UNIT I:

Introduction: Uses of Computer Networks, Network Hardware, LANs, MANs, WANs,

Network Software.
Reference Models: The OSI Reference Model, TCP/IP Reference Model, the
comparison of OSI, and TCP/IP reference models.
The Physical Layer: Guided transmission media: Magnetic Media, Twisted Pair,
Coaxial Cable, and Fiber Optics.
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Introduction to networks:

A network is a set of devices (often referred to as

nodes) connected by communication links. A node can be a computer, printer,
or any other device capable of sending and/or receiving data generated by
other nodes on the network.

‘‘Computer network’’ mean a collection of

autonomous (independent) computers interconnected by a single technology.

Two computers are said to be interconnected if they

are able to exchange information. The connection need not be via a copper
wire; fiber optics, microwaves, infrared, and communication satellites can also
be used.

Uses of Computer Networks

Computer networks are collections of autonomous
Computers, e.g., the Internet.

They have many uses:

Business Applications,
Home Applications,
Mobile Users,
And raise with Social Issues

Business Applications:
Companies use networks and computers for resource
sharing with the client-server model:
request
response

Other popular uses are communication, e.g., email, VoIP, and e-commerce
 Networks called VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) may be used to join the
individual networks at different sites into one extended network.

In the simplest of terms, can imagine a company’s information system

as consisting of one or more databases with company information and some
number of employees who need to access them remotely. In this model, the
data are stored on powerful computers called servers. Often these are centrally
housed and maintained by a system administrator. In contrast, the employees
have simpler machines, called clients, on their desks, with which they access
remote data.

A second goal of setting up a computer network has to do with people

rather than information or even computers. A computer network can provide a
powerful communication medium among employees. Virtually every company
that has two or more computers now has email (electronic mail), which
employees generally use for a great deal of daily communication.

Telephone calls between employees may be carried by the computer

network instead of by the phone company. This technology is called IP
telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) when Internet technology is used. The
microphone and speaker at each end may belong to a VoIP-enabled phone or
the employee’s computer. Companies find this a wonderful way to save on their
telephone bills.

A third goal for many companies is doing business electronically,

especially with customers and suppliers. This new model is called e-commerce
(electronic commerce) and it has grown rapidly in recent years. Airlines,
bookstores, and other retailers have discovered that many customers like the
convenience of shopping from home. Consequently, many companies provide
catalogs of their goods and services online and take orders online.
Manufacturers of automobiles, aircraft, and computers, among others, buy
subsystems from a variety of suppliers and then assemble the parts. Using
computer networks, manufacturers can place orders electronically as needed.
This reduces the need for large inventories and enhances efficiency.

Home Applications
Homes contain many networked devices, e.g., computers,
TVs, connected to the Internet by cable, wireless, etc.

Home users communicate to e.g., social networks, consume content,

e.g., video, and transact, e.g., auctions

Some application use the peer-to-peer model in which there are no fixed
clients and servers.
 Many peer-to-peer systems, such Bit Torrent, do not have any central
database of content. Instead, each user maintains his own database locally and
provides a list of other nearby people who are members of the system.

Peer-to-peer communication is often used to share music and videos.

Users can download public software packages. In fact, one of the most popular
Internet applications of all, email, is inherently peer-to-peer. This form of
communication is likely to grow considerably in the future.

Tag Full name Example

B2C Business-to-consumer Ordering books online
B2B Business-to-business Car manufacturer ordering tires from supplier
G2C Government-to-consumer Government distributing tax forms
electronically
C2C Consumer-to-consumer Auctioning second-hand products online
P2P Peer-to-peer Music sharing

TV shows now reach many homes via IPTV (IP Television) systems that
are based on IP technology instead of cable TV or radio transmissions. Media
streaming applications let users tune into Internet radio stations or watch recent
episodes of their favourite TV shows. Naturally, all of this content can be moved
around your house between different devices, displays and speakers, usually
with a wireless network.

Mobile Users
Tablets, laptops, and smart phones are popular devices;
Wi-Fi hotspots and 3G cellular provide wireless connectivity.

Mobile users communicate, e.g., voice and texts, consume content, e.g., video
and Web, and use sensors, e.g., GPS.

