Computer Networks

Chapter 2
Physical Layer

Prof. M. Sreenivasa Rao

School of IT
JNT University
 The Weeks Ahead

Date Lecture Lab/Project

Jan 21 - 23 The Physical Layer Project 0 Due

Start Project 1

Jan 28 - 30 Medium Access Layer Project 1 Checkin

Feb 4 - 6 Medium Access Layer Project 1 Checkin

Feb 11 Exam I Project 1 Due

Chap. 2- Physical 2
 Chapter Overview
2.1 Theoretical Basis For Data Communication
What every sophomore EE knows !!! How much data can be put on a
wire? What are the limits imposed by a medium?
2.2 Transmission Media
Wires and fibers.

2.3 Wireless Transmission

Radio, microwave, infrared, unguided by a medium.

2.4 The Telephone System

The system invented 100 years ago to carry voice.

2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Mechanisms that can carry voice and data.

Chap. 2- Physical 3
 DATA Overview
COMMUNICATION
THEORY
2.1 Theoretical Basis For
Data Communication This is Physics or Electrical Engineering stuff.
2.2 Transmission Media
It’s how we understand what is actually
2.3 Wireless Transmission happening on a wire.
2.4 The Telephone System
2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Chap. 2- Physical 4
 DATA Some Basic Terms
COMMUNICATION
THEORY
Analog and Digital Signaling

Amplitude Modulation

Frequency Modulation

Chap. 2- Physical 5
 DATA Some Basic Terms
COMMUNICATION
THEORY
Baseband and Broadband

Phase Modulation

Modems

Chap. 2- Physical 6
 DATA Some Basic Terms
COMMUNICATION
THEORY
Synchronous – there’s a clock embedded in the wire that guarantees all users of that wire are
based on that clock.

Asynchronous – there’s no clock. Users of the wire send signals when they feel like it.

Chap. 2- Physical 7
 DATA FOURIER ANALYSIS
COMMUNICATION
THEORY

Harmonics - Signals of any flavor are made up of harmonics. One could in

theory have a pure sine wave, but that's pretty dull - it carries no real
information other than its frequency (musically it's pretty dull too.)

In practice, information-carrying-signals are made up of a number of frequencies.

These typically are the fundamental frequency, plus other frequencies that are
multiples of the fundamental. These higher frequency components are called
harmonics.

Fourier Series - Any wave, no matter what its shape, can be formed by the
addition of a (possibly infinite) number of sinusoidal waves. So if the wave g
is a function of time t, then

Chap. 2- Physical 8
 DATA FOURIER ANALYSIS
COMMUNICATION
THEORY
g(t) = c/2 + ninfAn sin( 2  n f t)
+ ninfBn cos( 2 n f t)
The coefficients An and Bn are determined for each component - they represent the
amplitude of the individual waves.

The way to solve this equation is to take the function you're trying to analyze (say
for a square wave):

g(t) = 1 ( 0 <= t < 1, 2 <= t < 3, .... )

= 0 ( 1 <= t < 2, 3 <= t < 4, .... )
then solve for
An = 2/T  g(t)sin(2  n f t) dt
Bn = 2/T  g(t)cos(2  n f t) dt
Chap. 2- Physical 9
 FOURIER ANALYSIS
DATA COMMUNICATION
THEORY

Let's look at this case for a couple of elements in the series.

Chap. 2- Physical 10
DATA COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH-LIMITED
THEORY SIGNALS

Unfortunately, life isn't perfect. All

frequencies aren't possible in a
transmission medium. We'll do a quick
detour in order to discuss capacitance
here - this is what damps out higher
frequencies. The Figure shows the
affect of this distortion. Later on we'll
see that some media are opaque to
various frequencies - a second reason
why signals can't get through.

Signals can also be intentionally distorted or

constrained. Perhaps only a certain
range of frequencies is allowed for each
channel. This allows multiple channels
per medium.

Chap. 2- Physical 11
DATA COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH-LIMITED
THEORY SIGNALS

Wave Shape - A pure sine wave (the fundamental only) doesn't cut it. The
receiver needs the signal to electrically stay high for some amount of time so
it can distinguish the voltage - some degree of "squareness" is necessary
requiring some harmonics in the signal.

Baud - The number of changes in the signal per second. A b baud line does not
necessarily transmit b bits/second - each signal may convey several bits - for
example if 8 voltages are possible per signal, then 3 bits are sent on every
signal. If the signal is BINARY (only two voltage levels), then the bit rate is
equal to the baud rate.

