Transmission media

These are pathways through which data travels from one computer to the other. This
can be guided (wired) or unguided (wireless)
Guided transmission media
These are cables (physical wires) that act as pathway through which data is transferred
from the transmitter to the receiver. Electromagnetic waves are transmitted over solid
media. They are found on physical layer of the OSI model. Common network cables
include twisted pair, fibre optic, coaxial cables, etc.
Twisted Pair
These are cables with two copper wires of about 1 millimetre thick that are twisted
together to avoid crosstalk. Twisted pair is very cheap to buy and offer good
performance over short distances. Telephone companies use twisted-pair copper wires
in their telephone wiring systems. Twisted pair exists in two forms; Shielded Twisted
Pair (STP) and the Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP).

Fig 3.16: Shielded and Un-Shielded Twisted Pair

Twisted pair has the following advantages:

- Twisted pair is very cheap to purchase
- The system uses colour coded cabling which makes it easier link with connectors
- Permits many communication protocols
- Thin and flexible Easy to install
- Small size does not fill up wiring ducts fast

The following are some of the disadvantages of twisted pair:

 - Has big attenuation
- Has low bandwidth
- Transmission of high frequency is very poor
- Susceptible to interference

Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable has a centre core conductor of solid copper wire. The copper wire is enclosed in an
insulating sheath, which, in itself, is enclosed in an outer conductor of metal foil. The outer
metallic material serves as shield against noise disturbances. It is used for transmission of both
digital and analogue signals. The whole cable is protected by plastic cover as shown below.

Fig 3.17: Coaxial Cable

The following are some of the advantages of coaxial cable:

- Allows for both baseband and broadband transmission
- Has less attenuation than twisted pair,
- Has high bandwidth and
- Have low error rates.
- Can transmit analogue and digital signals
- Ensures accurate data transfer,
- Coaxial cable is much less susceptible to interference and crosstalk than twisted pair.

The following are some of the disadvantages of twisted pair:

- Coaxial cable is expensive to buy as compared to twisted pair.
- It is stiff, making it difficult to handle.
- For digital signaling, repeaters are needed every kilometre or so, with closer spacing needed
for higher data rates.
- They are suitable for short distance communication
- For long-distance transmission of analogue signals, amplifiers are needed every few
kilometres

Application: Used for TV distribution (connecting decoders with the antenna on the satellite
dish); long distance telephone transmission; short run computer system links, Local Area
Networks

Fibre Optic Cable

An optical fibre is a thin and flexible medium capable of guiding an optical ray. Optic fibre
systems transmit data and information by converting signals into light pulses over large distance
like the WAN, MAN and the internet. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is
near to what is visible to the human eye. Optic fibres consist of long, thin strands of very pure
glass about the size of a human hair. They are arranged in bundles called optical cables and used
to transmit signals over long distances.

Fig .3.18 Optic Fibre

Fibre is preferred over electrical cabling when high bandwidth, long distance, and immunity to
electromagnetic interference are required. It is therefore used by many telecommunications
companies to transmit telephone signals, for internet communication, and cable television
signals.
Fibre optics is in two forms, multimode and mono-mode. Multimode fibre optic cable carries 2 or
more signals at a time, each at a slightly different reflection angle. This is used over short distances.
Mono-mode (Single mode) cable carried one signal at a time and is appropriate for long distance
communication.

Fig 3.21: Monomode and multimode Optic Fibre

Benefits of optic fibre are:-

- It has less attenuation and therefore fewer repeaters are needed,
- Has very high bandwidth
- Cannot corrode
- It is thin and small in size and therefore has less weight.
- It allows very fast data transfer, as it can transmit more information, like thousands of
telephone conversations down a single strand
- Has no electromagnetic interference

However, fibre optic cables have the following disadvantages:

- Are very expensive to buy
- Are uni-directional (data travels in one direction only).
- Cable cannot bend around tight corners.
- It is also difficult to directly interface with computers.

Unguided Transmission Media

These are transmission media that do not have wires; they are wireless transmission media and
include infrared waves, microwaves, radio frequencies, Bluetooth, etc. Transmission occurs
through the atmosphere, outer space or water.
Infrared Waves
This refers to data transmission in form of air waves as through some remote controls. Infrared
systems use the infrared light spectrum to send a focused light beam to a receiver. Infrared
systems need special infrared emitters and infrared detectors. The transmitter and the receiver
must be in the line of sight.

