Lecture 3

Transmission Media
 TRANSMISSION MEDIA
The transmission medium can be defined as a pathway that can transmit information from a
sender to a receiver.
Transmission media are of two types −
Guided Transmission Medium
 use a conductor such as a wire or a fiber optic cable to move the signal from sender to
receiver
Unguided Transmission Medium
 use electro magnetic waves of different frequencies and do not need a wire or cable
conductor to transmit signals
NB: Transmission media are located below the physical layer and are controlled by the
physical layer.
 Design Factors for Transmission Media
• Bandwidth: This is the data carrying capacity of a channel
All other factors remaining constant, the greater the band-width of a signal, the higher the
data rate that can be achieved.
• Number of receivers: Each attachment introduces some attenuation and
distortion, limiting distance and/or data rate.
• Interference: Competing signals in overlapping frequency bands can distort
or wipe out a signal.
• Attenuation : This refers to the loss of communication signal strength as they
move towards the destination. It is measured in decibels.

NB: A decibel is a unit used to measure the intensity of a sound or the power
level of an electrical signal
 GUIDED MEDIA
Guided Transmission Media uses a cabling system that guides the data signals
along a specific path . The data signals are bound by the cabling system .
Guided Media is also known as Bound Media or Wired media .

There are three basic types of guided media;

 Twisted pair wires (Use metallic conductors that transport signals in the form electric
current)
 Coaxial cable
 Optical fiber (Transports signals in the form of light)

NB: A signal travelling along any of these media is directed and contained by
the physical limits of the medium.
 TWISTED PAIR WIRES
• Consists of two separately insulated copper wires each with its own plastic
insulation, twisted together to minimize the electromagnetic interference
between adjacent pairs.
• Often used at customer facilities and also over distances to carry voice as well
as data communications
Twisted pair wires are most commonly applied in telephone networks
 Wires are twisted together to reduce electrical interference from similar pair.

One of these wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the other is used only as ground
reference to control voltage levels and electric leakage.
 Types of Twisted Pair
There are two types of twisted pair cables;
• STP (shielded twisted pair)
• This cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh covering
which encases each pair of insulated conductors.
• Electromagnetic noise penetration is prevented by metal
casing/shielding. This also eliminates crosstalk

• UTP (unshielded twisted pair)

• It is the most common type of telecommunication when
compared with Shielded Twisted Pair Cable which
consists of two conductors usually copper, each with its
own color plastic insulator.
UTP cables consist of 2 or 4 pairs of twisted cable. Cable
with 2 pair use RJ-11 connector and 4 pair cable use RJ-
45 connector.(RJ stands for registered jack)
 Advantages of unshielded twisted Advantages of shielded twisted
pair(UTP) pair(STP)
 Installation is easy
 Flexible  Easy to install
 Cheap  Performance is adequate
 It has high speed capacity,  Can be used for Analog or Digital transmission
 Has 100 meter limit  Increases the signaling rate
 Higher grades of UTP are used in LAN  Higher capacity than unshielded twisted pair
technologies like Ethernet  Eliminates crosstalk

Disadvantages Disadvantages

 Bandwidth is low when compared  Difficult to manufacture

with Coaxial Cable  Heavy
 Provides less protection from
interference.
 Performance of Shielded Twisted Pair Cable
An illustration showing the performance of
a shielded pair cable
 We can measure the performance of
twisted-pair by comparing attenuation
versus frequency and distance.
 A twisted-pair cable can pass a wide range
of frequencies. However, with increasing
frequency, the attenuation, measured in
decibels per kilometer (dB/km), sharply
increases with frequencies above 100kHz.