Wireless and mobile are related but different:

Social Issues

• Network neutrality – no network restrictions

• Content ownership, e.g., DMCA takedowns Digital
Millennium Copyright Act.
• Anonymity (secrecy) and censorship
• Privacy, e.g., Web tracking and profiling (reporting)
• Theft, e.g., botnets and phishing
Network Hardware
Networks can be classified by their scale:

Scale Type
Vicinity PAN (Personal Area Network)
Building LAN (Local Area Network)
City MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
Country WAN (Wide Area Network)
Planet The Internet (network of all networks)

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Connect devices over the range of a person

Example of a Bluetooth (wireless) PAN:

To design a short-range wireless network called Bluetooth to connect

these components without wires. The idea is that if your devices have
Bluetooth, then you need no cables.

Completely different kind of PAN is formed when an embedded medical

device such as a pacemaker, insulin pump, or hearing aid talks to a user-
operated remote control.

Local Area Networks (LAN)

Connect devices in a home or office building Called
enterprise network in a company

Wireless LAN Wired LAN with

with 802.11 switched Ethernet
 There is a standard for wireless LANs called IEEE 802.11, popularly known
as WiFi, which has become very widespread. It runs at speeds anywhere from 1 to
hundreds of Mbps.

Metropolitan Area Networks

Connect devices over a metropolitan area

Example MAN based on cable TV:

A MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) covers a city. The best-known

examples of MANs are the cable television networks available in many cities.
These systems grew from earlier community antenna systems used in areas
with poor over-the-air television reception. In those early systems, a large
antenna was placed on top of a nearby hill and a signal was then piped to the
subscribers’ houses.

Wide Area Networks

Connect devices over a country

Example WAN connecting three branch offices:

Wide Area Networks
An ISP (Internet Service Provider) network is also a WAN.
Customers buy connectivity from the ISP to use it.

Wide Area Networks

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a WAN built from virtual
links that run on top of the Internet.

1m Square meter Personal area network

10m Room
100m Building Local area network
1 km Campus
10km City Metropolitan area network
100km Country
1000km Continent wide area network
10,000km Planet the internet
Network Software
• Protocol layers »
• Design issues for the layers »
• Connection-oriented vs. connectionless service »
• Service primitives »
• Relationship of services to protocols »

Protocol Layers
Protocol layering is the main structuring method used to
divide up network functionality.

• Each protocol instance talks virtually to its peer

• Each layer communicates only by using the one below

• Lower layer services are accessed by an interface

• At bottom, messages are carried by the medium

This concept is actually a familiar one and is used throughout computer

science, where it is variously known as information hiding, abstract data type’s
data encapsulation, and object-oriented programming. The fundamental idea
is that a particular piece of software (or hardware) provides a service to its
users but keeps the details of its internal state and algorithms hidden from
them.

A protocol is an agreement between the communicating parties on how

communication is to proceed.

The entities comprising the corresponding layers on different machines

are called peers. The peers may be software processes, hardware devices, or
even human beings.
 In other words, it is the peers that communicate by using the protocol to
talk to each other.

Through physical medium through which actual communication occurs.

virtual communication is shown by dotted lines and physical communication by
solid lines. Between each pair of adjacent layers is an interface. The interface
defines which primitive operations and services the lower layer makes available
to the upper one.

Connection-Oriented vs. Connectionless

Service provided by a layer may be kinds of either:

• Connection-oriented, must be set up for ongoing use

e.g., phone call
• Connectionless, messages are handled separately,
e.g., postal delivery

Connection-oriented service is modelled like the telephone system. To talk

to someone, you pick up the phone, dial the number, talk, and then hang up.

Similarly, to use a connection-oriented network service, the service user first

establishes a connection, uses the connection, and then releases the
connection.

The sender pushes objects (bits) in at one end, and the receiver takes
them out at the other end.

Connectionless service is modelled like the postal system. Each message

(letter) carries the full destination address, and each one is routed through the
system independent of all the others. Normally, when two messages are sent
to the same destination, the first one sent will be the first one to arrive.
However, it is possible that the first one sent can be delayed so that the
second one arrives first.
Service Primitives
A service is formally specified by a set of primitives (operations)
available to a user process to access the service.
These primitives tell the service to perform some action or report
on an action taken by a peer entity.
The set of primitives available depends on the nature of the
service being provided.
The primitives for connection-oriented service are different
from those of connection less service.

Packets sent in a simple client-server interaction on a connection oriented network .

Relationship of Services to Protocols

• A layer provides a service to the one above [vertical]

• A layer talks to its peer using a protocol [horizontal]

A service is like an abstract data type or an object in an object-oriented

language. It defines operations that can be performed on an object but does
not specify how these operations are implemented.

