Chapter 1

Data Communication and Computer

Networking Basics
Compiled By:- Abdeta H.(M Tech CSE)
 Outline

 Communication Basics
 Data Representation techniques
 Digital Data Transmission formats
 Modes of Data transmission
 Transmission Impairments
 Communication basics

 When we communicate, we are sharing information. This

sharing can be local or remote.
 Between individuals, local communication usually occurs
face to face, while remote communication takes place over
distance.
 The term telecommunication, which includes telephony,
telegraphy, and television, means communication at a
distance (tele is Greek for "far").
 Data Communication:
 Data Communication is defined as the exchange of data
between two devices via some form of transmission
medium such as a wire cable.
 The communicating devices must be a part of a
communication system made up of a combination of
hardware (physical equipment) and software (programs).
Characteristics of data Communication:
The effectiveness of a data communication depends on four
characteristics
 1. Delivery
 2. Accuracy
 3. Timeliness
 4. Jitter
 Cont…
 Delivery: The system must deliver data to correct
destination.
 Accuracy: The system must deliver data accurately.
 Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely
manner. Data delivered late are useless.
 Timely delivery means delivering data as they are produced,
in the same order that they are produced and without
significant delay.
 This kind of delivery is called real –time transmission.
 Jitter: refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is
the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video packets
 Components of communications

The components of a data communication are the following:-

Message
Sender
Receiver
Protocol
Medium
 Cont…
 Message: The message is the information to be
communicated. It can consist of text, pictures, numbers,
sound, video or audio.
 Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data
message. It can be a computer or workstation telephone
handset, video camera and so on.
 Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the
message. It can be a computer or workstation telephone
handset, video camera and so on.
 Medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by
which a message travels from sender to receiver. It could
be a twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or
radio waves.
 Cont…
 Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that governs data
communications. It represents an agreement between the
communicating devices
 Digital Data Transmission formats
 Data refers to information that conveys some meaning based
on some mutually agreed up rules or conventions between a
sender and a receiver and today it comes in a variety of
forms such as text, graphics, audio, video and animation
 Data can be of two types; analog and digital.
 Analog data take on continuous values on some interval.
Typical examples of analog data are voice and video.
 The data that are collected from the real world with the help
of transducers are continuous-valued or analog in nature.
 On the contrary, digital data take on discrete values. Text or
character strings can be considered as examples of digital
data.
 Characters are represented by suitable codes, e.g. ASCII code,
where each character is represented by a 7-bit code.
Analog signal
 Digital signal

■ Digital signal can have only a limited number of defined values,

usually two values 0 and 1, as shown in Fig below
 Data representation techniques
Data can be represented in different forms such:
Text
Number
Images
Audio
Video
Text is represented as a bit pattern.
The number of bits in a pattern depends on the number of
symbols in the language.
Different sets of bit patterns have been designed to represent
text symbols. Each set is called a code.
The process of representing the symbols is called coding.
 Cont…
 Numbers
 Numbers are also represented by using bit patterns. ASCII is
not used to represent numbers. The number is directly
converted to a binary number.
 Images :Images are also represented by bit patterns. An image
is divided into a matrix of pixels, where each pixel is a small dot.
 Each pixel is assigned a bit pattern. The size and value of the
pattern depends on the image.
 The size of the pixel depends on what is called the resolution.
 Cont…
 Audio :Audio is a representation of sound. Audio is by nature
different from text, numbers or images. It is continuous not
discrete
 Video: Video refers to the recording or broadcasting of a
picture or movie
 Video can be produced either a continuous entity or it can be
a combination of images.
 Modes of data transmission
■ Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-
duplex or full-duplex
■ Simplex :In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional.
Only one of the devices on a link can transmit; the other can
only receive.
■ Ex. Keyboards and monitor
■ The keyboard can only introduce input. The monitor can only
accept output.
 Half-duplex
■ In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and
receive but not at the same time.
■ When one device is sending, the other can only receive
■ The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road with two
directional traffic.
■ The entire capacity of a channel is taken over by whichever of
the two devices is transmitting at the time.
■ Ex. Walkie-talkies and CB(citizen band radios).
 Full-duplex
■ In full-duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive
simultaneously.
■ It is like a two-way street with traffic flowing in both
directions at the same time. Signals going in either direction
share the capacity of the link.
■ The full duplex is like a two –way street with traffic flowing in
both directions at the same time. Signals going in either
direction share the capacity of the link.
■ Ex. Telephone network
■ When two people are communicating by a telephone line, both
can listen and talk at the same time.
Cont…
 Transmission Impairments