Note: Gauge is a measure of the thickness of

the wire.
Applications of Shielded Twisted
Pair Cable Ratings of Twisted Pair
Category 3 UTP
 In telephone lines to provide voice Transmits data rates of up to 16mbps are achievable
and data channels. The Category 5 UTP
DSL(Asymmetric Digital Transmits data rates of up to 100mbps are achievable
Subscriber line) lines that are used They are more tightly twisted than Category 3 cables
by the telephone companies to They are more expensive, but with a better performance
provide high-data-rate connections CAT 2
also use the high-bandwidth used in local area networks.
capability of unshielded twisted-pair CAT 3
cables. Normally used in token ring networks
 Local Area Network, such as Twist length of 7.5cm-10cm
10Base-T and 100Base-T, also use CAT 4
twisted-pair cables CAT 5
NB: DSL is a family of technologies Commonly pre-installed in new office buildings
Twist length of 0.6 to 0.85cm
that are used to transmit digital data
CAT 5E
over telephone lines CAT 6
CAT 7
 Advantages of twisted pair wires
 Easy to work with and install
 Less susceptible to electrical interference caused by nearby equipment or wires.
 STP wire can carry data at a faster speed because it is electrically "cleaner“.
 Inexpensive and readily available

Disadvantages
 It can easily be affected by attenuation problem
 Has relatively low bandwidth (3000Hz)
 STP is more difficult to connect to a terminating block.
NB:
- For analog, repeaters needed every 5-6km
- For digital, repeaters needed every 2-3km
 COAXIAL CABLE
Coaxial is called by this name because it contains two conductors that are parallel to each other.
Both conductors share a common center axial, hence the term “co-axial”
 Has an inner conductor surrounded by a braided mesh
 Coaxial cable uses copper as the center conductor which can be a solid wire or a standard one.
 The outer metallic wrapping is used as a shield against noise and the second conductor completes
the circuit.
outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)
insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor

NB: The outermost part is the plastic cover which protects the whole cable.
 Coaxial Cable Standards
Coaxial cables are categorized by their Radio Guide(RG) ratings. Each RG
number denotes a unique set of physical specifications, including the wire
gauge of the inner conductor, the thickness and the type of the inner insulator,
the construction of the shield, and the size and type of the outer casing.
 Each cable defined by an RG rating is adapted for a specialized function.
 Coaxial Cable Connectors
To connect coaxial cable to devices, we need coaxial connectors. The most
common type of connector used today is the Bayonet Neill-Concelman (BNC)
connector.
Types of coaxial cable connectors
 The BNC Connector
 The BNC T connector
 The BNC terminator.

 The BNC connector is used to connect the end of the cable to the device, such as a TV set.
 The BNC T connector is used in Ethernet networks to branch out to a connection to a
computer or other device.
 The BNC terminator is used at the end of the cable to prevent the reflection of the signal.
 Types of Coaxial cables
There are two types of Coaxial cables:
 BaseBand
This is a 50 ohm (Ω) coaxial cable which is used for digital transmission. It is
mostly used for LAN's (Local Area Networks).
Baseband transmits a single signal at a time with very high speed. The major
drawback is that it needs amplification after every 1000 feet.

 BroadBand
This uses analog transmission on standard cable television cabling. It transmits
several simultaneous signal using different frequencies. It covers a large area
when compared with Baseband Coaxial Cable
 Performance of Coaxial Cable
An illustration showing the performance
of coaxial cables

From the illustration, it can be

seen that the attenuation is
much higher in coaxial cable
than in twisted-pair cable.
Although coaxial cable has a
much higher bandwidth, the
signal weakens rapidly and
requires the frequent use of
repeaters.
Advantages of coaxial cables Application of Coaxial
cables
 Bandwidth is high  Widely used in analog telephone
 Used in long distance telephone lines. networks, where a single coaxial
 Transmits digital signals at a very high rate of network can carry 10,000 voice signals.
10Mbps.  Cable TV networks also use coaxial
cables. In the traditional cable TV
 Much higher noise immunity
network, the entire network used coaxial
 Data transmission without distortion. cable. Cable TV uses RG-59 coaxial
 They can span to longer distance at higher speeds cable.
as they have better shielding when compared to  In traditional Ethernet LANs. Because
twisted pair cable of
Disadvantages  it high bandwidth, and consequence high
 Single cable failure can fail the entire network. data rate, coaxial cable was chosen for
 Difficult to install and expensive when digital transmission in early Ethernet
compared with twisted pair. LANs. The 10Base-2, or Thin Ethernet,
 If the shield is imperfect, it can lead to uses RG-58 coaxial cable with BNC
grounded loop. connectors to transmit data.
 FIBER OPTIC CABLE
A fibre-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in the
form of light.
NB: For better understanding of fiber optic cables, we need to first explore several aspects
of light.
 Light travels in a straight line as long as it is moving through a single uniform substance. If ray
of light travelling through one substance suddenly enters another substance (of a different
density), the ray changes direction.

