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UNIT 2

Transmission Media - Guided

There are 2 basic categories of Transmission Media:

Guided and
Unguided.

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. Cabling is meant in a generic sense in the previous sentences
and is not meant to be interpreted as copper wire cabling only.

Unguided Transmission Media consists of a means for the data signals to travel but
nothing to guide them along a specific path. The data signals are not bound to a cabling
media and as such are often called Unbound Media.

There3 basic types of Guided Media:

Twisted Pair
Coaxial Cable
Optical Fibre

Twisted Pair

The wires in Twisted Pair cabling are twisted together in pairs. Each pair would consist of
a wire used for the +ve data signal and a wire used for the -ve data signal. Any noise that
appears on 1 wire of the pair would occur on the other wire. Because the wires are
opposite polarities, they are 180 degrees out of phase (180 degrees - phasor definition of
opposite polarity). When the noise appears on both wires, it cancels or nulls itself out at
the receiving end. Twisted Pair cables are most effectively used in systems that use a
balanced line method of transmission: polar line coding (Manchester Encoding) as
opposed to unipolar line coding (TTL logic).

The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined specifically by the number of

turns per foot. Increasing the number of turns per foot reduces the noise interference. To
further improve noise rejection, a foil or wire braid shield is woven around the twisted
pairs. This "shield" can be woven around individual pairs or around a multi-pair
conductor (several pairs).
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Cables with a shield are called Shielded Twisted Pair and commonly abbreviated STP.
Cables without a shield are called Unshielded Twisted Pair or UTP. Twisting the wires
together results in a characteristic impedance for the cable. A typical impedance for UTP
is 100 ohm for Ethernet 10BaseT cable.

UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair cable is used on Ethernet 10BaseT and can also be used
with Token Ring. It uses the RJ line of connectors (RJ45, RJ11, etc..)

STP or Shielded Twisted Pair is used with the traditional Token Ring cabling or ICS -
IBM Cabling System. It requires a custom connector. IBM STP (Shielded Twisted Pair)
has a characteristic impedance of 150 ohms.

Coaxial Cable

Coaxial Cable consists of 2 conductors. The inner conductor is held inside an insulator
with the other conductor woven around it providing a shield. An insulating protective
coating called a jacket covers the outer conductor.

The outer shield protects the inner conductor from outside electrical signals. The distance
between the outer conductor (shield) and inner conductor plus the type of material used
for insulating the inner conductor determine the cable properties or impedance. Typical
impedances for coaxial cables are 75 ohms for Cable TV, 50 ohms for Ethernet Thinnet
and Thicknet. The excellent control of the impedance characteristics of the cable allow
higher data rates to be transferred than Twisted Pair cable.

Optical Fibre

Optical Fibre consists of thin glass fibres that can carry information at frequencies in the
visible light spectrum and beyond. The typical optical fibre consists of a very narrow
strand of glass called the Core. Around the Core is a concentric layer of glass called the
Cladding. A typical Core diameter is 62.5 microns (1 micron = 10-6 meters). Typically
Cladding has a diameter of 125 microns. Coating the cladding is a protective coating
consisting of plastic, it is called the Jacket.
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An important characteristic of Fibre Optics is Refraction. Refraction is the characteristic

of a material to either pass or reflect light. When light passes through a medium, it
"bends" as it passes from one medium to the other. An example of this is when we look
into a pond of water.

(See image 1 below)

If the angle of incidence is small, the light rays are reflected and do not pass into the
water. If the angle of incident is great, light passes through the media but is bent or
refracted.

(See image 2 below)

Optical Fibres work on the principle that the core refracts the light and the cladding
reflects the light. The core refracts the light and guides the light along its path. The
cladding reflects any light back into the core and stops light from escaping through it - it
bounds the media!

Optical Transmission Modes

There are 3 primary types of transmission modes using optical fibre.

They are

a) Step Index
b) Grade Index
c) Single Mode
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Step Index has a large core the light rays tend to bounce around, reflecting off the
cladding, inside the core. This causes some rays to take a longer or shorted path through
the core. Some take the direct path with hardly any reflections while others bounce back
and forth taking a longer path. The result is that the light rays arrive at the receiver at
different times. The signal becomes longer than the original signal. LED light sources are
used. Typical Core: 62.5 microns.