Chap. 2- Physical 12
DATA COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH-LIMITED
THEORY SIGNALS
Voice-grade Line - is an
ordinary telephone line. Its
cutoff frequency is near
3,000 Hz.

If we assume:
1) 1 bit per baud,
2) that there are, in the best
case, 8 harmonics,

then
1) the bit rate is b bits/sec,
2) the frequency of the fundamental (also called the first harmonic) is
b/8 Hz.
3) the highest harmonic passed through a voice grade line: 3000/(b/8) =
24,000/b.
4) The Table shows how this equation works in practice.
Chap. 2- Physical 13
DATA COMMUNICATION MAXIMUM DATA
THEORY RATE OF A CHANNEL
The Nyquist equation tries to talk about the realistic amount of data that can be
pushed through a channel with a given bandwidth, H. If the signal consists of V
levels (for example binary = 2), then assuming no noise (i.e., perfect signals)

maximum data rate = 2 H log2 V ( in bits/sec )

Signal to noise ratio - random (thermal) or interference causes a degradation of the

signal. This is measured in terms of the ratio of signal power to noise power.
Usually this is measured in decibels, in terms of 10 log10 S/N. So an S/N of
100 = 20 dB.

Shannon's equation is another way of expressing maximum data rate. It's given as
maximum data rate = H log2 ( 1 + S/N )

When do you use which of these equations??

Chap. 2- Physical 14
 Transmission Overview
Media
2.1 Theoretical Basis For
Data Communication This section discusses the various types of
2.2 Transmission Media wires/fibers/etc that can be used to carry
data.
2.3 Wireless Transmission
2.4 The Telephone System
2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Chap. 2- Physical 15
 Transmission Hardware Stuff
Media

MAGNETIC MEDIA:
 Sometimes it's cheaper and faster to load a box of tapes in your car !!!

TWISTED PAIR:
 Simply two wires twisted together - the twisting cuts down on electrical
interference.
 Heavily used in the phone system - the typical office has four pairs for
phones, etc.
 Category 3 and 5 - with 5 having more twists and better insulation.

BASEBAND COAXIAL CABLE:

 Used for digital transmissions (called baseband.)
 Good noise immunity.
 Data rates as high as 1 Gbps for short distances.
 Now being replaced by fiber.

Chap. 2- Physical 16
 Transmission Hardware Stuff
Media
BROADBAND COAXIAL CABLE:
 Used for analog transmissions (called broadband.)
 Can run 300 MHz for long distances.
 Analog signaling has better S/N than digital signaling.
 Interfaces must convert digital signals to analog and vice versa.
 Designed for long distances - can use amplifiers.

FIBER OPTICS:
 Transmission of light through fiber - properties include total internal
reflection and attenuation of particular frequencies.
 Fiber Optic Networks - can be used for LANs and long-haul.

Chap. 2- Physical 17
 Transmission Hardware Stuff
Media
Comparison of Fiber Optics and Copper Wire

Fiber Copper

Bandwidth Higher Lower

Distance between repeaters 30 Km 5 Km
Interference Low High
Physical Smaller/Lighter
Flow Uni-directional Bi-directional

Chap. 2- Physical 18
Transmission Connectors
Media

Chap. 2- Physical 19
Transmission
Media

Signal Regeneration
Clean up
Amplify
Repeaters
Distance Extension

Repeater functionality, plus... Hubs

Concentration Point
Signal Distribution Device
Management Functions
Chap. 2- Physical 20
 Wireless Overview
Transmission
2.1 Theoretical Basis For
Data Communication So how do those signals magically get through
2.2 Transmission Media the air to give us wireless computing.

2.3 Wireless Transmission

2.4 The Telephone System
2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Chap. 2- Physical 21
 Wireless Hardware Stuff
Transmission

Though we will say little about this topic in the present course, it's clearly an
extremely important topic. It's especially relevant since wireless transmission
bypasses a great amount of infrastructure. It means that developing countries
can leap ahead in technology without running miles of physical media.