 When a signal is transmitted over a communication channel,

it is subjected to different types of impairments because of
imperfect characteristics of the channel.
 As a consequence, the received and the transmitted signals
are not the same.
 Outcome of the impairments are manifested in two
different ways in analog and digital signals.
 These impairments introduce random modifications in
analog signals leading to distortion.
 On the other hand, in case of digital signals, the
impairments lead to error in the bit values.
 Cont…

The impairment can be broadly categorised

into the following three types:
■ Attenuation and attenuation distortion
■ Delay distortion
■ Noise
 Cont…

■ Attenuation
■ Irrespective of whether a medium is guided
or unguided, the strength of a signal falls off
with distance. This is known as attenuation
■ In case of guided media, the attenuation is
logarithmic, whereas in case of unguided
media it is a more complex function of the
distance and the material that constitutes
the medium
 Cont…
■ Attenuation Distortion: If the strength of the signal is very
low, the signal cannot be detected and interpreted properly
at the receiving end.
■ The signal strength should be sufficiently high so that the
signal can be correctly detected by a receiver in presence of
noise in the channel
Delay distortion
■ The velocity of propagation of different frequency
components of a signal are different in guided media.
■ This leads to delay distortion in the signal.
■ For a band limited signal, the velocity of propagation has
been found to be maximum near the centre frequency and
lower on both sides of the edges of the frequency band.
 cont…

■ In case of analog signals, the received signal is distorted

because of variable delay of different components.
■ In case of digital signals, the problem is much more
severe. Some frequency components of one bit position
spill over to other bit positions, because of delay
distortion.
■ This leads to inter symbol interference, which restricts
the maximum bit rate of transmission through a
particular transmission medium.
■ The delay distortion can also be neutralised, like
attenuation distortion, by using suitable equalizers.
 Noise

■ As signal is transmitted through a channel,

undesired signal in the form of noise gets mixed
up with the signal, along with the distortion
introduced by the transmission media.
Noise can be categorised into the following four
types:
■ Thermal Noise
■ Intermodulation Noise
■ Cross talk
■ Impulse Noise
 Cont…
■ The thermal noise is due to thermal agitation(nervoues) of
electrons in a conductor.
■ It is distributed across the entire spectrum and that is why it
is also known as white noise (as the frequency encompass
over a broad range of frequencies).
■ When more than one signal share a single transmission
medium, inter modulation noise is generated.
■ For example, two signals f1 and f2 will generate signals of
frequencies (f1 + f2) and (f1 - f2), which may interfere with
the signals of the same frequencies sent by the transmitter.
■ Inter modulation noise is introduced due to nonlinearity
present in any part of the communication system.
 Cont…
■ Cross talk is a result of bunching several conductors
together in a single cable.
■ Signal carrying wires generate electromagnetic radiation,
which is induced on other conductors because of close
proximity of the conductors.
■ While using telephone, it is a common experience to hear
conversation of other people in the background. This is
known as cross talk
■ Impulse noise is irregular pulses or noise spikes of short
duration generated by phenomena like lightning, spark due to
loose contact in electric circuits, etc.
■ Impulse noise is a primary source of bit-errors in digital data
communication. This kind of noise introduces burst errors.
1.2 Computer Networks
 Outlines

 Introduction to Computer Networks:
 Computer Network and its Applications
 Computer Network Types
 Computer Network Topologies
  computer network model
 Computer network components
 Network:
Definition: Network is
■ An interconnected collection of autonomous computers”
interconnected = able to exchange information
■ A set of nodes connected by communication links
■ A node can be any device capable of sending &/or receiving
data to &/or from other nodes in the network
■ A connected collection of hardware and software that
permits information exchange and resource sharing
■ Information = data, text, audio, video, images,
■ Resources = printers, memory, link bandwidth
 Application of network

