Course : BCA

Semester : IV

Subject Code : BC 0048

Subject Name : Computer Networks

Unit number :5

Unit Title : Transmission Medium

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission Medium

Objectives

After going through the presentation, you should be able to:

•Describe transmission medias.

•Discuss different transmission medias such as twisted pairs, coaxial

cable and optical fiber

•Discuss Wireless transmission.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission Medium

Lecture outline

• Introduction

•Transmission medium

•Wireless transmission

•Summary

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Introduction

• The successful transmission of data depends mainly on two factors.

• One of the two is the type of transmission medium.
• The characteristic of the signal varies with the transmission medium.
• They define the quality of the signal being transmitted and the
characteristics of the signal being received.
• Transmission media are broadly classified into two types guided and
unguided.
• Guided media provides a guided (by a solid medium) path for
propagation of signals such as twisted pairs, coaxial cables, optical
fibers etc.
• Unguided media employ an antenna for transmitting through air,
vacuum or water.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Transmission media: Transmission media is the physical path between

the transmitter and receiver. It can be guided or unguided.

• Guided media provides a guided (by a solid medium) path for

propagation of signals such as twisted pairs, coaxial cables, optical
fibers etc.

• Unguided media employ an antenna for transmitting through air,

vacuum or water. This form of transmission is referred to as wireless
transmission. For example Broadcast radio, satellite etc.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

The key concern in design of data transmission system is Data Rate and
Distance.

Number of factors used to determine data rate and distance are :

•Bandwidth: Greater the BW of the signal, the higher data rate can be
achieved.
•Transmission impairment: these limit the distance
•Interference: overlapping frequency bands can distort/wipeout a
signal.
•Number of receivers: A point to pint links are used or shared link is
used with multiple attachments are used.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Twisted pair :

Twisted pairs are least expensive and most widely used transmission
media.
They are easier to work with but limited in terms of data rate and
distance.
It consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in regular spiral
pattern.
Wire pair acts like a communication link.
Usually numbers of these pairs are bundled together in a protective
sheath into a cable.
Twisting tends to decrease the crosstalk.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Twisted pair : (continued…)

Twisted pair can be used for both analog and digital transmission.
For analog signals, amplifiers are required about every 5-6km.
For digital transmission (analog and digital signals), repeaters are
required every 2-3kms.
Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable (UTP) which is typically 1mm thick with a
minimum number of twist per foot. Twisting reduces electrical
interference.
They run several kilometers without amplifications, repeaters are needed.
They are used for transmitting either analog or digital signals.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

Twisted pair : (continued…)

Different categories of UTP’s are as follows
1. CAT3 Cable:
They are less expensive. It consists of 4 pairs grouped in plastic sheet to
protect the wires.
Bandwidth of 16 to 100 MHz signals can be handled
2. CAT5 Cable:
They are similar to CAT3, but are with more twists/cm. They have less
crosstalk and provide better quality over long distance.
Bandwidth 16 to 100 MHz signals can be handled.
3. CAT6 & CAT7 Cable:
They are still more improved version than CAT 5. They are suitable for
higher bandwidth of 250MHz and 600MHz.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Coaxial Cable :

Coaxial cable are widely used for long distance telephone network.
Coaxial cable, like twisted pair, consists of two conductors, but
constructed differently to permit it to operate over a wider range
frequency.
It consists of hollow outer cylindrical conductor that surrounds a single
inner wire conductor.
The inner conductor is held in place by either regularly spaced insulating
rings or a solid dielectric material.
The outer conductor is covered with jacket or shield.
A single coaxial cable has a diameter of from 1 to 2.5cm.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Coaxial Cable : ( continued..)

• Coaxial cable is used to transmit both analog and digital signals.

Coaxial cable has frequency characteristics that are superior to those of
twisted pair, and can hence be used effectively at higher frequencies
and data rates.

• The principal constraints on performance are attenuation, thermal

noise, and inter-modulation noise.

• Co-axial Cable has better shielding than twisted pairs and can span
longer distance at higher speeds.

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Transmission medium

• Coaxial Cable : (continued..)

• There are two types of coaxial cable that are used in LAN.

