Transmission media
What is Transmission media?
Transmission media is a communication channel
that carries the information from the sender to the
receiver. Data is transmitted through the
electromagnetic signals.
The main functionality of the transmission media is
to carry the information in the form of bits
through LAN(Local Area Network).
It is a physical path between transmitter and
receiver in data communication.
In a copper-based network, the bits in the form of
electrical signals.
In a fiber based network, the bits in the form of
light pulses.
The characteristics and quality of data transmission
are determined by the characteristics of medium and
signal.
Transmission media is of two types are wired media
and wireless media. In wired media, medium
characteristics are more important whereas, in
wireless media, signal characteristics are more
important.
The electrical signals can be sent through the copper
wire, fiber optics, atmosphere, water, and vacuum.
Different transmission media have different
properties such as bandwidth, delay, cost and ease
of installation and maintenance.
Some factors need to be considered for
designing the transmission media:
• Bandwidth: All the factors are remaining constant,
the greater the bandwidth of a medium, the higher
the data transmission rate of a signal.
• Transmission impairment: When the received
signal is not identical to the transmitted one due to
the transmission impairment. The quality of the
signals will get destroyed due to transmission
impairment.
• Interference: An interference is defined as the
process of disrupting a signal when it travels over a
communication medium on the addition of some
unwanted signal.
Causes Of Transmission Impairment:
Attenuation: Attenuation means the loss of
energy, i.e., the strength of the signal decreases
with increasing the distance which causes the loss
of energy.
Distortion: Distortion occurs when there is a
change in the shape of the signal. This type of
distortion is examined from different signals having
different frequencies. Each frequency component
has its own propagation speed, so they reach at a
different time which leads to the delay distortion.
Noise: When data is travelled over a transmission
medium, some unwanted signal is added to it
which creates the noise.
Guided Media
it is defined as the physical medium through
which the signals are transmitted.
It is also known as Bounded media.
Types Of Guided media:
Twisted pair:
o Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair
of cables twisted with each other.
o A twisted pair cable is cheap as compared to other
transmission media.
o Installation of the twisted pair cable is easy, and it
is a lightweight cable. The frequency range for
twisted pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.
o A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper
wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.
o The degree of reduction in noise interference is
determined by the number of turns per foot.
Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases
noise interference.
Types of Twisted pair cable
Unshielded twisted pair cable
Shielded twisted pair cable
Advantages Of Unshielded Twisted Pair:
It is cheap.
Installation of the unshielded twisted pair is
easy.
It can be used for high-speed LAN.
Disadvantage:
This cable can only be used for shorter
distances because of attenuation.
Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:
The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very
high and not very low.
An installation of STP is easy.
It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded
twisted pair cable.
It has a higher attenuation.
It is shielded that provides the higher data
transmission rate.
Disadvantages
It is more expensive as compared to UTP and coaxial
cable.
It has a higher attenuation rate.
Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission
media, for example, TV wire is usually a coaxial cable.
The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two
conductors parallel to each other.
It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair
cable.
The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of
copper, and the outer conductor is made up of copper
mesh. The middle core is made up of non-conductive
cover that separates the inner conductor from the outer
conductor.
The middle core is responsible for the data transferring
whereas the copper mesh prevents from
the EMI(Electromagnetic interference).
Coaxial cable is of two types:
Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of
transmitting a single signal at high speed.
Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process
of transmitting multiple signals simultaneously .
Advantages Of Coaxial cable:
The data can be transmitted at high speed.
It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.
It provides higher bandwidth.
Disadvantages Of Coaxial cable:
It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.
If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the
entire network.
Fiber Optic
Fiber optic cable is a cable that uses electrical
signals for communication.
Fiber optic is a cable that holds the optical
fibers coated in plastic that are used to send
the data by pulses of light.
The plastic coating protects the optical fibers
from heat, cold, electromagnetic interference
from other types of wiring.
Fiber optics provide faster data transmission
than copper wires.
Basic elements of Fiber optic cable:
o Core:
• The optical fiber consists of a narrow strand of
glass or plastic known as a core
• A core is a light transmission area of the fiber.
• The more the area of the core, the more light will
be transmitted into the fiber.
o Cladding:
• The concentric layer of glass is known as cladding.
• The main functionality of the cladding is to provide
the lower refractive index at the core interface as
to cause the reflection within the core so that the
light waves are transmitted through the fiber.
o Jacket:
• The protective coating consisting of plastic is
known as a jacket.
• The main purpose of a jacket is to preserve the
fiber strength, absorb shock and extra fiber
protection.
Advantages of fiber optic cable over copper:
o Longer distances: The fiber optic cable carries
the data at a longer distance as compared to
copper cable.
o Better reliability: The fiber optic cable is more
reliable than the copper cable as it is immune to
any temperature changes while it can cause
obstruct in the connectivity of copper cable.
o Greater Bandwidth: The fiber optic cable
provides more bandwidth as compared copper.