Cell Phones:

Wireless Computing:

Chap. 2- Physical 22
 The Telephone Overview
System
2.1 Theoretical Basis For
Data Communication How is the phone system put together?
2.2 Transmission Media
And how is voice and data transmitted on that
2.3 Wireless Transmission system?
2.4 The Telephone System
2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Chap. 2- Physical 23
 The Telephone STRUCTURE OF THE
System PHONE SYSTEM

The use of analog and digital signals has pros and cons:
Analog Digital

Signals Originally Increasingly

Attenuation/Noise Low High
Amplification/Regeneration Hard Easy
Information Loss Some Little

Chap. 2- Physical 24
 The Telephone The Local Loop
System

This is the connection from the local switching station to your house. This is
ultimately what controls the transmission speed to your house.

Transmission Impairments:

 Attenuation - the loss of energy as the signal propagates.

 Delay Distortion - different frequencies travel at different speeds so

the wave form spreads out.

 Noise - unwanted energy that combines with the signal - difficult to tell
the signal from the noise.

Chap. 2- Physical 25
 The Telephone Modems
System
A device that converts digital data to and from an analog signal for transmission
over phone lines.
Because attenuation is frequency dependent, modems use a sine wave carrier of a
particular frequency, and then modulate that frequency. Various modulations
include:
 Amplitude modulation: Two
Binary Signal
different amplitudes of sine
wave are used to represent 1's
and 0's.

 Frequency modulation: Two

(or more) different frequencies,
close to the carrier frequency,
are used.

 Phase modulation: The phase

of the sine wave is changed by
some fixed amount.
Chap. 2- Physical 26
 The Telephone Modems
System
The 3 kHz phone line can only be
sampled at 6 kHz.
So it doesn't do any good to sample
more - instead try to get in more bits per
sample.
For example, the Figure shows a
combination of phase and amplitude
modulation leading to multiple
bits/baud.

Name points bits/sample bps

V.32 16 4 9600
V.32 bis 64 6 14,400
V.34 128 (including 7 28,800
parity)

Chap. 2- Physical 27
 The Telephone Modems
System
In addition, modems use compression and error correction to increase the effective
bits per second.

Full Duplex - Able to transmit in both directions on a wire at the same time.

Electrical Standards - take a look at the connector between an external modem

and a computer. Those pins all have meanings and definitions.

Chap. 2- Physical 28
 The Telephone TRUNKS AND MULTIPLEXING:
System
The cost of a wire is pretty much constant, independent of the bandwidth of that
wire - costs come from installation and maintenance of the physical space (digging,
etc.), not from the media or the electrical support structure. So, how can we stuff
more through that medium?

Frequency Division Multiplexing:

The frequency spectrum is divided
up among the logical channels -
each user hangs on to a particular
frequency. The radio spectrum (and
a radio) are examples of the media
and the mechanism for extracting
information from the medium. So
how does a filter work? Note that
this is analog stuff.

Chap. 2- Physical 29
 The Telephone TRUNKS AND MULTIPLEXING:
System
Wavelength Division Multiplexing: The same as FDM, but applied to fibers.
There's great potential for fibers since the bandwidth is so huge (25,000 GHz).

Time Division Multiplexing: In TDM, the users take turns, each one having
exclusive use of the medium in a round robin fashion. TDM can be all digital.

Chap. 2- Physical 30
 The Telephone TRUNKS AND MULTIPLEXING:
System
4 KHZ Analog/Voice  8,000 samples/sec ( sample every 125 usecond ).

T1 is the combination of 24 of these voice channels. See Figure on previous

slide.

24 X 8 + 1 Framing Bit = 193 bits/125 usec --> 1.544 Mbps. When T1 is being
used for digital data, the 24th channel is converted for use as synchronization.

T2 combines 4 X T1; T3 combines 6 X T2; T4 combines 7 X T3.

Differential Code Pulse Modulation: Assumes that a particular sample doesn't

vary much from the previous one on that channel. Then we don't need 8 bits to
represent the level (0 - 255), but simply 5 bits in order to indicate that the sample is
(-16 - +15) as compared to the last sample.

Chap. 2- Physical 31
 The Telephone SONET
System
(Synchronous Optical NETwork). Most long distance traffic in the US uses
SONET. Design goals include:
1. Common among different carriers - requires frequency, timing standards.
2. Common among different countries - needed to supersede previous national
standards.
3. Multiplexed multiple digital channels together in a standard fashion.

Sonet is TDM - uses a highly accurate master clock. Data is transmitted

SYNCHRONOUSLY.

A SONET frame of 810 bytes is transmitted every 125 usec. Because it's
Synchronous, the frame is sent whether there's data to be carried or not. Data rate
is 51.84 Mbps. This basic channel is called STS-1. Multiple channels can be
multiplexed to get higher bandwidth.