Infrared transmission is used in remote-control boxes, Wireless LANS, cordless modems,

intrusion detectors, motion detectors, fire sensors, night-vision systems, medical diagnostic
equipment, missile guidance systems, etc

Advantages of infrared signals

- Infrared has enormous bandwidth.

- Do not need licenses to use them
- Relatively cheap to use

Advantages of infrared signals

- Signals do not travel through obstacles like buildings,

- Signals work for very short distances,
- Signals consume a lot of power.
- Can be affected by direct light interference and therefore are appropriate for use indoors

Microwave
Electromagnetic waves having frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz are called micro waves.
Micro waves are unidirectional. When an antenna transmits microwaves, they can be narrowly
focused. This means that the sending and receiving antennas need to be aligned. The
unidirectional property has an obvious advantage. A pair of antennas can be aligned without
interfering with another pair of aligned antennas.
The following describes some characteristics of microwaves propagation:
- Microwave propagation is line-of-sight. Since the towers with the mounted antennas need
to be in direct sight of each other, towers that are far apart need to be very tall.
- Very high-frequency microwaves cannot penetrate walls. This characteristic can be a
disadvantage if receivers are inside the buildings.
 - The microwave band is relatively wide, almost 299 GHz. Therefore, wider sub-bands can
be assigned and a high date rate is possible.
- Use of certain portions of the band requires permission from authorities.

In microwave transmission media, transmission and reception of radio signals are achieved by
means of antennas with a line-of-sight between two antennas. Used for uni-cast communication
systems like mobile phones, satellite communication and wireless LANS. Signals are uni-
directional. Repeaters are needed for long distance communication. Very high signals cannot
penetrate through obstacles.
Given the curvature of the earth, and the obvious problems of transmitting through it, microwave
hops generally are limited to approximately 50 km.
For transmission of a signal, radio-frequency electrical energy from the transmitter is converted
into electromagnetic energy by the antenna and radiated into the surrounding environment. For
reception of a signal, electromagnetic energy impinging on the antenna is converted into radio-
frequency electrical energy and fed into the receiver.
Microwave transmission is in two forms; terrestrial microwave and satellite microwave.
They both need a line of sight for transmission; they only differ in terms of distance.
Terrestrial Microwave Transmission: This takes place when signals are sent between
microwave stations on the earth (earth stations) that have a line of sight. It is the most common
form of long-distance communication. This is why microwave transmission towers are speckled
with antennas pointing in many directions. They actually point at different microwave
transmission towers on the ground or on top of buildings. Terrestrial microwave operates at low
frequency band. Parabolic dishes are used to focus a narrow beam onto the receiver’s antenna.
Can be affected by bad weather and attenuation

Fig. 3.21 Terrestrial Microwave transmission

Satellite Microwave: Consists of the C-band (frequencies between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz; and from
5.9 to 6.4 GHz.) and the Ku-band (frequencies between 11 and 12 GHz).
 Fig 3.22 Satellite Microwave transmission

Both terrestrial and satellite microwave communications require ground-based receivers to have
a parabolic antenna to receive the signals. The antenna also has to be directed toward the satellite
so that it focuses the parabola on the satellite transmission. Ground receivers only work when
there is a line of sight from the communications satellite in the atmosphere.

Advantages of microwave transmission

- It utilises electromagnetic waves with small wavelengths that allows a transmitter to direct
microwaves to a beneficiary in a narrow beam, enhancing effectiveness
- Supports very long distance communication.
- Can broadcast large quantities of information because of their high frequencies.
- Have relatively low construction costs compared with wired technologies, which might also
need expensive attenuation equipment.

Disadvantages of microwave transmission

- Microwave towers can exchange data only if they have a clear line of sight between them
with no obstacles such as buildings, slopes or trees in the way.
- Signal can be absorbed or distorted by the atmosphere, bad weather.
- They have big attenuation
- Slow in sending messages.
- Signal does not pass through solid objects

Radio Waves
Radio waves are an electromagnetic transmission composed of electric and magnetic fields
vibrating together. These two fields are aligned in a perpendicular arrangement and travel in the
air as a wave. Radios, televisions and some cell phone systems use radio transmission. Radio
signals are omni-directional and propagate outward in a spherical shape. Thus broadcast radio
does not require dish-shaped antennas, and the antennas need not be rigidly mounted to a precise
alignment. Any receiver in its path or range can receive the signal as signals are broadcast.
Signals can travel through walls. Signals have less attenuation and therefore travel long
distances.