Therefore, the fiber optic carries more data as
compared to copper cable.
o Faster speed: Fiber optic cable carries the data
in the form of light. This allows the fiber optic
cable to carry the signals at a higher speed.
Disadvantages
Difficult to install
Requires skilled manpower to operate
Costly
Unguided Transmission
In unguided transmission transmits the
electromagnetic waves without using any
physical medium.
Therefore it is also known as wireless
transmission.
In unguided media, air is the media through
which the electromagnetic energy can flow
easily.
Radio waves
Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves
that are transmitted in all the directions of
free space.
Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the
signals are propagated in all the directions.
The range in frequencies of radio waves is
from 3Khz to 1 khz.
In the case of radio waves, the sending and
receiving antenna are not aligned, i.e., the
wave sent by the sending antenna can be
received by any receiving antenna.
An example of the radio wave is FM radio.
Applications Of Radio waves:
A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when
there is one sender and many receivers.
An FM radio, television, cordless phones are
examples of a radio wave.
Advantages Of Radio transmission:
Radio transmission is mainly used for wide
area networks and mobile cellular phones.
Radio waves cover a large area, and they can
penetrate the walls.
Radio transmission provides a higher
transmission rate.
Microwaves
Microwaves are of two types:
Terrestrial microwave
Satellite microwave communication.
Terrestrial Microwave Transmission
o Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that
transmits the focused beam of a radio signal from one ground-
based microwave transmission antenna to another.
o Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves having the
frequency in the range from 1GHz to 1000 GHz.
o Microwaves are unidirectional as the sending and receiving
antenna is to be aligned, i.e., the waves sent by the sending
antenna are narrowly focused.
o In this case, antennas are mounted on the towers to send a
beam to another antenna which is km away.
o It works on the line of sight transmission, i.e., the antennas
mounted on the towers are the direct sight of each other.
Characteristics of Microwave
Frequency range: The frequency range of
terrestrial microwave is from 4-6 GHz to 21-23
GHz.
Bandwidth: It supports the bandwidth from 1
to 10 Mbps.
Short distance: It is inexpensive for short
distance.
Long distance: It is expensive as it requires
a higher tower for a longer distance.
Attenuation: Attenuation means loss of
signal. It is affected by environmental
conditions and antenna size.
Advantage Of Microwave
Microwave transmission is cheaper than using
cables.
It is free from land acquisition as it does not
require any land for the installation of cables.
Microwave transmission provides an easy
communication in terrains as the installation
of cable in terrain is quite a difficult task.
Communication over oceans can be achieved
by using microwave transmission.
Disadvantages of Microwave transmission:
Eavesdropping: An eavesdropping creates
insecure communication. Any malicious user can
catch the signal in the air by using its own
antenna.
Out of phase signal: A signal can be moved out
of phase by using microwave transmission.
Susceptible to weather condition: A
microwave transmission is susceptible to weather
condition. This means that any environmental
change such as rain, wind can distort the signal.
Bandwidth limited: Allocation of bandwidth is
limited in the case of microwave transmission.
Satellite Microwave
Communication
A satellite is a physical object that revolves
around the earth at a known height.
Satellite communication is more reliable
nowadays as it offers more flexibility than
cable and fiber optic systems.
We can communicate with any point on the
globe by using satellite communication.
The satellite accepts the signal that is
transmitted from the earth station, and it
amplifies the signal. The amplified signal is
retransmitted to another earth station.
Advantages Of Satellite Microwave
Communication:
The coverage area of a satellite microwave is
more than the terrestrial microwave.
The transmission cost of the satellite is
independent of the distance from the centre
of the coverage area.
Satellite communication is used in mobile and
wireless communication applications.
It is easy to install.
It is used in a wide variety of applications such
as weather forecasting, radio/TV signal
broadcasting, mobile communication, etc.
Disadvantages Of Satellite Microwave
Communication:
Satellite designing and development requires
more time and higher cost.
The Satellite needs to be monitored and
controlled on regular periods so that it
remains in orbit.
The life of the satellite is about 12-15 years.
Due to this reason, another launch of the
satellite has to be planned before it becomes
non-functional.
Infrared
An infrared transmission is a wireless
technology used for communication over short
ranges.
The frequency of the infrared in the range
from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
It is used for short-range communication such
as data transfer between two cell phones, TV
remote operation, data transfer between a
computer and cell phone resides in the same
closed area.
Characteristics Of Infrared:
It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data
rate will be very high.
Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls.
Therefore, the infrared communication in one
room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.
An infrared communication provides better
security with minimum interference.
Infrared communication is unreliable outside the
building because the sun rays will interfere with
the infrared waves.
