Chapter 7

Transmission Media

7.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 Figure 7.1 Transmission medium and physical layer

 Transmission media are located below and is controlled by the

physical layer
 Reminder: data is represented by signals that are transmitted
between devices in the form of an electromagnetic energy that
propagates through the transmission media
 EM energy includes power, radio wave, infrared light, visible
light, etc. They all are part of the EM Spectrum
7.2
 Electromagnetic Spectrum

7.3
 Figure 7.2 Classes of transmission media

7.4
 7-1 GUIDED MEDIA

Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit

from one device to another, include twisted-pair cable,
coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable.

Topics discussed in this section:

Twisted-Pair Cable
Coaxial Cable
Fiber-Optic Cable

7.5
 Figure 7.3 Twisted-pair cable

 Consists of two conductors (usually copper)

 Each conductor has its own plastic insulation
 The two are twisted around each other
 One carries the signal, the other is used as a ground reference
 The signal used is the difference between the two
 Why are they twisted?
 The two are subject to noise and/or cross talk from another pair
 If the noise source is closer to one side, twisting make the effect even
 When the signal difference is used, the noise cancels out
 The closer the twists, the better the quality
7.6
 Figure 7.4 UTP and STP cables

 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) is the most commonly used cable

 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) has a metal foil or braded-mesh covering the
shielded pair
 STP is more immune to noise and cross talk due to shielding, but is it bulkier
(i.e.; larger and heavier) and more expensive than UTP
 Electronic Industries Association (EIA) has standards that categorize UTP
 The categories are based on the cable quality (1 is the lowest and 7 is the
highest)
7.7
 Table 7.1 Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables

7.8
 Figure 7.5 UTP connector

 The most common UTP connector is the RJ-45 (Registered

Jack-45)
 RJ-45 is a keyed connector
 Commonly used for Ethernet connections
 Other types are RJ-11 (phone lines) and RJ-10 (phone cords)

7.9
 Figure 7.6 UTP performance

7.10
 UTP Applications
 Twisted-pair cables are widely used in telephone
lines
 The local loop (the line that connects the subscriber
to the central office) is mostly a UTP
 Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) used to provide high-
speed data connection utilizes the high bandwidth of
the UTP
 Local Area Networks (LANs) such as 10Base-T and
100Base-T use twisted-pair cables

7.11
 Figure 7.7 Coaxial cable

 Coaxial cables have central core conductor (usually solid or stranded

copper wire) enclosed in an insulating sheath
 The sheath is also enclosed in an outer conductor (usually a metal foil
and/or braid)
 The outer metallic shield works as a protection against noise and as a
second conductor for ground reference
 The cable is protected by a plastics cover
 Has higher frequency range than twisted-pair cable
7.12
 Table 7.2 Categories of coaxial cables

 Coaxial cables are categorized by Radio Government (RG) ratings

 Each RG rating defines a unique set of physical specifications
such as:
 Gauge (the thickness of the wire)
 The thickness and type of the inner insulator
 The construction of the shield
 The size and type of the outer casting
 Each RG rating is usually specified for a certain function and
application
7.13
 Figure 7.8 BNC connectors

 The most common type of coaxial connectors is the BNC

 The BNC Connector is used to connect a device
 The BNC T is used to branch out a cable
 The BNC Terminator is used to at the end of the cable to absorb
the signal and prevent signal reflection back into the cable

7.14
 Figure 7.9 Coaxial cable performance

 Much higher attenuation than the twisted-pair

 More frequent repeaters needed
7.15
 Coaxial Cable Applications
 Mostly replaced by fiber-optic cables
 Earlier used in:
 Analog telephone networks (10,000 voice signals per cable)
 Traditional cable TV networks for the infrastructure
 Traditional Ethernet LANs:

10Base-2 (Thin Ethernet) using RG-58 with BNC connector for 10
Mbps data rate for a range of 185 m

10Base-5 (Thick Ethernet) using RG-11 with specialized connectors
for 10 Mbps data rate over a range of 5,000 m
 Later used in:
 Digital telephone networks (600 Mbps per cable)
 Cable TV networks, where RG-59 is used to connect the
subscriber to the infrastructure (mostly fiber-optic now)

7.16
 Fiber-Optic Cable
 Made of glass or plastic
 Transmits signals in the form of light
 Uses the light ray reflection and refraction
laws of physics for signal propagation

7.17
 Figure 7.10 Bending of light ray

 Light travels in straight lines if traveling through a single uniform substance

 If the light moves from one substance to another with a different density, the
light changes its direction
 The angle of incidence is the angle the light makes with the line
perpendicular to the interface between the two substances
 The critical angle of incidence is the angle at which the light travels along
the interface between the two substances
 If the angle of incidence is greater than the critical, the light reflects back
 The critical angle is a property of the substance
7.18
 Figure 7.11 Optical fiber

