6 - Physical Layer

DCN (ITPC-205)
Physical Layer
Transmission Media
& Switching
Transmission medium
A transmission media can be defined as anything that can carry

information from source to destination.
The transmission medium is usually free space, metallic cable or
fiber-optic cable.
Figure: Transmission media

2
Transmission Media: Guided and Unguided
Media
Figure: Transmission media types
3
Guided Transmission media
Twisted pair cable

Coaxial cable
Fiber-optic cable
A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and

contained by the physical limits of the medium.
Types of signals in medias:
Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic (copper)
conductors that accept and transport signals in the form of
electric current.
Optical fiber is a cable that accepts and transports signals in
the form of light.
4
Twisted-pair cable
Figure: Twisted-pair cable
A twisted pair consist of two conductors (normally copper), each

with its own plastic insulation and twisted together.
One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the
other is used only as a ground reference.
The receiver uses the difference between the two.
5
UTP and STP cables
Figure: Shielded and unshielded Cables
6
UTP & STP Connector
Figure: Shielded and unshielded Cable Connector
7
Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables
8
Performance
9
Coaxial cable
Figure: Co-axial cable

Coaxial cable has a central core conductor of solid wire (usually
copper) enclosed in an insulating sheath, which is, in turn, encased
in an outer conductor of metal foil, braid, or a combination of two.
The outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield against noise
and as the second conductor.
The outer conductor is enclosed in an insulating sheath, and the
whole cable is protected by a plastic cover.
10
BNC connectors
11
BNC connector is used to connect the end of the cable to a device
BNC T connecter is used in ethernet network
BNC terminator is used at the end of the cable to prevent the reflection of
the signal.
Bennett University 12
Categories of coaxial cables
13
Performance
14
Optical fiber
A fiber optics cable is made of glass or plastic and transmit signals in the form
of light.
Optical fiber based communication is based on the phenomenon of total
internal reflection
Figure: Internal view of an Optical fibre
15
Fiber-optic cable connectors
16
SC connector is used for cable TV. It uses a pull/push locking system.
ST connecter is used for connecting cable to networking devices.
MT-RJ is a connector that is same size as RJ45.
Bennett University 17
Fiber types
18
Performance
19
UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS
Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical

conductor. This type of communication is often referred to as wireless
communication.
Figure: Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication
20
Bands
21
Wireless transmission waves
Figure: Categories of wireless transmission
22
Categories of wireless transmission
Radio waves (3KHz to 1GHz) are used for multicast transmission

like radio, television etc.
• RW are omnidirectional hence antenna alignment is not
necessary.
• Low frequency RW can penetrate walls.
Microwave (1 − 300 GHz) is used for unicast transmission like

cellular telephone, satellite networks and wireless LANs.
• Microwave based communciation is unidirectional.
IR signals are used for short distance communication like TV remote

etc.
23
Omnidirectional antenna
24
nidirectional antenna
25
Physical Layer: Switching
 A network is a set of connected devices. Whenever

we have multiple devices, we have the problem of
how to connect them to make one-to-one
communication possible.
 The solution is switching.
 A switched network consists of a series of

interlinked nodes, called switches.
Figure: Switched network
Three Methods of Switching
 Traditionally, three methods of switching have

been discussed: circuit switching, packet
switching, and message switching.
 The first two are commonly used today.
 The third has been phased out in general
communications but still has applications.
 Packet switching can further be divided into
two subcategories, virtual-circuit approach and
datagram approach.
Figure: Taxonomy of switched networks
Switching and TCP/IP Layers
Switching can happen at several layers of the

TCP/IP protocol suite:
 At the physical layer,

 At the data-link layer, and
 At the network layer
CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS
 A circuit-switched network consists of a set

of switches connected by physical links.
 A connection between two stations is a
dedicated path made of one or more links.
 However, each connection uses only one
dedicated channel on each link.
 Each link is normally divided into n
channels by using FDM or TDM.
Figure: A trivial circuit-switched network
Example 1
Let us use a circuit-switched network to connect eight telephones in a
small area. Communication is through 4-kHz voice channels. We
assume that each link uses FDM to connect a maximum of two voice
channels. The bandwidth of each link is then 8 kHz. Figure shows the
situation as Telephone 1 is connected to telephone 7; 2 to 5; 3 to 8;
and 4 to 6. Of course situation may change when new connections are
made. The switch controls the connections.
Three Phases
The actual communication in a circuit-switched

