CHAPTER 3

PHYSICAL LAYER
Physical layer is a bottom layer that support the communication between two hops or
nodes, either a computer or router through communication media. It define the
characteristics of the interface between the devices and the transmission media. It also
defines the type of transmission media. To be transmitted, bits must be encoded in to
signals: electrical or optical.
The Physical Layer is the lowest layer of the TCP/IP model. It deals It also specifies the
line configuration (point-to-point or multiport), data rate (number of bits sent each
second), and topology in the network. There are no specific protocols that are used in this
layer. The functionality of the physical layer varies from network-to-network.

3.1. Data and Signals

Data
 It is an information that has been translated into a form that is efficient for
movement or processing.
 Relative to today's computers and transmission media, data is information
converted into binary digital form.
 It can be any text, image, audio, video, and multimedia files.
Signal
 It is an electrical or electromagnetic current that is used for carrying data from one
device or network to another.
 It is the key component behind Communication, Computing, Networking, and
Electronic devices.
 Is a function of time, but it can also be expressed as a function of frequency.
 Can be either analog or digital.
Data transmission is the process of sending digital or analog data over communication
medium. It enables the transfer and communication of devices in a point-to-point, point-
to-multipoint, and multipoint to multipoint environment. It can be analog or digital but is
mainly reserved for sending and receiving digital data. It works when a device, such as a
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computer, intends to send a data object or file to one or multiple recipient devices, like a
computer or a server. The digital data originates from the source device in the form of
discrete signal or digital bit streams. These data streams/signals are placed over a
communication medium, such as twisted pair, Co-axial cable, and fiber optics for delivery
to the destination/recipient device.
 Transmission media may be classified as guided or unguided
 guided medium
 waves are guided along a physical path
eg. Twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
 unguided / wireless medium
 Provide means for transmitting electromagnetic waves but do not guide them.
eg. Microwave, radio, infrared, Air
On time domain concepts, generally, we have four types of signal.
1, Analog signal
 The continuously varying signal that may be propagated over variety of media,
depending on spectrum.
 Characterized along amplitude and frequency.
 Have a limited bandwidth, they cannot support high speed data.
 Susceptible to noise, impairment and attenuation

Figure 3.1. Analog signal

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2, Digital signal
 A series of discrete pulses, representing one bit and zero bits.
 Cheaper
 Less susceptible to noise/interference
 Digital signals are now the preferred choice.

Figure 3.2. Digital signal

3, Periodic signal
 A periodic signal is one that repeats the sequence of values exactly after a fixed length
of time, known as the period.
 They are deterministic signals
 Example: Sine, cosine, square, saw tooth etc.

Figure 3.3. Periodic signal

4, Aperiodic signal
 A signal which does not repeat itself after specific interval of time.
 They are random signals.
 Example; Sound signals from radio, all types of noise signals.

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 Figure 3.4. Aperiodic signal
3.2. Encoding and Modulation
 Encoding is the process of converting the data or a given sequence of characters,
symbols, alphabets etc., into a specified format, for the secured transmission of data.

 The process of using various patterns of voltage or current levels to

represent 1s and 0s of the digital signals on the transmission link.

 Modulation has been defined as the process of combining an input signal m(t) and the
carrier frequency fc to produce a signal s(t) whose bandwidth is usually centered on fc.
A. Digital data to Digital signals
 is a sequence of discrete voltage pulses
 each pulse is a signal element
 Binary data encoded into signal elements.

Figure 3.5. Digital signal representation

 There are several ways to map digital data to digital signals. Some of them are:

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 Non Return to Zero (NRZ): to map the data value 1 onto the high signal and the
data value 0 onto the low signal.
o Has 2 types, NRZ-L and NRZ-I
o NRZ-L: change in the polarity of the signal, only when the incoming signal
changes from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1.
o NRZ-I: If a 1 occurs at the incoming signal, then there occurs a transition
at the beginning of the bit interval. For a 0 at the incoming signal, there
is no transition at the beginning of the bit interval.
Bi-phase Manchester: the transition is done at the middle of the bit-interval. The
transition for the resultant pulse is from High to Low in the middle of the interval,
for the input bit 1. While the transition is from Low to High for the input bit 0.
Differential Manchester: ‘1’ is encoded with the first half of the signal equal to the
last half of the previous bit’s signal. ‘0’ is encoded with the first half of the signal
opposite to the last half of the previous bit’s signal.)

