Outline

1 Introduction to Physical Media

CCN Computer Communication Networks 1 / 40

Transmission Media

• A transmission medium can be broadly defined as anything that can

carry information from a source to a destination.
• Various physical media can be used for the actual transmission.
• Each one has its own niche in terms of bandwidth, delay, cost, and ease
of installation and maintenance.
• Media are roughly grouped into guided media, such as copper wire and
fiber optics, and unguided media, such as terrestrial wireless, satellite,
and lasers through the air.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 2 / 40

Classes of Transmission Media

CCN Computer Communication Networks 3 / 40

Guided media

• Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit from one
device to another, include twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, and
fiber-optic cable.
• A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and
contained by the physical limits of the medium.
• Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic (copper) conductors that
accept and transport signals in the form of electric current.
• Optical fiber is a cable that accepts and transports signals in the form
of light.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 4 / 40

Magnetic Media

• Magnetic Media - Most common form is to write them onto

magnetic tape or removable media
• e.g., recordable DVDs
• Can physically transport the tape or disks to the destination
machine, and read them back in again.
• It is often more cost effective.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 5 / 40

Twisted Pair Cable

CCN Computer Communication Networks 6 / 40

Twisted Pair Cable
• Consists of two insulated copper wires, typically about 1 mm thick.
• The wires are twisted together in a helical form.
• One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the
other is used only as a ground reference.
• The receiver uses the difference between the two.
• In addition to the signal sent by the sender on one of the wires,
interference (noise) and crosstalk may affect both wires and create
unwanted signals.
• If the two wires are parallel, the effect of these unwanted signals is not
the same in both wires because they are at different locations relative to
the noise or crosstalk sources (e,g., one is closer and the other is
farther).
• By twisting the lines together it ensures that any external signal is
induced into both lines; then at the receiver this noise" is
cancelled out and by twisting the pairs, a balance is maintained.
CCN Computer Communication Networks 7 / 40
Twisted Pair Cable

• Application - Telephone system

• Twisted pairs can run several kilometres without amplification, but for
longer distances the signal becomes too attenuated and
repeaters are needed.
• Twisted pairs can be used for transmitting either analog or digital
information.
• The bandwidth depends on the thickness of the wire and the distance
travelled, but several megabits/sec can be achieved for a few
kilometres in many cases.
• Due to their adequate performance and low cost, twisted pairs are
widely used

CCN Computer Communication Networks 8 / 40

UTP and STP

• The most common twisted-pair cable used in communications is

referred to as unshielded twisted-pair (UTP).
• The other is shielded twisted-pair (STP).
• Shielding - cable has a metal foil or braided mesh covering that
encases each pair of insulated conductors.
• Shielding reduces the susceptibility to external interference and
crosstalk with other nearby cables to meet demanding performance
specifications.
• (Crosstalk is a disturbance caused by the electric or magnetic fields of
one telecommunication signal affecting a signal in an adjacent circuit.)
• Although metal casing improves the quality of cable by preventing the
penetration of noise or crosstalk, it is bulkier and more
expensive.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 9 / 40

UTP and STP Cables

CCN Computer Communication Networks 10 / 40

RJ45 Connector

• The most common UTP connector is RJ45 (RJ stands for

registered jack),
• RJ45 is a type of connector, mainly used for Ethernet networking
including connection with PC network cards, data switches, WiFi
access points, and routers.
• It is connected to each end of Ethernet cables and acts as the main
source for transferring data.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 11 / 40

A Coaxial Cable

CCN Computer Communication Networks 12 / 40

Coaxial Cable
• Coaxial cable (or coax) carries signals of higher frequency ranges
than those in twisted pair cable.
• Instead of having two wires, coax has a central core conductor of
solid or stranded wire (usually copper) enclosed in an insulating
sheath, which is, in turn, encased in an outer conductor of metal foil,
braid, or a combination of the two.
• The outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield against noise and
as the second conductor, which completes the circuit.
• This outer conductor is also enclosed in an insulating sheath, and the
whole cable is protected by a plastic cover.

•
CCN Computer Communication Networks 13 / 40
• Twisted pair can be used for transmitting either analog or digital
signal and frequency range for twisted pair cable is 100 Hz to 5 MHz.
• Coaxial cable: It has better shielding and greater bandwidth than
unshielded twisted pairs, so it can span longer distances at higher
speeds.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 14 / 40

Coax Cable

• Types differ in unique set of physical specifications, including the

wire gauge of the inner conductor, the thickness and type of the inner
insulator, the construction of the shield, and the size and type of the
outer casing.
• 50-ohm (Impedance value) cable is commonly used when it is
intended for digital transmission
• 75-ohm cable is commonly used for analog transmission and cable
television.
• The construction and shielding of the coaxial cable give it a good
combination of high bandwidth and excellent noise immunity.
• The bandwidth possible depends on the cable quality and length.
Modern cables have a bandwidth of up to a few GHz.
• Coax is still widely used for cable television and metropolitan area
networks, however.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 15 / 40

Fiber Cables

• A fiber-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in

the form of light.
• At the center is the glass core through which the light propagates.
• The core is surrounded by a glass cladding with a lower index of
refraction than the core, to keep all the light in the core.
• Next comes a thin plastic jacket to protect the cladding.

