TRANSMISSION MEDIA

In a data transmission system,

• The transmission medium is the physical path between transmitter
and receiver.

• for guided media, electromagnetic waves are guided along a solid

medium, such as copper twisted pair, copper coaxial cable, and
optical fiber.

 In the case of guided media, the medium itself is more important

in determining the limitations of transmission.

• For unguided media, wireless transmission occurs through the

atmosphere, outer space, or water.

• For unguided media, the bandwidth of the signal produced by the

transmitting antenna is more important than the medium in
determining transmission characteristics.
One key property of signals transmitted by antenna is directionality.

• In general, signals at lower frequencies are omnidirectional;

that is, the signal propagates in all directions from the antenna.

• At higher frequencies, it is possible to focus the signal into a directional

beam.

• Data rate and distance are the key considerations in data transmission
system design, with emphasis placed on achieving the highest data rates
over the longest distances.
• A number of design factors relating to the transmission medium and the
signal determine the data rate and distance:

• Bandwidth: the greater the bandwidth of a signal, the higher the data
rate that can be achieved.
• Transmission impairments: such as attenuation, limit the distance.
• Interference:
• Number of receivers:
Figure : depicts the electromagnetic spectrum and indicates the frequencies at which
various guided media and unguided transmission techniques operate.
Transmission Characteristics :Twisted pair may be used to transmit both analog and digital
transmission. For analog signals, amplifiers are required for about every 5 to 6 km. For
digital transmission (using either analog or digital signals), repeaters are required every 2
or 3 km

Applications
Telephone Systems and Ethernet

Applications : Coaxial Cable:

Coaxial cable is a versatile transmission medium, used in a wide variety of applications.

The most important of these are:

• Television distribution
• Long-distance telephone transmission
• Short-run computer system links
• Local area networks
Using frequency division multiplexing (FDM), a coaxial cable can carry over 10,000 voice
channels simultaneously.
TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTIC:
• For long-distance transmission of analog signals, amplifiers are needed every few
kilometers, with closer spacing required if higher frequencies are used. The usable
spectrum for analog signaling extends to about 500 MHz.

• For digital signaling, repeaters are needed every kilometer or so, with closer
spacing needed for higher data rates.
Optical Fiber:
Physical Description :
• An optical fiber is a thin, flexible medium capable of guiding an optical ray.
• Various glasses and plastics can be used to make optical fibers. The lowest losses have
been obtained using fibers of ultrapure fused silica. Ultrapure fiber is difficult to
manufacture;
• higher-loss multicomponent glass fibers are more economical and still provide good
performance.
• Plastic fiber is even less costly and can be used for short-haul links, for which moderately
high losses are acceptable.

• OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE

• CORE, CLADDING AND BUFFER

• Applications :
• Optical fiber already enjoys considerable use in long-distance telecommunications.
• The following characteristics distinguish optical fiber from twisted pair or coaxial cable:
• Greater capacity
• Smaller size and lighter weight:
• Lower attenuation:
• Electromagnetic isolation:
• Greater repeater spacing:
Five basic categories of application have become important for optical fiber:
• Long-haul trunks
• Metropolitan trunks
• Rural exchange trunks
• Subscriber loops
• Local area networks
Optical fiber acts as a waveguide for frequencies in the range of about 10 14 to 1015
Hz; this covers portions of the infrared and visible spectra
Antennas :
An antenna can be defined as an electrical conductor or system of conductors used either
for radiating electromagnetic energy or for collecting electromagnetic energy.
Answer the following questions:

1. What is the major function of the network access layer?

2. What tasks are performed by the transport layer?

3. What is a protocol?

4. What is a protocol data unit (PDU)?

5. What is a protocol architecture?

6. What is TCP/IP?

7. What are some advantages to layering as seen in the TCP/IP architecture?

8. What is a router?

9. Which version of IP is the most prevalent today?

10. Does all traffic running on the Internet use TCP?

11. Compare the address space between IPv4 and IPv6. How many bits are used in each?
1. Using the layer models in Figure 2.12, describe the ordering and delivery
of a pizza, indicating the interactions at each level.

Answer:
The guest effectively places the order with the cook.
The host communicates this order to the clerk, who places the order with the cook.
The phone system provides the physical means for the order to be transported from host
to clerk.
The cook gives the pizza to the clerk with the order form (acting as a "header" to the
pizza).
The clerk boxes the pizza with the delivery address, and the delivery van encloses all of the
orders to be delivered.
The road provides the physical path for delivery.
3. Two blue armies are each poised on opposite hills preparing to attack a single red
army in the valley. The red army can defeat either of the blue armies separately but will
fail to defeat both blue armies if they attack simultaneously. The blue armies
communicate via an unreliable communications system (a foot soldier). The commander
with one of the blue armies would like to attack at noon. His problem is this: If he sends a
message to the other blue army, ordering the attack, he cannot be sure it will get through.
He could ask for acknowledgment, but that might not get through. Is there a protocol that
the two blue armies can use to avoid defeat?

Answer:
No. There is no way to be assured that the last message gets through, except by
acknowledging it. Thus, either the acknowledgment process continues forever, or one army
has to send the last message and then act with uncertainty.
4. A TCP segment consisting of 1500 bits of data and 160 bits of header is sent to the
IP layer, which appends another 160 bits of header. This is then transmitted through two
networks, each of which uses a 24-bit packet header. The destination network has a
maximum packet size of 800 bits. How many bits, including headers, are delivered to the
network layer protocol at the destination?