B. Digital data to Analog signals

Transmitting digital data using analog signals can be done with the help of telephone
networks. The telephone network was designed to receive, switch, and transmit analog

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signals in voice frequency range of about 300 to 3400 Hz. The digital devices are attached
to the shift keying which converts digital data to analog signals.
Amplitude shift keying (ASK), Frequency shift keying (FSK), and Phase shift keying (PSK)
are three methods of conversion.
ASK: the two binary values are presented by two different amplitudes of the carrier
frequency.
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑡) 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 1
𝐴𝑆𝐾 … … … . . 𝑠(𝑡) = {
0 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 0
FSK: Two binary values are presented by two different frequencies.
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝜋𝑓1 𝑡) 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 1
𝐹𝑆𝐾 … … … … 𝑠(𝑡) = {
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(2𝜋𝑓2 𝑡) 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 0
PSK: the phase of the carrier signal is changed by varying the sine and cosine inputs at a
particular time.

Figure 3.6. ASK,FSK,PSK

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C. Analog data to Digital signals
Process of converting analog data into digital signal is known as digitization. The device
used for converting analog data into digital form is Codec.

Figure 3.7. CODEC

Sampling Theorem: If a signal f(t) is sampled at regular intervals of time then the samples
contain all the information of the original signal. The function f(t) may be reconstructed
from these samples by the use of a low pass filter. Pulse code modulation is based on
sampling theorem. The following figure shows PCM.

Figure 3.8. Sampling

D. Analog data to Analog signals
 Analog data can be modulated by a carrier frequency to produce an analog signal
 Why modulate analog signals?
 higher frequency can give more effective transmission

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  permits frequency division multiplexing
 Types of analog modulation techniques
 Amplitude Modulation
 Frequency Modulation
 Phase Modulation

Figure 3.9. Types of modulation

3.3. Multiplexing and Spreading
3.3.1. Multiplexing
Multiplexing is a technique by which different analog and digital streams of transmission
can be simultaneously processed over a shared link. Multiplexing divides the high capacity
medium into low capacity logical medium.

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Communication is possible over the air (radio frequency), using a physical media (cable),
and light (optical fiber). All mediums are capable of multiplexing. When multiple senders
try to send over a single medium, a device called Multiplexer divides the physical channel
and allocates one to each. On the other end of communication, a De-multiplexer receives
data from a single medium, identifies each, and sends to different receivers.
The widespread use of multiplexing in data communications can be:
 The higher the data rate, the more cost-effective the transmission facility. That is, for
a given application and over a given distance, the cost per kbps declines with an increase
in the data rate of the transmission facility. Similarly, the cost of transmission and
receiving equipment, per kbps, declines with increasing data rate.
 For example, for most terminal and personal computer applications, a data rate of
between 9600 bps and 64 kbps is generally adequate.

Figure 3.10. Multiplexing and De-multiplexing

Categories of Multiplexing

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i. Frequency division multiplexing (FDM)
 FDM is an analog multiplexing technique that combines analog signals.
 Signals of different frequencies are combined into a composite signal and is transmitted
on the single link.
 Bandwidth of a link should be greater than the combined bandwidths of the various
channels.
 Each signal is having different frequency.
 Channels are separated by the strips of unused bandwidth called Guard Bands (to
prevent overlapping).

Figure 3.11. FDM mux and Demux

Example:

Figure 3.12. FDM Multiplexing

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 Figure 3.13. FDM De-multiplexing

Example:
• Five channels, each with a 100-kHz bandwidth, are to be multiplexed together. What is
the minimum bandwidth of the link if there is a need for a guard band of 10 kHz between
the channels to prevent interference?
Solution
For five channels, we need at least four guard bands. This means that the required
bandwidth is at least
5 × 100 + 4 × 10 = 540 kHz, as shown in Figure.

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ii. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)
 WDM is an analog multiplexing technique.
 Working is same as FDM.
 In WDM different signals are optical or light signals that are transmitted through
optical fiber.
 Various light waves from different sources are combined to form a composite light
signal that is transmitted across the channel to the receiver.
 At the receiver side, this composite light signal is broken into different light waves by
De-multiplexer.
 This Combining and the Splitting of light waves is done by using a PRISM. Prism bends
beam of light based on the angle of incidence and the frequency of light wave.

Figure 3.13. WDM mux and De-mux

Prism in wavelength division multiplexing

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iii. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
 TDM is a digital multiplexing technique for combining several low-rate channels into one
high-rate one.
 It is the digital multiplexing technique.
 Channel/Link is not divided on the basis of frequency but on the basis of time.
 Total time available in the channel is divided between several users.
 Each user is allotted a particular time interval called time slot or slice.
 In TDM the data rate capacity of the transmission medium should be greater than the
data rate required by sending of receiving devices.

