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Module 3. Networking Media

What is Computer Network?

Two or more computers connected together through a communication media form a computer
network.

The computers are connected in a network to exchange information and data. The computers
connected in a network can also use resources of other computers.

Computer Network Components

There are different components of a network. Following are the basic components of network.

1. Server: Powerful computers that provides services to the other computers on the network.

2. Client: Computer that uses the services that a server provides. The client is less powerful than
server.

3. Media: A physical connection between the devices on a network.

4. Network Adopter: Network adopter or network interface card (NIC) is a circuit board with
the components necessary for sending and receiving data. It is plugged into one of the available
slots on the Pc and transmission cable is attached to the connector on the NIC.

5. Resources: Anything available to a client on the network is considered a resource .Printers,

data, fax devices and other network devices and information are resources.

6. User: Any person that uses a client to access resources on the network.

8. Protocols: These are written rules used for communications. They are the languages that
computers use to talk to each other on a network

Advantages of Computer Network

 Networks allow data transmission among far areas also within local areas.
 Networks allow different users share the processing characteristics of different computers.
 Network allows users to share common set of data files and software stored in a main
system.
 Network allows users to share common hardware resources such as printers, fax machines,
modem etc.
 The cost of computing is reduced to each user as compared to the development and
maintain of each single computer system.

Transmission modes

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The way in which data is transmitted from one place to another is called data transmission mode. It is
also called the data communication mode. It is indicates the direction of flow of information.
Sometimes, data transmission modes are also called directional modes.

Types of Data Transmission Modes

Different types of data transmission modes are as follows:

1. Simplex mode
2. Half-duplex mode
3. Full-duplex mode
1- Simplex Mode
In simplex mode, data can flow in only one direction. In this mode, a sender can only send data
and cannot receive it. Similarly, a receiver can only receive data but cannot send it. Data sent from
computer to printer is an example of simplex mode.
In simplex mode, it is not possible to confirm successful transmission of data. It is also not possible to
request the sender to re-transmit information. This mode is not widely used. However, this mode is
used in business field at certain point-of-sale terminals. The other examples of simplex communication
modes are Radio and T.V transmissions.

2- Half-Duplex Mode
In half-duplex mode, data can flow in both directions but only in one direction at a time. In this
mode, data is sent and received alternatively. It is like a one-lane bridge where two-way traffic must
give way in order to cross the other.
The Internet browsing is an example of half duplex mode. The user sends a request to a Web server
for a web page. It means that information flows from user's computer to the web server. Web server
receives the request and sends data of the requested page. The data flows the Web server to the
user's computer. At a time a user can a request or receive the data of web page.

3- Full-Duplex Mode
In full duplex-mode, data can flow in both directions at the same time. It is the fastest directional
mode of data communication. The telephone communication system is an example of full-duplex
communication mode. Two persons can talk at the same time. Another example of fully-duplex mode
in daily life is automobile traffic on a two-lane road. The traffic can move in both directions at the
same time.

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TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Data is represented by computers and other telecommunication devices using signals. Signals are
transmitted in the form of electromagnetic energy from one device to another. Electromagnetic
signals travel through vacuum, air or other transmission mediums to travel between one point to
another (from source to receiver).

Electromagnetic energy (includes electrical and magnetic fields) includes power, voice, visible
light, radio waves, ultraviolet light, gamma rays etc.

Transmission medium is the means through which we send our data from one place to another.
The first layer (physical layer) of Communication Networks OSI Seven layer model is dedicated
to the transmission media, we will study the OSI Model later.

A transmission medium is a material substance (solid, liquid, gas, or plasma) that can propagate
energy waves. For example, the transmission medium for sounds is usually air, but solids and
liquids may also act as transmission media for sound.

The absence of a material medium in vacuum may also constitute a transmission medium for
electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves. While material substance is not required
for electromagnetic waves to propagate, such waves are usually affected by the transmission
media they pass through, for instance by absorption or by reflection or refraction at the interfaces
between media.

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The term transmission medium also refers to a technical device that employs the material
substance to transmit or guide waves. Thus, an optical fiber or a copper cable is a transmission
medium. Not only is this but also able to guide the transmission of networks.

A transmission medium can be classified as a:

 Linear medium, if different waves at any particular point in the medium can be superposed (i.e.
when two waves meet they overlap and interact. Sometimes they add to make a wave bigger,
sometimes they cancel each other)
 Bounded medium, if it is finite in extent, otherwise unbounded medium;
 Uniform medium or homogeneous medium, if its physical properties are unchanged at different
points;
 Isotropic medium, if its physical properties are the same in different directions.

Transmission and reception of data is performed in four steps.

1. The data is coded as binary numbers at the sender end

2. A carrier signal is modulated as specified by the binary representation of the data
3. At the receiving end, the incoming signal is demodulated into the respective binary numbers
4. Decoding of the binary numbers is performed

Telecommunications
A physical medium in data communications is the transmission path over which a signal
propagates.

Many transmission media are used as communications channel.

For telecommunications purposes in the United States, Federal Standard 1037C, transmission
media are classified as one of the following:

 Guided (or bounded)—waves are guided along a solid medium such as a transmission line.
 Wireless (or unguided)—transmission and reception are achieved by means of an antenna.

Bounded/Guided Transmission Media

It is the transmission media in which signals are confined to a specific path using wire or cable.
The types of Bounded/ Guided are discussed below.

Twisted Pair Cable

This cable is the most commonly used and is cheaper than others. It is lightweight, cheap, can be
installed easily, and they support many different types of network. Some important points:

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 Its frequency range is 0 to 3.5 kHz.

 Typical attenuation is 0.2 dB/Km @ 1kHz.
 Typical delay is 50 µs/km.
 Repeater spacing is 2km.

A twisted pair consists of two copper wires about 1 mm thick.

1. These two wires are individually contained in a plastic insulation and are twisted together
in a helical form.
2. Polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, flour polymer resin and Teflon(r) are some of the
substances that are used for insulation purposes.

1. Purpose of twisting the wire is to reduce the electrical interference from the similar pairs
in surroundings. The performance of the wire improves with the increase in the number
of twist per foot.
2. If the two wires are parallel, then the electromagnetic interference from the devices such
as motor can create a noise or interference on the wire that is closer to the source of noise.
This results in high voltage level in one wire than the other.

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3. This further leads to uneven load and damaged signal and there will be difference at the receiver
side.
4. If two wires are twisted, then the cumulative effect of the interference on both the wires is equal.
5. In such a way, each wire is closer to the noise source for half of the time and farther away for the
other half i.e. in one twist one wire is closer to the noise source and the other is farther; in next
twist the reverse is true.
6. In this way, there will be no difference at the receiver side as unwanted signals are cancelled out.
7. An Important property of twisted pair is its gauge. Gauge is a measure of thickness of the
conductor. The thicker the wire the less the resistance, the stronger the signal over a given
distance and the better the performance of the medium.
8. The effective bandwidth of twisted pair depends on several factors including, the gauge of the
conductor, and the length of the circuit and the spacing of the amplifiers (repeaters).
9. Twisted pair can be used for transmitting either analog or digital signal and frequency range for
twisted pair cable is 100 Hz to 5 MHz.
10. The most common application of twisted pair cable IS m telephone system.
11. Twisted pair is distance limited. As distance between network element increases, attenuation
increases and quality decreases at a given frequency.
12. Twisted pair is an insecure transmission medium. It is relatively simple to place physical taps on
UTP.

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Twisted Pair is of two types:

 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable

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 colour plastic
insulator. Identification is the reason behind coloured plastic insulation.

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.

It can be either voice grade or data grade depending on the condition. UTP cable normally has an
impedance of 100 ohm. UTP cost less than STP and easily available due to its many use. There
are six levels of data cabling

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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.

Characteristics of UTP

 low cost
 easy to install
 High speed capacity
 High attenuation
 Effective to EMI
 100 meter limit

Advantages :

 Installation is easy
 Flexible
 Cheap
 It has high speed capacity,
 100 meter limit
 Higher grades of UTP are used in LAN technologies like Ethernet.

It consists of two insulating copper wires (1mm thick). The wires are twisted together in a helical
form to reduce electrical interference from similar pair.

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Disadvantages :

 Bandwidth is low when compared with Coaxial Cable

 Provides less protection from interference.

Shielded Twisted Pair Cable

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 also
eliminates crosstalk.

It has same attenuation as unshielded twisted pair. It is faster the unshielded and coaxial cable. It
is more expensive than coaxial and unshielded twisted pair.

It is similar to UTP but has a mesh shielding that’s protects it from EMI which allows for higher
transmission rate.

1. The pairs are covered in a foil or braided mesh, as well as outer PVC jacket.
2. This foil or mesh prevents the penetration of electromagnetic noise and eliminate cross
talk.
3. This shielding must be grounded to prevent the foil or braided mesh from becoming a
magnet for electricity.

IBM has defined category for STP cable.

Type 1 STP features two pairs of 22-AWG

Type 2 This type include type 1 with 4 telephone pairs
Type 6 This type feature two pairs of standard shielded 26-AWG
Type 7 This type of STP consist of 1 pair of standard shielded 26-AWG
Type 9 This type consist of shielded 26-AWG wire

American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a U.S. standard set of non-ferrous wire conductor sizes. The "gauge"
means the diameter.

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Characteristics of STP

 Medium cost
 Easy to install
 Higher capacity than UTP
 Higher attenuation, but same as UTP
 Medium immunity from EMI
 100 meter limit

Advantages :

 Easy to install
 Performance is adequate
 Can be used for Analog or Digital transmission
 Increases the signalling rate
 Higher capacity than unshielded twisted pair
 Eliminates crosstalk

Disadvantages :

 Difficult to manufacture
 Heavy

Advantages of Twisted pair cable

1. It can be used to carry both analog and digital data.

2. It is relatively easy to implement and terminate.

3. It is the least expensive media of transmission for short distances.

4. If portion of a twisted pair cable is damaged it does not effect the entire network.

Disadvantages of Twisted pair cable

1. It offers poor noise immunity as a result signal distortion is more?

2. Attenuation is very high.

3. It supports lower bandwidth as compared to other Medias. It supports 10 mbps upto a distance of 100
meters on a 10BASE-T.

4. It offers very poor security and is relatively easy to tap.

5. Being thin in size, they are likely to break easily.

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Applications of Twisted Pair Cables:

Some of the applications of twisted pair cables are as follows:

(1) In telephone lines to carry voice and data channels.

(2) In the local loop.

(3) In the DSL line (ADSL)

(4) Local area networks such as 10 Base-T and 100 Base-T. Use the twisted pair cables.

(5) In the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).

Note:

• Category 1 and 2 cables were originally used for voice communication with low data rates.

• Category 4 offers data rates upto 20 mbps.

• A modular RJ-45 telephone connector is used to connect a four-pair cable.

• A modular RJ -11 telephone connector is used to connect a two pair cable.

• Shielded twisted pair (STP) cables were introduced by IBM Corporation.

General Properties of Twisted Pair

• Gauge is a measure of the thickness of the conductor. The thicker the wire, the less the resistance, the
stronger the signal over a given distance, and the better the performance of the medium. Thicker wires
offer the advantage of greater break strength. The gauge numbers are retrogressive. In other words, the
larger the number, the smaller the conductor.

• Configuration In a single pair configuration; the pair of wires is enclosed in a sheath or jacket, made of
polyethylene, polyvinylchloride or Teflon. Usually, multiple pairs are so bundled as to minimize
deployment costs associated with connecting multiple devices (e.g. electronic PBX or KTS telephone
sets, data terminals, and modem) at a single workstation.

• Bandwidth The effective capacity of twisted pair cable depends on several factors, including the gauge
of the conductor, the length of the circuit and the spacing of the amplifiers (repeaters). One must also
recognize that a high-bandwidth (high frequency) application may cause interference with other signals
on other pairs in close proximity.

Error Performance Signal quality is always important, especially relative to data transmission. Twisted
pair is susceptible to the impacts of outside interference, as the lightly insulated wire act as antennae and,
thereby, absorbs such errant signals. Potential sources of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) include
electric motors, radio transmissions and fluorescent light boxes. As transmission frequency increases, the
error performance of copper degrades significantly with signal attenuation increasing approximately as
the square root of frequency.

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• Distance Twisted pair is distance limited. As distance between network element increases, attenuation
(signal loss) increases and quality decreases at a given frequency. As bandwidth increases, the carrier
frequency increases, attenuation becomes more of a issue, and amplifiers (repeaters) must be spaced more
Closely.

Security Twisted pair is inherently an insecure transmission medium. It is relatively simple to place
physical taps on UTP. Additionally, the radiated energy is easily intercepted through the use of antennae
or inductive coils, without the requirement for placement of a physical tap.

Cost The acquisition, deployment and rearrangement costs of UTP are very low, at least in inside wire
applications. In, high-capacity, long distance applications, such as interoffice trucking, however, the
relative cost is very high, due to the requirements for trenching or boring, conduit placement, and splicing
of large multi pair cables. Additionally, there are finite limits to the capacity and other performance
characteristics of UTP, regardless of the inventiveness of technologists. Hence, the popularity of
alternatives such as microwave and fiber-optic cable.

Applications UTP’s low cost including recently developed methods of improving its performance has
increased its application in short-haul distribution systems or inside wire applications. Current and
continuing applications include the local loop, inside wire and cable and terminal-to-LAN. Generally
speaking, UTP no longer is deployed in long haul or outside the premises transmission systems.

Coaxial Cable
Coaxial is called by this name because it contains two conductors that are parallel to each other. Copper is
used in this as centre conductor which can be a solid wire or a standard one. It is surrounded by PVC
installation, a sheath which is encased in an outer conductor of metal foil, barid or both.

Outer metallic wrapping is used as a shield against noise and as the second conductor which completes
the circuit. The outer conductor is also encased in an insulating sheath. The outermost part is the plastic
cover which protects the whole cable.

Here the most common coaxial standards.

 50-Ohm RG-7 or RG-11 : used with thick Ethernet.

 50-Ohm RG-58 : used with thin Ethernet
 75-Ohm RG-59 : used with cable television
 93-Ohm RG-62 : used with ARCNET.

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There are two types of Coaxial cables :

BaseBand

A baseband coaxial cable transmits a single signal at a time at very high speed. A broadband coaxial cable
can transmit many simultaneous signals using different frequencies. A baseband cable is mainly used for
LANs.

Baseband coaxial cable supports frequency range of a-4kHz and are used for digital signaling. Broadband
coaxIal cable supports the frequency range above 4kHz and are used for analog signals. So it must be
used with a modem. The digital signal inserted on these cables is encoded using Manchester or
Differentia,l Manchester coding. The digital signal consumes the entire frequency spectrum of the cable.
So it is not possible to transmit multiple channel using FDM. The transmission of digital signal on the
cable is bi-directional.

Baseband coaxial cables are 50 ohm cables used for 'digital transmission'. For 1Km cables the bandwidth
is 1-2 Gbps. Longer cables can be used with low data rates or periodic amplifiers. Broadband coaxial
cables are 75 ohm cables used for analog transmission. The baseband co-axial cable was originally used
for the Ethernet system that operates at 10 Mbps. They use standard cable television technology. To
transmit digital signals on an analog network, each interface must have converters i.e. analog to digital for
outgoing bit stream n vice versa another difference b/w baseband and broadband is that broadband
systems have developed dual cables. The maximum length of baseband co-axial cable between two
repeaters is dependent on the data rates.

N/B: This is a 50 ohm (Ω) coaxial cable which is used for digital transmission. It is mostly used
for LAN’s. Baseband transmits a single signal at a time with very high speed. The major
drawback is that it needs amplification after every 1000 feet.

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BroadBand

This uses analog transmission on standard cable television cabling. It transmits several
simultaneous signal using different frequencies. It covers large area when compared with
Baseband Coaxial Cable.

Since broadband is used for large area, it requires amplifiers which are unidirectional. In dual band
systems two identical cables run together, one used for outgoing data, one for incoming data. Different
bandwidths are given for inbound and outbound cables. E.g.: for 300MHz, 5-30MHz for inbound and 40-
300MHz for outbound. There are two systems that use the bus LANs namely 10 BASE 5 and 10 BASE 2
which are compared based on various factors in Table.

Features:

 It provides better immunity than twisted pair.

 This cable is able to transmit data at higher rates.

Limitations:

High installation cost

High maintenance cost.

Advantages of Coaxial Cables

1. It can be used for both analog and digital transmission.

2. It offers higher bandwidth as compared to twisted pair cable and can span longer distances.
3. Because of better shielding in coaxial cable, loss of signal or attenuation is less.
4. Better shielding also offers good noise immunity.
5. It is relatively inexpensive as compared to optical fibers.
6. It has lower error rates as compared to twisted pair.
7. It is not as easy to tap as twisted pair because copper wire is contained in plastic jacket.
Disadvantages of Coaxial Cables

1. It is usually more expensive than twisted pair.

Applications of Co-axial Cables:

(1) Analog telephone networks.
(2) Digital telephone network.
(3) Cable TV
(4) Traditional Ethernet LANs
(5) Digital transmission
(6) Thick Ethernet

General Properties of Coaxial Cable

Gauge: The gauge of coaxial cable is thicker than the twisted pair. While this increases the available
bandwidth and increases the distance of transmission, it also increases the cost. Traditional coaxial cable
is quite thick, heavy and bulky of which Ethernet LAN 10Base5 is an example. Ethernet LAN 10Base2 is
of much lesser dimensions but offers less in terms of performance,

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Configuration: Coaxial cables consist of a single, two-conductor wire, with a center conductor and an
outer shield (conductor), which is of solid metal. Sometimes, braided or stranded metal is used. Twin
axial cables contain two such configurations within a single cable sheath. As the center conductor carries
the carrier signal and the outer conductor generally is used for electrical grounding. Coaxial cable
connectivity can be extended through the use of twisted pair with a BALUN (Balanced/Unbalanced)
connector serving to accomplish the interface.

Bandwidth: The effective capacity of coaxial cable depends on several factors, including the gauge of the
center conductor, the length of the circuit, and the spacing of amplifiers and other intermediate devices.
The available bandwidth over coaxial cable very significant, hence it is used in high capacity applications,
such as data and image 'transmission.

Error: Performance Coaxial cable performs exceptionally well due to the outer shielding. As a result, it is
often used in data applications.

Distance: Coaxial cable is not so limited as UTP, although amplifiers or other intermediate devices must
be used to extend high frequency transmissions over distances of any significance.

Security: Coaxial cable is inherently quite secure. It is relatively difficult to place physical taps on
coaxial cable. Radiation of energy is also minimal hence interception of it is not easy.

Cost: The acquisition, deployment, and rearrangement costs of coaxial cables are very high, compared
with UTP. In high capacity data applications, however, that cost is often outweighed by its positive
performance characteristics.

Applications: Coaxial cable's superior performance characteristics make it the favored medium in many
short hauls, bandwidth-intensive data applications. Current and continuing applications include LAN
backbone, host-to-host, host-to-peripheral and CATV.

Fiber Optic Cable

Optical fiber consists of thin glass fibers or plastic 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?

An optical transmission system has three basic components

(a) Light source

(b) Transmission medium (fiber optics)

(c) Detector

Light source: In such a system a pulse of light indicates bit 1 and the absence of light indicates bit 0.
Light source can be an LED or a laser beam.

Transmission medium: Transmission medium is the ultra-thin fiber of glass.

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Detector: A detector generates an electrical pulse when the light falls on it,

A typical core diameter is 62.5 microns .Typically cladding has a diameter of 125 microns. 100
microwatts power (roughly) a light emitting diode can couple into an optical fiber. Coating the cladding
is a protective coating consisting of plastic, it is called the Jacket.

The loss in signal power as light travels down the fiber is called attenuation. An important characteristic
of fiber 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 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. Optical fibers 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 medium! Fast data transmission rate is an advantage to using
fiber optics data transmission.

Types of Optical Fibers

Single Mode Fiber

The various characteristics of Single mode fiber are:-

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1. The diameter of glass core in single mode fiber is very small ranging from 8 to 10 microns.

2. In this mode, light can propagate only in a straight line, without bouncing.

3. Fiber glass has lower density (index of refraction) that creates a critical angle close enough to
90° such that the beam propagates in a straight line.

4. In this case, propagation of different beams is almost identical and delays are negligible. The
beams arrive at destination together and can be recombined with little distortion to the signal.

5. Single mode fibers are more expensive and are widely used for long distance communication.

6. These types of fibers can transmit data at 50 Gbps for 100 kilometers without amplification.

Multimode Fiber

1. In multimode fiber, multiple beams travel in the core in different paths.

2. In multimode fiber, the diameter of core is about 50 microns.

3. Multimode fibers are further categorized into Step index fibers and Graded index fibers.

a) Step Index Fiber

1. Density of core remains constant from the centre to the edges.

2. A beam of light moves in a straight line in this medium until it reaches the interface of core and the
cladding.

3. At this interface, the angle of ray is changed due to the change in density.

4. In this mode, some beams travel in a straight line through the core and reaches destination without
reflection or refraction.

5. The beams that strike the interface of core and cladding at and angle smaller than critical angle
penetrate the cladding and are lost.

6. The beams striking at angle greater than critical angle are reflected back in core and form total internal
reflection.

7. In this fiber, a ray with smaller angle of incidence requires more bounces thus will take more time to
reach the destination whereas the ray with high angle of incidence will require less number of bounces
and will reach the destination in lesser time.

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b) Graded Index Fiber

1. A graded index fiber has different densities at the core and at the edges. Density is highest at the centre
of the core and decreases gradually to its lowest at the edge.

2. Because of this difference in densities, different beams refract at different angles into a curve

3. Only the horizontal beams move in a straight line due to constant density at the centre.

Advantages of Optical Fiber

1. They are not affected by electrical and magnetic interference as the data travel in form of light.

2. Optical fiber offers higher bandwidth than twisted pair or coaxial cable.

3. Optical fibers are thin, lighter in weight and small in size as compared to other wired Medias. It is
easier to group several optical fibers in one bundle.

4. Glass is more resistant to corrosive materials as compared to copper. Hence can be laid in different
environments.

5. In optical fibers, attenuation (loss of signal) is very low. Therefore these fibers can run several
kilometers without amplification.

6. Fibers do not leak light and are quite difficult to tap. So they provide security against potential
wiretappers.

7. There is no cross-talk problem in optical fibers.

8. They are highly suitable for environments where speed is needed with full accuracy.

9: Photons in fiber do not affect one another (as they have no charge) and are not affected by stray
photons outside the fiber. But when electrons move in a wire they affect each other and are themselves
affected by electrons outside the wire.

10. The size (diameter) of the optical fibers is very small (it is comparable to the diameter of human hair).
Therefore a large number of optical fibers can fit into a cable of small diameter.

11. The material used for the manufacturing of optical fibers is "silica glass". This material is easily
available. So the optical fibers cost lower than the cables with metallic conductors.

12. As the light rays have a very high frequency in the GHz range, the bandwidth of the optical tiber is
extremely large. This allows transmission of more number of channels. Therefore the information
carrying capacity of an optical fiber is much higher than that of a co-axial cable.

Disadvantages of Optical Fiber

1. Fiber optics cables are fragile i.e. more easily broken than wires.

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2. Being fragile, optical fibers need to be put deep into the land. This causes a lot of installation cost. Also
the interface used for these fibers are expensive.

3. Optical fibers are unidirectional for two-way communication, two fibers are required.

4. It is a newer technology and requires skilled people to administer and maintain them.

Characteristics of Optical Fiber Cables:

Fiber optic cables have the following characteristics:

1. Fiber optic cabling can provide extremely high bandwidths in the range from 100 mbps to 2 gigabits
because light has a much higher frequency than electricity.
2. The number of nodes which a fiber optic can support does not depend on its length but on the hub or
hubs that connect cables together.
3. Fiber optic cable has much lower attenuation and can carry signal to longer distances without using
amplifiers and repeaters in between.
4. Fiber optic cable is not atlected by EMI effects and can be used in areas where high voltages are
passing by.
5. The cost of tiber optic cable is more compared to twisted pair and co-axial.
6. The installation of fiber optic cables is difficult and tedious.

Applications:

1. Optical fiber transmission systems are widely used in th~ backbone of networks. Current optical fiber
systems provide transmission rates from 45 Mb/s to 9.6 Gb/s using the single wavelength transmission.
2. The installation cost of optical fibers is higher than that for the co-axial or twisted wire cables.
3. Optical fibers are now used in the telephone systems.
4. In the Local Area Networks (LANs).

UnBounded/UnGuided Transmission Media

Unguided or wireless media sends the data through air (or water), which is available to anyone
who has a device capable of receiving them. Types of unguided/ unbounded media are discussed
below:

 Radio Transmission
 MicroWave Transmission

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RF or Radio Frequency is a term that is often used to describe the number of times per second or
oscillation of an electromagnet radiation. Anything between 3Hz and 300GHz is still refered to
as RF waves, but they are subdivided depending on the actual frequency. Microwave is the
general term used to describe RF waves that starts from UHF (Ultra High Frequency) to EHF
(Extremely High Frequency) which covers all frequencies between 300Mhz to 300GHz, lower
frequencies are refered to as radio waves while higher frequencies are called millimeter waves.

People have found a lot of uses for radio frequency waves, most of which are in the field of
communications. Radio waves are generally used for AM/FM radio stations due to the relative
ease of using these types of waves. Microwaves which occupy the upper spectrum of RF waves
have an even wider range of applications. Starting from the common microwave oven that uses
microwaves to heat and cook our food, to military weapons that can heat the skin of enemy
forces. But the most common use of microwaves are still in communications.

The most common devices that we often use without even knowing that they are using
microwaves are the WiFi routers and cards that we use to connect to our networks wirelessly.
They utilize 2.4 or 5GHz RF waves to transmit data to and from our devices. Aside from that,
microwave links are also used by internet service providers to transmit data from one point to
another. Despite the introduction and adoption of fiber optic cables for this purpose. Microwave
transmitters and receivers are still in use today in some areas. Microwaves are also being studied
by some scientists today due to its capability to transmit power over the air. It is now being
considered as a viable transmission method for harvesting solar power from space.

To summarize, microwave is simply a part of the RF spectrum that has become quite popular due
to the large number of its possible uses.

Summary:
1. Microwave is just a subset of the RF range
2. RF covers 3 Hz to 300 GHz while Microwaves occupies the higher frequencies at 300MHz to
3GHz

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3. RF waves have a lot of applications

4. RF is more commonly related to AM/FM transmission while Microwaves are used in wider
applications like heating and high-bandwidth data transmission systems
5. Microwaves can also be used to transmit power from one point to another

Radio Transmission

Its frequency is between 10 kHz to 1GHz. It is simple to install and has high attenuation. These
waves are used for multicast communications.

Types of Propogation

Radio Transmission utilizes different types of propogation :

 Troposphere : The lowest portion of earth’s atmosphere extending outward approximately 30

miles from the earth’s surface. Clouds, jet planes, wind is found here.
 Ionosphere : The layer of the atmosphere above troposphere, but below space. Contains
electrically charged particles.

Microwave Transmission

It travels at high frequency than the radio waves. It requires the sender to be inside of the
receiver. It operates in a system with a low gigahertz range. It is mostly used for unicast
communication.

There are 2 types of Microwave Transmission :

1. Terrestrial Microwave
2. Satellite Microwave

Advantages of Microwave Transmission

 Used for long distance telephone communication

 Carries 1000’s of voice channels at the same time

Disadvantages of Microwave Transmission

 It is Very costly

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Terrestrial Microwave

For increasing the distance served by terrestrial microwave, repeaters can be installed with each
antenna .The signal received by an antenna can be converted into transmittable form and relayed
to next antenna as shown in below figure. It is an example of telephone systems all over the
world

There are two types of antennas used for terrestrial microwave communication :

1. Parabolic Dish Antenna

In this every line parallel to the line of symmetry reflects off the curve at angles in a way that
they intersect at a common point called focus. This antenna is based on geometry of parabola.

2. Horn Antenna

It is a like gigantic scoop. The outgoing transmissions are broadcast up a stem and deflected
outward in a series of narrow parallel beams by curved head.

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Satellite Microwave

This is a microwave relay station which is placed in outer space. The satellites are launched
either by rockets or space shuttles carry them.

These are positioned 3600KM above the equator with an orbit speed that exactly matches the
rotation speed of the earth. 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. This is usually
done to allow ground stations to aim antenna at a fixed point in the sky.

Features of Satellite Microwave :

 Bandwidth capacity depends on the frequency used.

 Satellite microwave deployment for orbiting satellite is difficult.

Advantages of Satellite Microwave :

 Transmitting station can receive back its own transmission and check whether the satellite has
transmitted information correctly.

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 A single microwave relay station which is visible from any point.

Disadvantages of Satellite Microwave :

 Satellite manufacturing cost is very high

 Cost of launching satellite is very expensive

Transmission highly depends on whether conditions, it can go down in bad weather

Types of Twisted Paired cables: Crossover or Straight through cable?

What are Straight and Crossover cable

Common Ethernet network cable are straight and crossover cable. This Ethernet network cable is
made of 4 pair high performance cable that consists twisted pair conductors that used for data
transmission. Both end of cable is called RJ45 connector.

The cable can be categorized as Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 UTP cable. Cat 5 UTP cable can support 10/100
Mbps Ethernet network, whereas Cat 5e and Cat 6 UTP cable can support Ethernet network running at
10/100/1000 Mbps. You might heard about Cat 3 UTP cable, it's not popular anymore since it can only
support 10 Mbps Ethernet network.

Straight and crossover cable can be Cat3, Cat 5, Cat 5e or Cat 6 UTP cable, the only difference is
each type will have different wire arrangement in the cable for serving different purposes.

Straight Cable

You usually use straight cable to connect different type of devices. This type of cable will be
used most of the time and can be used to:

1) Connect a computer to a switch/hub's normal port.

2) Connect a computer to a cable/DSL modem's LAN port.

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3) Connect a router's WAN port to a cable/DSL modem's LAN port.

4) Connect a router's LAN port to a switch/hub's uplink port. (normally used for expanding
network)
5) Connect 2 switches/hubs with one of the switch/hub using an uplink port and the other one
using normal port.

If you need to check how straight cable looks like, it's easy. Both side (side A and side B) of
cable have wire arrangement with same color. Check out different types of straight cable that
are available in the market here.

Crossover Cable

Sometimes you will use crossover cable, it's usually used to connect same type of devices. A
crossover cable can be used to:

1) Connect 2 computers directly.

2) Connect a router's LAN port to a switch/hub's normal port. (normally used for expanding
network)
3) Connect 2 switches/hubs by using normal port in both switches/hubs.

In you need to check how crossover cable looks like, both side (side A and side B) of cable
have wire arrangement with following different color . Have a look on these crossover cables
if you plan to buy one. You can also find more network cable choices and information from
Comtrad Cables.

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In case you need to make a crossover cable yourself! You can use this crimper to do it.

Lastly, if you still not sure which type of cable to be used sometimes, try both cables and see
which works.

Note: If there is auto MDI/MDI-X feature support on the switch, hub, network card or other
network devices, you don't have to use crossover cable in the situation which I mentioned above.
This is because crossover function would be enabled automatically when it's needed.

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IP Address Basics
For a computer to communicate with another computer it needs an IP address, and it must be
unique. If there is another computer on the same network with the same IP there will be an IP
address conflict and both computers will lose network capability until this is resolved.

The IP address consists of 4 numbers separated by decimals. The IP address itself is separated
into a network address and a host address. This means that one part of the IP address identifies
the computer network ID and the other part identifies the host ID.
As an example, an IP address of 192.168.0.45 is known as a class C address (more on classes
later). A class C networks uses the first 3 numbers to identify the network and the last number to
identify the host. So, the network id would be 192.168.0 and the host id would be 45. Computers
can only communicate with other computers on the same network id. In other words networking
will work between 2 computers with IPs 192.168.0.231 and 192.168.0.45 respectively but neither
can communicate with 192.168.1.231 because it is part of the 192.168.1 network.

