MODULE 1V

•Digital systems
•Role of medium
•Wire and cable
•Air and vacuum
•Fiber optics
 Role of the Medium
• The medium is the actual physical path for the electromagnetic energy of
the link or channel of the communication system.
• Through the medium, the energy representing the data of the sender can
reach the receiver.
• This path can take many forms - an electrical conductor such as wire,
air and/or vacuum or optical fiber.

Factors to consider when selecting a transmission medium

Cost & Ease of installation
Attenuation
Distortion
Capacity (Bandwidth)
Transmission delay
Propagation delay
Interference
Noise
Crosstalk
 Range,
The key medium characteristics that affects performance are :
Bandwidth, Loss, Noise resistance, security, cost, connection
issues.
* Range – The distance over which the medium can be used. The range that is
achievable with any medium is determined by what the medium does to the signal.
……electrical noises that the desired signal picks up as it passes through the
medium
………attenuation of the signal in the medium – signal strength falls off with
distance – expressed in decibels (dB) using negative numbers – A loss of -
3dB is equivalent to losing one half of the transmitted power.
……difficulty in building circuits which can recover a weak, noise corrupted
signal
Twister copper cable 180 Meters
Coaxial cable 485 Meters
Multimode optical fiber 5 KM
Single mode optical fiber 100 KM
For signals travelling through vacuum or space Eg satellite communication – Millions of
36000km Eg Microwave communication 100KM miles
Different media have different bandwidths, that means that they can support wider or
narrow range of signal frequencies. Difference between upper and lower frequency
component.
Any signal component beyond the BW of the medium is cut down very sharply in amplitude
and so never reaches the other end of the link. Here the medium acts as a low pass filter.
Bandwidth is the range of frequencies that the medium can transmit.
Throughput is the amount of data that can be sent across the media in a given time.
Measured in bits per second.
Path loss is the reduction in power density that occurs as a radio
wave propagates over a distance. The primary factor in path loss is the decrease
in signal strength over distance of the radio waves themselves. Radio waves follow an
inverse square law for power density: the power density is proportional to the inverse
square of the distance. Every time you double the distance, you receive only one-fourth the
power.
May be due to –
wire resistance of the center
conductor, dissipation factor
of the dielectric material
used
energy absorption by
atmospheric molecules,
rain, multipath, reflections
Bending of fibers, due to the
presence of OH ions
Security issues of various media – all
communication requires some sort of security against
unwanted listeners picking up the data communication
signal.
• Is to make it difficult for someone to tap into the wire or
cable
• For radio commination – difficult – antenna – tune
• Fiber optic – glass fiber- better security
• Wireless communication - security codes

Connection – copper wirer – use solder /// fiber optics – splicers – splicing //
 Wire and cable
Copper an excellent conductor of electricity, is an inexpensive metal that is easily made into
wire.
When separate wires are collected into bundles and given special protective jackets, the
term cable is used.
The main type of wire and cable used for data communication are
• Twisted pair
• Multi-conductor flat cable
• Coaxial cable
Twisted pair cables as the names implies, consists of a pair of cables
twisted together, which has been utilized in telecommunication field
for a long time. The twisting can avoid noise from outside sources
and crosstalk on multi-pair cables, so this cable is best suited for
carrying signals. Basically, twisted pair cable can be divided into two
types: unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) and shielded twisted-pair (STP).
It is the simplest and the low-cost
cable.it can run distance of many
miles. It is used between telephone
and the central office. It has a
bandwidth of several hundred KHz
depending on wire size.
If a separate metal shield is used
around the twisted pair to shield it
further from noise, the noise
resistance is increased but the
bandwidth is reduced by a factor of
2 or 3 . It is difficult to use, when
many signals must be brought from
one place to another.
 Merits Demerits
Relatively inexpensive Data transmission rate is low
Flexible Because of high attenuation, it is incapable of carrying a
signal over long distance with out the use of repeaters.
Easy installation Data can be easily tapped
It supports analog as well as Its low bandwidth capabilities makes it unsuitable for
digital transmission broadband communication
Light weight Only effective for short distances