A protocol relates to the implementation of the service and as

such is not visible to the user of the service.
 The relationship between a service and a protocol.

REFERENCE MODELS
Reference models describe the layers in a network
Two important network architectures:

 OSI reference model

 TCP/IP reference model.

Although the protocols associated with the OSI model are not used any more,
the model itself is actually quite general and still valid, and the features
discussed at each layer are still very important.

The TCP/IP model has the opposite properties: the model itself is not of much
use but the protocols are widely used. For this reason we will look at both of
them in detail. Also, sometimes you can learn more from failures than from
successes.

The OSI Reference Model

This model is based on a proposal developed by the International
Standards Organization (ISO) as a first step toward international
standardization of the protocols used in the various layers (Day and
Zimmermann, 1983).

It was revised in 1995 (Day, 1995).

Then the model is called the ISO OSI (Open Systems Interconnection)
Reference Model because it deals with connecting open systems—that is,
systems that are open for communication with other systems. We will just call
it the OSI model for short.

The OSI model has seven layers.

1. A layer should be created where a different abstraction is needed.

2. Each layer should perform a well-defined function.
 3. The function of each layer should be chosen with an eye toward
defining internationally standardized protocols.
4. The layer boundaries should be chosen to minimize the information
flow across the interfaces.
5. The number of layers should be large enough that distinct functions
need not be thrown together in the same layer out of necessity and
small enough that the architecture does not become unwieldy.

A principled, international standard, seven layer model to connect

different systems

its
 7. APPLICATION Provides Functions needed by users

6. PRESENTATION Converts different representations

5. SESSION Manages task dialogs

4. TRANSPORT Provides end-to-end delivery

3. NETWORK Sends packets over multiple links

2. DATA LINK Sends frames of information

1. PHYSICAL Sends bits as signals

The Physical Layer

The physical layer is concerned with transmitting raw bits over a

communication channel.

The design issues have to making sure that when one

side sends a 1 bit it is received by the other side as a 1 bit, not as a 0 bit.

Electrical signals should be used to represent a 1 and a 0,

How many nanoseconds a bit takes, whether transmission may

proceed simultaneously in both directions, how the initial connection is
established, how it is torn down when both sides are finished.

How many pins the network connector has, and what each pin is
used for.

These design issues largely deal with mechanical, electrical,

and timing interfaces, as well as the physical transmission medium, which
lies below the physical layer.

To summarize, the physical layer has to take into account the

following factors:

• Signal encoding: How are the bits 0 and 1 to be represented?

• Medium: What is the medium used, and what are its properties?

• Bit synchronization: Is the transmission asynchronous orsynchronous?

• Transmission type: Is the transmission serial or parallel?

 • Transmission mode: Is the transmission simplex, half-duplex or full
duplex?

• Topology: What is the topology (mesh, star ring, bus or hybrid) used?

• Multiplexing: Is multiplexing used, and if so, what is its type (FDM,

TDM)?

• Interface: How are the two closely linked devices connected?

• Bandwidth: Which of the two baseband or broadband communication

is being used?

• Signal type: Are analog signals or digital?

The Data Link Layer

The main task of the data link layer is to transform a fresh

transmission facility into a line that appears free of undetected transmission
errors to the network layer.

It accomplishes this task break up the input data into data frames
and transmit the frames sequentially.

If the service is reliable, the receiver confirms correct receipt of

each frame by sending back an acknowledgement frame.

• Addressing: Headers and promos are added, containing the physical

addresses of the adjacent nodes, and removed upon a successful delivery.

• Flow Control: This avoids overwriting on the receiver's buffer by

regulating the amount of data that can be sent.

• Media Access Control (MAC): In LANs it decides who can send data,
when and how much.

• Synchronization: Headers have bits, which tell the receiver when a

frame is arriving, synchronize its timing to know the bit interval recognize
the bit correctly.

• Error control: It checks the CRC to ensure the correctness of the

frame. If incorrect, it asks for retransmission.

• Node-to-node delivery: it is responsible for error free delivery of the

entire frame (node to node delivery).
The Network Layer

The network layer controls the operation of the subnet.

Design issue is determining how packets are routed from source to

destination.

Routes can be based on static tables that are "wired into" the network
and rarely change.

When a packet has to travel from one network to another to get to its
destination, many problems can arise.

The addressing used by the second network may be different from the
first one.

The second one may not accept the packet at all because it is too large.
The protocols may differ, and so on.

