Data communications

Data transmission and media

Transmission Media
• The transmission medium is the physical path by which a message
travels from sender to receiver.

• Computers and telecommunication devices use signals to represent

data.
• These signals are transmitted from a device to another in the form of
electromagnetic energy.

• Examples of Electromagnetic energy include power, radio waves,

infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, and X and gamma rays.

• All these electromagnetic signals constitute the electromagnetic

spectrum
Overview
• Guided - wire
• Unguided - wireless
• Characteristics and quality determined by
medium and signal
• For guided, the medium is more important
• For unguided, the bandwidth produced by the
antenna is more important
• Key concerns are data rate and distance
Design Factors
• Bandwidth
—Higher bandwidth gives higher data rate
• Transmission impairments
—Attenuation
• Interference
• Number of receivers
—In guided media
—More receivers (multi-point) introduce more
attenuation
Electromagnetic Spectrum
•Not all portion of the spectrum are currently usable for
telecommunications

•Each portion of the spectrum requires a particular

transmission medium
• Signals of low frequency (like voice signals)
are generally transmitted as current over
metal cables. It is not possible to transmit
visible light over metal cables, for this class
of signals is necessary to use a different
media, for example fiber-optic cable.
Classes of transmission media
Transmission Media
• Two main categories:
—Guided ― wires, cables
—Unguided ― wireless transmission, e.g. radio,
microwave, infrared, sound, sonar
• We will concentrate on guided media here:
1. Twisted-Pair cables:
 Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP) cables
 Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP) cables
2. Coaxial cables
3. Fiber-optic cables

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 Transmission Characteristics of Guided
Media
 

  Frequency Typical Typical Repeater

Range Attenuation Delay Spacing
Twisted pair 0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @ 50 µs/km 2 km
(with loading) 1 kHz

Twisted pairs 0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @ 5 µs/km 2 km

(multi-pair 1 kHz
cables)
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10 4 µs/km 1 to 9 km
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370 0.2 to 0.5 5 µs/km 40 km
THz dB/km
Twisted-Pair Cable
Effect of Noise on Parallel Lines
Twisted-Pair Cables
• If the pair of wires are not twisted, electromagnetic
noises from, e.g., motors, will affect the closer wire more
than the further one, thereby causing errors
• The twisting helps to reduce the interference (noise)
and crosstalk.

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Twisted Pair - Transmission
Characteristics
• Analog
—Amplifiers every 5km to 6km
• Digital
—Use either analog or digital signals
—repeater every 2km or 3km
• Limited distance
• Limited bandwidth (1MHz)
• Limited data rate (100MHz)
• Susceptible to interference and noise
Near End Crosstalk
• Coupling of signal from one pair to another
• Coupling takes place when transmit signal
entering the link couples back to receiving pair
• i.e. near transmitted signal is picked up by near
receiving pair
Frequency range of twisted pair
UTP and STP
Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP)
• Typically wrapped inside a plastic cover (for mechanical
protection)
• A sample UTP cable with 5 unshielded twisted pairs of wires

Insulator Metal

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Unshielded Twisted-pair (UTP) cable
• Any medium can transmit only a
fixed range of frequencies!
• UTP cable is the most common
type of telecommunication
medium in use today.

• The range is suitable for

transmitting both data and video.
• Advantages of UTP are its cost
and ease of use. UTP is cheap,
flexible, and easy to install.
 UTP connectors
The most common UTP connector is RJ45 (RJ stands for
Registered Jack).
Unshielded and Shielded TP
• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
—Ordinary telephone wire
—Cheapest
—Easiest to install
—Suffers from external EM interference
• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
—Metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference
—More expensive
—Harder to handle (thick, heavy)
Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP)
• STP cables are similar to UTP cables, except
there is a metal foil or braided-metal-mesh
cover that encases each pair of insulated wires

