www.covenantuniversity.edu.

ng

Raising a new Generation of Leaders

Lecture 2: Transmission
Media
Dr. Oni
OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture, students are expected to:

1. Know different configurations of network cables
2. Know what is attenuation and the sources of
distortion
3. Distinguish between bounded and unbounded
media
4. Know the various bounded networking media
5. Know the characteristics of the various bounded
networking media
2
 1. Introduction
• The computer network is the interconnection of two or more
systems using data transmission media and/or devices.

Figure 1: Transmission media and physical layer

• Transmission media is a communication channel that
carries the information from the sender to the
receiver.
3
Introduction

• The medium of interconnection in data

communication networks is responsible for
the two classes of networks available namely:
wired network and wireless network.
• Transmission media are classified into Wired
(bounded or Guided media) and Wireless
(Unbounded or Unguided media).

4
 Classification of Transmission
Media

Figure 2: Transition Media

5
 1. Unbounded/Unguided
Media:
• It is also referred to as Wireless transmission
media.
• The lack of physical restrictions provides larger
bandwidth as well as wide area capabilities
• Features:
 Signal is broadcasted through air, water or vacuum
 Less Secure
 Used for longer distance connection
6
 (i) Radio Waves
• Electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths
(Frequency Range:3KHz – 1GHz) in the electromagnetic
spectrum.
• Characteristics:
 Easy to generate and can penetrate through walls and buildings.
 Omnidirectional
 The sending and receiving antennas need not be aligned.
• They are absorbed by rain
• Frequency Range: 3KHz – 1GHz.
• Uses: Widely used for multicasting, AM and FM radio, television, cordless
telephone, cellular phones, paging and wireless LAN
7
 Advantages and Disadvantages
• Radio waves are easy to generate & can also travel long
distances.
• Radio waves cover a large area and can penetrate the
buildings - an AM radio can receive signals inside a building.
• They cannot transmit a lot of data simultaneously because
of their low frequency.
• Continued exposure to large amounts of radio waves can
cause health disorders like leukemia and cancer.
• Limited range of frequencies compared to some existing
technologies
8
 (ii) Infrared
• Infrared waves are used for very short distance
communication.
• They cannot penetrate through obstacles.
• This prevents interference between systems.
• Frequency Range: 300GHz – 400THz.
• Uses: Used for short-range communication in a closed area
using line-of-sight propagation e.g.:
 TV remotes,
 wireless mouse,
 keyboard, printer,
 electrical heater, etc.
9
 (iii) Microwaves
• They are unidirectional and use line of sight transmission -
sending and receiving antennas need to be properly aligned
with each other.
• Since the towers with the mounted antennas need to be in
direct sight of each other, towers that are far apart need to be
very tall.
• Frequency Range: 1GHz – 300GHz.
• Further Categorized as: (i) Terrestrial and (ii) Satellite.
• Uses: Mobile phone communication, television distribution,
and radar.
10
• Other Characteristics:
 Very high-frequency microwaves cannot penetrate walls
 Wider bandwidth; can handle large amounts of data

• For very long distance terrestrial microwave, repeaters can be

installed with each antenna. The signal received by an antenna
can be converted into transmittable form and relayed to next
antenna

Example: telephone systems all over the world

11
 Advantages and
Disadvantages
• Has wider bandwidth and hence it can be used for
simultaneous transmission of voice, data, video.
• Can generate heat energy which is used in many bio-medical
applications (e.g. skin tightening, cancer treatment) and
microwave ovens
• Absorbed by rain, fog, concrete (buildings) and living tissue
and may cause harm by their cooking effects
 It is diffracted from solid objects.
 The microwave frequencies are reflected from flat & metal surfaces

12
 2. Bounded/Guided Media
Cont’d
• Are physical media (network calbes) used for data
transmission between network devices. They are
called bounded because the media have outer shield
or insulator.
• These media are the most prevalent data transmission
media for wired LANs and they offer high speed, good
quality and at relatively low cost.
 Secure
 Used for comparatively short distances

13
The three types of cable classified as bounded
media are:
i. Twisted-pair Cable
ii. Coaxial Cable
iii. Fibre-optic Cable

14
 a. TWISTED-PAIR CABLE
• The twisted-pair cable is currently more popular
than the coaxial cable.
• It consists of two strands of copper wire twisted
around each other. The twist reduces its
vulnerability to EMI and crosstalk.
There are two types of twisted-pair cable, namely:
a. Unshielded Twisted-pair (UTP)
b. Shielded Twisted-pair (STP)
15
a. Unshielded Twisted-Pair
• This is more common than STP. The difference is that the pair
of UTP cables are not shielded (insulated) while the pair in STP
are shielded.

