Network Design and Management

ITT550

Chapter 5:
Physical
Network Design
 Overview of the Physical Design Phase
Objectives

 Name and describe the six subsystems of a

structured wiring plan
 Describe the main connections between a
building entrance and user's desktop
 Discuss the advantages of a standards-based
approach to network wiring
 Discuss the cabling media
 Discuss the wireless technology

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems

 more efficient to install when a building is

constructed or remodeled, rather than pulling
wires through existing walls, ceilings, and floors
 architects and building owners often need to
install cable before they know what type of
network a tenant will want
 structured wiring approach can solve the
problem by providing guidelines for a universal
wiring system that can be adapted to almost
any network requirement

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)

 The interest in universal wiring is supported by

three technological trends:
◦ Convergence on three cable types
(remember what are they?)
◦ Use of a distributed star physical topology
◦ Emergence of industry-wide standards

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)

Convergence on three cable types:

◦ Shielded twisted pair (STP)
◦ Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
◦ Optical fiber

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)
Hub-Based Distributed Star Topology
• Hubs provide flexible expansion, and serve as
centralized points for wiring interconnection,
maintenance, and fault isolation

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)
Industry-Wide Standards

Vendor Structured Wiring Plan

ATT Systimax Premises Distribution System

DEC DEConnect

IBM IBM Cabling System

Northern Telecom Intergrated Building Distribution Network (IBDN)

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)

 The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and

the Telecommunications Industry Association
(TIA) provide industry-wide open standard
for structured wiring
 Telecommunications Wiring Standard (EIA/TIA-
568) gives users and vendors precise
guidelines for premises wiring that include:
◦ Sample topologies
◦ Distance limitations

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Systems (cont’d)

◦ Cabling types for a given network speed

◦ Connector types to be used with a given cable type
◦ Minimum performance specifications for cables and
connectors
 EIA/TIA-568 is being renamed EIA/TIA SP-2840.
Standards include:
◦ Commercial Building Standard for
Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces (EIA/TIA-
569)
◦ Residential and Light Commercial
Telecommunications Wiring Standard (EIA/TIA-570)

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems

 EIA/TIA-568 refer to premises wiring in terms

of six modular subsystems:
◦ Building entrance
◦ Equipment room
◦ Vertical backbone
◦ Wiring closets
◦ Horizontal wiring
◦ Work area

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)
Structured Wiring Subsystems

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Building Entrance
 There is one point of entry and exit for all
telecommunications lines, incl. telephone, data
backbones to other premises, and other WAN
transmission facilities
 Within the building entrance, a cross-connect
device provides a convenient termination point for
cables, and allows the interconnection of devices in
a clean and systematic way

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

 2 types of cross-connect devices:

◦ Punch-down blocks - provide a connection point
for telephone wires
◦ Patch panels - provides connectorized ports for
the interconnection of devices (e.g. a typical
patch panel for UTP would have a series of RJ-
45 outlets to accept RJ-45 cable terminations or
patch cords); often mounted in equipment racks

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Cross-Connect Devices

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Equipment Room
 Large office buildings may have a centralized
equipment room to house devices e.g.
telephone system PBX, banks of modems,
servers and all other network devices
 This room will include a main cross-connect,
sometimes referred to as a main distribution
frame (MDF)
 The MDF provides a central interconnection
point for the network cabling

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Vertical Backbone
 The backbone cabling is usually referred to as
vertical cabling
 E.g., vertical cabling may run from an
equipment room in the basement to a wiring
closet on an upper floor
 A separate backbone cable will often run from
the MDF cross-connect to each wiring closet.
In other cases, wiring closets may be directly
connected to each other with backbone cable

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Wiring Closets
 One or more cross-connect devices
interconnect the rack-mounted hub to the
backbone cable(s) and to individual cables that
run to wall plates at each user work area
 The short cables used to interconnect the hub
and cross-connects are called patch cables
 Equipment in the wiring closet is known as
intermediate distribution frame (IDF) equipment

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Horizontal Wiring
 Horizontal wiring connects the wiring closet to
each wall plate near a user's station
 It is typically UTP or STP
Work Area
 Consists of the cable and other devices
connecting the user station to the wall plate
 Usually have RJ-45 plugs at both ends, to
insert into the adapter card port and wall plate
outlet

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Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Universal Wiring Subsystems

 Mainly consists of the horizontal wiring
subsystem and the backbone cabling
subsystem, including cross-connect panels in
the wiring closets and equipment room
 Parts of the cable plant that are vendor-
independent and can be preinstalled prior to
overall network design

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 Structured Cable Plant
- Structured Wiring Sub-systems (cont’d)

Fiber
Subsystem UTP STP
Optic
Backbone 2,000 m 800 m 700 m
Intercloset link 2,000 m 800 m 700 m
Horizontal Wiring
Closet to wall plate N/A 90 m 90 m
Wall plate to adapter N/A 10 m 10 m

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics
 As a bit stream is transmitted on a line, several
parameters must be maintained to preserve
accurate data communication:
◦ Voltage buildup must be avoided.
◦ Timing circuits must be kept synchronized with
the bit stream.
◦ The signal must be strong and clear enough for
the receiving devices to interpret it accurately.

