Comparision of Different Transmission Mediums :

Prepared by :Shaligram Parajuli

Submitted to :Er.Ananda Raj Khanal

Introduction :
Communication is possible only if information is encoded in a signal, and the
signal is carried on a transmission the characteristics of the signal and of the medium
both determine the quality of the communication medium. There are two main groups of
transmission media, namely the guided medium and the wireless medium (Unguided
Medium).. For the guided medium, there is a physical path (such as a cable) for
electromagnetic wave propagation. For the wireless medium, however, the
electromagnetic wave is transmitted through air, water, or vacuum. A wireless medium is
also called an unguided medium. On any network, the various entities must communicate
through some form of media. Just as humans can communicate through telephone wires
or sound waves in the air, computers can communicate through cables, light, and radio
waves. Transmission media enables computers to send and receive messages but do not
guarantee that the messages will be understood. Transmission Media for Networks : Data
transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information from one space to
another.
Contents : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information
from one space to another. Contents Basis for Data Transmission Types of data
transmission Criteria for Media Evaluation Categories of Transmission Media
Theoretical : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information
from one space to another. Theoretical Information can be transmitted through a medium
by varying some physical property. The physics of the universe places some limits on
what can be sent over a channel. Purpose of the physical layer -- to transport a raw bit
stream from one machine to another Guided and Unguided media
Protocols : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information
from one space to another. Protocols The protocol determines the following: Type of
error checking to be used if any Data compression method. Method for sending device to
indicate that it has finished sending a message. Method for receiving device to indicate
that it has received a message Rate of transmission (in baud or bit rate) Whether
transmission is to be synchronous or asynchronous
Types of data transmission : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any
kind of information from one space to another. Types of data transmission Serial
Transmission Parallel Transmission

Characteristics : A good transmission medium should provide communication with

good quality at long distance. For voice communication, quality of communication is
determined by the voice quality. For data communication, however, the quality of
communication is mainly determined by the effective data rate of communication.
 Criteria for Media Evaluation : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any
kind of information from one space to another. Criteria for Media Evaluation Bandwidth
Bit rate - expresses the data rate capacity of a networking system Delay - The time
required to send a signal across a network, Cost of medium, material, Ease of installation
and Maintenance.
Key Terms :
Bandwidth : The difference between the lowest and highest frequency signals that can
be transmitted across a transmission line or communication system.
Interference : The distortion on the signal in transmission due to unwanted signals
from outside sources.
Transmission Impairments : Attenuation, distortion, or noises that will degrade the
signal quality during transmission.
Attenuation : The loss of a signal’s energy when the signal is transmitted across a
medium.
Signal Distortion : Any change in a signal during signal transmission.
Noises : Random signals that can be picked up during signal transmission and
result in degradation or distortion of data.

F actors Affecting Data Communication of a Medium :

.Communication bandwidth of the medium

.Interference
.The transmission impairments

The bandwidth of a medium determines the signal frequencies that can be carried in the
medium.
A wide bandwidth, or broadband, usually allows communication at a higher data rate.
Reasons For Transmission Impairence :
Attenuation ,Distortion during signal propagation, Noises .
.Categories of Transmission Media :
Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information from one
space to another.
Guided Medium: Eg of Guided Medium ; Twisted pair Cable, Coaxial Cables,
Optical Fiber Cables. Guided media includes everything that ‘guides’ the transmission.
That usually takes the form of some sort of a wire. Usually copper, but can also be an
optical fiber.

Unguided Medium : Eg of Unguided Meium; Radio waves, Microwaves ,Infrared

waves

A. Guided Medium :
Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information from one
space to another. A. 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. There 4 basic types of
Guided Media: 1. Open Wire , Twisted Pair , Coaxial Cable ,Optical Fiber .

