Assignment-05

Chapter 7
Transmission Media

Q7-1.
What is the position of the transmission media in the OSI or the Internet model?
Answer:
The transmission media is located beneath the physical layer and controlled by the
physical layer.
Q7-2.
Name the two major categories of transmission media.
Answer:
In telecommunications, transmission media can be divided into two broad
categories: guided and unguided.
Q7-3.
How do guided media differ from unguided media?
Answer:
Guided media have physical boundaries, while unguided media are unbounded.

Q7-4.
What are the three major classes of guided media?
Answer:
There are three types of Guided Transmission Media:
1. Twisted Pair Cable
 2. Coaxial Cable
3. Fiber Optic Cable
Q7-5.
What is the function of the twisting in twisted-pair cable?
Answer:
Twisting ensures that both wires are equally, but inversely, effected by external
influences such as noise.
Q7-6.
What is refraction? What is reflection?
Answer:
Refraction and reflection are two phenomena that occur when a beam of light
travels into a less dense medium.
When the angle of incidence is less than the critical angle, refraction occurs. The
beam crosses the interface into the less dense medium.
When the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, reflection occurs.
The beam changes direction at the interface and goes back into the more dense
medium.

Q7-7.
What is the purpose of cladding in an optical fiber?
Answer:
The inner core of an optical fiber is surrounded by cladding. The core is denser
than the cladding, so a light beam traveling through the core is reflected at the
boundary between the core and the cladding if the incident angle is more than the
critical angle.
Q7-8.
Name the advantages of optical fiber over twisted-pair and coaxial cable.
Answer:
Fiber optic cable has many advantages over co-axial cable like high bandwidth,
low loss, more security, etc.
Optical fiber has noise resistance, less signal attenuation and higher bandwidth.
The advantages of optical fibers are:
1. Optical fibers have greater information-carrying capacity due to large
bandwidth.
2. Optical fibers are free from electromagnetic interference and offer high
signal security.
3. Optical fibers suffer less attenuation than co-axial cable and twisted wire
cables.
Of the given option the main advantage is low loss data can be sent through fiber
cable across several miles without needing repeaters while co-axial cables need
repeaters after a short distance.

Q7-9.
How does sky propagation differ from line-of-sight propagation?
Answer:
In sky propagation radio waves radiate upward into the ionosphere and are then
reflected back to earth. In line-of-sight propagation signals are transmitted in a
straight line from antenna to antenna.
Q7-10.
What is the difference between omnidirectional waves and unidirectional waves?
Answer:
Omnidirectional also known as omni, gives us a 360-degree signal field. So it’s
going to cover all different directions. But it’s not always the best solution for all
different scenarios. Unidirectional is going to just have a 90-degree signal field.
P7-1.
Using Figure 7.6, tabulate the attenuation (in dB) of a 18-gauge UTP for the
indicated frequencies and distances.
Solution:
Table: 7.1 (the values are approximate)
Distance dB at 1 KHz dB at 10 KHz dB at 100 KHz
1 Km -3 -5 -7
10 Km -30 -50 -70
15 Km -45 -75 -105
20 Km -60 -100 -140

P7-2.
Use the results of Problem P7-1 to infer that the bandwidth of a UTP cable
decreases with an increase in distance.
Solution:
Maximum attenuation of 50 dB (loss)
Distance Bandwidth
1Km 100KHz
10 Km 50 KHz
15 Km 1 KHz
 20 Km 0 KHz

