Chapter 3: Transmission Media
• A transmission medium can be broadly defined as
anything that can carry information from a source to a
destination.
• In data communications the transmission medium is
usually free space, metallic cable (twisted-pair cable,
coaxial cable), or fiber-optic cable.
• The information is usually a signal that is the result of a
conversion of data from another form.
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Figure 3.1 Transmission medium and physical layer
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Figure 3.2 Classes of transmission media
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3-1 GUIDED MEDIA
a. Twisted Pair
A twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper),
each with its own plastic insulation, twisted together
Figure 3.3 Twisted-pair cable
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• One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver,
and the other is used only as a ground reference.
• The receiver uses the difference between the two.
• Interference (noise) and crosstalk may affect both wires
and create unwanted signals.
• If the two wires are parallel, the effect of these unwanted
signals is not the same in both wires because they are at
different locations relative to the noise or crosstalk
sources
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• Twisting makes it probable that both wires are equally
affected by external influences (noise or crosstalk).
• This means that the receiver, which calculates the
difference between the two, receives no unwanted
signals.
• The number of twists per unit of length has some effect
on the quality of the cable
• Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) is the most used
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a. Twisted Pair Figure 3.4 UTP and STP cables
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Table 3.1 Major Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables
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• UTP can be connected to RJ-45 in two ways:
• Straight-through cable (T568A or T568B on both ends)
• Cross-over cable (T568A or T568B on one end, then cross 1&3
and 2&6 on the other end)
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Figure 3.5 UTP connector
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3-1 GUIDED MEDIA Figure 3.6 Coaxial cable
b. Coaxial cable
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• Coaxial cable (or coax) carries signals of higher
frequency ranges than those in twisted-pair cable
• Coaxial cables are categorized by their radio government
(RG) ratings.
Table 3.2 Categories of coaxial cables
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• To connect coaxial cable to devices, we need coaxial
connectors.
• The most common type of connector used today is the
Bayone-Neill-Concelman (BNC) connector. Its 3 types:
Figure 3.7 BNC connectors
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3-1 GUIDED MEDIA
c. Optic-Fiber
• A fiber-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and
transmits signals in the form of light
Figure 7.8 Optical fiber
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• Advantages Fiber-optic over metallic cable (twisted-pair or coaxial):
➢ Higher bandwidth than either twisted-pair or coaxial cable.
➢ Less signal attenuation:
• Fiber-optic transmission distance is significantly greater than that
of other guided media. A signal can run for 50km without
requiring regeneration while we need repeaters every 5 km for
coaxial or twisted-pair cable.
➢ Immunity to electromagnetic interference
• Electromagnetic noise cannot affect fiber-optic cables.
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3-2 UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS
• Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves
without using a physical conductor.
• This type of communication is often referred to as
wireless communication.
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Figure 3.9 Wireless transmission waves
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• Electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 3
kHz and 1 GHz are normally called radio waves;
• Waves ranging in frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz
are called micro-waves.
Figure 3.10 Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication
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1. Radio waves are used for multicast
communications, such as radio and television.
They can penetrate through walls.
Use omni directional antennas
• When an antenna transmits radio waves, they are
propagated in all directions.
• A sending antenna sends waves that can be received by
any receiving antenna.
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Figure 3.11 Omnidirectional antenna
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 are
examples of multicasting.
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2. Microwaves are used for unicast communication
such as cellular telephones, satellite networks,
and wireless LANs.
Higher frequency ranges cannot penetrate walls.
Use unidirectional antennas - point to point line of sight
communications.
• Microwaves are unidirectional.
• Sending and receiving antennas need to be aligned.
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Applications
• Microwaves, due to their unidirectional properties, are
very useful when unicast (one-to-one) communication is
needed between the sender and the receiver.
• Example: bluetooth
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3. Infrared signals can be used for short-range
communication in a closed area using line-of-sight
propagation.
• Infrared waves, with frequencies from 300 GHz to 400 THz
• Having high frequencies, cannot penetrate walls
• When we use our infrared remote control, we do not
interfere with the use of the remote by our neighbors
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