Figure 3.14. TDM mux and De-mux

Types of TDM

 Synchronous TDM

 Asynchronous TDM

a. Synchronous TDM

 Each device is given same Time Slot to transmit the data over the link, whether the
device has any data to transmit or not.
 Each device places its data onto the link when its Time Slot arrives, each device is given
the possession of line turn by turn.
 If any device does not have data to send then its time slot remains empty.
 Time slots are organized into Frames and each frame consists of one or more time slots.
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 If there are n sending devices there will be n slots in frames.

Figure 3.15. STDM mux

Example-1
In Figure above, the data rate for each input connection is 3 kbps. If 1 bit at a time is
multiplexed (a unit is 1 bit), what is the duration of (a) each input slot, (b) each output
slot, and (c) each frame?
Solution-1
We can answer the questions as follows:
a. The data rate of each input connection is 1 kbps. This means that the bit duration is
1/1000 s or 1 ms. The duration of the input time slot is 1 ms (same as bit duration).
b. The duration of each output time slot is one-third of the input time slot. This means that
the duration of the output time slot is 1/3 ms.
c. Each frame carries three output time slots. So the duration of a frame is 3 × 1/3 ms, or 1
ms. the duration of a frame is the same as the duration of an input unit.

Example-2
Four channels are multiplexed using TDM. If each channel sends 100 bytes /s and we
multiplex 1 byte per channel, show the frame traveling on the link, the size of the frame,
the duration of a frame, the frame rate, and the bit rate for the link.
Solution-2
The multiplexer is shown in Figure below. Each frame carries 1 byte from each channel;
the size of each frame, therefore, is 4 bytes, or 32 bits. Because each channel is sending 100

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bytes/s and a frame carries 1 byte from each channel, the frame rate must be 100 frames per
second. The bit rate is 100 × 32, or 3200 bps.

b. Asynchronous TDM

 Also known as Statistical Time Division multiplexing.

 In this time slots are not fixed i.e. slots are Flexible.
 Total speed of the input lines can be greater than the capacity of the path.
 In ASTDM we have n input lines and m slots i.e. m less than n (m<n).
 Slots are not predefined rather slots are allocated to any of the device that has data to
send.

Figure 3.16. Synch-TDM and Stat-TDM mux

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3.3.2. Spreading
Most stations use air as the medium for communication, stations must be able to share
the medium without an interception and without being subject to jamming from a
malicious intruder. To achieve this, spread-spectrum techniques add redundancy means
it uses extended bandwidth to accommodate signals in a protective envelope so that
more secure transmission is possible. The spread code is a series of numbers that looks
random but are actually a pattern. The original bandwidth of the signal
gets enlarged (spread) through the spread code as shown in the figure.

Figure 3.17. Spreading

Principles of Spread Spectrum process:
1. To allow redundancy, it is necessary that the bandwidth allocated to each station
should be much larger than needed.
2. The spreading process occurs after the signal is created by the source.
Conditions of Spread Spectrum are:
1. The spread spectrum is a type of modulation where modulated signal BW is much
larger than the baseband signal BW i.e. spread spectrum is a wide band scheme.
2. A special code (pseudo noise) is used for spectrum spreading and the same code is to
be used to dispread the signal at the receiver.
Characteristics of the Spread Spectrum are:
1. Higher channel capacity.

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2. Ability to resist multipath propagation.
3. They cannot easily intercept any unauthorized person.
4. They are resistant to jamming.
5. The spread spectrum provides immunity to distortion due to multipath propagation.
6. The spread spectrum offers multiple access capabilities.
Two types of techniques for Spread Spectrum are:
1. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
2. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS):
In Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), different carrier frequencies are
modulated by the source signal i.e. M carrier frequencies are modulated by the signal. At
one moment signal modulates one carrier frequency and at the subsequent moments, it
modulates other carrier frequencies. The general block diagram of FHSS is shown in the
below figure.

Figure 3.18. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum

A pseudorandom code generator generates Pseudo-random Noise of some pattern for

each hopping period Th. The frequency corresponding to the pattern is used for the

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hopping period and is passed to the frequency synthesizer. The synthesizer generates a
carrier signal of that frequency. The figure above shows the spread signal via FHSS.
Advantages of FHSS:
 Synchronization is not greatly dependent on distance.
 Processing Gain is higher than DSSS.
Disadvantages of FHSS:
 The bandwidth of the FHSS system is too large (in GHz).
 Complex and expensive Digital frequency synthesizers are required.

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS):

In DSSS, the bandwidth of the original signal is also expanded by a different technique.
Here, each data bit is replaced with n bits using a spreading code called chips, and the
bit rate of the chip is called as chip-rate. The chip rate is n times the bit rate of the
original signal. The below Figure shows the DSSS block diagram.