• Although the individual wire of the pair is an insulated strand

of copper wire, it simply follows that the insulated pair are
further covered or protected with another insulator in the case
of STP, and no extra protector in the case of UTP. UTP is
particularly susceptible to crosstalk.

16
Categories of UTP
a. Category 1 (cat 1)
• This is the traditional telephone cable that
transmits only voice grade signals.
b. Category 2 (cat2)
• This consists of 4 twisted-pair cable that transmits
data at the rate of 4Mbps and used for low-speed
networks.
c. Category 3 (cat3)
• This category is the commonly used for Ethernet
network, it transmits at 4Mbps and consists of 4
twisted -pair cable with three twists per foot.
17
d. Category 4 (cat4)
• It consists of 4 twisted-pair, transmits at 16Mbps
and used for long distance transmission.
e. Category 5 (cat5)
• This is the highest rating. It consists of 4 twisted-
pair, transmits at extremely high speed (100Mbps)
and offers high performance.
f. Category 5e (cat 5 enhanced)
• It provides performance of up to 100 MHz, and is
frequently used for both 100 Mbit/s and Gigabit
Ethernet networks.
18
 g. Category 6 (cat 6)
• It provides performance of up to 250 MHz, more
than twice category 5 and 5e.
h. Category 6a (cat 6 augmented)
• It provides performance of up to 500 MHz, twice
that of category 6. Suitable for 10GBase-T
i. Category 7 (cat 7)
• This standard specifies four individually-shielded
pairs (STP) inside an overall shield. It provides
performance of up to 600 MHz.
19
j. Category 7a (cat 7 augmented)
• Provides performance of up to 1000 MHz. Suitable
for 40 Gigabit Ethernet.

Generally, Cat l is used for telephone

communications connected to RJ-l1 connectors,
while others have four twisted-pair cables and use
RJ-45 connectors for the network interface cards.

20
Advantages:
 Least expensive
 Easy to install
 High speed capacity

Disadvantages:
 Susceptible to external interference
 Lower capacity and performance in comparison to STP
 Short distance transmission due to attenuation

21
Categories of Unshielded Twisted Pair
Category Speed Use
1 1 Mbps Voice Only (Telephone Wire)
2 4 Mbps Local Talk & Telephone (Rarely used)
3 16 Mbps 10BaseT Ethernet
4 20 Mbps Token Ring (Rarely used)
100 Mbps (2 pair) 100BaseT Ethernet
5
1000 Mbps (4 pair) Gigabit Ethernet
5e 1,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
6 10,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet

22
There are two kinds of Ethernet cable
configuration
Straight through – 12365478
Cross over – 1 4 3 6 5 2 7 8

STRAIGHT THROUGH Ethernet cables are the

standard cable used for almost all purposes,
and are often called "patch cables". This
configuration allows for longer wire runs.
23
• Usually, straight through cables are primarily
used for connecting unlike devices.
‒ Switch to router
‒ Switch to PC or server
‒ Hub to PC or server

24
• CROSSOVER CABLES - The purpose of a Crossover
Ethernet cable is to directly connect one computer to
another computer (or device) without going through a
router, switch or hub.
• Crossover cables are use for connecting devices that
are alike:
‒ Switch to switch
‒ Switch to hub
‒ Hub to hub
‒ Router to router
‒ PC to PC
25
 Rollover Wired Cables
• Have opposite Pin assignments on each end of the
cable
• Sometimes referred to as Yost cables
• Mostly used to connect to a devices console port to
make programming changes to the device.
• Rollover cables are not intended to carry data but
instead create an interface with the device

26
27
Fig. 2: Twisted-Pair Cables

28
b. Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP)
• This is similar to UTP but has an additional insulator
that protects it from EMI.