P7-3.
If the power at the beginning of a 1 Km 18-gauge UTP is 200 mw, what is the
power at the end for frequencies 1 KHz, 10 KHz, and 100 KHz? Use the results of
Problem P7-1.
Solution:
We can use Table 7.1 to find the power for different frequencies:
1 KHz dB = −3 P2 = P1 ×10^−3/10 = 100.23 mw
10 KHz dB = −5 P2 = P1 ×10^−5/10 = 63.25 mw
100 KHz dB = −7 P2 = P1 ×10^−7/10 = 39.90 mw
The table shows that the power for 100 KHz is reduced almost 5 times, which may
not be acceptable for some applications.
P7-4.
Using Figure 7.9, tabulate the attenuation (in dB) of a 2.6/9.5 mm coaxial cable for
the indicated frequencies and distances.
Solution:
Distance dB at 1 KHz dB at 10 KHz dB at 100 KHz
1 Km -3 -7 -20
10 Km -30 -70 -200
15 Km -45 -105 -300
20 Km -60 -140 -400
P7-5.
Use the results of Problem P7-4 to infer that the bandwidth of a coaxial cable
decreases with the increase in distance.
Solution:
Table 7.2
Distance dB at 1KHz dB at 10 KHz dB at 100 KHz
1 Km -3 -7 -20
10 Km -30 -70 -200
15 Km -45 -105 -300
20 Km -60 -140 -400

If we consider the bandwidth to start from zero, we can say that the bandwidth
decreases with distance. For example, if we can tolerate a maximum attenuation of
−50 dB (loss), then we can give the following listing of distance versus bandwidth.
Distance Bandwidth
1 Km 100 KHz
10 Km 1 KHz
15 Km 1 KHz
20 Km 1 KHz

P7-6.
If the power at the beginning of a 1 Km 2.6/9.5 mm coaxial cable is 200 mw, what
is the power at the end for frequencies 1 KHz, 10 KHz, and 100 KHz? Use the
results of Problem P7-4.
Solution:
1 KHz; dB = −3; P2 = P1 ×10^(−3/10) = 100.23 mw

10 KHz; dB = −7; P2 = P1 ×10^(−7/10) = 39.90 mw

100 KHz; dB = −20; P2 = P1 ×10^(−20/10) = 2.00 mw

P7-8.
The horizontal axes in Figures 7.6 and 7.9 represent frequencies. The horizontal
axis in Figure 7.16 represents wavelength. Can you explain the reason? If the
propagation speed in an optical fiber is 2 × 108 m, can you change the units in the
horizontal axis to frequency? Should the vertical-axis units be changed too? Should
the curve be changed too?
Solution:
 a. The wave length is the inverse of the frequency if the propagation speed is
fixed (based on the formula λ = c / f). This means all three figures represent
the same thing.
b. We can change the wave length to frequency. For example, the value 1000
nm can be written as 200 THz.
c. The vertical-axis units may not change because they represent dB/km.
d. The curve must be flipped horizontally.

P7-9.
Using Figure 7.16, tabulate the attenuation (in dB) of an optical fiber for the
indicated wavelength and distances.
Solution:
Table 7.3
Distance dB at 800 nm dB at 1000 nm dB at 1200 nm
1 Km -3 -1.1 -0.5
10 Km -30 -11 -5
15 Km -45 -16.5 -7.5
20 Km -60 -22 -10

P7-10.
A light signal is travelling through a fiber. What is the delay in the signal if the
length of the fiber-optic cable is 10 m, 100 m, and 1 Km (assume a propagation
speed of 2 × 10^8 m)?
Solution:
Delay = distance/(propagation speed)
a. Delay = 10/(2x10^8) = 0.05 us
b. Delay = 100/(2x10^8) = 0.5 us
c. Delay = 1000/(2x10^8) = 5 us

P7-11.
A beam of light moves from one medium to another medium with less density. The
critical angle is 60°. Do we have refraction or reflection for each of the following
incident angles? Show the bending of the light ray in each case.
a. 40° b. 60° c. 80°
Solution:
a. The incident angle (40 degrees) is smaller than the critical angle (60 degrees).
We have refraction. The light ray enters into the less dense medium.
b. The incident angle (60 degrees) is the same as the critical angle (60 degrees). We
have refraction. The light ray travels along the interface.
c. The incident angle (80 degrees) is greater than the critical angle (60 degrees). We
have reflection. The light ray returns back to the more dense medium.