It is up to the network layer to overcome all these problems to allow

heterogeneous (MIXED) networks to be interconnected.

In broadcast networks, the routing problem is simple, so the network

layer is often thin or even non-existent.

To summarize, the network layer performs the following functions:

• Routing.

• Congestion (JAMMING) Control.

• Logical addressing Source and destination logical

addresses (e.g. IP addresses)

• Address transformations interpreting logical addresses to get

their physical equivalent (e.g. ARP protocol.)

• Source to destination error – free delivery of a packet.

The Transport Layer

The basic 'function' of the transport layer is to accept data from

above, split it up into smaller units if need be, pass these to the network
layer, and ensure that the pieces all arrive correctly at the other end.

The transport layer also determines what type of service to

provide to the session layer, and, ultimately, to the users of the network.
 The most popular type of transport connection is an error-free
point-to-point channel that delivers messages or bytes in the order in which
way they sent.

The transport layer is a true end-to-end layer, all the way from
the source to the destination.

To summarize, the responsibilities of the transport layer are as follows:

• Host-to-host message delivery: Ensuring that all the packets

of a message sent by a source node arrive at the intended destination.

• Application to application communication: The transport

layer enables communication between two applications running on different
computers.

• Segmentation and reassembly: The transport layer breaks a

message into packets, numbers them by adding sequence numbers at the
destination to reassemble the original message.

• Connection: The transport layer might create a logical

connection between the source and the destination for the duration of the
complete message transfer for better control over the message transfer.

The Session Layer

The session layer allows users on different machines to establish

sessions between them. Sessions offer various services, including dialog
control (keeping track of whose turn it is to transmit), token management

• Session and sub sub-sessions: The layer divides a session

into sub-sessions for avoiding retransmission of entire messages by adding
check pointing feature.

• Synchronization: The session layer decides the order in which

data need to be passed to the transport layer.

• Dialog control: The session layer also decides which user/

application send data, and at what point of time, and whether the
communication is simplex, half duplex or full duplex.

• Session closure: The session layer ensure that the session

between the hosts is closed grace fully.
The Presentation Layer

The presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and

semantics of the information transmitted.

The presentation layer manages these abstract data structures

and allows higher-level data structures (e.g., banking records); to be
defined and exchanged.

To summarize, the responsibilities of the presentation layer are as follows:

• Translation: The translation between the sender's and the receiver's

massage formats is done by the presentation layer if the two formats are
different.

• Encryption: The presentation layer performs data encryption and

decryption for security.

• Compression: For the efficient transmission, the presentation layer

performs data compression before sending and decompression at the
destination.

The Application Layer

One widely used application protocol is HTTP (Hyper Text

Transfer Protocol), which is the basis for the World Wide Web.

When a browser wants a Web page, it sends the name of the

page it wants to the server using HTTP.

Application protocols are used for file transfer, electronic mail,

and network news.

To summarize the responsibilities of the application layer are as follows:

• Network abstraction: The application layer provides an abstraction of the

underlying network to an end user and an application.

• File access and transfer: It allows a use to access, download or upload

files from/to a remote host.

• Mail services: It allows the users to use the mail services.

• Remote login: It allows logging into a host which is remote

• World Wide Web (WWW): Accessing the Web pages is also a part of this
layer.
The TCP/IP Reference Model

OSI reference model to the reference model used in the

grandparent of all wide area computer networks, the ARPANET, and its
successor, the worldwide Internet.

The ARPANET was a research network sponsored by the

DoD (U.S. Department of Defence).

It eventually connected hundreds of universities and government

installations, using leased telephone lines.

When satellite and radio networks were added later, the existing
protocols had trouble inter-working with them, so a new reference
architecture was needed.

Thus, the ability to connect multiple networks in a seamless way

was one of the major design goals from the very beginning.

This architecture later became known as the TCP/IP Reference

Model, after its two primary protocols.

It was first defined in (Cerf and Kahn, 1974). A later perspective

is given in (Leiner et aI., 1985). The design philosophy behind the model is
discussed in (Clark, 1988).

In other words, DoD wants connections to remain unbroken as

long as the source and destination machines were functioning.

The Link Layer

It is the lowest layer in the model.

The link layer describes what links must to meet the needs
of this connectionless internet layer.

It is not really a layer at all, in the normal sense of the term,

but rather an interface between hosts and transmission links.
The Internet Layer

The choice of a packet-switching network based on a

connectionless internetwork layer. This layer, called the internet layer.