• Hence it offers higher quality performance; it is less

susceptible to interference (crosstalk); and
transmits at higher rates over a higher distance.
STP is mainly used for TOKEN RING topology.

29
Advantages:
 Better performance at a higher data rate in
comparison to UTP
 Eliminates crosstalk
 Comparatively faster than UTP

Disadvantages:
 Comparatively difficult to install and manufacture
 More expensive than UTP
30
 Table 2: Characteristics of UTP and STP
UTP STP

Low cost Medium cost

Easy to install Slightly difficult to install

Transmits fast Transmits faster

Maximum distance of l00m Maximum distance of l00m

More susceptible to EMI Less Susceptible

31
 ii. COAXIAL CABLE
• For some time now, it used to be the most widely used
network cable. It is widely used in the television
industry for cable networks and antenna connections.
• This cable is light, flexible, easy to work with and
relatively inexpensive.
• It consists of an inner core (copper wire) that carries
the signals and has two layers of shields called inner
and outer insulators.

32
• In between the two insulators is a branded outer
conductor which is a wire that acts as the
ground.
• The essence of the insulators is to shield the
transmitted data from noise and crosstalk.
• As a result only minimal loss is witnessed
because of the outer conductor.

33
• The core and the wires mesh are always separated to
prevent a touch. Otherwise the cable will experience
short and noise, and stray signals can distort the
transmitted data.
• Coaxial cables are more resistant to electrical
interference than the twisted pair, so they are
generally preferred when it comes to long distance
transmission.

34
Characteristics of Coaxial Cable
a. It is inexpensive
b. It has a transmission rate of 10Mbps.
c. It has medium immunity for interference/noise.
d. It has medium attenuation.
e. Easy to install and expand
Disadvantages:
a. Single cable failure can disrupt the entire network
b. Difficult to install and expensive when compared
with twisted pair.
c. If the shield is imperfect, it can lead to grounded
loop
35
The two types of coaxial cable are:
a. Thinnet (10 Base 2)
b. Thicknet (10 Base 5)

36
a. Thinnet (10 Base 2)
• From the name, it is a thin coaxial cable.
• It is about 0.25inch thick, hence it is very flexible,
easy to work with, and more cost effective.

• From the name 10 Base 2, it follows that the cable

transmits at the rate of 10Mbps (megabits per
second), uses baseband signal transmission, and
covers a maximum distance of 200m but ideally just
about 185m in practice.

37
b. Thicknet (10 Base 5)
• This is a thick copper wire. It is about 0.5inch in
thickness, so it is thicker than 10 Base 2. It follows
that it is more rigid than thinnet and

• From the name 10 Base 5, it follows that it transmits

at the same speed as the thinnet 10Mbps, uses
baseband signal transmission but covers a maximum
distance of 500m. Thicknet is more expensive, and it
requires a transceiver for each system.

38
Coaxial Cable Connections
• The coaxial cable network employs the following
components for cable connections.

i. British Naval Connector (BNC) cable

connector: This is used to crimple each cable to
make a connection. Particularly, to the T –
connector.

ii. BNC T-Connector: This is the connector that

connects the NIC, and makes for inflow and
outflow of data to and from the connected 39
iii. BNC barrel Connector: This is used to join
two separate cables to elongate the length. It
connects cables and not systems.

iv. BNC Terminator: This device is used to

terminate or close the bus network. It equally
helps to absorb stray signals. An unterminated
network (bus) will not function.

40
Coaxial Cable

41
Coaxial Cable Connectors

42
Coaxial Cables

43
 iii. Fibre-Optic Cable
• An optical fibre cable consists of a glass fibre
(core) contained in a cover (cladding) which also
is contained in a protective outer sheath
(jacket).

• The fibre optic cable differs from other cables

because it transmits signals in form of
modulated beam of light in a glass fibre as
against other media that transmits as electrical
waves on the wire.
44
• From wave’s theory, light waves have wider
bandwidth and are not susceptible to
interference (EMI). Thus a fibre-optic cable
transmits at a very high speed and data
transmission is immune to noise and crosstalk.

