Unshielded Twisted Pair:

An unshielded twisted pair is widely used in telecommunication. Following are the

categories of the unshielded twisted pair cable:

o Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone lines that have low-speed data.

o Category 2: It can support upto 4Mbps.

o Category 3: It can support upto 16Mbps.

o Category 4: It can support upto 20Mbps. Therefore, it can be used for long-
distance communication.

o Category 5: It can support upto 200Mbps.

Advantages Of Unshielded Twisted Pair:

o It is cheap.

o Installation of the unshielded twisted pair is easy.

o It can be used for high-speed LAN.

Disadvantage:

o This cable can only be used for shorter distances because of attenuation.

Shielded Twisted Pair

A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the mesh surrounding the wire that
allows the higher transmission rate.

Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:

o The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very high and not very low.

o An installation of STP is easy.

o It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded twisted pair cable.

o It has a higher attenuation.

o It is shielded that provides the higher data transmission rate.

Disadvantages

o It is more expensive as compared to UTP and coaxial cable.

 o It has a higher attenuation rate.

Coaxial Cable
o Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV wire is
usually a coaxial cable.

o The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each
other.

o It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.

o 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.

o 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:

1. Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting a single

signal at high speed.

2. Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting multiple

signals simultaneously.

Advantages Of Coaxial cable:

o The data can be transmitted at high speed.

o It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.

o It provides higher bandwidth.

Disadvantages Of Coaxial cable:

o It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.

o If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the entire network.

Fibre Optic
o Fibre optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals for communication.

o Fibre optic is a cable that holds the optical fibres coated in plastic that are used
to send the data by pulses of light.
o The plastic coating protects the optical fibres from heat, cold, electromagnetic
interference from other types of wiring.
o Fibre optics provide faster data transmission than copper wires.

Diagrammatic representation of fibre optic cable:

Basic elements of Fibre optic cable:

o Core: The optical fibre consists of a narrow strand of glass or plastic known as a

core. A core is a light transmission area of the fibre. The more the area of the
core, the more light will be transmitted into the fibre.

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 fibre.
 o Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is known as a jacket. The
main purpose of a jacket is to preserve the fibre strength, absorb shock and
extra fibre protection.

Following are the advantages of fibre optic cable over copper:

o Greater Bandwidth: The fibre optic cable provides more bandwidth as

compared copper. Therefore, the fibre optic carries more data as compared to
copper cable.
o Faster speed: Fibre optic cable carries the data in the form of light. This allows
the fibre optic cable to carry the signals at a higher speed.
o Longer distances: The fibre optic cable carries the data at a longer distance as
compared to copper cable.
o Better reliability: The fibre 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 Thinner and Sturdier: Fibre optic cable is thinner and lighter in weight so it can
withstand more pull pressure than copper cable.

UnGuided Transmission
o An unguided transmission transmits the electromagnetic waves without using
any physical medium. Therefore it is also known as wireless transmission.

o In unguided media, air is the media through which the electromagnetic energy
can flow easily.

Unguided transmission is broadly classified into three categories:

Radio waves
o Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that are transmitted in all the
directions of free space.
o Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals are propagated in all the
directions.
o The range in frequencies of radio waves is from 3Khz to 1 khz.
 o 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.
o An example of the radio wave is FM radio.

Applications Of Radio waves:

o A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when there is one sender and many
receivers.
o An FM radio, television, cordless phones are examples of a radio wave.

Advantages Of Radio transmission:

o Radio transmission is mainly used for wide area networks and mobile cellular
phones.
o Radio waves cover a large area, and they can penetrate the walls.

o Radio transmission provides a higher transmission rate.

Microwaves
Microwaves are of two types:

o Terrestrial microwave

o 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 focussed.
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:

o Frequency range: The frequency range of terrestrial microwave is from 4-6

GHz to 21-23 GHz.

o Bandwidth: It supports the bandwidth from 1 to 10 Mbps.

o Short distance: It is inexpensive for short distance.

 o Long distance: It is expensive as it requires a higher tower for a longer
distance.

o Attenuation: Attenuation means loss of signal. It is affected by environmental

conditions and antenna size.