Bandwidth comparison : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of
information from one space to another. Bandwidth comparison :Cable Type:
Bandwidth :Open Cable 0 - 5 MHz Twisted Pair 0 - 100 MHz Coaxial Cable 0 - 600
MHz Optical Fiber 0 - 1 GHz
Coaxial Cable
It is often used in place of twisted wire for important links in a network because it is a
faster.
More interference-free transmission medium (speed: 200 megabits per second).
Coaxial cable is thick, is hard to wire in many buildings. It does not support analog
conversations.
Coaxial Cable : 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.
In its simplest form, coaxial consists of a core made of solid copper surrounded by
insulation, a braided metal shielding, and an outer cover. A transmission medium
consisting of thickly insulated copper wire, which can transmit a large volume of data
than twisted wire.
Performance: The performance is same as the twisted pair cable. The only difference is
that the attenuation is much higher in co-axial cable than in twisted pair cable.
Applications: It is used in cable TV networks It is used in traditional ethernet LANs.
Advantages: Not susceptible to interference Transmits faster With FDM it can carry
10,000 voice channels Disadvantages: Heavy & bulky Needs booster over distance. Like
repeaters or amplifiers are needed every few Kms.
Noise immunity: RFI and EMI immune (RFI - Radio Frequency Interference, EMI –
Electro Magnetic Interference) Security: cannot tap into cable. Large Capacity due to BW
(bandwidth) No corrosion Longer distances than copper wire Smaller and lighter than
copper wire Faster transmission rate
Disadvantages : Physical vibration will show up as signal noise. Limited physical arc of
cable. Bend it too much & it will break. Difficult to split. Copper: It has low resistance to
electrical current and signal travels farther. guided medium bandwidth - depends on the
thickness of the wire and the distance traveled. interference - susceptible to
electromagnetic waves generated by neighboring wires. Two main types - twisted pair
and coaxial cable (coax) .

Twisted Wire
It is inexpensive and already is in use.
Twisted wires are slow, high-speed transmission causes interference (crosstalk).
Limiting factors: skin effect & radiation effect.
 Twisted Pair Cable:
A transmission medium consisting of pairs of twisted copper wires.We can transmit 1
Mbps over short distances (less than 100m).They are mainly used to transmit analog
signals, but they can be used for digital signals.
Performance : One way to measure the performance of twisted pair cable is to compare
attenuation versus frequency and distance.Gauge is a measure of the thickness of the
wire.
Applications: They are used in telephone lines to provide voice and data channels.Local
area networks , such as 10 Base-T and 100 Base-T also use twisted-pair cables.
Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information from one
space to another. 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. Numbers of pairs are bundled together. Twisting decreases crosstalk.
When the noise appears on both wires, it cancels or nulls itself out at the receiving end.
It is mainly used for telephone system and for subscriber’s loop like LAN. 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.
Shielded Twisted Pair : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of
information from one space to another. Shielded Twisted Pair
Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of information from one
space to another.
Advantages: Easy to string , Cheap
Disadvantages: Subject to interference is static and garble. In comparison to others
( Coax & optical fiber) twisted pair is limited in bandwidth, distance and data rate Like if
used for digital systems it requires repeater after every 2-3 Kms. Susceptible to noise
weather shielded and unshielded .

Optical Fiber :
Optical fiber consists of a glass core, surrounded by a glass cladding with slightly lower
refractive index. In most networks fiber-optic cable is used as the high-speed backbone,
and twisted wire and coaxial cable are used to connect the backbone to individual
devices.
Performance :The performance can be measured by plot of attenuation versus
wavelength. Attenuation is flatter than in case of twisted pair cable and co-axial cable.
Applications :The fiber optic cable is often found in backbone networks because its
bandwidth is cost effective. Used in TV companies. LAN such as 100 Base-FX Network
Optical Fiber : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer any kind of
information from one space to another. 4. Optical Fiber Optical Fiber consists of thin
glass fibers that can carry information at frequencies in the visible light spectrum and
beyond. The typical optical fiber 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. Covering the cladding is a protective coating consisting of plastic, it is
called the Jacket.
Optical Fiber: Optical fibers are faster, lighter, and suitable for transferring large amount
of data. Fiber-optic cable is more difficult to work with, more expensive.
Its difficult to install them.
Comparison :Optical fiber cable differs from both these transmission media in that it
carries the transmitted information in the form of a fluctuating beam of light in a glass
fiber.
Light transmission has much wider bandwidth, thus enabling the transmission rate of
hundreds of megabits per second.
Optical transmission is immune to electromagnetic interference and crosstalk. While
others are immune to interference.
Optical fibers have less loss of signal strength than copper, after every 30 miles we need
to use a repeater, whereas in copper, we should insert repeaters at an interval of 2.8
miles .
Optical fiber is more secure, no easy tapping on the cable, like in copper.
But optical fibers are more expensive than other two cables.
.The Advantages of Fiber over Copper: Interference - does not cause interference; and
is not susceptible to interference. Bandwidth - handles much higher bandwidth than
copper Low attenuation - requires fewer repeaters and amplifiers (every 30 Km vs.
5Km) Immune to power surges, failures, and other electromagnetic interference thin and
lightweight don’t leak light; tough to tap (secure).
Principle working of Optical Fiber : Data transmission is the way or method to transfer
any kind of information from one space to another. Principle working of Optical Fiber
Characteristic of Fiber Optics is Refraction. 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.

