Practical No.

TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Introduction :
A transmission medium (plural transmission media) is a material substance (solid, liquid,
gas, or plasma) which can propagate energy waves. For example, the transmission medium for sound
received by the ears is usually air, but solids and liquids may also act as transmission media for
sound.
Transmission media are the physical pathways that connect computers, other devices, and
people on a network. Each transmission medium requires specialized network hardware that is
compatible with that medium, and most networks need to use combination of transmission media
types selected based on the network's needs and prevailing conditions.

The term transmission medium can also refer to the technical device which employs the
material substance to transmit or guide the waves. Thus an optical fiber or a copper cable can be
referred to as a transmission medium

The absence of a material medium (the vacuum of empty space) can also be thought of as 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 through which they pass, for instance by absorption or by reflection or
refraction at the interfaces between media.

A transmission medium can be classified as a:

 Linear medium, if different waves at any particular point in the medium can be superposed;
 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.

Types of Transmission media:

The means through which data is transformed from one place to another is called transmission or
communication media. There are two categories of transmission media used in computer
communications.

 GUIDED MEDIA

 UNGUIDED MEDIA

1. GUIDED MEDIA:
Bounded media are the physical links through which signals are confined to narrow path. These are
also called guide media. Bounded media are made up o a external conductor (Usually Copper)
bounded by jacket material. Bounded media are great for LABS because they offer high speed, good

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security and low cast. However, some time they cannot be used due distance communication. Three
common types of bounded media are used of the data transmission. These are :

 Coaxial Cable.

 Twisted pair cable.

 Fibre optics

COAXIAL CABLE:
Coaxial cable is very common & widely used commutation media. For example TV wire is usually
coaxial. Coaxial cable gets its name because it contains two conductors that are parallel to each other.
The center conductor in the cable is usually copper. The copper can be either a solid wire or stranded
martial. Outside this central Conductor is a non-conductive material. It is usually white, plastic
material used to separate the inner Conductor form the outer Conductor. The other Conductor is a
fine mesh made from Copper. It is used to help shield the cable form EMI.Outside the copper mesh is
the final protective cover. The actual data travels through the center conductor in the cable. EMI
interference is caught by outer copper mesh. There are different types of coaxial cable vary by gauge
& impedance.

Fig.: Cross-section of a coaxial 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.

CHARACTERISTICS :

 Low cost
 Easy to install
 Up to 10Mbps capacity
 Medium immunity form EMI
 Medium of attenuation

ADVANTAGES :

 Inexpensive

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  Easy to wire

 Easy to expand

 Moderate level of EMI immunity

DISADVANTAGE :

 Single cable failure can take down an entire network

TWISTED PAIR CABLE :

The most popular network cabling is Twisted pair. It is light weight, easy to install, inexpensive and
support many different types of network. It also supports the speed of 100 mps. Twisted pair cabling
is made of pairs of solid or stranded copper twisted along each other. The number of pairs in the
cable depends on the type. The copper core is usually 22-AWG or 24-AWG, as measured on the
American wire gauge standard.

Fig.: Twisted pair wire

There are two types of twisted pairs cabling

1. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)

2. Shielded twisted pair (STP)

Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)

UTP is more common. 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.There are
five levels of data cabling

Category 1: These are used in telephone lines and low speed data cable.

Category 2: These cables can support up to 4 mps implementation.

Category 3: These cable supports up to 16 mps and are mostly used in 10 mps.

Category 4:These are used for large distance and high speed. It can support 20mps.

Category 5 : This is the highest rating for UTP cable and can support up to 100mps.

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.

UTP

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CHARACTERISTICS:

 Easy to install
 High speed capacity
 High attenuation
 Effective to EMI
 100 meter limit

ADVANTAGES :

 Easy installation
 Capable of high speed for LAN
 Low cost

DISADVANTAGES :

 Short distance due to attenuation

Shielded twisted pair (STP)

It is similar to UTP but has a mesh shielding that’s protects it from EMI which allows for higher
transmission rate. 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 3: This type feature two pairs of standard shielded 26-AWG

Type 4: This type of STP consists of 1 pair of standard shielded 26-AWG

Type 5: This type consist of shielded 26-AWG wire

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

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ADVANTAGES :

 Faster than UTP and coaxial & Shielded

DISADVANTAGES :

 More expensive than UTP and coaxial

 More difficult installation
 High attenuation rate

FIBER OPTICS :

Fiber optic cable uses electrical signals to transmit data. It uses light. In fiber optic cable light
only moves in one direction for two way communication to take place a second connection must be
made between the two devices. It is actually two stands of cable. Each stand is responsible for one
direction of communication. A laser at one device sends pulse of light through this cable to other
device. These pulses translated into “1’s” and “0’s” at the other end. In the center of fiber cable is a
glass stand or core. The light from the laser moves through this glass to the other device around the
internal core is a reflective material known as CLADDING. No light escapes the glass core because
of this reflective cladding. Fiber optic cable has bandwidth more than 2 gbps (Gigabytes per
Second).