Figure 3.19. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

In wireless LAN, the sequence with n = 11 is used. The original data is multiplied
by chips (spreading code) to get the spread signal. The required bandwidth of the spread
signal is 11 times larger than the bandwidth of the original signal.

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Advantages of DSSS:
 The DSSS System combats the jamming most effectively.
 The performance of DSSS in presence of noise is superior to FHSS.
 Interference is minimized against the signals.
Disadvantages of DSSS:
 Processing Gain is lower than DSSS.
 Channel Bandwidth is less than FHSS.
 Synchronization is affected by the variable distance between the transmitter and
receiver.
3.4. Transmission Media
 Data transmission occurs between a transmitter & receiver via some medium
 Transmission media may be classified as guided or unguided

 guided medium

 waves are guided along a physical path

 The medium itself is more important in determining the limitations of

transmission. e.g. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber

 unguided / wireless medium

 Provide means for transmitting electromagnetic waves but do not guide

them.

 Bandwidth produced by the antenna is more important than medium in

determining transmission characteristics. e.g. propagation through air,
water, vacuum

 In considering the design of data transmission systems, key concerns are data rate
and distance: the greater the data rate and distance, the better.

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Transmission Characteristics of Guided Media

Frequency Typical Typical Delay Repeater

Range Attenuation Spacing

Twisted pair 0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @ 1 50 µs/km 2 km

(with loading) kHz

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

(multi-pair 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 THz 0.2 to 0.5 5 µs/km 40 km

dB/km

i. Twisted Pair cable

A twisted-pair (TP) transmission line is formed by twisting two insulated conductors

around each other. Usually, a number of pairs of these wires are put together into a cable.
The cable may contain more than a hundred pairs of wires for long-distance
communications. Twisted-pair wires are the most common media in a telephone network.
These wires support both analog and digital signals and can transmit the signal at a speed
of 10 Mbps over a short distance. The twisting of wires with different twisting lengths
reduces the effect of cross talk and low-frequency interference.

3.17. Twisted pair cable

 Simple to install and relatively independent when compared to coaxial and optical fiber
cables.

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 The two basic types of twisted-pair transmission lines specified are unshielded twisted
pair (UTP) and shielded twisted pair (STP).
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
o ordinary telephone wire
o cheapest
o easiest to install
o suffers from external EM interference
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
o metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference
o more expensive
o harder to handle (thick, heavy)

Unshielded Twisted pair Shielded twisted pair

ii. Coaxial (Concentric) cable

Because of the advent of modern UTP and STP twisted pair cables, coaxial cable is seen
very less in computer networks, but still has very high importance in analog systems, such
as cable television distribution networks. The basic coaxial cable consists of a center
conductor surrounded by a dielectric material (insulation), then a concentric (uniform
distance from the center) shielding, and finally a rubber environmental protection outer
jacket. A coaxial cable with one layer of foil insulation and one layer of braided shielding is
referred to as dual shielded and if two layers of foil insulation and two layers of braided
metal shielding are present, it’s called quad shielding.

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 3.18. Coaxial cable
 Performance limited by attenuation & noise
 Analog signals
 amplifiers every few km for long distance transmission
 Closer spacing if higher frequency is used
 The usable spectrum for analog signaling extends to about 500 MHz
 Digital signals
 repeater every 1km
 Closer spacing for higher data rates.
iii. Fiber optics cable

An optical communications system is one that uses light as the carrier of information. They
use glass or plastic fiber cables to contain the light waves and guide them in a manner
similar to the way EM waves are guided through a metallic transmission media.

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 3.19. Fiber optic cable
Benefit of Fiber optics
 Greater capacity: data rates of hundreds of Gbps.
 smaller size & weight
 lower attenuation
 Electromagnetic isolation- Optical fiber systems are not affected by external EMF.
 Greater repeater spacing: Fewer repeaters mean lower cost and fewer sources of error.
Transmission Characteristics of fiber optics
 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, operates over a greater temperature range, has a longer operational life
 Injection Laser Diode (ILD)
 more efficient, has greater data rate
Optical Fiber Transmission Modes
i. Multimode fiber: Thick cable (62.5/125 microns) causes more ray collisions, so you have
to transmit slower. Typically use LED for light source, shorter distance transmissions
ii. Single mode fiber: Thin cable (8.3/125 microns) – very little reflection, fast
transmission, typically uses a laser, longer transmission distances.

