Data Transmission

and
Media Transmission

Data Communication 1
Element of communications

• Transmitter
• Receiver
• Medium
– Guided medium
• e.g. twisted pair, optical fiber
– Unguided medium
• e.g. air, water, vacuum

Data Communication 2
Basic Topology

• Direct link
– No intermediate devices
• Point-to-point
– Direct link
– Only 2 devices share link
• Multi-point
– More than two devices share the link

Data Communication 3
Direction of communication
• Simplex
– One direction
• e.g. Radio, Television
• Half duplex
– Either direction, but only one way at a time
• e.g. police radio, HT, Walkie-Talkie
• Full duplex
– Both directions at the same time
• e.g. telephone

Data Communication 4
Data Flow: Simplex

• only transmit in one direction

• rarely used in data communications
• e.g., receiving signals from the radio
station, TV station or CATV
• the sending station has only one
transmitter the receiving station has
only one receiver

Data Communication 5
Simplex Illustration

Data Communication 6
Data Flow: Half Duplex
• data may travel in both directions, but only in
one direction at a time
• provides non-simultaneous two-way
communication
• computers use control signals to negotiate
when to send and when to receive
• the time it takes to switch between sending and
receiving is called turnaround time

Data Communication 7
Half Duplex Illustration

Data Communication 8
Data Flow: Full Duplex

• complete two-way simultaneous

transmission
• faster than half-duplex
communication because no
turnaround time is needed

Data Communication 9
Full Duplex Illustration

Data Communication 10
Electromagnetic Signals

• Function of time
– Analog (varies smoothly over time)
– Digital (constant level over time,
followed by a change to another level)
• Function of frequency
– Spectrum (range of frequencies)
– Bandwidth (width of the spectrum)

Data Communication 11
Periodic Signal
Characteristics
– Amplitude (A): signal value, measured in
volts
– Frequency (f): repetition rate, cycles per
second or Hertz
– Period (T): amount of time it takes for
one repetition, T=1/f
– Phase (Φ): relative position in time,
measured in degrees

Data Communication 12
 Analog Signaling

• represented by sine waves phase

amplitude (volts)

1 cycle difference

time
(sec)

frequency (hertz)
= cycles per second
Data Communication 13
Conversion of Voice Input into
Analog Signal

Data Communication 14
 Digital Signaling

• represented by square waves or

amplitude (volts)

pulses
1 cycle

time
(sec)

frequency (hertz)
= cycles per second
Data Communication 15
Conversion of PC Input to
Digital Signal

Data Communication 16
Digital Text Signaling
• Transmission of electronic pulses
representing the binary digits 1 and 0
• How do we represent letters, numbers,
characters in binary form?
• Earliest example: Morse code (dots and
dashes)
• Most common current form: ASCII
“A” = 41 Hexadecimal = 65 Decimal = 01000001
“B” = 42 Hexadecimal = 66 Decimal = 01000010

Data Communication 17
ASCII Character Codes

• Use 8 bits of data (1 byte) to

transmit one character
• 8 binary bits has 256 possible
outcomes (0 to 255)
• Represents alphanumeric characters,
as well as “special” characters

Data Communication 18
Digital Image Signaling

• Pixelization and binary

representation
Code: 00000000
00111100
01110110
01111110
01111000
01111110
00111100
00000000

Data Communication 19
Why Study Analog?

• Telephone system is primarily analog

rather than digital (designed to carry voice
signals)
• Low-cost, ubiquitous transmission medium
• If we can convert digital information (1s
and 0s) to analog form (audible tone), it
can be transmitted inexpensively

Data Communication 20
Voice Signals

• Easily converted from sound frequencies (measured

in loudness/db) to electromagnetic frequencies,
measured in voltage
• Human voice has frequency components ranging
from 20Hz to 20kHz
• For practical purposes, the telephone system has a
narrower bandwidth than human voice, from 300 to
3400Hz

Data Communication 21
Bandwidth

• Width of the spectrum of frequencies that can be

transmitted
– if spectrum=300 to 3400Hz, bandwidth=3100Hz
• Greater bandwidth leads to greater costs
• Limited bandwidth leads to distortion
• Analog communication measured in Hertz,
• Digital communication measured in bps

