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CSE 350
DATA COMMUNICATIONS

Lecture 4: Transmission Media

Maheen Islam
 Overview
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 guided - wire / optical fibre

 unguided - wireless
 characteristics and quality determined by medium
and signal
 in unguided media - bandwidth produced by the
antenna is more important
 in guided media - medium is more important

 key concerns are data rate and distance

 Design Factors
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 bandwidth
 higher bandwidth gives higher data rate
 transmission impairments
 eg. attenuation
 interference
 number of receivers in guided media
 more receivers introduces more attenuation
 Electromagnetic Spectrum
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 Transmission Characteristics of Guided
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Media
Frequency Typical Typical Repeater
Range Attenuation Delay Spacing
Twisted pair 0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @ 50 µs/km 2 km
(with loading) 1 kHz

Twisted pairs 0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @ 5 µs/km 2 km

(multi-pair 1 kHz
cables)
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10 4 µs/km 1 to 9 km
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370 0.2 to 0.5 5 µs/km 40 km
THz dB/km
 Twisted Pair
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Reduce Electromagnetic Interference

 Twisted Pair - Transmission
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Characteristics
 analog
 needs amplifiers every 5km to 6km
 digital
 can use either analog or digital signals
 needs a repeater every 2-3km

 limited distance
 limited bandwidth (1MHz)
 limited data rate (100MHz)
 susceptible to interference and noise
 Unshielded vs Shielded TP
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 unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 ordinary telephone wire
 cheapest
 easiest to install
 suffers from external EM interference

 shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

 metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference
 more expensive
 harder to handle (thick, heavy)

 in a variety of categories - see EIA-568

 UTP Categories
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7.5~10 cm 0.6~0.85cm
Categor y 3 Categor y 5 Categor y 5E Categor y 6 Categor y 7
Class C Class D Class E Class F
Bandwidth 16 MHz 100 MHz 100 MHz 200 MHz 600 MHz
Cable Type UTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP SSTP
Link Cost 0.7 1 1.2 1.5 2.2
(Cat 5 =1)
 Comparison of Shielded and
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Unshielded Twisted Pair

Attenuation (dB per 100 m ) Near -end Crosstalk (dB)

Frequency Category 3 Category 5 Category 3 Category 5
(MHz) UTP UTP 150-ohm STP UTP UTP 150-ohm STP
1 2.6 2.0 1.1 41 62 58
4 5.6 4.1 2.2 32 53 58
16 13.1 8.2 4.4 23 44 50.4
25 — 10.4 6.2 — 41 47.5
100 — 22.0 12.3 — 32 38.5
300 — — 21.4 — — 31.3
 Near End Crosstalk
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 coupling of signal from one pair to another

 occurs when transmit signal entering the link couples
back to receiving pair
 ie. near transmitted signal is picked up by near
receiving pair
 Coaxial Cable
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 Coaxial Cable - Transmission
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Characteristics
 superior frequency characteristics to TP
 performance limited by attenuation & noise
 analog signals
 amplifiers every few km
 closer if higher frequency
 up to 500MHz

 digital signals
 repeater every 1km
 closer for higher data rates
 Optical Fiber
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 Optical Fiber - Benefits
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 greater capacity
 data rates of hundreds of Gbps
 smaller size & weight
 lower attenuation
 electromagnetic isolation
 greater repeater spacing
 10s of km at least
 Optical Fiber - Transmission
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Characteristics
 uses total internal reflection to transmit light
 effectively acts as wave guide for 1014 to 1015 Hz
 can use several different light sources
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
 cheaper, wider operating temp range, lasts longer
 Injection Laser Diode (ILD)
 more efficient, has greater data rate
 relation of wavelength, type & data rate
 Optical Fiber Transmission Modes
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 Frequency Utilization for Fiber
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Applications

Wavelength (in Frequency Band Fiber Type Application

vacuum) range Range (THz) Label
(nm)
820 to 900 366 to 333 Multimode LAN
1280 to 1350 234 to 222 S Single mode Various
1528 to 1561 196 to 192 C Single mode WDM
1561 to 1620 192 to 185 L Single mode WDM
 Attenuation in Guided Media
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 Wireless Transmission Frequencies
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 30MHz to 1GHz
 Broadcast radio, omni-directional
 2GHz to 40GHz
 Microwave, highly directional
 point to point
 satellite

 3 x 1011 to 2 x 1014
 infrared
 local
 Antennas
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 electrical conductor used to radiate or collect

electromagnetic energy
 transmission antenna
 radio frequency energy from transmitter
 converted to electromagnetic energy by antenna

 radiated into surrounding environment

 reception antenna
 electromagnetic energy impinging on antenna
 converted to radio frequency electrical energy

 fed to receiver

 same antenna is often used for both purposes

 Radiation Pattern
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 power radiated in all directions

 not same performance in all directions
 as seen in a radiation pattern diagram
 an isotropic antenna is a (theoretical) point in space
 radiates in all directions equally
 with a spherical radiation pattern
 Parabolic Reflective Antenna
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 Antenna Gain
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 measure of directionality of antenna

 power output in particular direction verses that
produced by an isotropic antenna
 measured in decibels (dB)
 results in loss in power in another direction
 effective area relates to size and shape
 related to gain
 Broadcast Radio
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 radio is 3kHz to 300GHz

 use broadcast radio, 30MHz - 1GHz, for:
 FM radio
 UHF and VHF television

 is omnidirectional
 still need line of sight
 suffers from multipath interference
 reflections from land, water, other objects
 Terrestrial Microwave
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 used for long haul telecommunications

 and short point-to-point links
 requires fewer repeaters but line of sight
 use a parabolic dish to focus a narrow beam onto a
receiver antenna
 1-40GHz frequencies
 higher frequencies give higher data rates
 main source of loss is attenuation
 distance, rainfall
 also interference
 Satellite Microwave
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 satellite is relay station
 receives on one frequency, amplifies or repeats signal
and transmits on another frequency
 eg. uplink 5.925-6.425 GHz & downlink 3.7-4.2 GHz
 typically requires geo-stationary orbit
 height of 35,784km
 spaced at least 3-4° apart
 typical uses
 television
 long distance telephone
 private business networks
 global positioning
 Satellite Point to Point Link
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 Satellite Broadcast Link
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 Infrared
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 modulate non-coherent infrared light

 end line of sight (or reflection)
 are blocked by walls
 no licenses required
 typical uses
 TV remote control
 IRD port
 Wireless Propagation
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Ground Wave
 Wireless Propagation
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Sky Wave
 Wireless Propagation
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Line of Sight
 Refraction
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 velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of
density of material
~3 x 108 m/s in vacuum, less in anything else
 speed changes as move between media
 Index of refraction (refractive index) is
 sin(incidence)/sin(refraction)
 varies with wavelength

 have gradual bending if medium density varies

 density of atmosphere decreases with height
 results in bending towards earth of radio waves

 hence optical and radio horizons differ

 Line of Sight Transmission
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 Free space loss

 loss of signal with distance
 Atmospheric Absorption
 from water vapour and oxygen absorption
 Multipath
 multiple interfering signals from reflections
 Refraction
 bending signal away from receiver
 Free Space Loss
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 Multipath Interference
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 Summary
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 looked at data transmission issues

 frequency, spectrum & bandwidth
 analog vs digital signals
 transmission impairments