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What is Transmission Media?

A communication channel that is used to carry the data from the transmitter to the receiver
through the electromagnetic signals. The main function of this is to carry the data in the bits form
through the Local Area Network (LAN). In data communication, it works like a physical path
between the sender & the receiver.
In OSI(Open System Interconnection) phase, transmission media supports the Layer 1
i.e., Physical layer

Different Types of Transmission

Media
Transmission media is classified
into two types namely wired media
& wireless media. The medium
characteristics of wired media are
more significant but, in wireless
media the signal characteristics are
important.

Guided Transmission Medium

Guided transmission media are also called bounded media or wired media. They comprise cables
or wires through which data is transmitted. They are called guided since they provide a physical
conduit from the sender device to the receiver device. The signal traveling through these media are
bounded by the physical limits of the medium.
The most popular guided media are −

 Twisted pair cable

 Coaxial cable
 Fiber optics

Twisted pair:

Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A twisted pair
cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. The frequency range for twisted pair cable
is from 0 to 3.5KHz. A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular
spiral pattern.

Unshielded Twisted Pair:

An unshielded twisted pair is widely used

in telecommunication. Following are the
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categories of the unshielded twisted pair cable:

o Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone

telepho lines that have low-speed
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
long-distance
communication.
o Category 5: It can support upto 200Mbps.

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.

Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cables are copper cables with better shielding than

twisted pair cables, so that transmitted signals may travel longer
distances at higher speeds. A coaxial cable consists of these
layers, starting from the innermost −
 Stiff copper wire as core
 Insulating material surrounding the core
 Closely woven braided mesh of conducting
material surrounding the insulator
 Protective plastic sheath encasing the wire
Coaxial cables are widely used for cable TV connections and LANs.

Optical Fibre

Thin glass or plastic threads used to transmit

data using light waves are called optical fibre.
fibre
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or Laser Diodes
(LDs) emit light waves at the source,
source which is
read by a detector at the other end. Optical
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fibre cable has a bundle of such threads or fibres bundled together in a protective covering. Each
fibre is made up of these three layers, starting with the innermost layer −
 Core made of high quality silica glass or plastic
 Cladding made of high quality silica glass or plastic, with a lower refractive index than the
core
 Protective outer covering called buffer

Unguided Transmission Medium

Unguided transmission media are also called wireless media. They transport data in the form of
electromagnetic waves that do not require any cables for transmission. These media are bounded by
geographical boundaries. These type of communication is commonly referred to as wireless
communications.
Unguided signals can travel in three ways −

 Ground propagation
 Sky propagation
 Line – of – sight propagation
The commonly used unguided transmissions are −

 Radio transmission
 Microwave transmission
 Infrared transmission
Radiowaves

Transmission of data using radio frequencies is called radio-wave transmission.

These waves are very easy to produce as well as penetrate through buildings. In this, the
transmitting & receiving antennas no need to align. The frequency range of these waves ranges
from 3 kHz to 1GHz. These waves are used in AM & Fm radios for transmission. These waves are
classified into two types namely Terrestrial & Satellite. This range is usually 10 miles.

Microwaves

It is a sightline transmission which means the transmitting & receiving antennas need to align
correctly with each other. The distance which is covered through the signal can be directly
proportional to the antenna’s height. The frequency range of microwaves ranges from 1GHz to
300GHz. These are extensively used in TV distribution & mobile phone communication

Infrared Waves

Low frequency infrared waves are used for very short distance communication like TV remote,
wireless speakers, automatic doors, hand held devices etc. Infrared signals can propagate within a
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room but cannot penetrate walls. The range of frequency of these waves is 300GHz to 400THz.
These waves are used in TV remotes, keyboards, wireless mouse, printer, etc.
Conclusion

Guided media is a wired communication it transmits data either using twisted pair cable, coaxial
cable or fibre optics; it requires maintenance charge. The unguided media is a wireless
communication it transmits signal by broadcasting it through the air.

