The atom is comprised

of:
• Electrons – Particles with a negative
charge that orbit the nucleus
• Nucleus – The center part of the atom,
composed of protons and neutrons
• Protons – Particles with a positive charge
• Neutrons – Particles with no charge
(neutral)
• Electrons in certain atoms, such as
metals, can be pulled free from the
atom and made to flow
• Electricity is a free flow of electrons
• Loosened electrons that stay in one
place, without moving, and with a
negative charge, are called static
electricity
• ESD, though usually harmless to
people, can create serious problems
for sensitive electronic equipment.
• Atoms, or groups of atoms called
molecules, can be referred to as
materials. Materials are classified as
belonging to one of three groups
depending on how easily electricity,
or free electrons, flows through
them.
• The basis for all electronic devices is
the knowledge of how insulators,
conductors and semiconductors
control the flow of electrons and
work together in various
combinations.
 Voltage
• Voltage is sometimes referred to as
electromotive force (EMF)
• Voltage can also be created in three other
ways. The first is by friction, or static
electricity. The second way is by
magnetism, or electric generator. The last
way that voltage can be created is by light,
or solar cell.
• The unit of measurement for voltage
is volt (V).
• Volt is defined as the amount of
work, per unit charge, needed to
separate the charges.
 Resistance and
impedance

• The materials through which current

flows offer varying amounts of
opposition, or resistance to the
movement of the electrons.
• Conductors
– The materials that offer very little, or no,
resistance
• Insulators
– The materials that do not allow the current to
flow
• Semiconductors,
– The materials that the flow of electrons can
be controlled.
• The letter R represents resistance.
The unit of measurement for
resistance is the ohm (Ω ).
 Current
• Electrical current is the flow of
charges created when electrons
move.

• In electrical circuits, the current is

caused by a flow of free electrons.
• The negative terminal repels the
electrons and the positive terminal
attracts the electrons.
• The letter “I” represents current.
• The unit of measurement for
current is Ampere (Amp).
• Ohms law V = IR
• Power = IV
• A watt is how much power a device
consumes or produces.
• The current does all the work in a
circuit
 Curcuit

• Curcuit : Current flows in closed

loops called circuits. The circuit must
be composed of conducting materials,
and must have a source of voltage
• Voltage causes current to flow while
resistance and impedance oppose it
• Impedance: In an AC circuit the
amount of current depends on the
impedance

• Resistance: In a DC circuit the

amount of current depends on the
resistance
• Two ways in which current flows are
Alternating Current (AC) and Direct
Current (DC). Alternating current
(AC) and voltages vary over time by
changing their polarity, or direction.
AC flows in one direction.
 Cable specifications
• What speeds for data transmission can be
achieved using a particular type of cable?
• What kind of transmission is being
considered?
• How far can a signal travel through a
particular type of cable before attenuation
of that signal becomes a concern?
• Some examples of Ethernet
specifications which relate to cable
type include:
• 10BASE-T
• 10BASE5
• 10BASE2
Coaxial cable
• For LANs, coaxial cable offers several
advantages. It can be run longer distances
than shielded twisted pair, STP, and
unshielded twisted pair, UTP, cable
without the need for repeaters.
• Coaxial cable is less expensive than fiber-
optic cable, and the technology is well
known
• Poor shield connection is one of the
biggest sources of connection problems in
the installation of coaxial cable.
• Connection problems result in electrical
noise that interferes with signal
transmittal on the networking media.
• The metallic braid in coaxial cable
comprises half the electric circuit
resulting in poor grounding
STP cable
 Optical Media
• An important property of any energy
wave is the wavelength.
• Human eyes were designed to only sense
electromagnetic energy with wavelengths
between 700 nanometers and 400
nanometers (nm).
• Electromagnetic energy with wavelengths
between 700 and 400 nm is called visible
light.
• Wavelengths that are not visible to the
human eye are used to transmit data over
optical fiber
• The wavelength of the light in optical fiber
is either 850 nm, 1310 nm, or 1550 nm.
These wavelengths were selected because
they travel through optical fiber better
than other wavelengths.
• The light energy in the incident ray
that is not reflected will enter the
glass.
• The refracted ray is the entering ray
that will be bent at an angle from its
original path.
• The ratio of the speed of light in a
material to the speed of light in a
vacuum is called the Index of
Refraction.
• The following two conditions must be
met for the light rays in a fiber to be
reflected back into the fiber without
any loss due to refraction:
• The core of the optical fiber has to have a
larger index of refraction (n) than the
material that surrounds it. The material
that surrounds the core of the fiber is
called the cladding.
• The angle of incidence of the light ray is
greater than the critical angle for the
core and its cladding
Optical Media
• If the diameter of the core of the
fiber is large enough so that there
are many paths that light can take
through the fiber, the fiber is called
“multimode” fiber.
• Single-mode fiber has a much smaller
core that only allows light rays to
travel along one mode inside the
fiber.
Usually, five parts make up each fiber-optic
cable. The parts are the core, the
cladding, a buffer, a strength material, and
an outer jacket.
• Infrared Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers
(VCSELs) are two types of light source
usually used with multimode fiber. Use one
or the other. LEDs are a little cheaper to
build and require somewhat less safety
concerns than lasers. However, LEDs
cannot transmit light over cable as far as
the lasers. Multimode fiber can carry data
distances of up to 2000 meters (6,560 ft).
• The major difference between
multimode and single-mode fiber is
that single-mode allows only one
mode of light to propagate through
the smaller, fiber-optic core. The
single-mode core is eight to ten
microns in diameter.
• Because of its design, single-mode
fiber is capable of higher rates of
data transmission (bandwidth) and
greater cable run distances than
multimode fiber. Single-mode fiber
can carry LAN data up to 3000
meters.
• Warning: The laser light used with single-
mode has a longer wavelength than can be
seen. The laser is so strong that it can
seriously damage eyes. Never look at the
near end of a fiber that is connected to a
device at the far end. Never look into the
transmit port on a NIC, switch, or router.
Remember to keep protective covers over
the ends of fiber and inserted into the
fiber-optic ports of switches and routers.
Be very careful.
• Every fiber-optic cable used for
networking consists of two glass fibers
encased in separate sheaths. One fiber
carries transmitted data from device A
to device B. The second fiber carries
data from device B to device A.
• The transmitter receives data to be
transmitted from switches and routers.
• The transmitter converts the electronic
signals into their equivalent light pulses.
• Fiber-optic cable is not affected by
the sources of external noise
• The transmission of light on one
fiber in a cable does not generate
interference that disturbs
transmission on any other fiber.
• The attenuation of the signal is due
to several factors involving the
nature of fiber itself.
– The scattering of light in a fiber is
caused by microscopic non-uniformity
(distortions) in the fiber
– Absorption is another cause of light
energy loss.
– manufacturing irregularities or
roughness in the core-to-cladding
boundary.
 Installation, care, and
testing of optical fiber
• A major cause of too much
attenuation in fiber-optic cable is
improper installation.
• Bending the fiber in too tight a curve
can change the incident angle of light
rays striking the core-to-cladding
boundary.
• Scattering, absorption, dispersion,
improper installation, and dirty fiber
ends diminish the strength of the
light signal and are referred to as
fiber noise.
• The decibel (dB) is the unit used to
measure the amount of power loss. It
tells what percent of the power that
leaves the transmitter actually
enters the receiver.
 Wireless LAN organizations
and standards
• IEEE is the prime issuer of
standards for wireless networks. The
standards have been created within
the framework of the regulations
created by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
• Minimum security
• Incompatibility