Shielded twisted pair cabling, or STP, has a

metallic foil that encases the twisted wire
pairs inside a cable. This protects against
electromagnetic interference and allows for
a faster transmission of data. Unshielded
twisted pair comes without any type of
shielding at all but is still very capable of
handling imbalances that interfere with
data transmission.
Multiconductor cable consist of many parallel wires in common plastic jacket. A cable of this
type can have any number from 10 to 50 wires. The wires all are a single group mechanically
and they can be used with a single connector at each end.
It is more expensive than twisted pair.
The BW is much more than twisted pair , 10 MHz
The loss of flat cable is high, the signals cannot travel more than 100ft.
 Coaxial cabling has a
single copper conductor
at its center. A plastic
layer provides insulation
between the center
conductor and a braided
metal shield. The metal
shield helps to block any
outside interference
from fluorescent lights,
motors, and other
computers.

Although coaxial cabling

The coaxial cables are usually is difficult to install, it is
identified by an RG number – highly resistant to signal
interference. In addition,
RG 58, RG 8, RG174; it can support greater
inner wire gauge, diameter of cable lengths between
inner conductor, overall diameter, network devices than
what kind of insulation etc. twisted pair cable.
 Merits Demerits
It supports high bandwidth signal It is expensive to install for longer distances
transmission compare to twisted due to its thickness and stiffness.
pair.
Coaxial cable is used in high As single cable is used for signal
frequency applications (> 50 transmission across the entire network, in
MHz) using copper clad materials case of failure in one cable the entire
for center conductor. network will be down.
The outer conductor in coaxial The security is a great concern as it is easy
cable is used to improve to tap the coaxial cable by breaking it and
attenuation and shield inserting T-joint in between.
effectiveness.
It is less susceptible to noise or It must be grounded to prevent interference
interference (EMI or RFI)
compare to twisted pair cable.
It allows high transfer rates It is bulky.
Lower error rates Susceptible to damage from lightning strikes
Comparison Between Twisted Cable and Coaxial Cable
 Fiber Optics
The idea of fiber optics is to use light, instead of current or voltage as the energy which
carries the data, with light as a carrier that is turned on and off. The fiber optics, invented
in 1960 are made of either glass or plastic.
Any light that enters the fiber stays in that fiber and travels through the fiber to the other
end. This is because of a property called total internal reflection. If a light wave is traveling
through a material with a high index of refraction compared to adjacent material and it hits
the interface between them at certain low angle, the light doesn't cross the boundary bur
completely reflects back.
Transmitters: – The most commonly used optical transmitters are semiconductor devices
such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes.
Receivers: – The main component of an optical receiver is a photodetector, which converts
light into electricity using the photoelectric effect.
Total internal reflection takes
place only when the light
travels from denser to rarer
medium and angle of incidence
should be greater than critical
angle of the denser medium.
Fading is defined
as the variation of
the strength of a
received radio
carrier signal due
to atmospheric
changes and / or
reflections of the
propagation path.
It can be
subjected to day
to day variations
as well as hourly
variations .
Air and vacuum media do not offer much security.
Anyone can put an antenna in the path of the signal and pick up some of the data.
This is one drawback of using air and vacuum for transmitting energy.

Although the medium itself is free, it doesn’t offer protection against unauthorized
listener's.
These listeners can even make it impossible for the original and receiver to
communicate. Since there is no shielding in the medium, someone can interfere
with (Jam) the channel by broadcasting at the same frequency. Then the energy of
the jamming signal and the original signal mix together and the receiver may find it
difficult or impossible to sort out the desired signal.
A radio jammer is any device that deliberately blocks, jams or interfere
communications. Jammers work by the transmission of radio signals that decreasing
the signal to noise ratio.
There are solutions to both the unauthorized listeners and the
jamming problems.
If the data is encoded with a secret scheme, someone can pick up
the actual electromagnetic energy but not able to determine what
its contains.
Jamming can sometimes be overcome by special signal transmission
techniques, which gives the receiver some idea, in advance, of what
the received signal looks like. Then circuitry at the receiver can try to
use this as a pattern for locating the real data, even though the
jamming noise is severe.