Step Index Mode

Grade Index has a gradual change in the Core's Refractive Index. This causes the light
rays to be gradually bent back into the core path. This is represented by a curved
reflective path in the attached drawing. The result is a better receive signal than Step
Index. LED light sources are used. Typical Core: 62.5 microns.

Grade Index Mode

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Note: Both Step Index and Graded Index allow more than one light source to be used
(different colours simultaneously!). Multiple channels of data can be run simultaneously!

Single Mode has separate distinct Refractive Indexes for the cladding and core. The light
ray passes through the core with relatively few reflections off the cladding. Single Mode
is used for a single source of light (one colour) operation. It requires a laser and the core
is very small: 9 microns.

Single Mode

Wireless Transmission Media - Unguided

Unguided Transmission Media is data signals that flow through the air. They are not
guided or bound to a channel to follow. They are classified by the type of wave
propagation.

Radio waves

Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves
can be longer than a football field or as short as a football. Radio waves do more than just
bring music to your radio. They also carry signals for your television and cellular phones.

The antennae on your television set receive the signal, in the form of electromagnetic
waves, that is broadcasted from the television station. It is displayed on your television
screen.

Cable companies have antennae or dishes which receive waves broadcasted from your
local TV stations. The signal is then sent through a cable to your house.

Micro waves

Microwaves have wavelengths that can be measured in centimeters! The longer

microwaves, those closer to a foot in length, are the waves which heat our food in a
microwave oven.

Microwaves are good for transmitting information from one place to another because
microwave energy can penetrate haze, light rain and snow, clouds, and smoke.
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Shorter microwaves are used in remote sensing. These microwaves are used for radar like
the doppler radar used in weather forecasts. Microwaves, used for radar, are just a few
inches long.

Microwave tower can transmit information like telephone calls and computer data from
one city to another.

Infrared

Infrared light lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Infrared light has a range of wavelengths, just like visible light has
wavelengths that range from red light to violet. "Near infrared" light is closest in
wavelength to visible light and "far infrared" is closer to the microwave region of the
electromagnetic spectrum. The longer, far infrared wavelengths are about the size of a pin
head and the shorter, near infrared ones are the size of cells, or are microscopic.

Telephone system

Communication between two systems requires a cable. If the systems are apart for longer
distances, cables would have to pass through a public road, running such a private cable
is not allowed. Therefore, we can utilize the telephone lines i.e. PSTN (Public Switched
Telephone Network)
PSTN, designed for transmitting human voice long ago, now a days it is very much
useful in data communication.
The development in the field of communication and introduction of fiber-optics and
digital technology enabled the use of PSTN for maximum extent.
PSTN and computer networks now do tightly intertwined.

Telephone System evolution.

Fully interconnected Telephone networks:

This type of network doesn’t have a switching element to divert a call. I f a person wants
to talk to n persons then n separate cables to be stung to all n houses.

Centralized switch

A Centralized Switch is used to divert call to destination. Call diversion either by manual
or switch.

Multilevel hierarchy

This type of network is present day telephone network containing some levels and
hierarchy. The terms which are used in this type are Toll Office, End Office, etc.
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Local Loop uses Twisted Pair, Analog signaling

Trunks : Uses fiber-optics or Microwave , mostly digital
Toll office: each end office has number of outgoing lines to one or more nearby switching
centers.
End office or Tandem office: Nearest Telephone Office.
Modems are used to convert digital to analog vice versa.

When a computer sends digital data over telephone line. The data must first be converted
to analog form by a modem for transmission over the Local loop, then converted to
digital for transmission over long-haul trunks, then back to analog over the local loop at
the receiving end and finally back to digital by another modem.

For leased lines it is possible to go digital from start to finish, but expensive.

Long-haul trunks uses multiplexing.

Cellular Radio

Radio waves are used for communication .

Notebook computers , mobiles pagers, cordless telephone are all belong to cellular radio
technology.
These devices are now merged and produced portable computers capable of sending and
receiving phone calls, faxes, email, as well as looking up information in remote
databases.

Pager

A small device can be used to receive short messages.