Uses of networks
■ companies & organizations
■ Resource sharing: programs, equipment, data…
■ High reliability: multiple processors/links/file copies/...
■ scalability: gradually improve system performance
■ rapid communications & remote cooperation
■ saving money
■ access to remote & diverse information sources
■ communicating with other people
■ entertainment
■ Education, healthcare, access to government
 Cont…
■ Distributed Processing
■ Networks use distributed processing which is
termed as a task divided among multiple computers.
■ Instead of a single machine responsible for all
aspects of a process, separate computers handle a
subset.
■ Performance
■ Performance can be measured by means of transit
time, response time, number of users, type of
transmission medium, and capabilities of the
connected hardware and the efficiency of the
software.
 Cont…

Transit time
■ The amount of time required for a message to travel
from one device to another
Response time
■ The elapsed time between an inquiry and a response
Reliability
■ Reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the
time it takes a link to recover from a failure.
Security
■ Network security is protecting data from unauthorized
access.
 Type of connection
Type of connection
There are two possible type of connections
■ 1. Point-to-point
■ 2. Multipoint
Point-to-point
■ A point-to-point connection provides a dedicated link
between two devices.
■ The entire link is reserved for transmission between those
two devices.
■ Ex. Change of television channel by infrared remote control.
■ A point-to-point connection is established between the
remote control and the televisions control system.
 Cont…

■ Multipoint
■ A multipoint (also called multidrop) connection
is one in which more than two specific devices
share a single link.
■ The capacity of the channel is shared either
spatially or temporally
 Network Topology

■ Topology is physical layout of computer, cable and

other components of computer network
■ Topology is the arrangement of networking device
in networked environments
■ There are two types of network topology
● Physical topology
● Logical topology-logical design /representation of virtual
networking device on different platform that can be
designed before physical topology
 Physical Topology

■Physical Topology refers to the way in which network

is laid out physically.
■Two or more links form a topology.
■The topology of a network is the geometric
representation of the relationship of all the links and the
linking devices tone another
 Cont…

The basic topologies are

■ Mesh Topology
■ Star Topology
■ Bus Topology
■ Ring Topology and
■ Hybrid Topology
 Mesh Topology

■ In a mesh topology each device has a dedicated point to

point link to every other device.
■ The term dedicated means that the link carries traffic
only between the two devices it connects.
 Cont…
■ A fully connected mesh network therefore has n(n-1)/2
physical channels to link n devices.
■ To accommodate that many links every device on the
network has (n-1) I/O ports
■ Merits
■ Dedicated link guarantees that each connection can carry
its own data load.
■ This eliminates the traffic problems that occur when links
shared by multiple devices.
■ If one link becomes unusable, it does not incapacitate the
entire system.
■ Privacy or security: When every message travels along a
dedicated line only the intended recipien
 Cont…

Demerits
■ The amount of cabling and the I/O ports required
■ Installation and reconnection are difficult
■ The sheer bulk of the wires accommodate more space
than available.
■ The hardware required to connect each link can be
prohibitively expensive.
■ One practical example of a mesh topology is the
connection of telephone regional offices in which each
regional office needs to be connected to every other
regional office.
 Star topology

■ Each device has a dedicated point to point link only to a

central controller usually called a hub.
■ If one device has to send data to another it sends the
data to the controller, which then relays the data to the
other connected device
 Cont…

Merits
■ Less expensive than a mesh topology. Each device
needs only one link and I/O port to connect it to any
number of others.
■ Installation and reconfigure is easy.
■ Robustness. If one link fails only that link is affected.
■ Requires less cable than a mesh.
Demerits
■ Require more cable compared to bus and ring topologies
 Bus Topology

■ One long cable acts as a backbone to link all the devices in a

network Nodes are connected to the bus cable by drop lines
and taps.
■ A drop line is a connection running between the device and
the main cable.
■ A tap is a connector that either splices into the main cable
or punctures the sheathing of a cable to create a contact
with a metallic core.
■ As the signal travels farther and farther, it becomes weaker .
So there is limitation in the number of taps a bus can support
and on the distance between those taps.(In this diagram taps
and connectors are
Cont…
 Cont…

