Physical Layer

Module 1
Transmission Medium
 GUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

● The purpose of the physical layer is to transport bits from one machine to
another. Various physical media can be used for the actual transmission.

● Each one has its own niche in terms of bandwidth, delay, cost, and ease
of installation and maintenance.

● Media are roughly grouped into guided media, such as copper wire and
fiber optics, and unguided media, such as terrestrial wireless, satellite,
and lasers through the air.
 2.2.1 Magnetic Media

● One of the most common ways to transport data from one

computer to another is to write them onto magnetic tape or
removable media (e.g., recordable DVDs), physically transport
the tape or disks to the destination machine, and read them back
in again.
2.2.2 Twisted Pairs
● The bandwidth characteristics of magnetic tape are excellent, the delay
characteristics are poor.
● A twisted pair consists of two conductors (copper wires) each with one plastic
insulation. The wires are twisted together in a helical form, just like a DNA
molecule.
● One carries signals to recievers
● Second for ground refernce.
● Twisting is done because two parallel wires constitute a fine antenna. When the
wires are twisted, the waves from different twists cancel out, so the wire radiates
less effectively.
● A signal is usually carried as the difference in voltage between the two wires in the
pair. This provides better immunity to external noise because the noise tends to
affect both wires the same, leaving the differential unchanged.
Twisted Pairs ( Contd….)

● The most common application of the twisted pair is the

telephone system.
● Twisted pairs can run several kilometers without
amplification, but for longer distances the signal becomes too
attenuated and repeaters are needed.
Unsheilded Twisted Pair

● This type of cable has the

ability to block interdernece
adn does not depend on the
physical shield for this
purpose.
Sheilded Twisted par
• Consists of special jacket
to block external
interference.
• Used in fast data rate
Ethernet adn in voice and
data channels of
telephone lines
Communication ways

● Links that can be used in both directions at the same time, like a
two-lane road, are called full-duplex links.
● In contrast, links that can be used in either direction, but only
one way at a time, like a single-track railroad line. are called
half-duplex links.
● A third category consists of links that allow traffic in only one
direction, like a one-way street. They are called simplex links.
 2.2.3 Coaxial Cable

● Carries signals of higher frequency ranges than those in tiwsted pair cable.

● Two kinds of coaxial cable are widely used.

● 50-ohm cable, is commonly used for digital transmission.

● 75-ohm cable, is commonly used for analog transmission and cable

television.

● Starting in the mid1990s, cable TV operators began to provide Internet

access over cable, which has made 75-ohm cable more important for data
communication.
Cont..
 2.2.4 Power Lines
● Power lines deliver electrical power to houses, and electrical
wiring within houses distributes the power to electrical outlets.
● Power lines have been used by electricity companies for low-
rate communication such as remote metering for many years,
as well in the home to control devices (e.g., the X10 standard).
● In recent years there has been renewed interest in high-rate
communication over these lines, both inside the home as a
LAN and outside the home for broadband Internet access.
Cont..
● The data signal is superimposed on the low-frequency power
signal as both signals use the wiring at the same time.
 2.2.5 Fiber Optics
● Fiber optics are used for long-haul transmission in network backbones,
high speed LANs and high-speed Internet access such as FttH (Fiber to the
Home).
● An optical transmission system has three key components:
● the light source
● the transmission medium
● the detector.
● The detector generates an electrical pulse when light falls on it. By
attaching a light source to one end of an optical fiber and a detector to the
other, we have a unidirectional data transmission system that accepts an
electrical signal, converts and transmits it by light pulses, and then
reconverts the output to an electrical signal at the receiving end.
Comparision of Fiber Optics and Copper Wire
Cont..
 2.3 WIRELESS TRANSMISSION

● People who need to be online all the time. For these mobile users,
twisted pair, coax, and fiber optics are of no use.
● They need to get their ‘‘hits’’ of data for their laptop, notebook,
palmtop, or wristwatch computers without being tethered to the
terrestrial communication infrastructure. For these users, wireless
communication is the answer.
2.3.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

● When electrons move, they create electromagnetic waves that

can propagate through space (even in a vacuum).

● When an antenna is attached to an electrical circuit, the

electromagnetic waves can be broadcast efficiently and
received by a receiver some distance away. All wireless
communication is based on this principle.
Cont..
Cont..

● The radio, microwave, infrared, and visible light portions of the spectrum can all be used for transmitting
information by modulating the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the waves.
● Ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays would be even better, due to their higher frequencies, but they are
hard to produce and modulate, do not propagate well through buildings, and are dangerous to living things.
● Two Type
● Frequency hopping spread spectrum
● Direct sequence spread spectrum

● In frequency hopping spread spectrum, the transmitter hops from frequency to frequency hundreds of times
per second.
● It is popular for military communication because it makes transmissions hard to detect and next to
impossible to jam.
● example, in Bluetooth and older versions of 802.11
Cont..

● Direct sequence spread spectrum, uses a code sequence to spread the data
signal over a wider frequency band.
● Example - Some wireless LANs use this.
2.3.2 Radio Transmission

● Radio frequency (RF) waves are easy to generate, can travel long
distances, and can penetrate buildings easily, so they are widely used for
communication, both indoors and outdoors.
● Radio waves also are omnidirectional- travel in all directions from the
source, so the transmitter and receiver do not have to be carefully aligned
physically.
Cont..
● The properties of radio waves are frequency dependent. At low
frequencies, radio waves pass through obstacles well, but the power falls off
sharply with distance from the source—at least as fast as 1/r 2 in air—as the
signal energy is spread more thinly over a larger surface. This attenuation is
called path loss.
● At high frequencies, radio waves tend to travel in straight lines and
bounce off obstacles. Path loss still reduces power, though the received
signal can depend strongly on reflections as well.
● High-frequency radio waves are also absorbed by rain and other obstacles
to a larger extent than are low-frequency ones.
● At all frequencies, radio waves are subject to interference from motors and
other electrical equipment
2.3.3 Microwave Transmission

● Above 100 MHz, the waves travel in nearly straight lines and can therefore
be narrowly focused.
● Concentrating all the energy into a small beam by means of a parabolic
antenna gives a much higher signal to-noise ratio, but the transmitting and
receiving antennas must be accurately aligned with each other.
● This directionality allows multiple transmitters lined up in a row to
communicate with multiple receivers in a row without interference
Cont..

● Used for long-distance telephone communication, mobile phones, television

distribution.

● It has several key advantages over fiber. The main one is that no right of
way is needed to lay down cables. By buying a small plot of ground every
50 km and putting a microwave tower on it, one can bypass the telephone
system entirely.
● Microwave is also relatively inexpensive. Putting up two simple towers
(which can be just big poles with four guy wires) and putting antennas on
each one may be cheaper than burying 50 km of fiber through a congested
urban area
2.3.4 Infrared Transmission

● Unguided infrared waves are widely used for short-range

communication.
● The remote controls used for televisions, VCRs, and stereos all use infrared
communication.
● They are relatively directional, cheap, and easy to build but have a major
drawback: they do not pass through solid objects. (Try standing between
your remote control and your television and see if it still works.)