The illustration shows how a

ray of light changes direction
when going from a more dense
to a less dense substance.
I is the angle the ray makes
with the line perpendicular to
the interface between the two
substances
 The critical angle is a property of the substance, and its value differs from one substance to
another
 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.

Optical fibre layers

It consists of three layers;
 Plastic jacket
 Glass cladding
 Fiber core
 Propagation Modes of Fiber Optic Cable
Current technology supports two modes for propagating light along optical
channels, each requiring fibre with different physical characteristics.
• Multimode
• Single mode
Multimode can be implemented in two
forms:
 Step-index
 Graded-index
Multimode is so named because
multiple beams from a light source
move through the core in different
paths.
 How these beams move within the cable
depends on the structure
 Fibre Optic Cable Connectors
There are three types of connectors for fibre-optic cables;
SC Connector (Subscriber channel).
ST Connector (Straight-Tip)
MT-RJ Connector NB: The Subscriber Channel(SC)
connector is used for cable TV.
 It uses push/pull locking system.
The Straight Tip(ST) connector is used
for connecting cable to the networking
devices.
MT-RJ is a connector that is the same size
as RJ45
 Advantages of fiber optic cable Application of fiber optics
 Higher bandwidth
 Less signal attenuation  Backbone networks because its wide
 Immunity to electromagnetic interference bandwidth is cost-effective.
 Resistance to corrosive materials  Some cable TV companies use a combination
 Light weight of optical fibre and coaxial cable thus
 Greater immunity to tapping creating a hybrid network.
 Local-area Networks such as 100Base-FX
Disadvantages network and 1000Base-X also use fibre-optic
cable.
 Installation and maintenance is difficult
 Unidirectional light propagation
 High Cost

Note: Attenuation is flatter than in the case of twisted-pair cable and coaxial cable. The
performance is such that we need fewer repeaters when we use the fibre-optic cable
 UNGUIDED
TRANSMISSION(WIRELESS)
• Unguided medium transport
electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor. This type of
communication is often referred to as
wireless communication.

• Unguided signals can travel from the

source to the destination in several
ways: Ground propagation, Sky
propagation and Line-of-sight
propagation.
 Ground Propagation
In ground propagation, radio waves move through the lowest portion of
the atmosphere Hugging the earth, these low-frequency signals
emanate in all directions from the transmitting antenna and follow the
curvature of the planet.
Distance depends on the amount of power in the signal. The greater
the power, the greater the distance.
 Sky propagation
In sky propagation, higher-frequency radio waves radiate upward into
the ionosphere(the layer of atmosphere where particles exist as ions)
where they are reflected back to Earth.
This type of transmission allows for greater distance with lower output
power
 Line of sight propagation
In this type, very high-frequency signals are transmitted in straight lines
directly from antenna to antenna
We can divide wireless transmission into three broad groups that is:
 Radio waves
 Micro waves
 Infrared waves
RADIO WAVES:
These are electro magnetic waves that range in frequencies between 3 KHz and 1
GHz and are omnidirectional.
• When an antenna transmits radio waves, they are propagated in all directions.
This means that the sending and receiving antennas do not have to be aligned. A
sending antenna send waves that can be received by any receiving antenna.
• Radio waves, particularly with those of low and medium frequencies, can
penetrate walls. It is an advantage because, an AM(amplitude modulation) radio
can receive signals inside a building.
• It is a disadvantage because we cannot isolate a communication to just inside or
outside a building.
 Omnidirectional Antenna for Radio Waves