Answer:

Data plus transport header plus internet header equals 1820 bits. This data is delivered in a
sequence of packets, each of which contains 24 bits of network header and up to 776 bits of
higher-layer headers and/or data. Three network packets are needed.
Total bits delivered = 1820 + 3 × 24 = 1892 bits.

5. Why does the TCP header have a header length field while the UDP header
does not?

UDP has a fixed-sized header. The header in TCP is of variable length.

Q.2 a. The French and Chinese prime ministers need to come to an agreement by
telephone, but neither speaks the other’s language. Further, neither has on hand
a translator that can translate to the language of the other. However, both prime
ministers have English translators on their staffs. Draw a diagram similar to Figure
2.12( Q.1) to depict the situation, and describe the interaction and each level.

b. Now suppose that the Chinese prime minister’s translator can translate only into
Japanese and that the French prime minister has a German translator available.
A translator between German and Japanese is available in Germany. Draw a new
diagram that reflects this arrangement and describe the hypothetical phone
conversation.
Answer the following questions?

1. Why are the wires twisted in twisted-pair copper wire?

2. What are some major limitations of twisted-pair wire?
3. What is the difference between unshielded twisted pair and shielded twisted pair?
4. Describe the components of optical fiber cable.
5. What are some major advantages and disadvantages of microwave transmission?
6. What is direct broadcast satellite (DBS)?
7. Why must a satellite have distinct uplink and downlink frequencies?
8. Indicate some significant differences between broadcast radio and microwave.
9. What two functions are performed by an antenna?
10. What is an isotropic antenna?
11. What is the advantage of a parabolic reflective antenna?
12. What factors determine antenna gain?
13. What is the primary cause of signal loss in satellite communications?
14. What is refraction?
15. What is the difference between diffraction and scattering
1. It turns out that the depth in the ocean to which airborne electromagnetic
signals can be detected grows with the wavelength. Therefore, the military got the
idea of using very long wavelengths corresponding to about 30 Hz to communicate
with submarines throughout the world. It is desirable to have an antenna that is
about onehalf wavelength long. How long would that be?

Answer: We have λf = c; in this case λ × 30 = 3 × 108 m/sec,

which yields a wavelength of 10,000 km. Half of that is 5,000 km.
While an antenna this size is impractical.

2. Suppose that data are stored on 1.4-Mbyte floppy diskettes that weigh 30 g
each. Suppose that an airliner carries 104 kg of these floppies at a speed of 1000 km/h
over a distance of 5000 km. What is the data transmission rate in bits per second
of this system?

Answer: Elapsed time = (5000 km)/(1000 km/hr) = 5 hours = 18,000 seconds .

Amount of data per diskette = 1.4 × 10242× 8 = 11.74 × 106 bits/diskette
Number of diskettes = (107 g)/(30 g/diskette) = 333333 diskettes.
Data transfer rate = 11.74 ×106 ( bits diskette) × (333333 diskettes) /18, 000 seconds
= 217 Mbps
3. A telephone line is known to have a loss of 20 dB. The input signal power is
measured as 0.5 W, and the output noise level is measured as 4.5µW. Using this
information, Calculate the output signal-to-noise ratio in dB.

Answer: 10 log (Po/Pi ) = –20dB;

Therefore, Po/Pi = 0.01
For Pi = 0.5 Watt, Po = 0.005 Watt
SNR = 0.005/(4.5 × 10-6) = 1.11× 103
SNRdB = 10 log (1.11 × 103) = 30 dB

4. Show that doubling the transmission frequency or doubling the distance between
transmitting antenna and receiving antenna attenuates the power received by 6 dB.

Answer: From Equation L = 10 log (4πd/λ)2 dB,

the ratio of transmitted power to received power is
Pt /Pr = (4πd/λ)2 If we double the frequency, we halve λ,
or if we double the distance, we doubled d,
so the new ratio for either of these events is: Pt /Pr 2 = (8πd/λ)2

Therefore:

2
4. The audio power of the human voice is concentrated at about 300 Hz. Antennas
of the appropriate size for this frequency are impracticably large, so that to send voice
by radio the voice signal must be used to modulate a higher (carrier) frequency for
which the natural antenna size is smaller.
a. What is the length of an antenna one-half wavelength long for sending radio at 300
Hz?
b. An alternative is to use a modulation scheme, for transmitting the voice signal by
modulating a carrier frequency, so that the bandwidth of the signal is a narrow band
centered on the carrier frequency. Suppose we would like a half-wave antenna to have a
length of 1 meter. What carrier frequency would we use?

Answer:
a. Using λf = c, we have λ = (3 × 108 m/sec)/(300 Hz) = 1,000 km, so that λ/2 = 500 km.

b. The carrier frequency corresponding to λ/2 = 1 m is given by:

f = c/λ = (3 × 108 m/sec)/(2 m) = 150 MHz.
6. Stories abound of people who receive radio signals in fillings in their teeth.
Suppose you have one filling that is 2.5 mm (0.0025 m) long that acts as a radio
antenna. That is, it is equal in length to one-half the wavelength.
What frequency do you receive?

Answer:
λ = 2 × 2.5 × 10–3 m = 5 × 10–3 m
f = c/λ = (3 × 108 m/sec)/( 5 × 10-3 m) = 6 × 1010 Hz = 60 GHz

7. In satellite communications, different frequency bands are used for the uplink
and the downlink. Discuss why this pattern occurs.

Answer:
Signal loss is proportional to the square of the frequency. Thus, the higher the
frequency, the higher power is needed to obtain a given SNR. Power is much
more readily available at earth stations than at satellites. Therefore, it makes
more sense to put the higher power requirements on the earth stations than on
the satellites.