Unguided Media :
Unguided media is still ‘media’ (stuff that signal travels though). The trick is that the
media is usually not directional, like air, space, etc. Because the effect is usually much
wider than with guided media, there have been a lot of regulation, licensing, and
standardization of transmissions via unguided media.
Wireless Transmission : Wireless transmission that sends signals through air or space
without any physical wire. Common uses of wireless data transmission include pagers,
cellular telephones, microwave transmissions, communication satellites, mobile data
networks, personal digital assistants, television remote controls.
Radio Waves :Although there is no clear cut demarcation between radio waves and
microwaves , electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 3KHz and 1GHz
normally called radio waves.
Radio waves are omnidirectional.
Radio waves particularly those waves that propagate in the sky mode , can travel long
distances .This makes Radio waves a good candidate for long distance broadcasting
such as AM Radio
Applications :The omnidirectional characteristics of Radio waves make them useful for
multicasting, in which there is one sender but many receivers. AM and FM Radio,
television ,maritime radio , cordless phone , and paging are examples of multicasting.
Microwaves :
Electromagnetic waves having frequency between 1 and 300 GHz are called as Micro
waves. Micro waves are unidirectional. Microwave propagation is line of sight. Very
high frequency Micro waves can not penetrate walls. The microwave band is relatively
wide, almost 299 GHz
Applications :Microwaves due to there unidirectional properties are very useful when
unicast (one to one ) communication is needed between the sender and the receiver.
They are used in Cellular phones.
They are used in satellite networks.
They are used in wireless LANs.

Infrared Waves :
Infrared waves , with frequencies from 300GHz-400THz can be used for short range
communication .
Infrared waves having high frequencies can not penetrate walls.
When we use our Infrared control , we do not interfere with use of the remote by our
neighbours.
We cannot use Infrared waves outside a building because the suns rays Contain Infrared
waves that can interfere with communication.
Applications: The infrared band almost 400 THz has an excellent potential for data
transmission. Such a wide bandwidth can be used to transmit digital data with a very high
data rate. Infrared waves is used in communication between devices such as Keyboard,
PCs and Printers.

Radio Waves :
Although there is no clear cut demarcation between radio waves and microwaves ,
electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 3KHz and 1GHz normally called
radio waves.
Radio waves are omnidirectional.
Radio waves particularly those waves that propagate in the sky mode , can travel long
distances .This makes Radio waves a good candidate for long distance broadcasting
such as AM Radio
Applications
The omnidirectional characteristics of Radio waves make them useful for multicasting,
in which there is one sender but many receivers.
AM and FM Radio, television ,maritime radio , cordless phone , and paging are
examples of multicasting.
Microwaves :
Electromagnetic waves having frequency between 1 and 300 GHz are called as Micro
waves.
Micro waves are unidirectional.
Microwave propagation is line of sight.
Very high frequency Micro waves can not penetrate walls.
The microwave band is relatively wide, almost 299 GHz
Applications
Microwaves due to there unidirectional
properties are very useful when unicast (one to one ) communication is needed between
the sender and the receiver.
They are used in Cellular phones.
They are used in satellite networks.
They are used in wireless LANs.
Conclusion
In summary, transmission media are essential for communication systems. Signals that
carry information can be transmitted on a transmission medium for communication
purposes.Thetransmission characteristics of the medium in use are important because
they directly affect the communication quality. Since different types of transmission
media have different transmission characteristics and costs, they are used in different
(and the most suited) applications.