Task 6: Demonstrating the importance of Networking, Transmission media, Networking devices-

Gateway, Routers, Hub, Bridge, NIC, Bluetooth Technology, Wireless Technology, Modem, DSL, and
Dialup connection.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKS

Computer Networks

 Computer network connects two or more autonomous computers.

 The computers can be geographically located anywhere.

LAN, MAN & WAN:

 Network in small geographical Area (Room, Building or a Campus) is called LAN (Local
Area Network)

 Network in a City is called MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

 Network spread geographically (Country or across Globe) is called WAN (Wide Area
Network)

Applications of Networks:

1. Resource Sharing
 Hardware (computing resources, disks, printers)
 Software (application software)
2. Information Sharing
 Easy accessibility from anywhere (files, databases)
 Search Capability (WWW)
3. Communication
 Email
 Message broadcast

Applications

1. E-mail
2. Searchable Data (Web Sites)
3. E-Commerce
4. News Groups
5. Internet Telephony (VoIP)
6. Video Conferencing
7. Chat Groups
8. Instant Messengers
Transmission Media:

1. Transmission media is a communication channel that carries the information from the
sender to the receiver. Data is transmitted through the electromagnetic signals.

2. The main functionality of the transmission media is to carry the information in the form
of bits through LAN (Local Area Network).

3. It is a physical path between transmitter and receiver in data communication.

4. In a copper-based network, the bits in the form of electrical signals.

5. In a fiber-based network, the bits in the form of light pulses.

6. The electrical signals can be sent through the copper wire, fiber optics, atmosphere,
water, and vacuum.

7. The characteristics and quality of data transmission are determined by the

characteristics of medium and signal.

8. Transmission media is of two types are wired media and wireless media. In wired media,
medium characteristics are more important whereas, in wireless media, signal
characteristics are more important.

9. Different transmission media have different properties such as bandwidth, delay, cost
and ease of installation and maintenance.

Factors that need to be considered while designing transmission media

1. Bandwidth: All the factors are remaining constant, the greater the bandwidth of a medium,
the higher the data transmission rate of a signal.

2. Transmission impairment: When the received signal is not identical to the transmitted one
due to the transmission impairment. The quality of the signals will get destroyed due to
transmission impairment.

3. Interference: An interference is defined as the process of disrupting a signal when it travels

over a communication medium on the addition of some unwanted signal

Guided Media

 It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are transmitted. It is
also known as Bounded media.

 Types of Guided media:

 Twisted pair:

1. Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A
twisted pair cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation of the
twisted pair cable is easy, and it is a lightweight cable. The frequency range for twisted pair
cable is from 0 to 3.5 KHz.
2. A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.
3. The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined by the number of turns per foot.
Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.

Unshielded Twisted Pair:

 An unshielded twisted pair is widely used in telecommunication. Following are the

categories of the unshielded twisted pair cable:

1. Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone lines that have low-speed data.

2. Category 2: It can support upto 4Mbps.

3. Category 3: It can support upto 16Mbps.

4. Category 4: It can support upto 20Mbps. Therefore, it can be used for long-distance
communication.

5. Category 5: It can support upto 200Mbps.

 Advantages Of Unshielded Twisted Pair:

1. It is cheap.

2. Installation of the unshielded twisted pair is easy.

3. It can be used for high-speed LAN.

 Disadvantage:

1. This cable can only be used for shorter distances because of attenuation

Shielded Twisted Pair

 A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the mesh surrounding the wire that allows
the higher transmission rate.
  Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:

1. The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very high and not very low.

2. An installation of STP is easy.

3. It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded twisted pair cable.

4. It has a higher attenuation.

5. It is shielded that provides the higher data transmission rate.

 Disadvantages

1. It is more expensive as compared to UTP and coaxial cable.

2. It has a higher attenuation rate.

Coaxial Cable

1. Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV wire is usually a
coaxial cable.

2. The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each other.

3. It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.

4. The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of copper, and the outer conductor is
made up of copper mesh. The middle core is made up of non-conductive cover that
separates the inner conductor from the outer conductor.