1.Thick coax:
They are used for Ethernets but are difficult to work with and are
expensive. It has greater degree of noise immunity and is strong. It
requires vampire tap and a drop cable to connect to the network.
2. Thin coax:
They are easier to work and less expensive. It carries signal over shorter
distance and is preferred over thick coax as it needs simple BNC
connector. They are flexible, cheaper, soft and ideal for office cabling.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Transmission medium

• Optical Fiber :

A optical fiber is a thin, flexible medium capable of guiding an optical ray.

Total internal reflection is the basic principle on which the transmission of
data takes place through fibers.

An optical fiber has a cylindrical shape and consists of three concentric

sections; the core, the cladding and the jacket.

The core is the inner most sections and consists of one or more very thin
strands, or fibers, made of glass or plastic.
The core has a diameter in the range of 8 to 100m.

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Transmission medium

• Optical Fiber :( continued..)

Various glasses and plastics can be used to make optical fibers.

Optical fiber transmits a signal encoded beam of light by means of total
internal reflection.
Total internal reflection can occur in any transparent medium that has a
higher index of refraction than the surrounding medium.
The advantages of optical fiber over twisted pair and coaxial cable become
more compelling as the demand for all types of information (voice, data,
image and video) increases.
Five basic categories of applications have become important for optical
fiber, they are Long-haul trunks, Metropolitan trunks, Rural exchange
trunks, Subscriber loops, and Local area networks.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Wireless transmission

Electro magnetic spectrum :

There are basically two types of configurations for wireless transmission:

directional and omni directional.

For the directional configuration, the transmitting antenna puts out a

focused electromagnetic beam; the transmitting and receiving antennas
must therefore be carefully aligned.

In the omni-directional case, the transmitted signal spreads out in all

directions and can be received by many antennas.

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Wireless transmission

Electro magnetic spectrum : (continued…)

• Three general ranges of frequencies are of interest for wireless
transmission.

1. Frequencies in the range of about 2GHz (giga hertz=109 Hz) to

40GHz are referred to as microwave frequencies.

2. Frequencies in the range of 30MHz to 1GHz are suitable for omni

directional applications.

3. Another important frequency range, for local applications, is the

infrared portion of the spectrum. This covers, roughly, from 3x1011
to 2x1014Hz.

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Wireless transmission

Radio transmission :

The radio spectrum, from 3 kHz to 300 GHz, is one range of the
electromagnetic spectrum (infrared, visible and ultraviolet light, and X-
ray frequencies are other ranges).
The radio spectrum is divided into eight frequency bands from VLF (very
low frequency) to EHF (extremely high frequency).
The propagation of a radio wave depends on its frequency. Radio waves
with frequencies below 30 MHz are reflected against different layers of
the atmosphere and against the ground.
Above 30 MHz, the frequencies are too high to be reflected by the ionized
layers in the atmosphere. The VHF and UHF frequency bands, which are
used for TV, broadcasting and mobile telephony, belong to this group.

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Wireless transmission

Microwave transmission :
Microwave transmission refers to the technique of transmitting
information over a Microwave link.
Since microwaves are highly susceptible to attenuation by the
atmosphere (especially during wet weather), the use of microwave
transmission is limited to a few contexts.
Properties
It is only suitable over Line of Sight transmission links.
Provides good bandwidth.
Affected by rain, vapour, dust, snow, cloud, mist and fog, heavy
moisture.
Not suitable for links where an obstacle is in between the transmitter and
receiver

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Wireless transmission

Microwave transmission : ( continued…)

Uses of Microwave transmission :

1. Backbone carriers in cellular networks. Used to link BTS-BSC and BSC-

MSC.
2. Communication with satellites

3. Microwave relay links for telephone service providers

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 Unit-5 Transmission Medium

Summary

The characteristic of the signal varies with the transmission medium.

They define the quality of the signal being transmitted and the
characteristics of the signal being received.
Transmission medias are classified as guided and unguided media.
Guided media provides a guided (by a solid medium) path for propagation
of signals such as twisted pairs, coaxial cables, optical fibers etc.
Unguided media employ an antenna for transmitting through air, vacuum
or water. Ex : Broadcast radio, satellite etc
The key concern in design of data transmission system is Data Rate and
Distance.
Microwave transmission refers to the technique of transmitting
information over a Microwave link.

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