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Figure 7-9
UTP Connectors

WCB/McGraw-Hill  The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998

Categories of UTP Cables
EIA classifies UTP cables according to the quality:
• Category 1 ― the lowest quality, only good for voice,
mainly found in very old buildings, not recommended now
• Category 2 ― good for voice and low data rates (up to
4Mbps for low-speed token ring networks)
• Category 3 ― at least 3 twists per foot, for up to 10 Mbps
(common in phone networks in residential buildings)
• Category 4 ― up to 16 Mbps (mainly for token rings)
• Category 5 (or 5e) ― up to 100 Mbps (common for
networks targeted for high-speed data communications)
• Category 6 ― more twists than Cat 5, up to 1 Gbps

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able 7.1 Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables

Category Bandwidth Data Rate Digital/Analog Use

1 very low < 100 kbps Analog Telephone

2 < 2 MHz 2 Mbps Analog/digital T-1 lines

3 16 MHz 10 Mbps Digital LANs

4 20 MHz 20 Mbps Digital LANs

5 100 MHz 100 Mbps Digital LANs

6 (draft) 200 MHz 200 Mbps Digital LANs

7 (draft) 600 MHz 600 Mbps Digital LANs

Coaxial Cables
• In general, coaxial cables, or coax, carry signals
of higher freq (100KHz–500MHz) than UTP cables
• Outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield
against noise and as the second conductor that
completes the circuit

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Coaxial Cable (or coax)

• Coaxial cable carries signals

of higher frequency ranges
than twisted-pair cable.

• Coaxial Cable standards:

RG-8, RG-9, RG-11 are
used in thick Ethernet
RG-58 Used in thin Ethernet
RG-59 Used for TV
Coaxial Cable Applications
• Most versatile medium
• Television distribution
—Ariel to TV
—Cable TV
• Long distance telephone transmission
—Can carry 10,000 voice calls simultaneously
—Being replaced by fiber optic
• Short distance computer systems links
• Local area networks
Coaxial Cable - Transmission
Characteristics
• Analog
—Amplifiers every few km
—Closer if higher frequency
—Up to 500MHz
• Digital
—Repeater every 1km
—Closer for higher data rates
 BNC connectors

•To connect coaxial cable to devices, it is necessary to use

coaxial connectors. The most common type of connector is
the Bayone-Neill-Concelman, or BNC, connectors. There
are three
types: the BNC connector, the BNC T connector, the BNC
terminator.
Applications include cable TV networks, and some
traditional Ethernet LANs like 10Base-2, or 10-Base5.
 Fiber-Optic Cables
• Light travels at 3108 ms-1 in free space and is the
fastest possible speed in the Universe
• Light slows down in denser media, e.g. glass
• Refraction occurs at interface, with light bending
away from the normal when it enters a less dense
medium

• Beyond the critical angle  total internal reflection

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Fiber-Optic Cables
• An optical fiber consists of a core (denser
material) and a cladding (less dense material)
• Simplest one is a multimode step-index optical
fiber
• Multimode = multiple paths, whereas step-index
= refractive index follows a step-function profile
(i.e. an abrupt change of refractive index between
the core and the cladding)
• Light bounces back and forth along the core
• Common light sources: LEDs and lasers

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• Optical fibers use reflection to guide light through a channel.
• A glass or core is surrounded by a cladding of less dense glass
or plastic. The difference in density of the two materials must
be such that a beam of light moving through the core is
reflected off the cladding instead of being into it.
• Information is encoded onto a beam of light as a series of on-off
flashes that represent 1 and 0 bits.
Fiber construction
Optical Fiber
Fiber Optic Layers
• consists of three concentric sections

plastic jacket glass or plastic fiber core

cladding
Fiber Optic Types
• multimode step-index fiber
—the reflective walls of the fiber move the light pulses
to the receiver
• multimode graded-index fiber
—acts to refract the light toward the center of the fiber
by variations in the density
• single mode fiber
—the light is guided down the center of an extremely
narrow core
Optical Fiber Transmission Modes
Types of Optical Fiber

• There are two basic types of fiber:

i. multimode fiber and
ii. single-mode fiber.