Merits
■ Ease of installation.
■ Bus uses less cabling than mesh or star topologies.
Demerits
■ Difficult reconnection and isolation.
■ Signal reflection at the taps can cause degradation in quality.
■ A fault or break in the bus cable stops all transmission. It
also reflects signals back in the direction of origin creating
noise in both directions
 Ring Topology
■ Each device has a dedicated point to point
connection only with the two devices on
either side of it.
■ A signal is passed along the ring in one
direction from device to device until it
reaches the destination.
■ Each device in the ring incorporates a
repeater.
■ It regenerates the bits and passes them
along, when it receives the signal intended
for another device.
Cont…
 Cont…
Merits:
■ Easy to install and reconfigure.
■ To add or delete a device requires changing only two
connections.
■ The constraints are maximum ring length and the number of
devices.
■ If one device does not receive the signal within a specified
period, it issue an alarm that alerts the network operator to
the problem and its location
Demerits
■ A break in the ring disables the entire network.
■ It can be solved by using a dual ring or a switch capable of
closing off the break.
 Hybrid Topology:

■ A network can be hybrid. For example, we can

have a main star topology with each branch
connecting several stations in a bus topology as
shown in Figure
 Categories of Network

The category into which a network fall is

determined by its size, ownership, the
distance it covers and its physical
architecture
The three primary categories of network are
■ Local Area Network (LAN),
■ Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and
■ Wide Area Network (WAN).
■ PAN
 LAN

■ A local area network (LAN) is usually privately owned and

links the devices in a single office, building, or campus
■ Depending on the needs of an organization and the type of
technology used, a LAN can be as simple as two PCs and a
printer in someone's home office; or it can extend throughout
a company and include audio and video peripherals.
■ Currently, LAN size is limited to a few kilometers.
■ A LAN is usually privately owned and links the devices in a
single office, building or campus.
■ A LAN can be as simple as two PCs or it can extend
throughout a company.
■ LAN size is limited to a few kilometers.
 Cont…

■ The most widely used LAN system is the Ethernet system

developed by the Xerox Corporation
■ The common LAN topologies are bus, ring and star
■ LANs have data rates in the 4 to 10 megabits per second.
Can also reach 100 Mbps with gigabit systems in
development.
■ Intermediate nodes (i.e. repeaters, bridges and switches)
allow LANs to be connected together to form larger LANs.
■ A LAN may also be connected to another LAN or to WANs
and MAN’s using a "router
Figure 1.10 An isolated IAN connecting 12 computers to a
hub in a closet
 Metropolitan Area Network

■ A MAN is designed to extend over an entire city.

■ May be a single network such as cable TV
network
■ May be a means of connecting a number of
LANs into a larger network
■ Resources may be shared LAN to LAN as well
as device to device
■ The best-known example of a MAN is the cable
television network available in many cities
 Cont…

■ Example: A company can use a MAN to

connect the LANs in all its offices throughout
a city.
■ A MAN can be owned by a private company
or it may be a service provided by a public
company ,such as local telephone company
■ Telephone companies provide a popular
MAN service called (SMDS) Switched Multi-
megabit Data Services.
 Wide Area Network (WAN)

■ A WAN provides long distance transmission of data,

voice, image and video information over large
geographic areas.
■ It may comprise a country, continent or even the
whole world. Transmission rates are typically 2
Mbps, 34 Mbps, and 45 Mbps, 155 Mbps, 625 Mbps
(or sometimes considerably more).
■ WAN utilize public, leased, or private
communication equipment usually in combinations
and therefore span an unlimited number of miles.
 Cont…

■ A WAN that is wholly owned and used by a single company is

referred to as an Enterprise Network. The figure represents the
comparison of the different types of networks
 Internetwork

■ When two or more networks are

connected they become an internetwork
or internet
 Architecture of network

1. Peer to peer-There are also computer networks

connected as Peer – to – Peer.
■ The word Peer denotes - one who is equal in standing
with another.
■This type of Network does not have any computer as
Server or Node.
■Microcomputers in a peer-to-peer network,
communicated directly with one another without relying on
a server.
2. Client /server
 Network Components
There are two types of computer network components
1. Hardware components
2. Software components-several software that can be installed on different
networking device and can facilitate communication between different types of
network
Hardware without software is nothing
The following are some of the hardware components of computer network
 hubs
 switches
 bridges
 routers
 network interface cards/ISDN adapters/system area network cards
 wireless access points
 Modem
 gateways
 CSU/DSU
 Hub

