Transmission Media/Communication

Networks Based Channels

on Commmunication
Channels
• Wired Computer Networks
• Wireless Computer
Networks
Wired Computer Networks
Wired computer networks are mostly LANs.
In wired network computers are connected
to each other through wiring or cables.

Most commonly used cables in wired

networks are
• Twisted Pair Cables /Ethernet cable
• Co-axial cables
• Optical Fibres
 Twisted Pair Cable
These cables consist of two insulated copper wires twisted
around each other.
Types:
• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
STP offers greater protection from interference,But it is heavier
and costlier than UTP.

USE
1. In local telephone communication
2. For digital data transmission over short distances upto 1 km
 Advantages:
• Easy to install and maintain
• Simple
• Inexpensive
• Low weight
• Suitable for small (Local) Networks
Disadvantages:
• Not suitable for long distance due to high attenuation.
• Low bandwidth support.
• Low Speed
• Nose disturbance
∙ Coaxial cable consists of a solid copper wire core surrounded by a plastic
cladding shielded in a wire mesh.
∙ Shield prevents the noise by redirecting it to ground.

Types:
Coaxial cable comes in two sizes which are called thinnet and thicknet.
∙ Thicknet : segment length upto 500 m
∙ Thinnet : segment length upto 185 m
USE:
In TV channel communication
Advantages:
∙ Better than twisted wire cable.
∙ Popular for TV networks.
∙ Offers higher bandwidth & Speed
Disadvantages:
∙ Expensive than twisted wires.
∙ Not compatible with twisted
wire cable.
 ∙ Thin strands of glass or glass like
material designed to carry light
from one source to another.
∙ Source converts (Modulates) the
data signal into light using LED
(Light Emitting Diodes) or LASER
diodes and send it over the Optical
fiber.
It consists of three parts:
1. The core: glass or plastic through
which the
light travels.
2. The cladding : covers the core and
reflects light back to the core
Advantages
∙ Not affected by any kind of noise.
∙ High transmission capacity
∙ Speed of Light
∙ Suitable for broadband
communication

Disadvantages
∙ Installation requires care.
∙ Connecting two Optical fibers is
difficult.
∙ Optical fibers are more difficult to
solder
S. No. Factor Twisted Pair Cable Co-axial Cable Optical fiber
1. Cost Low Moderate High
Higher than twisted pair
2. Low Highest
Noise immunity

3. Affected Less affected Not affected

External Magnetic field

4. Low Moderate Very high

Data rate

5. Low Moderate Very high

Bandwidth

6. Easy Fairly easy Difficult

Installation

10. Short circuit between the two Possible Possible Not possible
conductor

Light as compared to
coaxial cable but
11. Weight Heavy Light
heavy as compared to
optical fiber
Wireless Computer Networks
Wireless Networks – It uses high-frequency radio waves rather
than wires to communicate. Wireless allows for devices to be
shared without networking cable which increases mobility but
decreases range. There are two main types of wireless
networking; peer to peer or ad-hoc and infrastructure..

Most commonly used WIRELESS media are

• Radiowaves
• Microwaves
• Satellite Link
• Infrared
• Bluetooth
• Wifi
Radio communication uses
radio frequencies in the
range of 3khz to 3ghz.
Signals are modulated on a
high speed radio wave carrier
frequency using Amplitude
Modulation:AM,Frequency
Modulation:FM, and Phase
Modulation:PM eg walkie
takie AM FM radio broadcast
etc
Radio waves are
omnidirectional and can
 ADVANTAGES
• Relatively inexpensive than wired media.
• These waves are omni-directional, so the transmitting and receiving
antennas need not be aligned.

DISADVANTAGES
• The transmission can be interfered by motors or other electrical
equipment
• Permission from concerned authorities is required for use of radio
wave
• Transmission.
• Less secure mode of transmission
Microwaves travel in straight lines and cannot
penetrate any solid object. Therefore for long
distance microwave communication, high towers
are built and microwave antennas are put on
their top.

In the big cities where land is very costly and a

lot of formalities have to be completed to get
permission to dig land for cabling, microwave
antennas can be put on top of high rise buildings
and communication can be started in a short
time.
 ADVANTAGES
• Free from land acquisition rights
• Relatively inexpensive than wired media
• Offers ease of communication over difficult terrain

DISADVANTAGES

The transmission is in straight lines so the transmitting and

receiving antennas need to be properly aligned ( line of sight
transmission)
Geostationary satellites are placed
around 36000 KM away from the
earth’s surface. In satellite
communication transmitting station
transmits the signals to the satellite. (It
is called up-linking). After receiving
the signals (microwaves) it amplifies
them and transmit back to earth in
whole visibility area.
Receiving stations at different places
can receive these signals. (It is called
down- linking).
 ADVANTAGES
• Satellites cover large area of earth
• Since communication over very long distances is possible, this becomes a
commercially attractive option.