• These make the cable very useful in an

electrically noisy environment such as the steel
plant, and in areas where security is important
because eavesdroppers cannot tap into it.

45
Fibre-Optics Cable
An optical fiber cable is a cable containing one or
more optical fibers that are used to carry light.

46
• Light travels in a straight line in a single uniform
substance.
• If ray of light travelling through one substance
suddenly enters another substance (of a
different density), the ray changes direction.

47
• Optical fibres use reflection to guide light
through a channel. A glass or plastic core is
surrounded by a cladding of less dense
glass or plastic
• The difference in density of the two
materials must be such that a beam of light
moving through the core is reflected off the
cladding instead of being refracted into it.
48
Internal view of an Optical
fibre

49
 Propagation Modes of Fiber Optic Cable
• Current technology supports two modes for
propagating light along optical channels; each
requiring fibre with different physical
characteristics.

50
 Fibre Sizes for Fiber Optic Cable
• Optical fibres are defined by the ratio of the
their core to the diameter of their cladding,
expressed in micrometers.

51
 Fibre Optic Cable Connectors
• Bionic Connector
• Standard Connector (SC)
• Ferrule Core Connector (FC)
• ST Connector (ST)
• SMA Connector
• Lucent Connector (LC)
• Plastic Fiber Optic Cable Connectors
• Enterprise Systems Connection Connector (ESCON)
• Fiber Distributed Data Interface Connector (FDDI)
• Opti-Jack Connector
• LX-5 Connector
• Volition Connector
• MT-RJ Connector
• MU Connector
• MT Connector
• E2000 Connector, etc

52
 Advantages of Fibre-Optics Cable
• It offers extremely high speed of transmission (2Gbps).
• It is immune to electrical interference/ EMI.
• It is highly secured.
• Higher bandwidth
• Less signal attenuation
• Resistance to corrosive materials
• Light weight
• Greater immunity to tapping

53
 Disadvantages of Fibre-Optic Cable
• It is very expensive.
• Installation and maintenance is difficult
• Unidirectional light propagation
• Very fragile

54
 Performance of Fibre Optic Cable
• Attenuation is flatter than in the case of twisted-
pair cable and coaxial cable.
• The performance is such that fewer (actually
one tenth as many) repeaters is required when
using the fibre-optic cable.

55
 Applications of Fibre Optic Cable
• Often found in backbone networks because its wide
bandwidth is cost-effective.
• Some cable TV companies use a combination of optical fibre
and coaxial cable thus creating a hybrid network.
• Local-area Networks such as 100Base-FX
network and 1000Base-X also use
fibre-optic cable.

56
 Table 3: Characteristic of Bounded Media

SN CHARACTERISTIC TWISTED-PAIR COAXIAL FIBRE-OPTIC

1 Cost Least More Expensive Expensive

Expensive
2 Maximum Transmission 100m 185m >16090m
Length
3 Transmission Rate 10/100Mbps 10mbps 100mbps
4 Installation Very Simple Simple Difficult
5 Interference Susceptible Susceptible Not Susceptible

6 Preferred Uses Networks Networks(Medium- Networks(any

sized) size)
7 Connector RJ-45 BNC/ T Special
8 Physical Topology Star Bus Star

57
Factors considered in cable selection. These
include:
- cost of the cable
- method of installation
- immunity to electromagnetic interference
- cable speed and bandwidth capacity
- maximum distance at which attenuation sets in.

58
TRANSMISSION
IMPAIRMENT

59
 Transmission Impairment
• Signals travel through transmission media that are imperfect
and as such may become impaired. Generally signals in
transmission are subjected to a number of forces.
• This implies that signal at the source is not the same as the
signal at the destination
 That is, what is sent is not exactly what is received.
• Three causes of impairment are:
 attenuation,
 distortion, and
 noise.
60
 Transmission Impairment
• (cont’d)
There are specified length of transmission after
which attenuation sets in.

• Some of the cables support a maximum length

of l00m, 185m, 500m, etc after which a
repeater is installed to amplify and regenerate
the signals back to its original form.