■ As you learned earlier, in a star topology Ethernet

network, a hub is the device that connects all the
segments of that network together.
■ Every device in the network connects directly to the
hub through a single cable.
■ Any transmission received on one port will be
rebroadcast to all the other ports in the hub.
■ So, if one station sends it, all the others receive it,
but only the intended recipient listens to it.
 Passive Hubs

■ A passive hub is just a connector. It connects the

wires coming from different branches.
■ In a star-topology Ethernet LAN, a passive hub is
just a point where the signals coming
■ from different stations collide; the hub is the
collision point.
■ This type of a hub is part of the media; its
location in the Internet model is below the
physical layer.
 Active Hubs

■ An active hub is actually a multipart repeater. It is

normally used to create connections between stations in
a physical star topology.
■ We have seen examples of hubs in some Ethernet
implementations (lOBase-T, for example). However, hubs
can also be used to create multiple levels of hierarchy
 Switch
■ Like a hub, a switch connects multiple segments of
a network together, with one important difference.
■ Whereas a hub rebroadcasts anything it receives on
one port to all the others, a switch makes a direct
link between the transmitting device and receiving
device.
■ Any party not involved in that communication will
not receive the transmission.
■ The benefit of a switch over a hub is that the switch
increases performance because it doesn’t suffer
from the wasted bandwidth of the extra
transmissions.
 Repeaters
 A repeater is a device that operates only in the physical layer.
 Signals that carry information within a network can travel a fixed
distance before attenuation endangers the integrity of the data.
 A repeater receives a signal and, before it becomes too weak or
corrupted, regenerates the original bit pattern. The repeater then
sends the refreshed signal.
 A repeater can extend the physical length of a LAN
 A repeater does not actually connect two LANs; it connects two
segments of the same LAN.
 The segments connected are still part of one single LAN. A repeater
is not a device that can connect two LANs of different protocols.
 Bridge
■ A bridge operates in both the physical and the data link layer. As a
physical layer device, it regenerates the signal it receives. As a data link
layer device, the bridge can check the physical (MAC) addresses (source
and destination) contained in the frame
■ A bridge is a network device that connects two similar network
segments together.
■ The primary function of a bridge is to keep traffic separated on both
sides of the bridge.
■ Traffic is allowed to pass through the bridge only
■ if the transmission is intended for a station on the opposite side.
■ The main reason for putting a bridge in a network is to connect two
segments together, or to divide a busy network into two segments.
 Router

■ A router is a network device that connects multiple, often

dissimilar, network segments into an internetwork.
■ Perform routing
■ The router, once connected, can make
■ intelligent decisions about how best to get network data to its
destination based on network performance data that it
gathers from the network itself.
■ A router is a three-layer device that routes packets based on
their logical addresses (host-to-host addressing). A router
normally connects LANs and WANs in the Internet
■ and has a routing table that is used for making decisions
about the route. The routing tables are normally dynamic and
are updated using routing protocols
 NIC
■ The network interface card (NIC), as its name suggests, is
the expansion card you install in your computer to connect,
or interface, your computer to the network.
■ This device provides the physical, electrical, and electronic
connections to the network media.
■ NICs are either an expansion card (the most popular
implementation) or built in to the motherboard of the
computer. In most cases, a NIC connects to the computer
through expansion slots.
■ which is known as a bus. In some notebook computers, NIC
adapters can be connected to the printer port or through a
PC card slot.
 Gateways
■ A gateway is any hardware and software combination that
connects dissimilar network environments.
■ Gateways are the most complex of network devices
because they perform translations at multiple layers of the
OSI model.
■ For example, a gateway is the device that connects a LAN
environment to a mainframe environment.
■ The two environments are completely different.
■ LAN environments use distributed processing, baseband
communications, and the ASCII character set.
■ Mainframe environments use centralized processing,
broadband and baseband communications, and the EBCDIC
■ Although some textbooks use the terms gateway and router
interchangeably, most of the literature distinguishes between
the two. A gateway is normally a computer that operates
■ in all five layers of the Internet or seven layers of OSI model.
A gateway takes an application message, reads it, and
interprets it.
■ This means that it can be used as a connecting device
between two internetworks that use different models.
■ For example, a network designed to use the OSI model can
be connected to another network using the Internet model.
The gateway connecting the two systems can take a frame
as it arrives from the first system, move it up to the OSI
application layer, and remove the message.
 Modems