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Voltage Buildup
 To avoid damage to network devices,
excessive direct current (DC) voltage must not
be allowed to build up on the line
 E.g. if a line code represented a binary 1 with a
positive voltage and a binary 0 with zero
voltage, a signal like that depicted on the
Voltage Buildup Diagram would result

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Voltage Buildup

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

 continuously transmitting +ve voltage for binary

1s, a +ve DC voltage would build up on the line
and potentially damage equipment attached to
it
 This situation is avoided by a number of line
encoding techniques that alternate +ve and -ve
voltages
 Using these codes, the normal bit stream
causes +ve and -ve voltages to cancel each
other out
 Manchester encoding is usually used
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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

 In Manchester encoding, a voltage change is

provided within every 1-bit period of time
 a binary 1 is represented by a transition from a
positive voltage to a negative voltage, and a
binary 0 is represented by a transition from a
negative voltage to a positive voltage

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Manchester Encoding

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Timing Synchronization
 timing circuitry of the receiving NIC must be
synchronized with the signal pulses
 E.g. Manchester encoding makes it easy for
receiving devices to synchronize to the
numerous voltage transitions
 techniques are used with other line encoding
systems, including differential Manchester
encoding (used with FDDI)

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Copper Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Signal Strength
 For a bit stream to be recognizable, the voltage
pulses must be strong enough to be detected
by the receiving circuitry
 However, as a signal travels along a conductor,
it loses strength, or amplitude
 This process of amplitude loss is referred to as
attenuation

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Copper Cables
Transmission Problems

 The signal-carrying performance of copper

cable can be dramatically influenced by several
typical problems and cable characteristics i.e :
◦ Electrical noise – undesirable electrical signals,
which distort or interfere with an original (or
desired) signal
◦ Crosstalk -
◦ Attenuation
◦ Capacitance
◦ DC resistance

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Copper Cables
Transmission Problems (cont’d)

◦ Impedance
◦ Continuity and polarity
◦ Cable length
 Each of these characteristics is measurable
and testable, according to EIA/TIA’s standards
and Underwriter's Laboratories (UL)
 cable installations should be tested and verified
to ensure they meet the standards

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Copper Cables
Limiting Noise & Crosstalk

 2 major ways to limit noise and

crosstalk in a cable design:
◦ Shielding - wrapping the main conductor
with another conductive shield
◦ Cancellation - twisting two conductors
around each other in a pattern that
causes the radiated magnetic fields on
each wire to largely cancel each other out

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Fiber Optic Cables
Transmission Basics

 Fiber optic cable can support high data rates,

theoretically as high as 50 Gbps
 It allows long distance transmission up to 2 km
without a repeater
 Because it uses light waves, it is immune to
EMI/RFI*
 It is a highly secure medium, because it is
difficult to splice into a fiber optic cable without
detection

◦ EMI – electromagnetic interference

◦ RFI – radio frequency interference
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Fiber Optic Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Fiber Optic Components

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Fiber Optic Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Transmitter
 A transmitter includes the following
components:
◦ Encoder that converts the input data signal into
digital electrical pulses
◦ Light source that converts the digital electrical
signal to light pulses
◦ Connector that couples the light source to the
fiber through which the light rays travel

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Fiber Optic Cables
Transmission Basics (cont’d)

Receiver
 A receiver converts the modulated light pulses
back to electrical signals and decodes them
 The receiver, contained within the destination
computer system, includes:
◦ Photodetector that converts the light pulses into
electric signals
◦ Amplifier, if needed
◦ Message decoder

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Loss

 Light emitted from a transmitter will attenuate

as it travels across a fiber network.
 Factors that cause optical power loss include:
◦ Fiber loss (light pulse attenuation)
◦ Connections and splices (transmitter to fiber;
fiber to receiver, hubs, or distribution blocks)
 Network designer can minimize these losses
by intelligent placement of transmitters,
receivers, and lengths of fiber

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets

 Network designer must be able to determine

the power level at different points in the link to
ensure sufficient optic power gets from the
transmitter to the receiver
 Power budget lists known or typical losses at
various points in the communication link
 To use a power budget, we first determine the
starting power at the transmitter