5. The middle core is responsible for the data transferring whereas the copper mesh prevents
from the EMI(Electromagnetic interference).

Coaxial cable is of two types:

1. Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting a single signal at high

speed.

2. Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting multiple signals

simultaneously.

 Advantages Of Coaxial cable:

1. The data can be transmitted at high speed.

2. It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.

3. It provides higher bandwidth.

 Disadvantages Of Coaxial cable:

1. It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.

 2. If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the entire network

Fiber Optic:

1. Fiber optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals for communication.

2. Fiber optic is a cable that holds the optical fibers coated in plastic that are used to send the
data by pulses of light.

3. The plastic coating protects the optical fibers from heat, cold, electromagnetic interference
from other types of wiring.

4. Fiber optics provide faster data transmission than copper wires.

Basic elements of Fiber optic cable:

1. Core: The optical fiber consists of a narrow strand of glass or plastic known as a core. A core
is a light transmission area of the fiber. The more the area of the core, the more light will be
transmitted into the fiber.

2. Cladding: The concentric layer of glass is known as cladding. The main functionality of the
cladding is to provide the lower refractive index at the core interface as to cause the
reflection within the core so that the light waves are transmitted through the fiber.

3. Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is known as a jacket. The main purpose of
a jacket is to preserve the fiber strength, absorb shock and extra fiber protection.

Following are the advantages of fiber optic cable over copper

1. Greater Bandwidth

2. Faster speed

3. Longer distances

4. Better reliability

5. Thinner and Sturdier

UN GUIDED TRANSMISSION

1. An unguided transmission transmits the electromagnetic waves without using any physical
medium. Therefore, it is also known as wireless transmission.

2. In unguided media, air is the media through which the electromagnetic energy can flow
easily.

 Unguided transmission is broadly classified into Three categories:

1) Radio waves
 2) Microwaves

3) Infrared

Radio Waves

1. Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that are transmitted in all the directions of free
space.

2. Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals are propagated in all the directions.

3. The range in frequencies of radio waves is from 3Khz to 1 khz.

Applications of Radio waves:

1. A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when there is one sender and many receivers.
2. An FM radio, television, cordless phones are examples of a radio wave.
Advantages of Radio transmission:

1. Radio transmission is mainly used for wide area networks and mobile cellular phones.
2. Radio waves cover a large area, and they can penetrate the walls.
3. Radio transmission provides a higher transmission rate

Microwaves:

Microwaves are of two types:

1. Terrestrial microwave

2. Satellite microwave communication.

Terrestrial Microwave Transmission

1. Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that transmits the focused beam of a

radio signal from one ground-based microwave transmission antenna to another.

2. Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves having the frequency in the range from 1GHz to
1000 GHz.

3. Microwaves are unidirectional as the sending and receiving antenna is to be aligned, i.e., the
waves sent by the sending antenna are narrowly focussed.

Characteristics of Microwave:

 Frequency range: The frequency range of terrestrial microwave is from 4-6 GHz to 21-23
GHz.
  Bandwidth: It supports the bandwidth from 1 to 10 Mbps.

 Short distance: It is inexpensive for short distance.

 Long distance: It is expensive as it requires a higher tower for a longer distance.

 Attenuation: Attenuation means loss of signal. It is affected by environmental conditions

and antenna size.

 Advantages Of Microwave:

 Microwave transmission is cheaper than using cables.

 It is free from land acquisition as it does not require any land for the installation of cables.
 Microwave transmission provides an easy communication in terrains as the installation of
cable in terrain is quite a difficult task.
 Communication over oceans can be achieved by using microwave transmission.

 Disadvantages of Microwave transmission:

 Eavesdropping: An eavesdropping creates insecure communication. Any malicious user can

catch the signal in the air by using its own antenna.

 Out of phase signal: A signal can be moved out of phase by using microwave transmission.

 Susceptible to weather condition: A microwave transmission is susceptible to weather

condition. This means that any environmental change such as rain, wind can distort the
signal.