DISADVANTAGES
• This system is
expensive
• Requires legal
permissions
These waves are used for short range communication (approx. 5m) in a variety of
wireless communications, monitoring, and control applications. Home-
entertainment remote- control devices, Cordless mouse, and Intrusion detectors
are some of the devices that utilize infrared communication.
 ADVANTAGES
• It is a line of sight transmission; therefore information passed to one
device is
not leaked to another device.
• No government license is required for their use

DISADVANTAGES
• It is a line of sight transmission, therefore at a time only two devices
can
communicate.
• The waves do not cross any solid object in between
Bluetooth- Bluetooth technology uses radio waves in the frequency range of 2.402
GHzto
2.480 GHz. This technology is used for short range communication (approx. 10m) in a
variety of devices for wireless communication. Baby monitors, door openers, and cell
phones are some of
the devices that utilize Bluetooth communication.

ADVANTAGES
Line of sight between communicating devices is not required.

DISADVANTAGES
Slow data transfer rate (upto 1Mbps).

Wifi Communication is similar to Bluetooth in operation but covers a larger range

Computer hardware devices which are used to connect computers, printers, or any
other electronic device to a computer network are called network devices. These
devices transfer data in a fast, secure and correct way with some specific
functionality over same or different networks. Some devices are installed on the
device, like Internal modem, NIC card or RJ45 connector, whereas some are part
of the network, like router, switch, etc.
This is at top among other networking
devices and mostly used networking
device. This is also known as network
adapter card, Ethernet Card and LAN
card. It allows our PC to communicate
with other PCs. A PC uses parallel data
transmission to transmit data between its
internal parts where as the media that
connects this PC with other device/PCs
uses serial data transmission. A NIC
converts parallel data stream into serial
data stream and vice versa.
Wi-Fi cards are small and portable cards that allow
your computer to connect to the internet through a
wireless network. Wi-Fi transmission is through the
radio waves, these signals are picked up by Wi-Fi
receivers such as computers and cell phones
equipped with Wi-Fi cards. The devices need to be
within the range of a Wi-Fi network to receive the
signals and produces a wireless internet connection.
Once a connection is established between user and
the network, the user is prompted with a login
screen and password for establishing is a secure
connection. Wi-Fi cards can be external or internal.
If a
Wi-Fi card is not installed inside your computer, you
may purchase an external USB antenna attachment
and connect it to your device. Many computers and
mobile devices are now a days equipped with
wireless networking capability and do not require a
Wi-Fi card.
A hub is the most basic networking
device that connects multiple computers
or other network devices together. Unlike
a network switch or router, a network hub
has no routing tables or intelligence on
where to send information and
broadcasts all network data across each
connection.
A network switch also connects computers to
each other, like a hub. Where the switch
differs from a hub is in the way it handles
packets of data. When a switch receives a
packet of data, it determines what computer
or device the packet is intended for and
sends it to that computer only. It does not
broadcast the packet to all computers as a
hub does which means bandwidth is not
shared and makes the network much more
efficient. For this reason alone, switches are
usually preferred over a hub.
Switches are intelligent hub.
A bridge is a type of computer
network device that provides
interconnection with other bridge
networks that use the same protocol..
.
The router, at least the common
home network device that we usually call a
router, is the piece of network hardware that
allows communication between your local
home network—like your personal computers
and other connected devices—and
the internet. A router is the first line of
security from intrusion into a network.
Enabling the highest level of security on the
router turns on things like the firewall, and is
the best way to keep your computer system
and information safe from attack.
In computer networking and
telecommunications, a gateway is a
component that is part of two
networks, which use
different protocols. The gateway will
translate one protocol into the other.
A router is a special case of a gateway.
A gateway is a hardware device that
acts as a "gate" between two networks.
It may be a router, firewall, server, or
other device that enables traffic to
flow in and out of the network.
 RJ 45 Connector
RJ45 is a type of connector commonly used
for Ethernet networking. It looks similar to a
telephone jack, but is slightly wider. Since
Ethernet cables have an RJ45 connector on
each end, Ethernet cables are sometimes also
called RJ45 cables.
 Modem
Modem is short for "Modulator-Demodulator.
" It is a hardware component that allows
a computer or another device, such as
a router or switch, to connect to the Internet.
It converts or "modulates" an analog signal
from a telephone or cable wire to digital data
(1s and 0s) that a computer can recognize.
Similarly, it converts digital data from a
computer or other device into an analog signal
that can be sent over standard telephone lines.
MAC Addresses are unique 48-bits hardware number of a computer, which is
embedded into network card (known as Network Interface Card) during the time of
manufacturing. MAC Address is also known as Physical Address of a network device.
In IEEE 802
80-20 Thumb Rule says that 80 % traffic in a network should
be local

TIPS TO SOLVE NETWORKING PROBLEMS

SERVER : Large no of computers in a building HUB/SWITCH:

Each Building
MODEM: Server Room
REPEATER: If distance is more than 70 metres BEST CABLE
• Twisted Pair/Coaxial when distance is in metres
• Optical fibre for long distance / high speed communication
• Hilly Regions: Radio waves
• State to State or City : Satellite Links