Unguided Transmission Media
It is also called wireless communication or unbounded transmission, they
transmit electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. In this
medium signals are radiated through the air (or, in a few cases, water) and
therefore, are reaching to anyone with a device capable of accepting them.
We can categorize wireless transmission into the following groups,
a. Radio waves
b. Micro waves
c. Infrared waves
a) Radio Waves
Radio waves are electromagnetic waves and are omnidirectional. When an
antenna transports radio waves they are propagated in all directions in free
space which means the sending and receiving antennas do not have to be
aligned that is any receiving antenna can receive that transmitted wave.
The frequency of radio waves about 30 hertz (Hz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz) and
like all other electromagnetic waves radio waves travel at the speed of light in
vacuum.
Applications of Radio waves
These waves are omnidirectional so they are useful for multicasting in
which one sender but many receivers.
Examples of radio waves are television, AM and FM radio, cordless
phones, and paging.
Advantages and disadvantages
Radio waves are easy to generate and penetrate buildings also can travel
long distances.
Radio waves cover a large area and can penetrate the buildings. By this,
an AM radio can receive signals inside a building.
This can also be disadvantageous because we cannot isolate a
communication just inside or outside a building. Cause of this,
governments strictly legislate the use of radio transmitters.
b) Micro Waves
Micro Waves includes a line of sight transmission that is the sending and
receiving antennas that need to be properly aligned with each other. The
distance is directly proportional to the height of the antenna which is covered by
the signal. In mobile phone communication and television distribution, these are
majorly used.
Applications of Micro Waves
Due to the unidirectional properties of Micro Waves, they are very useful when
unicast (one-to-one) communication is needed between the sender and the
receiver. Cellular phones, satellite networks, and wireless LANs are using Micro
Waves.
Microwave Transmission
Two types of Microwave Transmission are as follows,
i. Terrestrial Microwave
ii. Satellite Microwave
(i) Terrestrial Microwave
The frequency of Electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 300 GHz are
called microwaves. These waves are unidirectional. Whenever through an
antenna microwave are transmitting, they can be narrowly focused. That is the
sending and receiving antennas need to be aligned.
Characteristics of microwaves
It is inexpensive for short distance expensive as it requires a higher tower
for a longer distance.
Due to environmental conditions and antenna size attenuation (loss of
signal) occurs.
There is a capacity in very high-frequency microwaves that they cannot
penetrate walls. This characteristic can be a disadvantage of microwaves if
the receiver is inside the buildings.
Advantages
Microwave transmission is cheaper than using cables.
It does not require any land for the installation of cables that is free from
land acquisition.
Microwave transmission provides easy communication.
Disadvantages
Bandwidth is limited in microwave transmission.
A signal can be moved out of phase and any environmental change such
as rain, wind can distort the signal so these signals are susceptible to
weather conditions.
Cause of eavesdropping insecure communication occurs in which any user
can catch the signal in the air by using its antenna.
(ii) Satellite Microwave
A satellite is an entity that revolves around the earth at a certain height. Satellite
communication offers more flexibility than fiber optic and cable systems. We can
transmit signals from any point on the globe by using satellite transmission.
How does a Satellite work?
The satellite receives the signal that is transmitted from the earth station, and it
amplifies these signals. It is retransmitted the amplified signal to another earth
station.
Satellite transmission is much like the line-of-sight transmission in which one of
the stations is a satellite orbiting the earth. The principle is the same as the
terrestrial microwave. Signals still travel in straight lines in satellite transmission.
Features of Satellite Microwave
It provides transmission capability to and from any location on earth.
Deployment of Satellite microwaves for orbiting satellites is difficult.
Advantages of Satellite Microwave
High-quality communication available to undeveloped parts of the world
without requiring a huge investment in the ground-based infrastructure.
It is used in a variety of applications such as radio/TV signal broadcasting,
weather forecasting, radio/TV signal broadcasting, mobile communication
and mobile, and wireless communication applications.
The coverage area of a terrestrial microwave is less than the terrestrial
microwave.
Disadvantages of Satellite Microwave
The manufacturing cost is very high of satellite and very expensive to
launch a satellite.
Transmission can go down in bad weather.
c) Infrared Waves
The frequency of Infrared waves is about 300 GHz to 430 THz, which can be
used for short-range communication. Infrared waves of high frequencies cannot
penetrate walls. This characteristic of Infrared waves prevents interference
between one system and another. This means a short-range communication
system in a room cannot be affected by another system in the adjacent room.
If we are using the infrared remote control, we do not interfere with the use of the
remote by our neighbors. However, by this characteristic, infrared signals
become useless for long-range communication. Also, we cannot use infrared
waves outside a building because the sun's rays contain infrared waves that can
interfere with communication.
Characteristics of infrared waves
This type of wide bandwidth can be used to transmit digital data with a very
high data rate.
The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) has established standards for using
these signals for communication between devices such as keyboards,
mouse, PCs, and printers and it is also responsible for sponsoring the use
of infrared waves.
This type of communication provides better security with minimum
interference.
References:
Transmission medium
Radio Wave
Microwave