• To solve the problem of

compatibility, an access point (AP) is
commonly installed to act as a central
hub for the WLAN
• When a client is activated within the
WLAN, it will start "listening" for a
compatible device with which to
"associate".
• Three types of frames are used in
wireless communication: control,
management, and data
• Since radio frequency (RF) is a
shared medium, collisions can occur
just as they do on wired shared
medium.
• WLANs use Carrier Sense Multiple
Access/Collision Avoidance
(CSMA/CA).
 Performance of the
network
• When a source node sends a frame, the
receiving node returns a positive
acknowledgment (ACK). This can cause
consumption of 50% of the available
bandwidth.
• Performance of the network will also be
affected by signal strength and
degradation in signal quality due to
distance or interference.
• WLAN authentication occurs at Layer 2. It
is the process of authenticating the device
not the user.
• The client will send an authentication
request frame to the AP and the frame
will be accepted or rejected by the AP.
• Association, performed after
authentication, is the state that
permits a client to use the services
of the AP to transfer data
• The first authentication process is the
open system. This is an open connectivity
standard in which only the SSID must
match.
• The second process is the shared key. This
process requires the use of Wireless
Equivalency Protocol (WEP) encryption.
• Computers send data signals
electronically
• Radio transmitters convert these
electrical signals to radio waves.
• Radio waves attenuate as they move
out from the transmitting antenna.
• When radio waves hit the antenna of a
receiver, weak electric currents are
generated in that antenna.
• These electric currents, caused by the
received radio waves, are equal to the
currents that originally generated the
radio waves in the antenna of the
transmitter.
 Modulation /
Demodulation
• A transmitter modulates the
electrical data signal into a carrier
signal
• A receiver demodulates the carrier
signal that arrives from its antenna
and reconstructs from it the original
electrical data signal.
 Signals and noise on a
WLAN

• Narrowband interference
– narrowband does not affect the entire
frequency spectrum of the wireless
signal.
• All band interference
– All band interference affects the entire
spectrum range.
• One solution to a narrowband
interference problem could be simply
changing the channel that the AP is
using
• To identify the source requires a
spectrum analyzer and even a low
cost model is relatively expensive.
• The first and most obvious source of a
signal problem is the transmitting station
and antenna type.
• A higher output station will transmit the
signal further and a parabolic dish antenna
that concentrates the signal will increase
the transmission range.
 Wireless security
• Wireless security can be difficult to
achieve.

• A number of new security solutions and

protocols, such as Virtual Private
Networking (VPN) and Extensible
Authentication Protocol (EAP) are
emerging.