ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Transmission Medium and Physical

Layer

Transmission Media

1 2

Analog vs Digital Signals Data Modulation

• Information transmitted via analog or digital signals
• In analog signals, voltage varies continuously and
appears as a wavy line when graphed over time
• Digital signals composed of pulses of precise
(discrete), positive voltages and zero voltages

An information signal/wave modified through modulation.

It is mixed with a carrier at a specific frequency.
3 4

Transmission Direction Transmission Direction

• Simplex transmission: signals may travel in only one
direction
• Half-duplex transmission: signals may travel in both
directions over a medium
– Only one direction at a time
• Full-duplex or duplex: signals free to travel in both
directions over a medium simultaneously

Simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex communication

5 6

1
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Multiplexing Relationships Between Nodes

• Multiplexing: Allowing multiple signals to travel
simultaneously over one medium
– Channel logically separated into sub-channels either by time,
frequency or code
• Multiplexer (mux): combines multiple signals
– Sending end of channel
• Demultiplexer (demux): separates combined signals and
regenerates them in original form
– Receiving end of channel

Point-to-point versus broadcast (point to multipoint) transmission

7 8

Throughput vs Bandwidth Baseband vs Bandpass

• Throughput: measure of amount of data transmitted during • Baseband: digital signals sent through direct current (DC)
given time period – bits/s e.g kbps, mbps pulses applied to a wire
• Bandwidth: difference between highest and lowest – Requires exclusive use of wire’s capacity
frequencies that a medium can transmit. Measured in Hz e.g – Baseband systems transmit one signal at a time
KHz, MHz – E.g ethernet cables, coaxial
• Broadband/Bandpass/Passband: signals modulated as
radiofrequency (RF) analog waves that use different frequency
ranges e.g wireless signals

9 10

Transmission Flaws: Noise Signal distortion and use repeater

• Noise – unwanted signal. Examples:
– Electromagnetic interference (EMI): waves emanating
from electrical devices or cables
– Radiofrequency interference (RFI): electromagnetic
interference caused by other radiowaves
An analog signal and distorted by noise and then amplified.
– Crosstalk: signal traveling on a wire or cable infringes on Amplifier will amplify both noise and signal
signal traveling over adjacent wire or cable
– Certain amount of signal noise is unavoidable
– All forms of noise measured in decibels (dB) -
10log10(P1 / P0), 10log10(S / N), S – signal, N - noise

A digital signal distorted by noise and then boosted by repeater

11 12

2
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Latency, Round Trip time,

Common Media Characteristics:
Attenuation
• Latency: Delay between transmission and receipt of a signal • Throughput
– Many possible causes:
• Cable length • Cost
• Intervening connectivity device (e.g., modems and routers)
• Noise immunity
• Round trip time (RTT): Time for packets to go from sender to
receiver and back
• Attenuation – reduction in signal strength as a signal travels
across a transmission medium

13 14

Common Media Characteristics:

Throughput
Cost
• Depends on transmission medium. • Different transmission medium will have different cost of
• Transmission methods using fiber-optic cables achieve faster installation
throughput than those using copper or wireless connections • Fiber optic cable infrastructure rollout more expensive that
because fiber optic cables have bigger bandwidth twisted pair cable
• Noise and number of devices connected to transmission
medium also affect throughput.
• The more the devices sharing a medium, the less the
throughput.
• Noise reduces throughput.

15 16

Noise Immunity Classes of transmission media

• Some types of media are more susceptible to noise than
others:
– Fiber-optic cable least susceptible
• It is therefore important to install cables away from powerful
electromagnetic forces
– May need to use metal conduit to contain and protect signal from
interfering signals

17 18

3
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Coaxial Cable (or Coax) Coaxial Cable

• Used for cable television, LANs, telephony
• Has an inner conductor surrounded by a braided mesh

19 20

Coax Layers Coax Advantages

outer jacket • High bandwidth
(polyethylene) – 400 to 600Mhz
shield – up to 10,800 voice conversations
(braided wire) • Can be tapped easily (pros and cons)
• Much less susceptible to interference than twisted pair cable
insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor

21 22

Coax Disadvantages Twisted Pair Cable

• High attenuation rate makes it unsuitable for long

distance data transmission
– Attenuation is reduction in signal strength
• Bulky

23 24

4
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Twisted-Pair Cable STP (Shielded Twisted-Pair)

• Color-coded pairs of insulated copper wires twisted together
• Most common form of cabling found on LANs today
• Twist ratio: twists per meter or foot
– Higher twist ratio reduces crosstalk but increases attenuation
• TIA/EIA 568 standard divides twisted-pair wiring into several
categories
– Level 1 or CAT 3, 4, 5, 5e, 6, 6e, 7
– TIA – Telecommunication industry association, EIA – Electronics
industry association

25 26

UTP (Unshielded Twisted-Pair)