network requires three phases:
Connection setup,
Data transfer, and
Connection teardown
Efficiency
 It can be argued that circuit-switched networks

are not as efficient as the other two types of
networks because resources are allocated during
the entire duration of the connection.
 These resources are unavailable to other

connections.
 In a telephone network, people normally

terminate the communication when they have
finished their conversation.
Delay
 Although a circuit-switched network normally

has low efficiency, the delay in this type of
network is minimal.
 During data transfer the data are not delayed at

each switch; the resources are allocated for the
duration of the connection.
 Next figure shows the idea of delay in a circuit-

switched network when only two switches are
involved.
Figure: Delay in a circuit-switched network
Data transfer
PACKET SWITCHING
 In data communications, we need to send messages

from one end system to another.
 If the message is going to pass through a packet-

switched network, it needs to be divided into packets
of fixed or variable size.
 The size of the packet is determined by the network

and the governing protocol.
There is no resource allocation for the packet,
resource are allocated on demand.
The allocation is done on a first come first served

basis.
When a switch receives a packet, no matter what is

source or destination, the packet must wait, if there
are other packets being processed.
8.39
Datagram Networks
 In a datagram network, each packet is treated

independently of all others.
 Even if a packet is part of a multipacket

transmission, the network treats it as though it
existed alone.
 Packets in this approach are referred to as

datagrams.
Figure : A Datagram network with four switches (routers)
3 1
4 3 2 1
4
1
2 3
1
4
2 2 3 4 1
Figure: Routing table in a datagram network
Figure: Delays in a datagram network
Virtual-Circuit Networks
 A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a

circuit-switched network and a datagram
network.
 It has some characteristics of both.

Figure: Virtual-circuit network
Addressing
There are two types of addressing:
Global: The unique address for all the networks i.e. source and destination
IP address of packet.
Local (Virtual Circuit Identifier): A small number that has only switch
scope, it is used by a frame between two switches.
8.46
Figure : Virtual-circuit identifier
Three Phases
In set up phase, the source and destination use their global address to help
switches make table entries for the connection.
In tear down phase, source and destination inform to switches to the

corresponding entry.
To transfer a frame from source to destination, all switches need to have a

table entry for this virtual circuit.
Switch hold four piece of information for each virtual circuit that is already
set up.
8.48
Figure: Switch and table for a virtual-circuit network
Figure: Source-to-destination data transfer in a circuit-switch
network
Figure: Setup request in a virtual-circuit network
Figure: Setup acknowledgment in a virtual-circuit network
Efficiency and delay
8.53
Figure: Delay in a virtual-circuit network
Figure: Message Switching
Figure: Message Switching

6 - Physical Layer

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

6 - Physical Layer

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

6 - Physical Layer

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DCN (ITPC-205)

A transmission media can be defined as anything that can carry

Figure: Transmission media

Figure: Transmission media types

Twisted pair cable

A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and

Figure: Twisted-pair cable

A twisted pair consist of two conductors (normally copper), each

The receiver uses the difference between the two.

Figure: Shielded and unshielded Cables

Figure: Shielded and unshielded Cable Connector

Figure: Co-axial cable

BNC T connecter is used in ethernet network

Figure: Internal view of an Optical fibre

ST connecter is used for connecting cable to networking devices.

MT-RJ is a connector that is same size as RJ45.

Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical

Figure: Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication

Figure: Categories of wireless transmission

Radio waves (3KHz to 1GHz) are used for multicast transmission

Microwave (1 − 300 GHz) is used for unicast transmission like

IR signals are used for short distance communication like TV remote

 A network is a set of connected devices. Whenever

 The solution is switching.

 A switched network consists of a series of

 Traditionally, three methods of switching have

Switching can happen at several layers of the

 At the physical layer,

 A circuit-switched network consists of a set

The actual communication in a circuit-switched

 It can be argued that circuit-switched networks

 These resources are unavailable to other

 In a telephone network, people normally

 Although a circuit-switched network normally

 During data transfer the data are not delayed at

 Next figure shows the idea of delay in a circuit-

 In data communications, we need to send messages

 If the message is going to pass through a packet-

 The size of the packet is determined by the network

The allocation is done on a first come first served

When a switch receives a packet, no matter what is

 In a datagram network, each packet is treated

 Even if a packet is part of a multipacket

 Packets in this approach are referred to as

 A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a

 It has some characteristics of both.

There are two types of addressing:

In tear down phase, source and destination inform to switches to the

To transfer a frame from source to destination, all switches need to have a

Figure: Message Switching

You might also like