• Multimode fiber is best designed for short

transmission distances, and is suited for use in LAN
systems and video surveillance. 

• Single-mode fiber is best designed for longer

transmission distances, making it suitable for long-
distance telephony and multichannel television
broadcast systems.
Propagation Modes (Types of Optical Fiber )

• Current technology
supports two modes for
propagating light along
optical channels, each
requiring fiber with
different physical
characteristics: Multimode
and Single Mode.

• Multimode, in turn, can be

implemented in two forms:
step-index or graded index.
Fiber optic Propagation Modes
 Fiber optic propagation modes
• Multimode: In this case multiple beams from a light
source move through the core in different paths.
• In multimode step-index fiber, the density of the
core remains constant from the center to the edges. A
beam of light moves through this constant density in a
straight line until it reaches the interface of the core
and cladding. At the interface there is an abrupt
change to a lower density that alters the angle of the
beam’s motion.
• In a multimode graded-index fiber the density is
highest at the center of the core and decreases
gradually to its lowest at the edge.
 Fiber-optic cable connectors

The subscriber channel (SC) connector is used in cable TV. It

uses a push/pull locking system. The straight-tip (ST) connector
is used for connecting cable to networking devices. MT-RJ is a
new connector with the same size as RJ45.
 Media: Selection Criteria

Media Advantages Disadvantages

Twisted Pair Inexpensive. Fairly low bandwidth.
Wire Easy to install. Does not handle high
Large installed base. frequencies well.
Coaxial Cable Fairly inexpensive. Bulky and somewhat
Fairly high bandwidth. inflexible.
Fiber Optic Unaffected by “noise.” Expensive to install.
Cable Very high bandwidth.
Satellite No line of sight needed. Leased channels.
No cabling required. Initial equipment cost.
High bandwidth. Long delays (GEOS).
Terrestrial No cabling required. Line of sight required.
Microwave High bandwidth. Towers/repeaters needed.
Initial equipment cost.
Fiber Cables (2)
A comparison of semiconductor diodes and LEDs
as light sources.
Fiber Optic Networks
A fiber optic ring with active repeaters.
Advantages of fiber optic cables

 Noise resistance ― external light is blocked by outer

jacket
 Less signal attenuation ― a signal can run for miles
without regeneration (currently, the lowest measured
loss is about ~4% or 0.16dB per km)
 Higher bandwidth ― currently, limits on data rates come
from the signal generation/reception technology, not the
fiber itself

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Disadvantages of Optical Fiber
 Cost ― Optical fibers are expensive
 Installation/maintenance ― any crack in the core will degrade the
signal, and all connections must be perfectly aligned
• The main disadvantages of fiber optics are cost,
installation/maintenance, and fragility.
• Cost. Fiber-optic cable is expensive. Also, a laser light source can
cost thousands of dollars, compared to hundreds of dollars for
electrical signal generators.
• Installation/maintenance
• Fragility. Glass fiber is more easily broken than wire, making it less
useful for applications where hardware portability is required.
Unguided Media
• Unguided media, or wireless communication, transport
electromagnetic waves without using a physical
conductor. Instead the signals are broadcast though air
or water, and thus are available to anyone who has a
device capable of receiving them.
• The section of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as
radio communication is divided into eight ranges, called
bands, each regulated by government authorities.
 Propagation of Radio Waves
• Radio technology considers the earth as surrounded by two
layers of atmosphere: the troposphere and the
ionosphere.
• The troposphere is the portion of the atmosphere extending
outward approximately 30 miles from the earth's surface.
• The troposphere contains what we generally think of as air.
Clouds, wind, temperature variations, and weather in general
occur in the troposphere.
• The ionosphere is the layer of the atmosphere above the
troposphere but below space.
Propagation methods
• Ground propagation. In ground propagation,
radio waves travel through the lowest portion of
the atmosphere, hugging the earth. These low-
frequency signals emanate in all directions from the
transmitting antenna and follow the curvature of
the planet. The distance depends on the power in
the signal.
• In Sky propagation, higher-frequency radio
waves radiate upward into the ionosphere where
they are reflected back to earth. This type of
transmission allows for greater distances with
lower power output.
• In Line-of-Sight Propagation, very high
frequency signals are transmitted in straight lines
directly from antenna to antenna.
Wireless Propagation
• Signal travels along three routes
— Ground wave
– Follows contour of earth
– Up to 2MHz
– AM radio
— Sky wave
– Amateur radio, BBC world service, Voice of America
– Signal reflected from ionosphere layer of upper atmosphere
– (Actually refracted)
— Line of sight
– Above 30Mhz
– May be further than optical line of sight due to refraction
– More later…
Ground Wave Propagation
Sky Wave Propagation
Line of Sight Propagation
Propagation methods
 Bands
Band Range Propagation Application