Data Communication 22
BPS vs. Baud

• BPS=bits per second

• Baud=# of signal changes per
second
• Each signal change can represent
more than one bit, through variations
on amplitude, frequency, and/or
phase

Data Communication 23
Bandwidth Pipe Analogy

Data Communication 24
Bandwidth Highway Analogy

Data Communication 25
Transmission Media

• the physical path between

transmitter and receiver
• design factors
– bandwidth
– attenuation: weakening of signal over
distances
– interference:
– number of receivers

Data Communication 26
Impairments and Capacity

• Impairments exist in all forms of data

transmission
• Analog signal impairments result in
random modifications that impair
signal quality
• Digital signal impairments result in
bit errors (1s and 0s transposed)

Data Communication 27
Transmission Impairments

• Attenuation
– loss of signal strength over distance
• Attenuation Distortion
– different losses at different frequencies
• Delay Distortion
– different speeds for different frequencies
• Noise

Data Communication 28
Types of Noise

• Thermal (aka “white noise”)

– Uniformly distributed, cannot be
eliminated
• Intermodulation
– when different frequencies
• Crosstalk
• Impulse noise
– Less predictable

Data Communication 29
Transmission Media

• two major classes

– conducted or guided media
• use a conductor such as a wire or a fiber
optic cable to move the signal from sender
to receiver
– wireless or unguided media
• use radio waves of different frequencies and
do not need a wire or cable conductor to
transmit signals

Data Communication 30
Electromagnetic Spectrum

Data Communication 31
Guided Transmission Media

• the transmission capacity depends on

the distance and on whether the
medium is point-to-point or multipoint
• e.g.,
– twisted pair wires
– coaxial cables
– optical fiber

Data Communication 32
Twisted Pair Wires

• consists of two insulated copper wires

arranged in a regular spiral pattern to
minimize the electromagnetic
interference between adjacent pairs
• often used at customer facilities and
also over distances to carry voice as
well as data communications
• low frequency transmission medium
Data Communication 33
Twisted Pair Wires

• two varieties
– STP (shielded twisted pair)
• the pair is wrapped with metallic foil or braid
to insulate the pair from electromagnetic
interference
– UTP (unshielded twisted pair)
• each wire is insulated with plastic wrap, but
the pair is encased in an outer covering

Data Communication 34
Shielded Twisted-Pair Cable

Data Communication 35
Unshielded Twisted Pair
(UTP)

Data Communication 36
Twisted Pair Wires

• Category 3 UTP
– data rates of up to 16mbps are achievable
• Category 5 UTP
– data rates of up to 100mbps are achievable
– more tightly twisted than Category 3 cables
– more expensive, but better performance
• STP
– More expensive, harder to work with

Data Communication 37
Bad and Good Connector

Data Communication 38
Twisted Pair Advantages

• inexpensive and readily available

• flexible and light weight
• easy to work with and install

Data Communication 39
Twisted Pair Disadvantages

• susceptibility to interference and

noise
• attenuation problem
– For analog, repeaters needed every 5-
6km
– For digital, repeaters needed every 2-
3km
• relatively low bandwidth (3000Hz)
Data Communication 40
Coaxial Cable (or Coax)

• bandwidth of up to 400 MHz

• has an inner conductor surrounded
by a braided mesh
• both conductors share a common
center axial, hence the term “co-
axial”

Data Communication 41
Coax Layers
outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)

insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor

Data Communication 42
Coax Advantages

• higher bandwidth
– 400 to 600Mhz
– up to 10,800 voice conversations
• can be tapped easily (pros and cons)
• much less susceptible to interference
than twisted pair

Data Communication 43
Coax Disadvantages

• high attenuation rate makes it

expensive over long distance
• bulky

Data Communication 44
Fiber Optic Cable

• relatively new transmission medium used

by telephone companies in place of long-
distance trunk lines
• also used by private companies in
implementing local data communications
networks
• require a light source with injection laser
diode (ILD) or light-emitting diodes (LED)

Data Communication 45
Fiber Optic Layers

• consists of three concentric sections

plastic jacket glass or plastic fiber core

cladding

Data Communication 46
Data Communication 47
Data Communication 48
Fiber Optic Mode