 Bandwidth limited: Allocation of bandwidth is limited in the case of microwave

transmission.

 Satellite Microwave Communication

 A satellite is a physical object that revolves around the earth at a known height.

 Satellite communication is more reliable nowadays as it offers more flexibility than cable and
fiber optic systems.

 We can communicate with any point on the globe by using satellite communication.

 How Does Satellite work?

The satellite accepts the signal that is transmitted from the earth station, and it amplifies the signal.
The amplified signal is retransmitted to another earth station.

 Advantages of Satellite Microwave Communication:

 The coverage area of a satellite microwave is more than the terrestrial microwave.

 The transmission cost of the satellite is independent of the distance from the center of the
coverage area.

 Satellite communication is used in mobile and wireless communication applications.

 It is easy to install.

 It is used in a wide variety of applications such as weather forecasting, radio/TV signal

broadcasting, mobile communication, etc.

 Disadvantages Of Satellite Microwave Communication:

  Satellite designing and development requires more time and higher cost.

 The Satellite needs to be monitored and controlled on regular periods so that it remains in
orbit.

 The life of the satellite is about 12-15 years. Due to this reason, another launch of the
satellite has to be planned before it becomes non-functional.

Infrared:

 An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication over short ranges.

 The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.

 It is used for short-range communication such as data transfer between two cell phones, TV
remote operation, data transfer between a computer and cell phone resides in the same
closed area.

 Characteristics of Infrared:

 It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.

 Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared communication in
one room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.

 An infrared communication provides better security with minimum interference.

 Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun rays will
interfere with the infrared waves

Computer Network Devices

1. NIC (National interface card):

NIC is a device that helps the computer to communicate with another device. The network
interface card contains the hardware addresses, the data-link layer protocol uses this
 address to identify the system on the network so that it transfers the data to the correct
destination.

There are two types of NIC: wireless NIC and wired NIC.

Wireless NIC: All the modern laptops use the wireless NIC. In Wireless NIC, a connection
is made using the antenna that employs the radio wave technology.

Wired NIC: Cables use the wired NIC to transfer the data over the medium.

2. Hub:
Hub is a central device that splits the network connection into multiple devices. When
computer requests for information from a computer, it sends the request to the Hub. Hub
distributes this request to all the interconnected computers

3. Switches: Switch is a networking device that groups all the devices over the network to
transfer the data to another device. A switch is better than Hub as it does not broadcast the
message over the network, i.e., it sends the message to the device for which it belongs to.
Therefore, we can say that switch sends the message directly from source to the destination.

4. Cables and connectors:

Cable is a transmission media that transmits the communication signals. There are three
types of cables:
 Twisted pair cable: It is a high-speed cable that transmits the data over 1Gbps or more.
 Coaxial cable: Coaxial cable resembles like a TV installation cable. Coaxial cable is more
expensive than twisted pair cable, but it provides the high data transmission speed.
 Fiber optic cable: Fiber optic cable is a high-speed cable that transmits the data using light
beams. It provides high data transmission speed as compared to other cables. It is more
expensive as compared to other cables, so it is installed at the government level.

5. Router: Router is a device that connects the LAN to the internet. The router is mainly used to
connect the distinct networks or connect the internet to multiple computers.
6. Modem: Modem connects the computer to the internet over the existing telephone line. A
modem is not integrated with the computer motherboard. A modem is a separate part on
the PC slot found on the motherboard.

7. Gateway: Gateways normally work at the Transport and Session layers of the OSI model. At
the Transport layer and above, there are numerous protocols and standards from different
vendors; gateways are used to deal with them. Gateways provide translation between
networking technologies such as Open System Interconnection (OSI) and Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Because of this, gateways connect two or more
autonomous networks, each with its own routing algorithms, protocols, topology, domain
name service, and network administration procedures and policies.