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 Then subtract all power losses in the

transmission system, to determine whether the
remaining signal power will be above the
minimum power level required at the receiver
Measuring Attenuation & Power
 measured in dB
 The equation to calculate dB is:
dB = 10 log10 (output power/input power)

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 E.g. if the input signal measures 1 milliwatt

(mw), and the output signal measures 5 mw,
then the dB of the change at that point is:
 Gain in dB = 10 * log10 (5 mw/1 mw)
= 10 (log10 5)

= 10 * 0.699

= 6.99 dB

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 Power loss or attenuation is represented by a -

ve dB value
 E.g. power of a signal decreases by one-half at
a bad cable splice. The dB loss at that point is:
= 10 (log10 5)
= 10 * (-.301)
= -3.01 dB
 dB is a relative measure of power difference
between two points (how much the signal
changes)

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

Measuring Absolute Power

 To develop a power budget, we must know how
strong our signal is to start with
 The absolute power of a signal is measured in
decibels over (or under) 1 milliwatt (dBm),
which IEEE defines as "a unit for expression of
power level in decibels, with reference to a
power of 1 milliwatt.“
 In other words, 0 dBm = 1 mw

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 When we know both a reference point (1 mw)

and the amount of signal change (measured in
dB), we know how strong a signal is
 Given that 0 dBm = 1 mw, a negative dBm
value means that the signal power is less than
1 mw
 A positive dBm value represents a signal
stronger than 1 mw

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

A Power Budget in Action

 Let us imagine that our proposed network
design includes a segment of optical fiber cable
2 km long. The plan calls for two connectors
along that length of cable, one at 0.75 km and
another at 1.5 km
◦ Launch power at transmitter: -14 dBm
◦ Fiber loss: -2.5 dB per km
◦ Connector loss: -2 dB at each connector

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 The receiver requires a power level that is no

lower than -25 dBm.
 The FDDI specification requires that the dB
loss between stations (in this case, the
transmitter and receiver) cannot exceed -11 dB

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 To calculate the power budget, we first add all

of the known losses:
Fiber loss = -2.5 dB per km * 2 km = -5 dB
Connector loss = -2 dB per connector * 2
connectors = -4 dB
Total loss = -5 dB + (-4 dB) = -9 dB
 Then we apply all signal changes (total losses)
to the starting power:
-14 dBm + (-9 dB) = -23 dBm

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 Does the power budget meet the

requirements ?

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

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Fiber Optic Cables
Power Budgets (cont’d)

 Power budgets are useful and necessary tools

for calculating the performance of fiber optic
systems, and determining whether optical
repeaters are necessary on long links (such as
a campus backbone)
 However, sloppy installation can cause power
losses that exceed the normal power budget

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Fiber Optic Cables
Installing Fiber Optic Cables

 Fiber optic cable is difficult to install correctly;

therefore, it requires well-trained, careful
installation technicians.
 Combining with the time-consuming nature of
each connection, make fiber optic cable the
most expensive cable to install
 Due to those factors, many organizations hire
specialists to install fiber optic networks

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Fiber Optic Cables
Installing Fiber Optic Cables (cont’d)

 However, a motivated in-house network staff

can do this work, provided they have the
correct tools, a formal training program
(approximately one week), and a commitment
to a high level of
craftsmanship/draughtmanship…
 (are you ready to be that staff?)

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Wireless LANs
Installing Fiber Optic Cables

 Wireless LANs are growing in popularity as

they provide flexibility and mobility
 Wireless LANs offer the benefit of relatively
inexpensive installation and reconfiguration as
users change their physical locations
 Wireless LANs also offer a cost-effective
solution for office environments that are difficult
or expensive to wire or rewire with traditional
LAN cabling

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Wireless LANs
Installing Fiber Optic Cables (cont’d)

 2 basic types of wireless LAN technologies :

◦ Radio-based
◦ Infrared
 Historically, both types have been limited in
popularity by problems with interference,
security, low data rates of transmission, and
higher installation cost per node.
 In most cases, wireless LANs are intended to
operate as an extension of an existing hard-
wired network

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs

 Radio-based LANs transmit data using radio-

based LANs include two subcategories:
◦ Licensed
◦ Nonlicensed
Licensed Radio-Based LANs: Microwave
 Uses dedicated frequencies and can provide
data rate up to 5.7 Mbps
 Ability to transmit through walls and other
partitions

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

 However, its acceptance has been severely

limited by the following drawbacks:
◦ Requires licensing to ensure the limited available
bandwidth is properly allocated among potential
users. In U.S, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) regulates microwave LANs
and requires a license to operate them.
◦ There is concern about potential health risks
associated with exposure to microwave radiation.