Data Communication 49
Multimode Fiber

Data Communication 50
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

Data Communication 51
Fiber Optic Signals

fiber optic multimode

step-index

fiber optic multimode

graded-index

fiber optic single mode

Data Communication 52
Fiber End Face Polishing
Techniques

Data Communication 53
Fiber Optic Advantages
• greater capacity (bandwidth of up to
2 Gbps)
• smaller size and lighter weight
• lower attenuation
• immunity to environmental
interference
• highly secure due to tap difficulty
and lack of signal radiation

Data Communication 54
Fiber Optic Disadvantages

• expensive over short distance

• requires highly skilled installers
• adding additional nodes is difficult

Data Communication 55
Wireless (Unguided Media)
Transmission
• transmission and reception are achieved by
means of an antenna
• directional
– transmitting antenna puts out focused beam
– transmitter and receiver must be aligned
• omnidirectional
– signal spreads out in all directions
– can be received by many antennas

Data Communication 56
Omni Directional Antenna

Data Communication 57
Wireless Examples

• terrestrial microwave transmission

• satellite transmission
• broadcast radio
• infrared

Data Communication 58
Terrestrial
Microwave Transmission
• uses the radio frequency spectrum, commonly
from 2 to 40 Ghz
• transmitter is a parabolic dish, mounted as high
as possible
• used by common carriers as well as by private
networks
• requires unobstructed line of sight between
source and receiver
• curvature of the earth requires stations (called
repeaters) to be ~30 miles apart

Data Communication 59
Wireless Network

Data Communication 60
Microwave Transmission
Applications
• long-haul telecommunications
service for both voice and television
transmission
• short point-to-point links between
buildings for closed-circuit TV or a
data link between LANs

Data Communication 61
Microwave Transmission
Advantages
• no cabling needed between sites
• wide bandwidth
• multichannel transmissions

Data Communication 62
Microwave Transmission
Disadvantages
• line of sight requirement
• expensive towers and repeaters
• subject to interference such as
passing airplanes and rain

Data Communication 63
Satellite
Microwave Transmission
• a microwave relay station in space
• can relay signals over long distances
• geostationary satellites
– remain above the equator at a height of
22,300 miles (geosynchronous orbit)
– travel around the earth in exactly the
time the earth takes to rotate

Data Communication 64
Satellite Transmission Links

• earth stations communicate by sending

signals to the satellite on an uplink
• the satellite then repeats those signals on
a downlink
• the broadcast nature of the downlink
makes it attractive for services such as the
distribution of television programming

Data Communication 65
 Satellite Transmission
Process
satellite
transponder

dish dish
22,300 miles

uplink station downlink station

Data Communication 66
Satellite Transmission
Applications
• television distribution
– a network provides programming from a
central location
– direct broadcast satellite (DBS)
• long-distance telephone transmission
– high-usage international trunks
• private business networks

Data Communication 67
Principal Satellite
Transmission Bands
• C band: 4(downlink) - 6(uplink) GHz
– the first to be designated
• Ku band: 12(downlink) -14(uplink) GHz
– rain interference is the major problem
• Ka band: 19(downlink) - 29(uplink) GHz
– equipment needed to use the band is still very
expensive

Data Communication 68
Satellite Advantages

• can reach a large geographical area

• high bandwidth
• cheaper over long distances

Data Communication 69
Satellite Disadvantages

• high initial cost

• susceptible to noise and interference
• propagation delay

Data Communication 70
Infrared

• Line of sight (or reflection)

• Blocked by walls
• e.g. TV remote control

Data Communication 71
Broadcast Radio

• Omnidirectional
• FM radio
• UHF and VHF television
• Line of sight

Data Communication 72
Radio Wave

Data Communication 73
Roaming

Data Communication 74
Common Carriers

• a government-regulated private company

• involved in the sale of infrastructure
services in transportation and
communications
• required to serve all clients indiscriminately
• services and prices from common carriers
are described in tariffs

Data Communication 75
Leased (or Dedicated) Lines

• permanently or semi-permanently
connect between two points
• economical in high volume calls
between two point
• no delay associated with switching
times
• can assure consistently high-quality
connections
Data Communication 76
Leased (or Dedicated) Lines

• voice grade channels

– normal telephone lines
– in the range of 300 Hertz to 3300 Hertz
• conditioning or equalizing
– reduces the amount of noise on the line,
providing lower error rates and
increased speed for data
communications

Data Communication 77
End of
Presentation

Data Communication 78