■ A modem is a device that changes digital

data into an analog form for
■ transmission over an analog medium and
then back to digital again at the receiving
end.
■ The term “modem” is actually an acronym
that stands for MOdulator/DEModulator.
1.3  Transmission Media
 Transmission Media

■ Transmission media can be defined as physical path

between transmitter and receiver in a data transmission
system.
■ Guided: Transmission capacity depends critically on the
medium, the length, and whether the medium is point-to-
point or multipoint (e.g. LAN).
■ Examples are co-axial cable, twisted pair, and optical
fiber.
■ Unguided: provides a means for transmitting electro-
magnetic signals but do not guide them. Example
wireless transmission
 Cont…

Characteristics and quality of data transmission are determined by

medium and signal characteristics.
unguided media, the bandwidth of the signal produced by the
transmitting antenna and the size of the antenna is more important
than the medium.
Cont…
 Guided

■ Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit from

one device to another, include twisted-pair cable, coaxial
cable, and fiber-optic cable.
■ A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and
contained by the physical limits of the medium.
■ Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic (copper)
conductors that accept and transport signals in the form
of electric current.
■ Optical fiber is a cable that accepts and transports signals
in the form of light.
■ In Guided transmission media generally
two kind of materials are used.
1. Copper
■ Coaxial Cable
■ Twisted Pair
2. Optical Fiber
 Cont…
 Coaxial Cable: Coaxial cable consists of an inner
conductor and an outer conductor which are
separated by an insulator.
■ The inner conductor is usually copper. The outer
conductor is covered by a plastic jacket.
■ It is named coaxial because the two conductors are
coaxial.
■ Typical diameter of coaxial cable lies between 0.4
inch to 1 inch.
■ The most application of coaxial cable is cable T.V.
■ The coaxial cable has high bandwidth, attenuation is
less
Cont…
 Coaxial Cable Connectors

■ To connect coaxial cable to devices, we need coaxial

connectors. The most common type of connector used
today is the Bayone-Neill-Concelman (BNc), connector.
■ The BNC connector is used to connect the end of the
cable to a device, such as a TV set.
■ The BNC T connector is used in Ethernet to branch out
to a connection to a computer or other device.
■ The BNC terminator is used at the end of the cable to
prevent the reflection of the signal
Cont…
 Twisted Pair

 A Twisted pair consists of two insulated

copper wires, typically 1mm thick.
■ The wires are twisted together in a helical
form the purpose of twisting is to reduce
cross talk interference between several
pairs.
■ Twisted Pair is much cheaper than coaxial
cable but it is susceptible to noise and
electromagnetic interference and
attenuation is large.
 Cont…
One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the
other is used only as a ground reference
 Unshielded Versus Shielded Twisted-Pair Cable
■ The most common twisted-pair cable used in
communications is referred to as unshielded
twisted-pair (UTP).
■ IBM has also produced a version of twisted-pair
cable for its use called shielded twisted-pair (STP).
■ STP cable has a metal foil or braided mesh covering
that encases each pair of insulated conductors.
■ Although metal casing improves the quality of cable
by preventing the penetration of noise or crosstalk, it
is bulkier and more expensive.
 In this no insulation is provided, hence they are susceptible to
interference.
 shielded twisted pair
■ Shielded twisted pair: In this a protective thick
insulation is provided but shielded twisted pair is
expensive and not commonly used.
■ The most common application of twisted pair is the
telephone system.
■ Nearly all telephones are connected to the
telephone company office by a twisted pair.
■ Twisted pair can run several kilometres without
amplification, but for longer distances repeaters are
needed.
 Cont…

■ Twisted pairs can be used for both analog and digital

transmission
■ The bandwidth depends on the thickness of wire and the
distance travelled.
Straight through and crossover wiring
■ Wiring within a twisted pair cable is configured as either
■ Straight through: where each wire (or pin) is attached to
the same contact point at each end.
■ Used for connecting a PC to a hub or a switch
 Straight through cable arrangement
White green White green

green green

White orange White orange

blue blue

White blue White blue

orange orange

White brown White brown

brown brown
 Utp/stp cable Connectors

■ The most common UTP connector is RJ45

(RJ stands for registered jack), as shown
■ in Figure 7.5. The RJ45 is a keyed
connector, meaning the connector can be
inserted in only one way.
Cont…
 Crossover:
 where transmit contacts on each end of the cable are
connected to the receive contact at the other end.
■ Used for connecting two workstations or two network
devices directly. PC to PC or switch to switch
Crossover cable cable arrangement
 3. Optical Fiber