• (a) Side view of a single fiber. (b) End view of a sheath with three
fibers.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 16 / 40

Fibre Cable

• Single mode and multimode

• Multimode is so named because multiple beams from a light source
move through the core in different paths.
• Optical fibers are defined by the ratio of the diameter of their core to
the diameter of their cladding, both expressed in micrometers
• In multimode bers, the core is typically 50 microns in diameter, about
the thickness of a human hair.
• In single-mode fibers, the core is 8 to 10 microns.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 17 / 40

Advantages and Disadvantages of Optical Fiber
• Higher bandwidth - Fiber-optic cable can support dramatically higher
bandwidths (and hence data rates) than either twisted-pair or coaxial
cable.
• Less signal attenuation - Fiber-optic transmission distance is
significantly greater than that of other guided media. A signal can run
for 50 km without requiring regeneration. We need repeaters every 5
km for coaxial or twisted-pair cable.
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference - Electromagnetic noise
cannot affect fiber-optic cables.
• Resistance to corrosive materials - Glass is more resistant to
corrosive materials than copper.
• Light weight - Fiber-optic cables are much lighter than copper
cables.
• Greater immunity to tapping - Fiber-optic cables are more immune to
tapping than copper cables. Copper cables create antenna
effects that can easily be tapped.
CCN Computer Communication Networks 18 / 40
Disadvantages of Fibre Cable

• Installation and maintenance - Fiber optic cable is a relatively new

technology. Its installation and maintenance require expertise that is
not yet available everywhere.
• Cost - The cable and the interfaces are relatively more expensive than
those of other guided media. If the demand for bandwidth is not high,
often the use of optical fiber cannot be justified.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 19 / 40

Wireless Transmission

• The radio, microwave, infrared, and visible light portions of the

spectrum can all be used for transmitting information by
modulating the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the waves.
• Ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays would be even better, due
to their higher frequencies, but they are hard to produce and
modulate, do not propagate well through buildings, and are dangerous
to living things.
• Most transmissions use a relatively narrow frequency band (i.e.,
δf/f << 1).
• They concentrate their signals in this narrow band to use the
spectrum effciently and obtain reasonable data rates by
transmitting with enough power.
• However, in some cases, a wider band is used, with three variations.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 20 / 40

Bands and Applications

CCN Computer Communication Networks 21 / 40

Ultra Wide Band

• A third method of communication with a wider band is UWB

communication.
• UWB sends a series of rapid pulses, varying their positions to
communicate information.
• The rapid transitions lead to a signal that is spread thinly over a very
wide frequency band.
• UWB is defined as signals that have a bandwidth of at least 500
MHz or at least 20% of the center frequency of their frequency band.
• Ultra Wide Band (UWB) is a technology for the transmission of data
using techniques which cause a spreading of the radio energy over a
very wide frequency band.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 22 / 40

Advantages of UWB

• With this much bandwidth, UWB has the potential to

communicate at high rates.
• Because it is spread across a wide band of frequencies, it can tolerate a
substantial amount of relatively strong interference from other
narrowband signals.
• Since UWB has very little energy at any given frequency when
used for short-range transmission, it does not cause harmful
interference to those other narrowband radio signals.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 23 / 40

Radio Frequency Waves

• Radio frequency (RF) waves are easy to generate, can travel long
distances, and can penetrate buildings easily.
• So they are widely used for communication,both indoors and
outdoors.
• Radio waves also are omnidirectional, meaning that they travel in all
directions from the source, so the transmitter and receiver do not have
to be carefully aligned physically.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 24 / 40

Properties of RF Waves

• The properties of radio waves are frequency dependent.

• At low frequencies, radio waves pass through obstacles well, but the
power falls off sharply with distance from the source at least as fast as
1/r2 in air as the signal energy is spread more thinly over a larger
surface.
• This attenuation is called path loss.
• At high frequencies, radio waves tend to travel in straight lines and
bounce off obstacles.
• Path loss still reduces power, though the received signal can
depend strongly on reflections as well.
• High-frequency radio waves are also absorbed by rain and other
obstacles to a larger extent than are low-frequency ones.
• At all frequencies,radio waves are subject to interference from
motors and other electrical equipment.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 25 / 40