 Optical fibers use reflections to guide a light

through a channel
 The glass or plastic core is surrounded by a
cladding of less dense glass or plastic such that the
light is reflected at the required angle of incidence

7.19
 Figure 7.12 Propagation modes

7.20
 Optical Fiber Modes
 Multimode: multiple beams move through the core in different paths
 Step-Index fiber:

The density of the core is constant (i.e.; the index of refraction is fixed)

The light moves is straight lines until it hits the cladding where it reflects suddenly
 Graded-Index fiber:

The density of the core decreases as the light moves from the center to the cladding

The light changes in curved line and reflects smoothly off of the cladding

The received signal is less distorted compared to the step-index
 Single-Mode:
 Uses step-index fiber and highly focused light source with limited range of angles
 Smaller diameter and lower density fiber compared to multimode
 Therefore, critical angle ~90 degrees to force all beams to almost propagate
horizontally
 Propagation of different beams are almost identical with negligible delays
 The beams can be recombined with little distortion to the signal

7.21
 Figure 7.13 Modes

7.22
 Table 7.3 Fiber types

 Defined by the ratio of the core to the cladding

diameters usually expressed in micrometers

7.23
 Figure 7.14 Fiber construction

 Outer jacket is made of PVC or Teflon

 Kelvar is used for bulletproof vests

7.24
 Figure 7.15 Fiber-optic cable connectors

 SC (Subscriber Channel) is used for cable TV

 ST (Straight Tip) is used for connecting cables to
networking devices
 MT-RJ is a new type of connector that is similar in
size to the RJ-45 connector
7.25
 Figure 7.16 Optical fiber performance

 The attenuation is flatter (slower rate of change) than

the twisted-pair and coaxial cables
 10 time less repeaters compared to other guided media
7.26
 Optical Fiber Applications

 Mostly used for backbone networks where it is

highly cost-effective
 Transfers at a rate of 1600 Gbps with WDM
over SONET networks
 Backbone infrastructure for Cable TV
networks
 LAN over 100Base-FX networks (fast
Ethernet) and 1000Base-X

7.27
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Optical
Fiber
 Advantages:

 High bandwidth: its bandwidth is limited by signal

generation and reception; not by the medium
 Low attenuation: 50 Km spaced repeaters
 No EM interference
 No corrosion
 Light weight
 No tapping
 Disadvantages
 Installation/maintenance
 Unidirectional
 Expensive
7.28
 7-2 UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS

Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves

without using a physical conductor. This type of
communication is often referred to as wireless
communication.

Topics discussed in this section:

Radio Waves
Microwaves
Infrared

7.29
 Figure 7.17 Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication

 Transporting EM waves without a physical conductor

 Signals are transmitted (broadcasted) over the air
 Frequency range: 3 KHz to 900 THz
 Types of unguided signal propagations:
 Ground
 Sky
 Line-of-sight (LOS)
7.30
 Figure 7.18 Propagation methods

 Higher frequency
 Very high freq.
 Low frequency
 Travels upward
 Straight line
 Travels in all
transmission
directions  Reflects off of the
Ionosphere
 Point-to-point
 Follow curvature
of the earth  Greater distance
 High towers
with lower power needed
7.31
 Table 7.4 Bands

7.32
 Figure 7.19 Wireless transmission waves

 3 KHz to 1 GHz used by radio waves

 1 to 300 GHz used by microwaves
 Division is based on the wave behavior rather than the
frequency ranges
 Radio waves are mostly omnidirectional (all directions)
 Microwave are mostly unidirectional (point-to-point)
7.33
 Figure 7.20 Omnidirectional antenna

 Signals propagate in all directions

 Susceptible to co-channel interference (interference on the same channel)
 Sky mode radio waves travel very long distances (e.g. AM and FM)
 Low and medium frequencies can penetrate through objects
 No signal containing but good reception all over
 Relatively narrow bandwidth with limited data communications data rates
 Most bands are regulated (i.e.; licensed)
7.34
 Figure 7.21 Microwave and Unidirectional antennas

 Line-of-sight communications
 VHF cannot penetrate through objects (e.g. walls)
 Immune from interference
 Wide frequency band of about 299 GHz
 Good potential for very high data rate transmission
 Mainly regulated except for the license-free or ISM (Industrial
7.35 Scientific, and Medical) bands
 Note

Microwaves are used for unicast

communication such as cellular
telephones, satellite networks,
and wireless LANs.

7.36
 Infrared
 300 GHz to 400 THz
 Line-of-sight very short-range and very high data rate
communications
 Cannot penetrate through objects (e.g. walls)
 Immune from interference
 Use only for inside applications such as remote
control, PC data transfer, etc.
 IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
 Standard body for IR communications
 Defined standards for communication between PC and
peripheral devices
 75 kbps for up to 8 meters line-of-site communications

7.37
 Note

Infrared signals can be used for short-

range communication in a closed area
using line-of-sight propagation.

7.38