Chap. 2- Physical 32
 The Telephone SWITCHING
System
This is what happens inside the phone company - the various wires or fibers
interconnect the switching centers. Methods of switching include:

Circuit Switching: A connection (electrical, optical, radio) is established from the

caller phone to the callee phone. This happens BEFORE any data is sent.

Message Switching: The connection is determined only when there is actual data
(a message) ready to be sent. The whole message is re-collected at each switch
and then forwarded on to the next switch. This method is called store-and-forward.
This method may tie up routers for long periods of time - not good for interactive
traffic.

Packet Switching: Divides the message up into blocks (packets). Therefore

packets use the transmission lines for only a short time period - allows for
interactive traffic.

Chap. 2- Physical 33
 The Telephone COMPARISON OF CIRCUIT
System SWITCHED AND PACKET
SWITCHED NETWORKS

What are the relative characteristics of these two technologies?

Characteristic Circuit Switched Packet Switched

Dedicated "copper" path Yes No
Bandwidth Available Fixed Dynamic
Potentially Wasted Bandwidth Yes No
Store-and-Forward Transmission No Yes
Each Packet Follows The Same Yes No
Route
Call Setup Required Not Needed
When can Congestion Occur At Setup Time On every Packet
How are $$ Charged Per Minute Per Packet

Chap. 2- Physical 34
 Overview
ISDN

2.1 Theoretical Basis For

Data Communication This is a method of combining Voice and Data
2.2 Transmission Media over a single wire. Used heavily by the phone
system in a number of applications.
2.3 Wireless Transmission
2.4 The Telephone System
2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Chap. 2- Physical 35
 NARROWBAND - WHAT IS IT?
ISDN

Integrated Services Digital

Network: A completely digit,
circuit-switched phone system.
Integrates voice and non-voice
services.

ISDN allows integration of computers

and voice. It means that caller ID
can be used to look up your account
on the computer so that by the time
a human answers the phone, a
screen has your information already
available.

Chap. 2- Physical 36
 WHAT IS IT?
ISDN

ISDN SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE:

ISDN uses TDM to handle multiple channels. See Figure on previous page. For
home use, the NT1 (Network Terminator) connects the twisted pair going to the
phone company with the house wiring. Various ISDN devices can be connected to
this NT1.

Businesses may have more channels active than the home configuration internal
bus can handle. So a PBX ( Private Branch eXchange ) is used to provide the
internal bus containing more switching capacity. This in turn is connected to NT1.

Chap. 2- Physical 37
 WHAT IS IT?
ISDN

THE ISDN INTERFACE:

Typically a number of channels are combined together. In the USA, Primary Rate
ISDN contains 23 channels (each 64 kbps carrying voice or data) + 1 channel for
signaling and control (16 kbps digital channel.) In Europe, instead of 23 channels,
30 are used.

The primary Rate is designed to connect to a business with a PBX. As it turns out,
most companies now need far more capacity than 64 kbps for the many uses
beyond voice. So this is less than adequate.

N-ISDN may have a life as a connection to homes for people wanting to download
images etc. But it's not useful for serious business applications.

Chap. 2- Physical 38
 BROADBAND - WHAT IS IT?
ISDN

This is a digital virtual circuit capable of 155 Mbps. Characteristics include:

 ATM Packet Switched Technology.

 The obsolescence of a vast amount of telephone technology which is based

on circuit switching.

Chap. 2- Physical 39
 Comparing Virtual Circuits and
ISDN Circuit Switching
The service offered is connection oriented (from the customer's point of view) but is
implemented with packet switching. Services offered include:

• Permanent virtual circuits that

remain in place for long periods of
time.

 Switched virtual circuits that are

set up and torn down with each
request.

 The method for establishing

these circuits is shown in the
Figure. The circuit is really
entries in a series of switches,
each mapping a circuit number
onto a forwarding line.

Chap. 2- Physical 40
 SUMMARY
2.1 Theoretical Basis For Data Communication
What every sophomore EE knows !!! How much data can be put on a
wire? What are the limits imposed by a medium?
2.2 Transmission Media
Wires and fibers.

2.3 Wireless Transmission

Radio, microwave, infrared, unguided by a medium.

2.4 The Telephone System

The system invented 100 years ago to carry voice.

2.5 Narrowband ISDN

Mechanisms that can carry voice and data.

Chap. 2- Physical 41