Its job is to permit hosts to inject packets into any network

and have them travel independently to the destination.

The internet layer defines an official packet format and

protocol called IP (Internet Protocol).

The job of the internet layer is to deliver IP packets where

they are supposed to go.

Packet routing is clearly the major issue here, for avoiding

congestion.

The Transport Layer

TCP/IP internet layer is similar in functionality to the OSI

network layer.

The layer above the internet layer in the TCP/IP model is

now usually called the transport layer.

It is designed to allow peer entities on the source and

destination hosts to carry on a conversation, just as in the OSI transport
layer.

Two end-to-end transport protocols have been defined

here. The first one, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), is a reliable
connection-oriented protocol that allows a byte stream originating on one
machine to be delivered without error on any other machine in the internet.

It fragments the incoming byte stream into discrete

messages and passes each one on to the internet layer.

At the destination, the receiving TCP process

reassembles the received messages into the output stream.
 OSI TCP/IP

7 Application Application

6 Presentation

5 Session

4 Transport Transport

3 Network Internet

2 Data link Host-to-network

1 Physical

The second protocol in this layer, UDP (User Datagram

Protocol), is an unreliable, connectionless protocol for applications that do
not want TCP’s sequencing or flow control and wish to provide their own.

It is also widely used for one-shot, client-server-type request-

reply queries and applications in which prompt delivery is more important
than accurate delivery, such as transmitting speech or video.

The Application Layer

The TCP/IP model does not have session or presentation

layers.

On top of the transport layer is the application layer. It contains all

the higher-level protocols.
 Included virtual terminal (TELNET), file transfer (FTP), and
electronic mail (SMTP).

The virtual terminal protocol allows a user on one machine to log

onto a distant machine and work there.

The file transfer protocol provides a way to move data efficiently

from one machine to another.

Electronic mail was originally just a kind of file transfer, but later
a specialized protocol (SMTP) was developed for it.

Many other protocols have been added to these over the years:
the Domain Name System (DNS) for mapping host names onto their
network addresses, NNTP, the protocol for moving USENET news articles
around, and HTTP, the protocol for fetching pages on the World Wide Web,
and many others.

Model Used in this Book

It is based on the TCP/IP model but we call out the physical layer
and look beyond Internet protocols.

This model has five layers, running from the physical layer up
through the link, network and transport layers to the application layer.

The physical layer specifies how to transmit bits across different

kinds of media as electrical (or other analog) signals.

The link layer is concerned with how to send finite-length

messages between directly connected computers with specified levels of
reliability. Ethernet and 802.11 are examples of link layer protocols.

The network layer deals with how to combine multiple links into
networks, and networks of networks, into internetworks so that we can send
packets between distant computers. This includes the task of finding the
path along which to send the packets. IP is the main example protocol we
will study for this layer.
 The transport layer strengthens the delivery guarantees of the
Network layer, usually with increased reliability, and provide delivery
abstractions. TCP is an important example of a transport layer protocol.

Finally, the application layer contains programs that make use of

the network. Networked applications have user interfaces, such as a Web
browser.

HTTP protocol in the case of the Web browser.

DNS, that are used by many applications.

Comparison of the OSI and TCPI / IP Reference Models

OSI(Open System Interconnection) TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol /

Internet Protocol)

1. OSI is a generic, protocol 1. TCP/IP model is based on standard protocols

independent standard, acting as a around which the Internet has developed. It is a
communication gateway between the communication protocol, which allows
network and end user. connection of hosts over a network.

2. In OSI model the transport layer 2. In TCP/IP model the transport layer does not
guarantees the delivery of packets. guarantees delivery of packets. Still the TCP/IP
model is more reliable.

3. Follows vertical approach. 3. Follows horizontal approach.

4. OSI model has a separate 4. TCP/IP does not have a separate

Presentation layer and Session layer. Presentation layer or Session layer.

5. Transport Layer is Connection 5. Transport Layer is both Connection Oriented

Oriented. and Connection less.

6. Network Layer is both Connection 6. Network Layer is Connection less.

Oriented and Connection less.
7. OSI is a reference model around 7. TCP/IP model is, in a way implementation of
which the networks are built. Generally the OSI model.
it is used as a guidance tool.

8. Network layer of OSI model 8. The Network layer in TCP/IP model provides
provides both connection oriented and connectionless service.
connectionless service.