• Less expensive, less resistant to noise than STP
• Categories:
– CAT 3 (Category 3): up to 10 Mbps of data
– CAT 4 (Category 4): 16 Mbps throughput
– CAT 5 (Category 5): up to 1000 Mbps throughput
– CAT 5e (Enhanced Category 5): higher twist ratio
– CAT 6 (Category 6): six times the throughput of
CAT 5
– CAT 6e (Enhanced Category 6): reduced attenuation and crosstalk

27 28

Twisted Pair Advantages Twisted Pair Disadvantages

• Inexpensive and readily available • Susceptibility to interference and noise for UTP
• Flexible and light weight • Attenuation problem – repeater required every 100m.
• Easy to work with and install

29 30

5
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Comparing STP and UTP Fiber-Optic Cable

• Transmit data as a light signal
• STP – Shielded twisted pair, UTP – unshielded twisted pair
• Contains glass or plastic fibers at core surrounded by layer of
• Throughput: STP and UTP can both transmit data at 10, 100, glass or plastic cladding
and 1000 Mbps – Reflects light back to core
– Depending on grade of cabling and transmission method used
• Cost: STP usually more expensive than UTP
• Connector: Both use RJ-45 and RJ-11
• Noise Immunity: STP more noise-resistant
• Size and scalability: Max segment length for both is 100 m on
10BASE-T and 100BASE-T networks

31 32

Fiber-Optic Cable Fiber-Optic Cable

Electrical to optical conversion at sender using LED

Optical to electrical conversion at receiver using a photodetector

33 34

Fiber Optic Types

• Multimode step-index Optical Fiber characteristics
fiber
– the reflective walls of
the fiber move the • Benefits over copper cabling:
light pulses to the – Nearly unlimited throughput
receiver
– Very high resistance to noise
• Multimode graded-
– Excellent security
index fiber
– acts to refract the – Ability to carry signals for much longer distances before requiring
light toward the repeaters than copper cable
center of the fiber by – Industry standard for high-speed networking
variations in the
density
• Single mode fiber
– the light is guided
down the center of
an extremely narrow
core

35 36

6
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Optical Fiber Characteristics Wireless Transmission

• Throughput: transmission rates exceed 10 Gigabits per second • Networks that transmit signals through the atmosphere via
• Cost: most expensive transmission medium infrared or RF waves are known as wireless networks.
• Noise immunity: unaffected by EMI
• Size and scalability: segment lengths vary from
150 to 40,000 meters
– Optical loss: degradation of light signal after it travels a certain
distance away from its source
– Very minimal loss

37 38

Sky wave vs ground wave, Line of Table: Frequency Bands

Band Range Propagation Application
sight 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

L – low, H – High, E – Extremely, S – Super, V- Very, U- Ultra, F- Frequency

39 40

Characteristics of Wireless Transmission Antennas

• Antenna converts electrical energy into electromagnetic
energy and vice versa.
• Antennas can be classified into two according to the radiation
pattern:
• Directional antenna issues wireless signals along a single direction
• Omnidirectional antenna issues and receives wireless signals with
equal strength and clarity in all directions

Figure: Wireless transmission and reception

41 42

7
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Antennas Antennas

43 44

Wireless Examples Terrestrial Microwave

• Terrestrial microwave • Used for long-distance transmission
• Uses radio frequency spectrum, from 2 to 40 Ghz
• Satellite microwave
• Parabolic dish transmitter, mounted high
• Broadcast radio • Requires unobstructed line of sight between source and
• Infrared receiver
• Curvature of the earth requires stations (repeaters) ~30 miles
apart

45 46

Microwave Transmission Satellite

Disadvantages Microwave Transmission
• Line of sight requirement • A microwave relay station in space
• Expensive towers and repeaters • Can relay signals over long distances, across continents
• Subject to interference such as passing airplanes and rain • 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

47 48

8
ECCI 2105 / ECSI 2208 19/04/2021

Satellite Transmission Links Satellite Transmission Applications

• Earth stations communicate by sending signals to the satellite • Television distribution
on an uplink – A network provides programming from a central location
• The satellite then repeats those signals on a downlink – Direct broadcast satellite (DBS)
• The broadcast nature of the downlink makes it attractive for • Long-distance telephone transmission
services such as the distribution of television programming – High-usage international trunks
• Private business networks

49 50

Fiber vs Satellite Radio

• Radio is a general term often used to encompass frequencies
in the range 3 khz to 300 Ghz.
• Microwave: 300 MHz – 300GHz
• Mobile telephony occupies several frequency bands just
under 1 Ghz.

51 52

Infrared
• Uses transmitters/receivers (transceivers) that modulate
noncoherent infrared light.
• Transceivers must be within line of sight of each other
(directly or via reflection ).
• Unlike radio waves, infrared does not penetrate walls.
• Example use: TV remote control

53