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

◦ There can be significant interference from

common devices e.g. microwave ovens
◦ relatively expensive.
◦ has high power requirements
 Most often used as a point-to-point
transmission technique for medium to long
distance transmissions
 Hence, it is often used for communication
between buildings within line-of-sight, and is
more properly a data communications or WAN
technology

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

Nonlicensed Radio-Based LANs: Spread

Spectrum
 Also uses radio frequencies to transmit and
receive data
 Each station is equipped with a radio transceiver,
and uses an antenna to communicate with other
wireless stations
 Spread spectrum techniques "spread" the
original signal over a broad range of frequencies

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

 Each resulting signal looks like background

noise to all except the receiving station, which
can extract its message from the shared
bandwidth.
 This approach allows a greater number of
users to share the same frequency band.
 Currently, 2 approaches to spread spectrum
transmission:
◦ Frequency hopping--Switches rapidly between
available unused frequencies

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

◦ Direct sequence--Transmits a single wideband

signal in a coded bit pattern. Knowing the bit
patterns it is looking for, the receiving station is
able to extract its own signal from the
background noise
 A typical spread spectrum system consists of a
wireless network adapter board containing a
transceiver, antenna, and software

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

Spread Spectrum

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

 Spread spectrum systems can transmit through

typical office building walls, allowing
workgroups in different rooms to be in
continuous communication
 Typical transmission distances range from 35
to 200 feet inside a building, and up to 200 feet
outside or in unobstructed environments

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Wireless LANs
Radio-Based LANs (cont’d)

 Other technologies that are in existence i.e.

bluetooth, GPRS are of wireless LANs that are
widely used
 RFiD is another wireless technology used for
home-based application (PAN)
 wiMAX is another technological advancement
wireless WAN technology that is getting more
popular

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Wireless LANs
Nonradio-Based LANs

 The use of infrared wireless LAN systems has

declined as a significant approach to providing
a comprehensive LAN solution
 Some of the drawbacks of infrared
transmission :
◦ Inability to transmit through opaque surfaces
◦ High cost and high power requirements for
infrared transceivers
◦ Potential eye damage due to high-power infrared
transmissions

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 Wireless LANs
Nonradio-Based LANs (cont’d)

Wireless LAN Type Benefit Disadvantage

Radio: Transmission through walls Low data rate (1 to 2 Mbps)

Spread Spectrum Only comprehensive 802.11b (11 Mbps)
solutions
Nonradio: Higher speed (up to 20 Mbps) Short range, line-of-sight,
Infrared Point-and-Shoot Inexpensive point-to-point

Wireless Comparison

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Wireless LANs
Wireless Protocols

 Wireless LANs can interface with the rest of a

LAN system in one of two ways:
◦ At the Physical Layer using existing Data Link
protocols
◦ At the Data Link Layer using proprietary
protocols
Wireless at the Physical Layer
 Wireless technologies that simply provide a
new Physical Layer channel can be
implemented in relatively simple devices that
use standard Data Link Layer protocols such
as Ethernet
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Wireless LANs
Wireless Protocols (cont’d)

 This approach has the following benefits:

◦ High interoperability with existing LAN
equipment, because all devices use the same
Medium Access Control (MAC) sublayer protocol
◦ Higher speed
◦ Lower Cost
◦ Lower Power Requirements
◦ Smaller device size

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Wireless LANs
Wireless Protocols (cont’d)

Wireless at the Data Link Layer

 The Data Link Layer wireless technique
requires proprietary protocols and hardware for
both the Data Link and Physical Layers.
 This technique produces more sophisticated
(and costly) devices than implementing
wireless technology as a purely Physical Layer
technique

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Wireless LANs
Wireless Protocols (cont’d)

 The IEEE Project 802.11b committee

drafted a standard for LAN interoperability
based on a minimum bandwidth of 5.5 or 11
Mbps
 This standard defined a new wireless MAC
sublayer protocol that interfaces with a
variety of Physical Layer protocols
corresponding to existing wireless
technologies
 Check http://www.ieee802.org/11/

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Wireless LANs
Wireless Protocols (cont’d)

 Mobile computing, pervasive computing

(embedded computing) etc are the most recent
wireless technology developed based on
satellite transmission, cellular (telephone)
systems, special mobile radio, and other media
 Refer to other materials for further knowledge
& understandings especially the most recent
updates

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Physical Design Document

 A Physical Design document describes the

physical installation of the network's cabling
and devices
 This document should include a detailed wiring
diagram to guide the installation team, as well
as a detailed budget to guide the management
approval process
 Before any actual installation work begins, all
key players should approve the Physical
Design document

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Physical Design Document (cont’d)

 Some or all of the following major elements:

◦ Executive Overview (same as previous
documents)
◦ Physical Design Diagram
◦ Notes and Comments
◦ Asset List
◦ Final Cost Estimate
◦ Approval Section (same as previous documents)

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