9. OSI model has a problem of fitting 9. TCP/IP model does not fit any protocol
the protocols into the model.

10. Protocols are hidden in OSI model 10. In TCP/IP replacing protocol is not easy.
and are easily replaced as the
technology changes.

11. OSI model defines services, 11. In TCP/IP, services, interfaces and protocols
interfaces and protocols very clearly are not clearly separated. It is also protocol
and makes clear distinction between dependent.
them. It is protocol independent.

12. It has 7 layers 12. It has 4 layers

BASIS FOR
TCP/IP MODEL OSI MODEL
COMPARISON

Expands To TCP/IP- Transmission Control OSI- Open system Interconnect

Protocol/ Internet Protocol

Meaning It is a client server model used for It is a theoretical model which is

transmission of data over the used for computing system.

internet.
 BASIS FOR
TCP/IP MODEL OSI MODEL
COMPARISON

No. Of Layers 4 Layers 7 Layers

Developed by Department of Defense (DoD) ISO (International Standard

Organization)

Concrete Yes No

Usage Mostly used Never used

PHYSICAL LAYER
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 function 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.

Transmission
Media

Guided Media Unguided Media

 Guided
Media

Twisted Pair Wires Coaxial Cables Optical Fiber

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.

An industry-standard Ultrium tape can hold 800 gigabytes. A box

60 × 60 × 60 cm can hold about 1000 of these tapes, for a total capacity of
800 terabytes, or 6400 terabits (6.4 petabits).

The effective bandwidth of this transmission is 6400

terabits/86,400 sec, or a bit over 70 Gbps.

If the destination is only an hour away by road, the bandwidth is

increased to over 1700 Gbps. A tape can be reused at least 10 times.
Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring in which two conductors of a
single circuit are twisted together for the purposes of
improving electromagnetic compatibility. Compared to a single conductor or an
untwisted balanced pair, a twisted pair reduces electromagnetic
radiation, crosstalk between neighbouring pairs and improves rejection of
external electromagnetic interference.

Twisting the pairs counters this effect as on each half twist the wire nearest to
the noise-source is exchanged. Providing the interfering source remains
uniform, or nearly so, over the distance of a single twist, the induced noise will
remain common-mode.

The twist rate (also called pitch of the twist, usually defined in twists per meter)
makes up part of the specification for a given type of cable

In contrast to shielded or foiled twisted pair (typically F/UTP or S/FTP cable

shielding), UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cable is not surrounded by any
shielding. UTP is the primary wire type for telephone usage and is very common
for computer networking.

Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables are found in many Ethernet networks
and telephone systems.
For indoor telephone applications, UTP is often grouped into sets of 25
pairs according to a standard 25-pair color code originally developed by AT&T
Corporation.
A typical subset of these colors (white/blue, blue/white, white/orange,
orange/white) shows up in most UTP cables.
The cables are typically made with copper wires measured at 22 or 24
American Wire Gauge (AWG).

Advantages
Electrical noise going into or coming from the cable can be prevented.
Crosstalk is minimized.
Cheapest form of cable available for networking purposes.
Easy to handle and install.

Coaxial cable, is a type of electrical cable that has an inner conductor

surrounded by a tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting
shield.
 Coaxial cable is used as a transmission line for radio frequency signals.

Its applications include feedlines connecting radio transmitters and

receivers to their antennas, computer network (Internet) connections, digital
audio (S/PDIF), and distributing cable television signals.

One advantage of coaxial over other types of radio transmission line is

the electromagnetic field carrying the signal exists only in the space between
the inner and outer conductors.

Coaxial cable also provides protection of the signal from external

electromagnetic interference.

Power Lines

The telephone and cable television networks are not the only
sources of wiring that can be reused for data communication.

There is a yet more common kind of wiring: electrical power lines.

Power lines deliver electrical power to houses, and electrical wiring within
houses distributes the power to electrical outlets.

The use of power lines for data communication is an old idea.

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).

Electrical signals are sent at 50–60 Hz and the wiring attenuates

the much higher frequency (MHz) signals needed for high-rate data
communication.
 Fiber optics are used for long-haul transmission in network
backbones, highspeed LANs (although so far, copper has always managed
catch up eventually), 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, and the detector.

Conventionally, a pulse of light indicates a 1 bit and the absence

of light indicates a 0 bit.

Item LED Semiconductor laser

Data rate Low High

Fiber type Multi-mode Multi-mode or single-mode

Distance Short Long

Lifetime Long life Short life

Temperature sensitivity Minor Substantial

Cost Low cost Expensive