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User calls a beeper company by entering a security code, beeper no. and the pager no. +
message. Beeper company uses landline telephone to send the message to the tower with
antenna, which broadcasts the message and the respective pager accepts the message.

Paging systems are one way communication.

Cardless Telephones

A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset that

communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line,
usually within a limited range of its base station (which has the handset cradle). The base
station is on the subscriber premises, and attaches to the telephone network the same way
a corded telephone does.

The base station on subscriber premises is what differentiates a cordless telephone from a
mobile telephone. Current cordless telephone standards, such as PHS and DECT, have
blurred the once clear-cut line between cordless and mobile telephones by implementing
cell handover, various advanced features, such as data-transfer and even, on a limited
scale, international roaming. In these models, base stations are maintained by a
commercial mobile network operator and users subscribe to the service.

Unlike a corded telephone, a cordless telephone needs mains electricity to power the base
station. The cordless handset is powered by a rechargeable battery, which is charged
when the handset sits in its cradle.

Mobile Phone system

The Advanced Mobile Phone System is one of the earliest commercial cellular systems.
AMPS technology is currently deployed throughout North America and AMPS-derivative
systems are deployed in a majority of worldwide cellular markets.

AMPS was invented at Bell Labs and initially deployed in the U.S. in the early 1980's.

The following subsections describe AMPS, the most widely used cellular technology.
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Communication satellites

Communications satellites allow radio, television, and telephone transmissions to be sent

live anywhere in the world. Before satellites, transmissions were difficult or impossible at
long distances. The signals, which travel in straight lines, could not bend around the
round Earth to reach a destination far away. Because satellites are in orbit, the signals can
be sent instantaneously into space and then redirected to another satellite or directly to
their destination.

The satellite can have a passive role in communications like bouncing signals from the
Earth back to another location on the Earth; on the other hand, some satellites carry
electronic devices called transponders for receiving, amplifying, and re-broadcasting
signals to the Earth.

Communications satellites are often in geostationary orbit. At the high orbital altitude of
35,800 kilometers, a geostationary satellite orbits the Earth in the same amount of time it
takes the Earth to revolve once. From Earth, therefore, the satellite appears to be
stationary, always above the same area of the Earth. The area to which it can transmit is
called a satellite's footprint. For example, many Canadian communications satellites have
a footprint which covers most of Canada.

Communications satellties can also be in highly elliptical orbits. This type of orbit is
roughly egg-shaped, with the Earth near the top of the egg. In a highly elliptical orbit, the
satellite's velocity changes depending on where it is in its orbital path. When the satellite
is in the part of its orbit that's close to the Earth, it moves faster because the Earth's
gravitational pull is stronger. This means that a communications satellite can be over the
region of the Earth that it is communicating with for the long part of its orbit. It will only
be out of contact with that region when it quickly zips close by the Earth.
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Data Link Layer

The Data-Link layer is the protocol layer in a program that handles the moving of data in
and out across a physical link in a network. The Data-Link layer is layer 2 in the Open
Systems Interconnect (OSI) model for a set of telecommunication protocols.

The Data-Link layer contains two sublayers that are described in the IEEE-802 LAN
standards:

• Media Access Control (MAC)

• Logical Link Control (LLC)

The Data-Link layer ensures that an initial connection has been set up, divides output
data into data frames, and handles the acknowledgements from a receiver that the data
arrived successfully. It also ensures that incoming data has been received successfully by
analyzing bit patterns at special places in the frames.

The Media Access Control (MAC) data communication protocol sub-layer, also known
as the Medium Access Control, is a sublayer of the data link layer specified in the seven-
layer OSI model (layer 2). It provides addressing and channel access control mechanisms
that make it possible for several terminals or network nodes to communicate within a
multipoint network, typically a local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network
(MAN).

The MAC layer addressing mechanism is called physical address or MAC address. This
is a unique serial number assigned to each network adapter, making it possible to deliver
data packets to a destination within a subnetwork, i.e. a physical network consisting of
one or several network segments interconnected by repeaters, hubs, bridges and switches,
but not by routers. An example of a physical network is an Ethernet network.

The MAC sub-layer acts as an interface between the Logical Link Control sublayer and
the network's physical layer. The MAC layer emulates a full-duplex logical
communication channel in a multipoint network. This channel may provide unicast,
multicast or broadcast communication service.