Digital Subscriber Line
• Telephone networks were originally created to provide voice
communication.
• After traditional modems reached their peak data rate, telephone
companies developed another technology, DSL, to provide
higher-speed access to the Internet.
• DSL service can be delivered simultaneously with wired telephone
service on the same telephone line since DSL uses higher frequency
bands for data.
• The bit rate of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256
kbit/s to over 100 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer
(downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and
service-level implementation.
• The first technology in the set is asymmetric DSL (ADSL). ADSL, like
a 56K modem, provides higher speed (bit rate) in the downstream
direction (from the Internet to the resident) than in the upstream
direction (from the resident to the Internet). That is the reason it is
called asymmetric.
CCN Computer Communication Networks 26 / 40
DSL Connection

CCN Computer Communication Networks 27 / 40

High-bit-rate digital subscriber line (HDSL)

• Designed as an alternative to the T-l line (1.544 Mbps). The

T-1line uses alternate mark inversion (AMI) encoding, which is
very susceptible to attenuation at high frequencies. This limits the
length of a T-l line to 3200 ft (1 km). For longer distances, a
repeater is necessary, which means increased costs.
• HDSL uses 2B1Q encoding, which is less susceptible to attenuation.
• A data rate of 1.544 Mbps (sometimes up to 2 Mbps) can be
achieved without repeaters up to a distance of 12,000 ft (3.86 km).
• HDSL uses two twisted pairs (one pair for each direction) to
achieve full-duplex transmission.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 28 / 40

Symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL)

• It provides full-duplex symmetric communication supporting up to 768

kbps in each direction.
• SDSL, which provides symmetric communication, can be
considered an alternative to ADSL.
• ADSL provides asymmetric communication, with a downstream bit
rate that is much higher than the upstream bit rate. Although this
feature meets the needs of most residential subscribers, it is not suitable
for businesses that send and receive data in large volumes in both
directions.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 29 / 40

Very high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL)

• Uses coaxial, fiber-optic, or twisted-pair cable for short distances.

• Modulating technique is DMT.
• Discrete multitone (DMT) is a method of separating a Digital
Subscriber Line (DSL) signal so that the usable frequency range is
separated into 256 frequency bands (or channels) of 4.3125 KHz
each.
• DMT uses the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm for
modulation and demodulation.
• It provides a range of bit rates (25 to 55 Mbps) for upstream
communication at distances of 3000 to 10,000 ft. The downstream rate
is normally 3.2 Mbps.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 30 / 40

Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC)

• The second generation of cable networks is called a hybrid

fiber-coaxial (HFC) network.
• The network uses a combination of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.
• The transmission medium from the cable TV o ce to a box, called the
fiber node, is optical fiber; from the fiber node through the
neighborhood and into the house is still coaxial cable.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 31 / 40

HFC

CCN Computer Communication Networks 32 / 40

HFC

• The regional cable head (RCH) normally serves up to 400,000

subscribers.
• The RCHs feed the distribution hubs, each of which serves up to
40,000 subscribers.
• The distribution hub plays an important role in the new
infrastructure.
• Modulation and distribution of signals are done at Hub.
• The signals are then fed to the ber nodes through ber-optic cables.
• The fiber node splits the analog signals so that the same signal is sent
to each coaxial cable.
• Each coaxial cable serves up to 1000 subscribers.
• The use of fiber-optic cable reduces the need for amplifiers down to
eight or less.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 33 / 40

Communication Satellites

• In its simplest form, a communication satellite can be thought of as a

big microwave repeater in the sky.
• It contains several transponders, each of which listens to some
portion of the spectrum, amplifies the incoming signal, and then
rebroadcasts it at another frequency to avoid interference with the
incoming signal.
• Digital processing can be added to separately manipulate or redirect
data streams in the overall band, or digital information can even be
received by the satellite and rebroadcast.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 34 / 40

Frequency Division Multiplexing

• It takes advantage of passband transmission to share a channel.

• It divides the spectrum into frequency bands, with each user having
exclusive possession of some band in which to send their signal.
• AM radio broadcasting illustrates FDM.
• The allocated spectrum is about 1 MHz, roughly 500 to 1500 kHz.
• Different frequencies are allocated to different logical channels
(stations), each operating in a portion of the spectrum, with the
interchannel separation great enough to prevent interference.
• Guard band concept

CCN Computer Communication Networks 35 / 40

Frequency Division Multiplexing

a)Original bandwidths b)Bandwidths raised in frequency c)Multiplexed

channel
CCN Computer Communication Networks 36 / 40
Time Division Multiplexing

CCN Computer Communication Networks 37 / 40

Time Division Multiplexing

• Users take turns (in a round-robin fashion), each one periodically

getting the entire bandwidth for a little burst of time.
• Bits from each input stream are taken in a fixed time slot and
output to the aggregate stream.
• This stream runs at the sum rate of the individual streams.
• The streams must be synchronized in time.
• Small intervals of guard time analogous to a frequency guard band may
be added to accommodate small timing variations.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 38 / 40

Thank You.

CCN Computer Communication Networks 39 / 40