• Radio waves use omnidirectional antennas that send out signals in all directions.
Applications
Radio waves perform multi casting for instance
Used in AM and FM radios
Used in television
Used in cordless phones
 MICRO WAVES
These are electromagnetic waves having frequencies between 1 and
300 GHz and are unidirectional.
When an antenna transmits microwaves, they can be narrowly
focused. This means that the sending and receiving antennas need to
be aligned.
The unidirectional property has an obvious advantage because a pair
of antennas can be aligned without interfering with another pair of
aligned antennas
Characteristics:
Microwave propagation is line-of-sight
Very high-frequency microwaves cannot penetrate walls
Use of certain portions of the band requires permission from
authorities.
Unidirectional Antenna for Micro Waves
Two types of antennas are used for microwave communications: Parabolic Dish and Horn

A parabolic antenna works as a A horn antenna looks like a

funnel, catching a wide range of gigantic scoop. Outgoing
waves and directing them to a transmissions are broadcast up a
common point. In this way, more stem and deflected outward in a
of the signal is recovered than series of narrow parallel beams by
would be possible with a single- the curved head. Received
point receiver. transmissions are collected by the
scooped shape of the horn
 TYPES OF MICROWAVES
Terrestrial Microwave Satellite Microwave
For increasing the distance served by This is a microwave relay station which is
terrestrial microwave, repeaters can be placed in outer space.
installed with each antenna . The satellites are launched either by
The signal received by an antenna can rockets or space shuttles . These are
be converted into transmittable form positioned 36000 Km above the equator
and relayed to next antenna . with an orbit speed that exactly matches
the rotation speed of the earth.
 It is an example of telephone systems
all over the world As the satellite is positioned in a geo-
synchronous orbit, it is stationery relative
to earth and always stays over the same
point on the ground.
SATELITE TRANSMISSION
PROCESS
Basing on the illustration,
earth stations communicate by
sending signals to the satellite
on an uplink
the satellite then repeats those
signals on a downlink
the broadcast nature of the
downlink makes it attractive for
services such as the distribution
of television programming
Advantages of Microwave Transmission Advantages of Satellite Microwave
 Used for long distance telephone communication  Transmitting station can receive back its
 Carries 1000's of voice channels at the same time own transmission and check whether
Disadvantages of Microwave Transmission the satellite has transmitted
 It is very costly information correctly.
 expensive towers and repeaters  A single microwave relay station which
 subject to interference such as passing airplanes and is visible from any point.
rain Disadvantages of Satellite Microwave
 Satellite manufacturing cost is very high
Applications
• Long distance telephone communication  Cost of launching satellite is very
• Cellular phones expensive
• Television networks  Transmission highly depends on
• Satellites
•
weather conditions, it can go down in
Wireless LANs
bad weather
Note: They are used in cellular phones, satellite
networks and wireless LANs
 Infrared Waves

These are electromagnetic waves whose frequencies range from 300

GHz -400 THz and can be used for short-range communication.
Infrared waves, having high frequencies, cannot penetrate walls.
This advantageous characteristic prevents interference between one
system and another, a short-range communication system in on room
cannot be affected by another system in the next room
When we use infrared remote control, we do not interfere with the
use of the remote by our neighbors.
 However, this same characteristic makes infrared signals useless for
long-range communication.
Note: we cannot use infrared waves outside a building because the
sun's rays contain infrared waves that can interfere with the
communication
 Applications of Infrared Waves
Remote controls for television, stereos and other home
appliances.
Wireless LANs
Wireless modem, keyboard, mouse, printer etc
Fire detectors
Night vision systems
Intrusion detection systems
Motion detectors
Thank you