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3.5. Switching
Switching is process to forward packets coming in from one port to a port leading
towards the destination. When data comes on a port it is called ingress, and when
data leaves a port or goes out it is called egress. A communication system may
include number of switches and nodes. At broad level, switching can be divided into
two major categories:

A switched network consists of a series of interlinked nodes, called switches. Switches are
devices capable of creating temporary connections between two or more devices linked to
the switch. In a switched network, some of these nodes are connected to the end systems

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(computers or telephones, for example). Others are used only for routing. Figure shows a
switched network.

Figure 3.20. Switched network

We can then divide today's networks into three broad categories: circuit- switched
networks, packet-switched networks, and message-switched. Packet- switched networks
can further be divided into two subcategories-virtual-circuit networks and datagram
networks as shown in Figure.

Figure 3.21. Types of Switched network

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I. Circuit-switched networks
A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches connected by physical links. A
connection between two stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links. However,
each connection uses only one dedicated channel on each link. Each link is normally
divided into n channels by using FDM or TDM.

Figure 3.22. Circuit Switched network

 The actual communication in a circuit-switched network requires three phases:
o connection setup,
o data transfer, and
o Connection teardown.
II. Packet-switched networks
The packet switching is a switching technique in which the message is sent in one go, but
it is divided into smaller pieces, and they are sent individually. The message splits into
smaller pieces known as packets and packets are given a unique number to identify their
order at the receiving end. Every packet contains some information in its headers such as
source address, destination address and sequence number. Packets will travel across the
network, taking the shortest path as possible. All the packets are reassembled at the
receiving end in correct order.

➢ If any packet is missing or corrupted, then the message will be sent to resend the
message.
➢ If the correct order of the packets is reached, then the acknowledgment message will be
sent.

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 Figure 3.23. Packet Switched network
There are two approaches to Packet Switching:
 Datagram and
 Virtual circuit.
A. Datagram Networks

In a packet-switched network, there is no resource reservation; resources are allocated on

demand. The allocation is done on a first come, first-served basis. When a switch receives
a packet, no matter what is the source or destination, the packet must wait if there are
other packets being processed. This lack of reservation may create delay. For example, if
we do not have a reservation at a restaurant, we might have to wait.

In a datagram network, each packet is treated independently of all others. Packets

in this approach are referred to as datagrams. Datagram switching is normally done at the
network layer.

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The datagram networks are sometimes referred to as connectionless networks. The term
connectionless here means that the switch (packet switch) does not keep information
about the connection state. There are no setup or teardown phases. Each packet is treated
the same by a switch regardless of its source or destination.
A switch in a datagram network uses a routing table that is based on the destination
address. The destination address in the header of a packet in a datagram network remains
the same during the entire journey of the packet.

Figure 3.24 datagram networks

 The efficiency of a datagram network is better than that of a circuit-switched network;
resources are allocated only when there are packets to be transferred.
 Delay There may be greater delay in a datagram network than in a virtual-circuit
network. Although there are no setup and teardown phases, each packet may
experience a wait at a switch before it is forwarded.
 Since not all packets in a message necessarily travel through the same switches, the
delay is not uniform for the packets of a message.
B. VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS
A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-switched network and a datagram
network. It has some characteristics of both.

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 Figure 3.25 Virtual circuit network

1. As in a circuit-switched network, there are setup and teardown phases in addition to the
data transfer phase.
2. Resources can be allocated during the setup phase, as in a circuit-switched network, or
on demand, as in a datagram network.
3. As in a datagram network, data are packetized and each packet carries an address in the
header. However, the address in the header has local jurisdiction (it defines what should
be the next switch and the channel on which the packet is being carried), not end-to-end
jurisdiction.
4. As in a circuit-switched network, all packets follow the same path established during
the connection.
5. A virtual-circuit network is normally implemented in the data link layer, while a circuit
switched network is implemented in the physical layer and a datagram network in the
network layer.
III. Message -switched networks

This technique was somewhere in middle of circuit switching and packet switching. In
message switching, the whole message is treated as a data unit and is switching/ transferred
in its entirety.

A switch working on message switching, first receives the whole message and buffers it
until there are resources available to transfer it to the next hop. If the next hop is not having

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 enough resource to accommodate large size message, the message is stored and switch
waits.

Figure 3.26 Message switched network

Comparison of Circuit, Datagram packet, and Virtual-circuit

packet switching
Circuit switching Datagram packet Virtual-circuit packet
switching switching

Dedicated transmission path No dedicated path No dedicated path

Continuous transmission of Transmission of packets Transmission of packet

data

Messages are not stored Packets may be stored until Packets stored until delivered
delivered

No overhead bits after call Overhead bits in each message Overhead bits in each packet.
setup

Busy signal if called party busy Sender may be notified if Sender notified of connection
packet not delivered denial

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