Error Control in networks

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Common Data Link Protocols

The most common data link level protocols are listed here with a short description. Note
that most of these data link protocol are used for WAN and Modem Connections. LLC is
a LAN data link protocol.

• SDLC (Synchronous Data Link Protocol) This protocol was originally

developed by IBM as part of IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture). It was
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used to connect remote devices to mainframe computers at central locations in

either point-to-point (one-to-one) or point-to-multipoint (one-to-many)
connections.

• HDLC (High-level Data Link Control) This protocol is based on SDLC and
provides both a best-effort unreliable service and a reliable service. It is used with
various serial interface protocols defined in the physical layer, such as EIA/TIA-
232, V.24, V.35, and others.

• SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol) SLIP is a data link control facility for
transmitting IP packets, usually between an ISP (Internet service provider) and a
home user over a dial-up link. SLIP has some limitations, including a lack of any
error-detection and correction mechanisms. It is up to higher-layer protocols to
perform these checks. Used over much of the same serial interfaces as HDLC.

• PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) PPP provides the same functionality as SLIP

(i.e., it is commonly used for Internet connections over dial-up lines); but it is a
more robust protocol that can transport not only IP, but also other types of
packets. Frames contain a field that identifies the type of protocol being carried
(IP, IPX, and so on). It is used over much of the same serial interfaces as HDLC.

• LAP (Link Access Procedure) LAP has reliability service features and comes
in three varieties. LAPB (LAP Balanced) is a protocol that provides point-to-point
connections on X.25 packet-switched networks. LAPD (LAP D-Channel)
provides the data link control over the D channel of an ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) connection. LAPF (LAP Frame-Mode Bearer Services) provides
the data link for frame relay networks.

• Frame Relay LAP used with X.25 is highly reliable, but it also has high
overhead. Frame relay does away with the reliability services (i.e., error-
correction mechanisms are removed) to improve throughput.

LAN Data Link Controls

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has defined a number of
LAN technologies in the data link layer, including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit
Ethernet, and token ring. You can refer to the related entries page for more information.

The actual data link layer is split into two sublayers, called the MAC (Medium Access
Control) sublayer and the LLC (Logical Link Control) sublayer, The lower MAC layer
defines the media access method, which can be CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple
access/collision detection), token ring, or other IEEE physical interface. The LLC
sublayer provides a way for the network layer to communicate with one of these
protocols.

Standard Ethernet networks use CSMA/CD to physically monitor the traffic on the line
at participating stations. If no transmission is taking place at the time, the particular
station can transmit. If two stations attempt to transmit simultaneously, this causes a
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collision, which is detected by all participating stations. After a random time interval, the
stations that collided attempt to transmit again. If another collision occurs, the time
intervals from which the random waiting time is selected are increased step by step. This
is known as exponential back off.

CSMA/CD is a type of contention protocol. Networks using the CSMA/CD procedure

are simple to implement but do not have deterministic transmission characteristics. The
CSMA/CD method is internationally standardized in IEEE 802.3 and ISO 8802.3.

A Token Ring network is a local area network (LAN) in which all computers are
connected in a ring or star topology and a bit- or token-passing scheme is used in order to
prevent the collision of data between two computers that want to send messages at the
same time. The Token Ring protocol is the second most widely-used protocol on local
area networks after Ethernet. The IBM Token Ring protocol led to a standard version,
specified as IEEE 802.5. Both protocols are used and are very similar. The IEEE 802.5
Token Ring technology provides for data transfer rates of either 4 or 16 megabits per
second. Very briefly, here is how it works:

1. Empty information frames are continuously circulated on the ring.

2. When a computer has a message to send, it inserts a token in an empty frame (this
may consist of simply changing a 0 to a 1 in the token bit part of the frame) and
inserts a message and a destination identifier in the frame.

3. The frame is then examined by each successive workstation. If the workstation

sees that it is the destination for the message, it copies the message from the frame
and changes the token back to 0.

4. When the frame gets back to the originator, it sees that the token has been
changed to 0 and that the message has been copied and received. It removes the
message from the frame.

5. The frame continues to circulate as an "empty" frame, ready to be taken by a

workstation when it has a message to send.

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