■ A fiber-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits

signals in the form of light.
■ Optical fiber consists of inner core of either glass or plastic.
■ Core is surrounded by cladding of the same material but of
different refractive index.
■ This cladding is surrounded by a plastic jacket which
prevents optical fiber from electromagnetic interference
and harshly environments.
■ It uses the principle of total internal reflection to transfer
data over optical fibers.
 Cont…

■ Optical fiber is much better in bandwidth as

compared to copper wire, since there is hardly
any attenuation or electromagnetic
interference in optical wires.
■ Hence there are fewer requirements to
improve quality of signal, in long distance
transmission.
■ Disadvantage of optical fiber is that end points
are fairly expensive. (eg. switches) Differences
between different kinds of optical fibers:
 Cont…

1. Depending on material
■ Made of glass
■ Made of plastic.
2. Depending on radius
■ Thin optical fiber
■ Thick optical fiber
3. Depending on light source
■ LED (for low bandwidth)
■ Injection lased diode (for high bandwidth)
 Fiber-Optic Cable Connectors

■ There are three types of connectors for fiber-optic cables,

as shown in Figure 7.15
■ The subscriber channel (SC) connector is used for cable
TV. It uses a push/pull locking system.
■ The straight-tip (ST) connector is used for connecting
cable to networking devices.
■ It uses a bayonet locking system and is more reliable
than SC.
■ MT-RJ is a connector that is the same size as RJ45.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Optical Fiber
Advantages
■ Higher bandwidth
■ Less signal attenuation
■ Immunity to electromagnetic interference
■ Resistance to corrosive materials.
■ Light weight
Disadvantages
Installation and maintenance
Unidirectional light propagation
Cost.
 UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS

■ Unguided media transport electromagnetic

waves without using a physical conductor.
■ This type of communication is often referred to
as wireless communication.
■ Signals are normally broadcast through free
space and thus are available to anyone who has
a device capable of receiving them.
 Cont…

■ Unguided signals can travel from the

source to destination in several ways:
ground propagation, sky propagation, and
line-of-sight propagation, as shown in
Figure 7.18.
 Cont…

■ In ground propagation, radio waves travel

through the lowest portion of the atmosphere,
hugging the earth.
■ In sky propagation, higher-frequency radio waves
radiate upward into the ionosphere
■ (the layer of atmosphere where particles exist as
ions) where they are reflected back to earth.
■ In line-or-sight propagation, very high-frequency
signals are transmitted in straight lines directly
from antenna to antenna
 Wireless Transmission
■ 1. Radio: Radio is a general term that is used
for any kind of frequency.
■ But higher frequencies are usually termed as
microwave and the lower frequency band
comes under radio frequency.
■ There are many application of radio. For eg.
Cordless keyboard, wireless LAN, wireless
Ethernet but it is limited in range to only a few
hundred meters.
■ Depending on frequency radio offers different
bandwidths.
 2. Terrestrial microwave:
■ In terrestrial microwave two antennas are used for
communication.
■ A focused beam emerges from an antenna and is received
by the other antenna, provided that antennas should be
facing each other with no obstacle in between.
■ For this reason antennas are situated on high towers.
■ Due to curvature of earth terrestrial microwave can be used
for long distance communication with high bandwidth.
■ Telecom department is also using this for long distance
communication.
■ An advantage of wireless communication is that it is not
required to lay down wires in the city hence no permissions
are required.
 Cont…
■ 3. Satellite communication: Satellite acts as a switch in sky.
■ On earth VSAT(Very Small Aperture Terminal) are used to transmit and
receive data from satellite.
■ Generally one station on earth transmits signal to satellite and it is
received by many stations on earth.
■ Satellite communication is generally used in those places where it is very
difficult to obtain line of sight i.e. in highly irregular terrestrial regions.
■ In terms of noise wireless media is not as good as the wired media.
■ There are frequency band in wireless communication and two stations
should not be allowed to transmit simultaneously in a frequency band.
The most promising advantage of satellite is broadcasting.
■ If satellites are used for point to point communication then they are
expensive as compared to wired media.