus on two of the most common ones that are used.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are both forms of network protocols. Essentially, they determine how data is sent from one device to another. You've probably seen them before without even knowing it. Whenever someone browses the internet there are TCP and UDP transmissions taking place.
When sending data, both methods break it up into smaller chunks (called data packets). The difference between the two is how that happens.
Each packet is made up of a header and a body. Inside the header, relevant protocol information will be stored. This includes things like length, source, destination, checksum, identifiers, etc. (further explained later). These headers are essentially data overhead; each packet requires them regardless of how much data is in it.
The body consists of the actual data of whatever is transferring (mainly parts of files). This is variable in size and really depends on whats being sent.
TCP is more common because its generally more reliable. It follows these steps: