Q7:a. Define signals in computer network.

Also discuss the types of

signals with help of diagrams.
ANS A signal is a mathematical and statistical approach that relates us to the
physical world. It can be measured through its dimensions and time over space.
Signals are used to convey information from one source to another.

A signal can be measured on one or two-dimensional array or higher dimensional

signal. The common example is a sound, images, and sensor output signals.

Here, one-dimensional signals are measured on time over space and two-
dimensional signals are measured on some other physical quantities, for example,
digital image.

Analog signals
The Analog image processing is applied on Analog signals and it processes only
two-dimensional signals. Analog signal is time-varying signals so the images formed
under Analog image processing get varied. It is generally continuous and not broken
into tiny components.

The main characteristics of Analog signals are frequency, amplitude, and phase.
Analog signals recorded sound waves better than digital sound.

Frequency in the Analog signal

In a given amount of time, the number of waves that passed through a fixed position
is called frequency in the Analog system.

Amplitude in the Analog signal

It describes the height of a signal that is on the horizontal axis and the amplitude is
always equal to the point given on waveform.

Phase in the Analog signal

On same frequency, when wave occurs behind another wave or we can say the
position of a point in time (instant) on a waveform cycle.

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Human voice
The best example of an Analog signal is our voice. Whatever we speak generate
sound waves and this sound travel through sound waves.

Human voice shows all the characteristics of Analog signals as continuously and
smoothly time-varying frequency or amplitude.

(sound wave)

Digital Signals
Digital signals are very easy to Analyse and it has time-varying quantities and a
discrete point at every sampling point. The digital signals are generated by digital
modulation.

Digital signal is less accurate in comparison to Analog signal but the best part in it
is, it can be easily stored and accessed comfortably.

It is used everywhere today whether it be in computers, digital pens, digital phones

etc.

Computer Keyboard
Computer keyboard comes in the category of the input devices. A computer
keyboard is used to send control signals to any information appliance i.e. computer.

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When you press any key in the keyboard, underneath the keys, there is a grid of
circuits which transfers the signals. There is a switch under the keys which is pressed
to allow the current to flow through it. If we discussed its working principle, then
there is a metallic plate, circuit board, and processor, which are responsible for
sending signals to the computer.

b. Differentiate between the Analog signals and Digital signals.

Analog signals Digital signals

Analog signals are Digital signals are easy to

difficult to get analysed analyse.
at first.

Analog signals are Digital signals are less

more accurate than accurate.
digital signals.

Analog signals take Digital signals can be

time to be stored. It has easily stored.
infinite memory.

To record an Analog In recording digital

signal, the technique signal, the sample signals
used, preserves the are taken and preserved.
original signals.

There is a continuous There is a discontinuous

representation of representation of signals
in digital signals.

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signals in Analog
signals.

Analog signals produce Digital signals do not

too much noise. produce noise.

Examples of Analog Examples of digital

signals are Human signals are Computers,
voice, Thermometer, Digital Phones, Digital
Analog phones etc. pens, etc.

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Q8 what are the various Transmission media in computer networks?
Discuss.
o Transmission media is a communication channel that carries the information
from the sender to the receiver. Data is transmitted through the
electromagnetic signals.
o The main functionality of the transmission media is to carry the information
in the form of bits through LAN (Local Area Network).
o It is a physical path between transmitter and receiver in data communication.
o In a copper-based network, the bits in the form of electrical signals.
o In a fibre based network, the bits in the form of light pulses.
o In OSI (Open System Interconnection) phase, transmission media supports
the Layer 1. Therefore, it is considered to be as a Layer 1 component.
o The electrical signals can be sent through the copper wire, fibre optics,
atmosphere, water, and vacuum.
o The characteristics and quality of data transmission are determined by the
characteristics of medium and signal.
o Transmission media is of two types are wired media and wireless media. In
wired media, medium characteristics are more important whereas, in wireless
media, signal characteristics are more important.
o Different transmission media have different properties such as bandwidth,
delay, cost and ease of installation and maintenance.
o The transmission media is available in the lowest layer of the OSI reference
model, i.e., Physical layer.

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Classification Of Transmission Media:

o Guided Transmission Media

o UnGuided Transmission Media

Guided Media
It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are transmitted. It is
also known as Bounded media.

Types Of Guided media:

Twisted pair:
Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other.
A twisted pair cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation
of the twisted pair cable is easy, and it is a lightweight cable. The frequency range
for twisted pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.

A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral
pattern.

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

per foot. Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.

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Types of Twisted pair:

Unshielded Twisted Pair:

An unshielded twisted pair is widely used in telecommunication. Following are the

categories of the unshielded twisted pair cable:

o Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone lines that have low-speed data.
o Category 2: It can support upto 4Mbps.
o Category 3: It can support upto 16Mbps.
o Category 4: It can support upto 20Mbps. Therefore, it can be used for long-
distance communication.
o Category 5: It can support upto 200Mbps.

Shielded Twisted Pair

A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the mesh surrounding the wire that
allows the higher transmission rate.

Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:

o The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very high and not very low.
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 o An installation of STP is easy.
o It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded twisted pair cable.
o It has a higher attenuation.
o It is shielded that provides the higher data transmission rate.

Coaxial Cable
o Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV
wire is usually a coaxial cable.
o The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each
other.
o It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.
o The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of copper, and the outer
conductor is made up of copper mesh. The middle core is made up of non-
conductive cover that separates the inner conductor from the outer conductor.
o The middle core is responsible for the data transferring whereas the copper
mesh prevents from th e EMI (Electromagnetic interference).

Coaxial cable is of two types:

1. Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting a single

signal at high speed.
2. Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting multiple
signals simultaneously.

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Fibre Optic
o Fibre optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals for communication.
o Fibre optic is a cable that holds the optical fibres coated in plastic that are used
to send the data by pulses of light.
o The plastic coating protects the optical fibres from heat, cold, electromagnetic
interference from other types of wiring.
o Fibre optics provide faster data transmission than copper wires.

Diagrammatic representation of fibre optic cable:

Basic elements of Fibre optic cable:

o Core: The optical fibre consists of a narrow strand of glass or plastic known
as a core. A core is a light transmission area of the fibre. The more the area of
the core, the more light will be transmitted into the fibre.
o Cladding: The concentric layer of glass is known as cladding. The main
functionality of the cladding is to provide the lower refractive index at the
core interface as to cause the reflection within the core so that the light waves
are transmitted through the fibre.
o Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is known as a jacket. The
main purpose of a jacket is to preserve the fibre strength, absorb shock and
extra fibre protection.

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UnGuided Transmission
o An unguided transmission transmits the electromagnetic waves without using
any physical medium. Therefore it is also known as wireless transmission.
o In unguided media, air is the media through which the electromagnetic energy
can flow easily.

Unguided transmission is broadly classified into three categories:

Radio waves
o Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that are transmitted in all the
directions of free space.
o Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals are propagated in all the
directions.
o The range in frequencies of radio waves is from 3Khz to 1 khz.
o In the case of radio waves, the sending and receiving antenna are not aligned,
i.e., the wave sent by the sending antenna can be received by any receiving
antenna.
o An example of the radio wave is FM radio.

Applications Of Radio waves:

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 o A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when there is one sender and many
receivers.
o An FM radio, television, cordless phones are examples of a radio wave.

Microwaves

Microwaves are of two types:

o Terrestrial microwave
o Satellite microwave communication.

Terrestrial Microwave Transmission

o Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that transmits the focused
beam of a radio signal from one ground-based microwave transmission
antenna to another.
o Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves having the frequency in the range
from 1GHz to 1000 GHz.
o Microwaves are unidirectional as the sending and receiving antenna is to be
aligned, i.e., the waves sent by the sending antenna are narrowly focussed.
o In this case, antennas are mounted on the towers to send a beam to another
antenna which is km away.
o It works on the line of sight transmission, i.e., the antennas mounted on the
towers are the direct sight of each other.
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Characteristics of Microwave:

o Frequency range: The frequency range of terrestrial microwave is from 4-6

GHz to 21-23 GHz.
o Bandwidth: It supports the bandwidth from 1 to 10 Mbps.
o Short distance: It is inexpensive for short distance.
o Long distance: It is expensive as it requires a higher tower for a longer
distance.
o Attenuation: Attenuation means loss of signal. It is affected by environmental
conditions and antenna size.

Infrared
o An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication
over short ranges.
o The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
o It is used for short-range communication such as data transfer between two
cell phones, TV remote operation, data transfer between a computer and cell
phone resides in the same closed area.

Characteristics Of Infrared:

o It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.
o Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared
communication in one room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.
o An infrared communication provides better security with minimum
interference.
o Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun
rays will interfere with the infrared waves.

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 Q9 What are wireless networks? How are they categorised? Also
enlist its merits and demerits.
ANS Wireless network

A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections

between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications
networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing
cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment
locations. admin telecommunications networks are generally implemented and
administered using radio communication. This implementation takes place at
the physical level (layer) of the OSI model network structure
Examples of wireless networks include cell phone networks, wireless local
area networks (WLANs), wireless sensor networks, satellite communication
networks, and terrestrial microwave networks.

Types of Wireless Communication

The different types of wireless communication mainly include, IR wireless
communication, satellite communication, broadcast radio, Microwave radio,
Bluetooth, Zigbee etc.

Satellite Communication

Satellite communication is one type of self contained wireless communication

technology, it is widely spread all over the world to allow users to stay connected
almost anywhere on the earth. When the signal (a beam of modulated microwave) is
sent near the satellite then, satellite amplifies the signal and sent it back to the
antenna receiver which is located on the surface of the earth. Satellite
communication contains two main components like the space segment and the
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ground segment. The ground segment consists of fixed or mobile transmission,
reception and ancillary equipment and the space segment, which mainly is the
satellite itself.

Satellite Communciaiton

Infrared wireless communication communicates information in a device or

systems through IR radiation . IR is electromagnetic energy at a wavelength that is
longer than that of red light. It is used for security control, TV remote control and
short range communications. In the electromagnetic spectrum, IR radiation lies
between microwaves and visible light. So, they can be used as a source of
communication

Infrared Communication
For a successful infrared communication, a photo LED transmitter and a photo diode
receptor are required. The LED transmitter transmits the IR signal in the form of non

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visible light, that is captured and saved by the photoreceptor. So the information
between the source and the target is transferred in this way. The source and
destination can be mobile phones, TVs, security systems, laptops etc supports
wireless communication.

Broadcast Radio

The first wireless communication technology is the open radio communication to

seek out widespread use, and it still serves a purpose nowadays. Handy multichannel
radios permit a user to speak over short distances, whereas citizen’s band and
maritime radios offer communication services for sailors. Ham radio enthusiasts
share data and function emergency communication aids throughout disasters with
their powerful broadcasting gear, and can even communicate digital information
over the radio frequency spectrum.

Broadcast Radio
Mostly an audio broadcasting service, radio broadcasts sound through the air as radio
waves. Radio uses a transmitter which is used to transmit the data in the form of
radio waves to a receiving antenna(Different Types of Antennas). To broadcast
common programming, stations are associated with the radio N/W’s. The broadcast
happens either in simulcast or syndication or both. Radio broadcasting may be done
via cable FM, the net and satellites. A broadcast sends information over long
distances at up to two megabits/Sec (AM/FM Radio).

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Radio waves are electromagnetic signals, that are transmitted by an antenna. waves
have completely different frequency segments, and you will be ready to obtain an
audio signal by changing into a frequency segment.

Radio
For example, you can take a radio station. When the RJ says you are listening to 92.7
BIG FM, what he really means is that signals are being broadcasted at a frequency
of 92.7megahertz, that successively means the transmitter at the station is periodic
at a frequency of 92.700,000 Cycles/second.

When you would like to listen to 92.7 BIG FM, all you have to do is tune the radio
to just accept that specific frequency and you will receive perfect audio reception.

Microwave Communication

Microwave wireless communication is an effective type of communication, mainly

this transmission uses radio waves, and the wavelengths of radio waves are measured
in centimeters. In this communication, the data or information can be transfers using
two methods. One is satellite method and another one is terrestrial method.

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Microwave Communication
Wherein satellite method, the data can be transmitted though a satellite, that orbit
22,300 miles above the earth. Stations on the earth send and receive data signals
from the satellite with a frequency ranging from 11GHz-14GHz and with a
transmission speed of 1Mbps to 10Mbps. In terrestrial method, in which two
microwave towers with a clear line of sight between them are used, ensuring no
obstacles to disrupt the line of sight. So it is used often for the purpose of privacy.
The frequency range of the terrestrial system is typically 4GHz-6GHz and with a
transmission speed is usually 1Mbps to 10Mbps.

The main disadvantage of microwave signals is, they can be affected by bad weather,
especially rain.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a low power wireless communication, that is used by various electronic

devices like smart phones, laptops, etc. In this setup, a router works as a
communication hub wirelessly. These networks allow users to connect only within
close proximity to a router. WiFi is very common in networking applications which
affords portability wirelessly. These networks need to be protected with passwords
for the purpose of security, otherwise it will access by others

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Wi-Fi Communication
The advancement of mobile networks is enumerated by generations. Many users
communicate across a single frequency band through mobile phones. Cellular and
cordless phones are two examples of devices which make use of wireless signals.
Typically, cell phones have a larger range of networks to provide a coverage.But,
Cordless phones have a limited range. Similar to GPS devices, some phones make
use of signals from satellites to communicate.

Mobile Communication Systems

The main function of the Bluetooth technology is that permits you to connect a
various electronic devices wirelessly to a system for the transferring of data.Cell
phones are connected to hands free earphones, mouse, wireless keyboard. By using

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Bluetooth device the information from one device to another device. This technology
has various functions and it is used commonly in the wireless communication
market.

Bluetooth Technology
Advantages of Wireless Communication
 Any data or information can be transmitted faster and with a high speed
 Maintenance and installation is less cost for these networks.
 The internet can be accessed from anywhere wirelessly
 It is very helpful for workers, doctors working in remote areas as they can be in
touch with medical centers.
Disadvantages of Wireless Communication
 An unauthorized person can easily capture the wireless signals which spread
through the air.
 It is very important to secure the wireless network so that the information cannot
be misused by unauthorized users

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