IP Address Classes

As we are only covering computer network basics I am only going to discuss 3 classes of IP
addresses. Before we look at these however, it is important to point out that IP address classes
are more or less redundant now. These days subnet masks (explained later) are used to define
which part of an IP address is the network ID and which is the host ID.

Class A address – A class A IP address denotes that the first number out of the four defines the
network id and the last 3 define the host id. A class A address is identified by the first number
ranging from 0-127. This means that as long as the IP address starts with 126 (for example) it
can communicate with another computer that has an IP address starting with 126 also.

Class B address – A class B address means that the first 2 numbers represent the network id and
the second 2 represent the host id. A class B IP address is identified by the first number ranging
from 128-191. Again as an example a computer with an IP address of 172.16.34.21 can
communicate with a computer with an IP address of 172.16.45.72 but not 172.17.45.72. This is
because 172.16.x.x and 172.17.x.x are separate networks.

Class C address – The class C address is what we are most familiar with. This uses the first 3
numbers to define the network id and the last number to define the host id.
A class C IP address is identified by the first number ranging from 192-223. The range that you
will come across the most is 192.168.0.x. Again as an example a computer with an IP address of
192.168.0.23 can communicate with a computer with an IP address of 192.168.0.234 but not
with 192.168.1.5. This is because 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x are separate networks.

Subnet Mask

With the appearance of the subnet mask there is no longer a need for different classes of IP
addresses. The subnet mask introduces classless IP addresses.

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This means is that you can use a class C IP address of 192.168.0.1 and make it a class B or A
address by altering the subnet mask. This sounds very complicated, and it is when you get into it
further but we are only covering network basics remember!
As a general rule wherever there is a 255 in the subnet mask then the corresponding number of
the IP address is part of the network id; where there is 0 in the subnet mask the corresponding
number in the IP address is part of the host id. This is easier to explain with another example.
Let’s say you have an IP address of 192.168.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0. This tells the
computer that the first number (of the IP address, not the subnet mask) is to be used as the
network address and the last 3 are to be used as the host id. In this example the computer
network would be 192.x.x.x. As long as another computer has the same subnet mask and an IP
address starting with 192 they can communicate with each other. If the subnet mask was
255.255.0.0 then this means that the first 2 numbers identify the network instead (192.168.x.x).
Therefore to be on the same network both computers must have IP addresses starting with
192.168.

Router Basics

I explained above that computers on different network ids can’t communicate with each other.
This isn’t necessarily true, I said this is to keep things simple to start with. Networking will work
across different network IDs as long as there is a router between them. A router in its basic form
is simply a network device with 2 network interfaces (NICs), each being on separate network ids.
So, you may have 2 networks; 192.168.1.x and 192.168.2.x. On one NIC the router would have
the IP address 192.168.1.1 and on the other it would have an IP address of 192.168.2.1.
Computers on the 192.168.1.x network can now communicate with computers on the
192.168.2.x network via the router.

Default Gateway Basics

The default gateway is where your computer sends traffic to if it doesn’t know where the
destination IP address. The default gateway is always a router.

When a computer tries to communicate with another computer on the same network it sends the
data directly to it. If it is on a separate network it forwards the data to whatever IP address is
specified in the default gateway. This is because it doesn’t know of this other network and it
needs to send the data to a gateway out of it’s own network . This is why you always put the IP
address of the router in the default gateway field. Because a router will be attached to multiple
networks it knows where these other networks are so it can route traffic to them. Routers also
have default gateways so that if they don’t know where the destination is it also sends the data
onto it’s own default gateway. This continues up the IP network hierarchy until it eventually
finds a router that is part of the destination network. This last router knows where the destination
is and sends it on it’s way. Hopefully this now makes a bit of sense as to why your home internet
router is how you get internet access. You have your OWN network in your house but the
internet is a different network. When you want to access that website half way around the world
your computer has no idea how to get there so it first of all sends it onto the default gateway.
Your home router is connected to your network and another network (the internet) so it sends it

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on it’s way to other routers on the internet until it gets to it’s destiniation. If you configure your
default gateway incorrectly data can never leave your network so you lose your internet access.

DHCP Basics

As mentioned above computers need to be configured with an IP address, subnet mask and
default gateway that will be unique to that network. You may wonder why you never had to do
this on any computer, it just seem to work? It is because it is configured automatically when your
computer boots up by a process known as DHCP.

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Servers and some routers can be
configured to act as a DHCP server. Basically all it does it assign out out all the corect IP
information to computers automatically so everything is configured to work on that network
without user input.

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