VLF 3–30 KHz Ground Long-range radio navigation

Radio beacons and
LF 30–300 KHz Ground
navigational locators
MF 300 KHz–3 MHz Sky AM radio
Citizens band (CB),
HF 3–30 MHz Sky
ship/aircraft communication
Sky and VHF TV,
VHF 30–300 MHz
line-of-sight FM radio
UHF TV, cellular phones,
UHF 300 MHz–3 GHz Line-of-sight
paging, satellite

SHF 3–30 GHz Line-of-sight Satellite communication

EHF 30–300 GHz Line-of-sight Long-range radio navigation

Wireless Transmission Frequencies
• 2GHz to 40GHz
—Microwave
—Highly directional
—Point to point
—Satellite
• 30MHz to 1GHz
—Omnidirectional
—Broadcast radio
• 3 x 1011 to 2 x 1014
—Infrared
—Local
Design Factors
for Transmission Media
• Bandwidth: All other factors remaining constant, the
greater the band-width of a signal, the higher the data
rate that can be achieved.
• Transmission impairments. Limit the distance a signal
can travel.
• Interference: Competing signals in overlapping
frequency bands can distort or wipe out a signal.
• Number of receivers: Each attachment introduces some
attenuation and distortion, limiting distance and/or data
rate.
 IEEE 1394 ‘Firewire’

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AWG
28
AWG

IEEE 1394b
800, 1600, 3200 Mb/s over POF 400 Mb/s over 4.5 m
3.2 Gb/s over glass fibre
100 Mb/s over UTP
Universal Serial Bus

1.5, 12 or 480 Mb/s, up to 5 m,

cascade 5 devices up to 30 m
Fiber vs Satellite
Choosing the Right Transmission Media
• Areas of high EMI or RFI
• Corners and small spaces
• Distance
• Security
• Existing infrastructure
• Growth
Media: Selection Criteria

• Cost (Initial, Expansion, & Maintenance)

• Speed (Data Rate & Response Time)
• Availability
• Expandability
• Error Rates
• Security
• Distance (Geography & Number of Sites)
• Environment
• Application-Specific Constraints
• Maintenance
 Serial Transmission

Data is transmitted, on a single channel, one bit at a

time one after another
- Much faster than parallel because of way bits
processed (e.g. USB and SATA drives)

1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
Sender transmitted Receiver received

Graham Betts
 Parallel Transmission

-each bit has it’s own piece of wire along which it travels
- often used to send data to a printer

1
Sender transmitted

Receiver received
0
1
1
0
0
1

All bits are sent simultaneously

Graham Betts
Why Not use Parallel Instead of serial?
• Due to inconsistencies on channels data arrives
at different times
• Because of the way it is transmitted packet
switching cannot be used
• The above two points makes parallel slower
than serial and requires higher bandwidth.
• Parallel transmissions are rarely used anymore

Graham Betts
Synchronous Vs AsynchronousTransmissions

Synchronous Transmission
all data sent at once and no packet switching

Asynchronous Transmission
•Uses stop/ start bits
•most common type of serial data transfer
•Allows packet switching
•Allows sharing of bandwidth (i.e. talk on phone
while another person is using internet)
Graham Betts