Advantages Of Microwave:

o Microwave transmission is cheaper than using cables.

o It is free from land acquisition as it does not require any land for the installation
of cables.

o Microwave transmission provides an easy communication in terrains as the

installation of cable in terrain is quite a difficult task.

o Communication over oceans can be achieved by using microwave transmission.

Disadvantages of Microwave transmission:

o Eavesdropping: An eavesdropping creates insecure communication. Any

malicious user can catch the signal in the air by using its own antenna.

o Out of phase signal: A signal can be moved out of phase by using microwave
transmission.

o 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.
o Bandwidth limited: Allocation of bandwidth is limited in the case of microwave
transmission.

Satellite Microwave Communication

o A satellite is a physical object that revolves around the earth at a known height.

o Satellite communication is more reliable nowadays as it offers more flexibility

than cable and fibre optic systems.
o We can communicate with any point on the globe by using satellite
communication.

How Does Satellite work?

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:

o The coverage area of a satellite microwave is more than the terrestrial

microwave.
o The transmission cost of the satellite is independent of the distance from the
centre of the coverage area.
o Satellite communication is used in mobile and wireless communication
applications.
o It is easy to install.

o 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:

o Satellite designing and development requires more time and higher cost.

o The Satellite needs to be monitored and controlled on regular periods so that it

remains in orbit.

o 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
o An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication over
short ranges.
o The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.

o 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:

o It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.
 o Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared
communication in one room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.

o An infrared communication provides better security with minimum interference.

o Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun rays
will interfere with the infrared waves.

Why Multiplexing?
o The transmission medium is used to send the signal from sender to receiver. The
medium can only have one signal at a time.
o If there are multiple signals to share one medium, then the medium must be
divided in such a way that each signal is given some portion of the available
bandwidth. For example: If there are 10 signals and bandwidth of medium is100
units, then the 10 unit is shared by each signal.
o When multiple signals share the common medium, there is a possibility of
collision. Multiplexing concept is used to avoid such collision.
o Transmission services are very expensive.

History of Multiplexing
o Multiplexing technique is widely used in telecommunications in which several
telephone calls are carried through a single wire.

o Multiplexing originated in telegraphy in the early 1870s and is now widely used
in communication.

o George Owen Squier developed the telephone carrier multiplexing in 1910.

Concept of Multiplexing
 o The 'n' input lines are transmitted through a multiplexer and multiplexer
combines the signals to form a composite signal.

o The composite signal is passed through a Demultiplexer and demultiplexer

separates a signal to component signals and transfers them to their respective
destinations.

Advantages of Multiplexing:
o More than one signal can be sent over a single medium.

o The bandwidth of a medium can be utilized effectively.

Multiplexing Techniques
Multiplexing techniques can be classified as:

Frequency-division Multiplexing (FDM)

o It is an analog technique.

o Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique in which the available

bandwidth of a single transmission medium is subdivided into several channels.
 o In the above diagram, a single transmission medium is subdivided into several
frequency channels, and each frequency channel is given to different devices.
Device 1 has a frequency channel of range from 1 to 5.
o The input signals are translated into frequency bands by using modulation
techniques, and they are combined by a multiplexer to form a composite signal.
o The main aim of the FDM is to subdivide the available bandwidth into different
frequency channels and allocate them to different devices.
o Using the modulation technique, the input signals are transmitted into frequency
bands and then combined to form a composite signal.
o The carriers which are used for modulating the signals are known as sub-
carriers. They are represented as f1,f2..fn.
o FDM is mainly used in radio broadcasts and TV networks.

Advantages Of FDM:

o FDM is used for analog signals.

 o FDM process is very simple and easy modulation.

o A Large number of signals can be sent through an FDM simultaneously.

o It does not require any synchronization between sender and receiver.

Disadvantages Of FDM:

o FDM technique is used only when low-speed channels are required.

o It suffers the problem of crosstalk.

o A Large number of modulators are required.

o It requires a high bandwidth channel.

Applications Of FDM:

o FDM is commonly used in TV networks.

o It is used in FM and AM broadcasting. Each FM radio station has different

frequencies, and they are multiplexed to form a composite signal. The
multiplexed signal is transmitted in the air.