1. Core: 8 µm diameter.
2. Cladding: 125 µm diameter.
3. Buffer: 250 µm diameter.
4. Jacket: 400 µm diameter.

Fig.: Structure of fiber optic cable

CHARACTERISTICS:

 Expensive
 Very hard to install
 Capable of extremely high speed
 Extremely low attenuation
 No EMI interference

ADVANTAGES :

 Fast
 Low attenuation
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  No EMI interference

DISADVANTAGES :

 Very costly
 Hard to install

2. UNBOUNDED MEDIA:
Unguided transmission media are methods that allow the transmission of data without the use of
physical means to define the path it takes. Unguided media provide a means for transmitting
electromagnetic waves but do not guide them; examples are propagation through air, vacuum and
seawater. For unguided media, the bandwidth of signal produced by the transmitting antenna is more
important than the medium in determining transmission characteristics. One key property of signals
transmitted by antenna is directionality.

Examples of Unguided media are:

 microwave
 radio waves

 infrared waves

 Satellites

Microwave:
Electromagnetic radiation beyond the frequency range of radio and television can be used to
transport information. Microwave transmission is usually point-to-point using directional antennae
with a clear path between transmitter and receiver.

ADVANTAGES :
 No cables needed
 Multiple channels available
 Wide bandwidth

DISADVANTAGES:
 Line-of-sight will be disrupted if any obstacle, such as new buildings, are in the way
 Signal absorption by the atmosphere. Microwaves suffer from attenuation due to atmospheric
conditions.
 Towers are expensive to build

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies

below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating
electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information is carried by

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systematically changing (modulating) some property of the radiated waves, such as amplitude,
frequency, phase, or pulse width. When radio waves pass an electrical conductor, the oscillating
fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. This can be detected and transformed into sound
or other signals that carry information.

CHARACTERISTICS:
 Directed Waves
 Noise Concurrency
 Radio Wave's Directness
 Unlimited Range
 Interference

ADVANTAGES :

 Can carry a message instantaneously over a wide area.

 Aerials to receive them are simpler than for microwaves.
 Wires are not needed as they travel through air, thus, a cheaper form of communication.

DISADVANTAGES:

 The range of frequencies that can be accessed by existing technology is limited, so there is a
lot of competition amongst companies for the use of the frequencies.
 Travel in a straight line, so repeater stations may be needed.

Infrared
Infrared (IR) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 0.7 and 300 micrometers,
which equates to a frequency range between approximately 1 and 430 THz.
IR wavelengths are longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of terahertz radiation
microwaves. Bright sunlight provides an irradiance of just over 1 kilowatt per square meter at sea
level. Of this energy, 527 watts is infrared radiation, 445 watts is visible light, and 32 watts is
ultraviolet radiation.

ADVANTAGES :

 Many things are controlled by infrared.

 Sensors are invisible to the naked eye.

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  They are very reliable.

DISADVANTAGES:
 Most infrared sensors must be lined up or they will not work

Satellites

`When used for communications, a satellite acts as a repeater. Its height above the Earth
means that signals can be transmitted over distances that are very much greater than the line of sight.
An earth station transmits the signal up to the satellite. This is called the up-link and is transmitted on
one frequency. The satellite receives the signal and retransmits it on what is termed the down link
which is on another frequency

Using a satellite for long distance communications

Advantages of satellite communication :

Availability
 The biggest advantage of satellite Internet access is its availability compared to other
Internet connection types. Satellite Internet access is a way for those who do not have access to
terrestrial broadband connections such as cable or DSL to have access to high-speed Internet access.
Satellite also is one of the only ways to receive Internet service in areas where telephone lines are not
available.

Speed
 Satellite Internet access is much faster than dial-up, with entry-level service tiers typically
providing approximately 1 mbps download speeds--nearly 18 times faster than a dial-up modem.
Faster speeds are generally available at higher service tiers. In general, the highest speeds available
to home satellite Internet customers are slightly slower than the highest speeds offered by cable and
DSL providers. Additionally, many satellite providers limit the amount of data that can be
downloaded during short time periods to curb frequent large file transfers.

Latency
 Satellite Internet connections are high-latency, meaning that a great deal of time is
required for packets of information to travel to the satellite and back. The total delay can amount to
about one second from the time that you send a request to the Internet to the time that a reply is
received. Satellite Internet providers use various technologies to make this delay less noticeable to
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the end user and create an acceptable experience for browsing the Web. However, the latency makes
a satellite Internet connection unsuitable for high-speed gaming.

Reliability
 Home-based satellite Internet connections are generally no less reliable than terrestrial
broadband. However, all satellite communication is subject to interruption during periods of heavy
snow or rainfall. Talk to other customers about their experiences if you live in an area where either of
these are common. The likelihood of weather-related interruptions is lessened with a larger satellite
dish, which some providers offer.

Cost
 The cost of entry for a satellite Internet connection is quite high. The equipment costs
several hundred dollars to purchase, and some types of installations incur additional fees.
Additionally, the monthly cost for satellite Internet tends to be slightly higher than the cost of cable
or DSL. There are ways of reducing the up-front cost. The equipment can be leased rather than
purchased, and discounts or rebates may be available. Sometimes, installation fees are included in
the lease price.

Disadvantages of Satellite communication

 Communication through satellite is highly costly.
 Security measures are required to prevent the unauthorized tappig of informatin

Traditional Transmission Media Characteristics

Media Type Bandwidth Performance: Typical Error Rate

Twisted-pair for analog voice applications 1MHz Poor to fair (10–5)

Coaxial cable 1GHz Good (10–7 to 10–9)

Microwave 100GHz Good (10–9)

Satellite 100GHz Good (10–9)

Fiber 75THz Great (10–11 to 10–13)

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