8. Bridge: Bridges are used to connect two or more hosts or network segments together. The
basic role of bridges in network architecture is storing and forwarding frames between the
different segments that the bridge connects. They use hardware Media Access Control
(MAC) addresses for transferring frames.
 Bluetooth technology:
1. Bluetooth is a wireless technology that allows the exchange of data between different
devices.
2. While Bluetooth uses wavelength to transmit information, it generally only works within a
short distance for the devices to stay connected.
3. In the simplest terms, Bluetooth is the technology that enables exchange of data between
devices within a short amount of distance.
4. Most Bluetooth devices have a maximum connectivity range of about 30 feet, and that
distance is reduced when obstacles (such as a wall) are present.
5. Hardware ranging from headphones, a wireless mouse, or the sound system in a car can all
use Bluetooth technology.

Applications of Bluetooth Technology

1. Bluetooth technology is used in many communicational and entertainment devices. The
following are some most used applications of the Bluetooth technology:
2. Bluetooth technology is used in cordless desktop. It means the peripheral devices such as a
mouse, keyboard, printer, speakers, etc. are connected to the desktop without a wire.
It is used in the multimedia transfer, such as exchanging multimedia data like songs, videos,
pictures etc. that can be transferred among devices using Bluetooth.
 This technology is also used in the following devices: i.e.
 Bluetooth Speakers.
 Bluetooth Headphones.
 Bluetooth Headsets for calling purposes.
 Bluetooth gaming consoles etc

What is wireless technology?

Wireless technology refers to technology that allows us to communicate without using cables or
wires. With this type of technology people and other entities can communicate over very long
distances. Wireless technology includes RF and IR waves.
  The term has become part of our everyday life. For most of us, there are currently two main
types of wireless technology:

1. Local Wi-Fi networks

Wi-Fi is a technology that allows tablets, video game consoles, printers, and smartphones to
communicate with the Internet. Medical devices, laptops, and digital audio players also use Wi-Fi.

2. Cellular networks (mobile phone networks)

This technology allows electronic devices to communicate over long distances. One person in, for
example, Alaska, can talk to another person in Australia using their smartphones. Cellular networks
allow them to do that.

Types of wireless communication systems:

 Some of the important Wireless Communication Systems available today are:

 Television and Radio Broadcasting

 Satellite Communication

 Radar

 Mobile Telephone System (Cellular Communication)

 Global Positioning System (GPS)

 WLAN (Wi-Fi)

 Bluetooth

 Cordless Phones

 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

DSL

1. DSL services also use your phone line, but you can still get and place phone calls. DSL is
much faster than dial-up, and you do not need to connect every time you want to use the
internet; it is an always on service. DSL is relatively secure as well. You can have static or
dynamic IP addresses.

2. Companies offer many different types of Internet service. With all the new services out
there, you may be wondering what the difference between all these services is. This article is
a basic overview and comparison of some of the most popular service types.
 3. DSL services also use your phone line, but you can still get and place phone calls. DSL is
much faster than dial-up, and you do not need to connect every time you want to use the
internet; it is an always on service.

4. DSL is relatively secure as well. You can have static or dynamic IP addresses. Static IP
addresses are good for game and web servers because you keep the same address, whereas
with dynamic IP addresses your address will change periodically.

 Pros:

 Fast
 Simple to use
 Relatively secure
 A variety of speeds are available so you can choose the right speed for your
needs.
 You get the speed you pay for. It’s a guaranteed speed

 Cons:

 You need to be within a certain distance of the telephone company's central

office to get the service.
 More expensive than dial-up
 You need special equipment set up with a DSL connection.

Dial-up

1. Dial-up services use your phone line and a modem. Your modem makes a phone call to the
internet service provider's modems to connect, so you cannot talk on the phone while the
internet is connected.

2. Dial-up is one of the slowest types of service available, however it is one of the most readily
available because it was designed to use basic services like the phone system that are
already in place. Dial-up also requires you to connect every time you want to use it.

 Pros:

 Inexpensive
 You can get service almost anywhere.
 Simple to use.
 Relatively secure.
 You only need a computer with a modem to use it.

 Cons:

 Slow speeds
 Speed depends on the quality of the phone line you're connected to.
 When you're connected, you're taking up the phone line.
 You need to connect every time you want to use the internet.