61
 1. Attenuation
• This refers to decrease in amplitude of signals as they
travel along transmission media. In other words, it
simply means fading of electrical signals or loss of
energy over a distance.
• That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets warm,
if not hot, after a while. Some of the electrical energy
in the signal is converted to heat.
• To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to
amplify the signal.

62
 Attenuation Cont’d
• Attenuation is measured in Decibels.
 The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths
of two signals or one signal at two different points.
 Note that the decibel is negative if a signal is
attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified.
 dB=10log10 P2/P1
 Variables PI and P2 are the powers of a signal at
points 1 and 2, respectively.
63
64
 2. Delay distortion
• Distortion means a change in the form or shape of a
signal.
• The rate of transmission of a sinusoidal signal through a
medium varies with the frequency of the signal.
• When transmitting signals, the various frequency
components that make the signals arrive the
destination with varying delays is called distortion
delay. This is also called intersymbol interference.

• The amount of distortion increases as the bit rate of

transmission increases and this can lead to massive
misrepresentation and misinterpretation of the signals.
65
• Propagation velocity varies with frequency
(bandlimited signal)
 Fast at the center of the frequency
 Falls off at the two edges of frequencies

66
• In case of analog signals, the received signal is
distorted because of variable delay of different
components.
• In case of digital signals, the problem is much
more severe.
 Some frequency components of one bit position spill
over to other bit positions, because of delay distortion.
 This leads to inter-symbol interference, which restricts
the maximum bit rate of transmission through a
particular transmission medium.

67
• Delay distortion is a major reason for the timing jitter
problem, where the receiver clock deviates from the incoming
signal in a random fashion so that an incoming signal might
arrive earlier or late
• Equalization techniques can be used to smooth out the delay
distortion

68
 3. Noise
• Noise occurs when an unwanted signal is inserted
between transmitter and receiver.
• It is the random or unwanted signal that mixes up
with the original signal.
• Noises can corrupt the signals in many ways along
with the distortion introduced by the transmission
media. There are four types of noises:

69
70
a. Thermal noise - This noise is a function of
temperature and bandwidth.
- Due to thermal agitation of electrons present in the
transmission line material
- This is present in all electronic devices regardless of
any interference
- It cannot be eliminated.
- The thermal noise is proportional to the temperature
and bandwidth as shown in the equation:
- Thermal noise = K(constant) *temperature *bandwidth.

71
b. Cross talk - This type of noise is caused by
electrical coupling in the nearby twisted pair or by
unwanted signal picked by microwave antennas.
- This is also known as leakage of signal from one
medium to another through an electrical field
- A signal from one line is picked up by another

 -For example, sometimes when you are on the

telephone, you might hear someone else’s
conversation due to the cross talk problem

72
c. Impulse noise - is irregular pulses or spikes (a signal
with high energy in a very short period) that comes from
power lines, lightning, spark due to loose contact in
electric circuits and so on.
• It is caused by lightning and faults in the communication
system
• It is a primary source of bit-errors in digital data
communication that kind of noise introduces burst error
- Not so much of a problem for analog data, but a huge problem for digital
data
 For example, External electromagnetic interference
‒ Short duration
‒ High amplitude

73
 d. Intermodulation noise
• When more than one signal share a single transmission
channel, intermodulation noise is generated.
• Intermodulation noise - is caused by nonlinearity in the
transmission system
- Signals that are the sum and difference of original frequencies sharing
a medium
• For instance, two signals S1 and S2 will generate signals of
frequencies (S1 + S2) and (s1 - S2), which may interfere
with the signals of the same frequencies sent by the sender.
 If nonlinearity present in any part of the communication system,
intermodulation noise is introduced.
74
 Review Questions
1. Explain briefly the various sources and types of
transmission impairment.
2. Explain the use of coaxial cables in networking and
distinguish among the various types available.
3. Explain the use of twisted-pair cables in networking
and distinguish among the various types available.
4. Explain the use of fibre-optic cable and state its
advantages and disadvantages.
5. Present in a tabular form the distinction among
twisted-pair, coaxial and fibre-optic cables based on
cost, transmission length, transmission rate,
interference, and physical topology.
75