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)

o Wavelength Division Multiplexing is same as FDM except that the optical signals
are transmitted through the fibre optic cable.
o WDM is used on fibre optics to increase the capacity of a single fibre.
 o It is used to utilize the high data rate capability of fibre optic cable.

o It is an analog multiplexing technique.

o Optical signals from different source are combined to form a wider band of light
with the help of multiplexer.

o At the receiving end, demultiplexer separates the signals to transmit them to

their respective destinations.

o Multiplexing and Demultiplexing can be achieved by using a prism.

o Prism can perform a role of multiplexer by combining the various optical signals
to form a composite signal, and the composite signal is transmitted through a
fibre optical cable.

o Prism also performs a reverse operation, i.e., demultiplexing the signal.

Time Division Multiplexing

o It is a digital technique.

o In Frequency Division Multiplexing Technique, all signals operate at the same

time with different frequency, but in case of Time Division Multiplexing
technique, all signals operate at the same frequency with different time.

o In Time Division Multiplexing technique, the total time available in the

channel is distributed among different users. Therefore, each user is allocated
with different time interval known as a Time slot at which data is to be
transmitted by the sender.

o A user takes control of the channel for a fixed amount of time.

o In Time Division Multiplexing technique, data is not transmitted simultaneously

rather the data is transmitted one-by-one.
 o In TDM, the signal is transmitted in the form of frames. Frames contain a cycle
of time slots in which each frame contains one or more slots dedicated to each
user.
o It can be used to multiplex both digital and analog signals but mainly used to
multiplex digital signals.

There are two types of TDM:

o Synchronous TDM

o Asynchronous TDM

Synchronous TDM

o A Synchronous TDM is a technique in which time slot is preassigned to every

device.
o In Synchronous TDM, each device is given some time slot irrespective of the fact
that the device contains the data or not.
o If the device does not have any data, then the slot will remain empty.

o In Synchronous TDM, signals are sent in the form of frames. Time slots are
organized in the form of frames. If a device does not have data for a particular
time slot, then the empty slot will be transmitted.
o The most popular Synchronous TDM are T-1 multiplexing, ISDN multiplexing,
and SONET multiplexing.
o If there are n devices, then there are n slots.
Concept Of Synchronous TDM

In the above figure, the Synchronous TDM technique is implemented. Each device is
allocated with some time slot. The time slots are transmitted irrespective of whether
the sender has data to send or not.

Disadvantages Of Synchronous TDM:

o The capacity of the channel is not fully utilized as the empty slots are also
transmitted which is having no data. In the above figure, the first frame is
completely filled, but in the last two frames, some slots are empty. Therefore,
we can say that the capacity of the channel is not utilized efficiently.
 o The speed of the transmission medium should be greater than the total speed of
the input lines. An alternative approach to the Synchronous TDM is
Asynchronous Time Division Multiplexing.

Asynchronous TDM

o An asynchronous TDM is also known as Statistical TDM.

o An asynchronous TDM is a technique in which time slots are not fixed as in the
case of Synchronous TDM. Time slots are allocated to only those devices which
have the data to send. Therefore, we can say that Asynchronous Time Division
multiplexor transmits only the data from active workstations.
o An asynchronous TDM technique dynamically allocates the time slots to the
devices.
o In Asynchronous TDM, total speed of the input lines can be greater than the
capacity of the channel.
o Asynchronous Time Division multiplexor accepts the incoming data streams and
creates a frame that contains only data with no empty slots.
o In Asynchronous TDM, each slot contains an address part that identifies the
source of the data.

o The difference between Asynchronous TDM and Synchronous TDM is that many
slots in Synchronous TDM are unutilized, but in Asynchronous TDM, slots are
fully utilized. This leads to the smaller transmission time and efficient utilization
of the capacity of the channel.

o In Synchronous TDM, if there are n sending devices, then there are n time slots.
In Asynchronous TDM, if there are n sending devices, then there are m time
slots where m is less than n (m<n).
o The number of slots in a frame depends on the statistical analysis of the number
of input lines.

Concept Of Asynchronous TDM

In the above diagram, there are 4 devices, but only two devices are sending the data,
i.e., A and C. Therefore, the data of A and C are only transmitted through the
transmission line.

Frame of above diagram can be represented as:

The above figure shows that the data part contains the address to determine the source
of the data.