Bandwidth
The bandwidth mainly refers to the capacity of data-carrying in a medium otherwise a channel. So,
high BW communication channels mainly support high data rates.

Digital to Analog Conversion Techniques

Digital-to-analog conversion is the process of changing one of the characteristics of an analog
signal based on the information in digital data.

A sine wave is defined by three characteristics: amplitude, frequency, and phase. When we change
anyone of these characteristics, we create a different version of that wave. So, by changing one
characteristic of a simple electric signal, we can use it to represent digital data.

There are three mechanisms for modulating digital data into an analog signal:
1. Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
2. Frequency shift keying (FSK)
3. Phase shift keying (PSK).

Amplitude Shift Keying: ASK is a type of Amplitude Modulation which represents the binary
data in the form of variations in the amplitude of a signal.
Any modulated signal has a high frequency carrier. The binary signal when ASK modulated, gives
a zero value for Low input while it gives the carrier output for High input.
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Bandwidth for ASK:

The carrier signal is only one simple sine wave, but the process of modulation produces a non-
periodic composite signal. This signal has a continuous set of frequencies. This means that the
bandwidth can be expressed as shown, where S is the signal rate and the B is the bandwidth.

B = (1 +d) x S

2. Frequency Shift Keying

In frequency shift keying, the frequency of the carrier signal is varied to represent data. The
frequency of the modulated signal is constant for the duration of one signal element, but changes
for the next signal element if the data element changes. Both peak amplitude and phase remain
constant for all signal elements.

The above figure shows, the middle of one bandwidth is f1 and the middle of the other is f2. Both
f1 and f2 are ∆f apart from the midpoint between the two bands. The difference between the two
frequencies is 2∆f.

Phase Shift Keying PSK:

PSK is the digital modulation technique in which the phase of the carrier signal is changed by
varying the sine and cosine inputs at a particular time. PSK technique is widely used for wireless
LANs, bio-metric, contactless operations, along with RFID and Bluetooth communications.

Analog to Digital Conversion Techniques

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If we have an analog signal such as one created by a microphone or camera. To change an analog
signal to digital data we use two techniques, pulse code modulation and delta modulation. After the
digital data are created (digitization) then we convert the digital data to a digital signal.

1. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM):

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is the most common technique used to change an analog signal to
digital data (digitization). A PCM encoder has three processes as shown in the following Figure.

The analog signal is sampled.

The sampled signal is quantized.
The quantized values are encoded as streams of bits.

Sampling is defined as, “The process of measuring the instantaneous values of continuous-time
signal in a discrete form.”
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Sampling Rate

samples should be fixed. That gap can be termed as

To discretize the signals, the gap between the samples
a sampling period Ts.
SamplingFrequency=1/Ts=fs
Where,
 TsTs is the sampling time
 fsfs is the sampling frequency or the sampling rate

Sampling frequency is the reciprocal of the sampling period. This sampling frequency, can be
simply called as Sampling rate.. The sampling rate denotes the number of samples taken per second,
or for a finite set of values.

Quantization

The quantizing of an analog signal is done

done by discretizing the signal with a number of quantization
levels. Quantization is representing the sampled values of the amplitude by a finite set of levels,
which means converting a continuous-amplitude
continuous time signal.
sample into a discrete-time

The following figure shows how an analog signal gets quantized. The blue line represents analog
signal while the brown one represents the quantized signal.
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What is Multiplexing?
Multiplexing is a technique of
utilizing the bandwidth of the
medium connecting two devices.

Multiplexing is a technique which

combines multiple signals into one
signal, suitable for transmission over
a communication channel such as
coaxial cable or optical fiber.
Multiplexing

Frequency division multiplexing

(FDM)

FDM is an analog technique. We use this technique extensively in TV and radio transmission. This
technique combines multiple signals into one signal and transmitted over the communication
channel. The frequency division multiplexing divides the bandwidth of a channel into several
logical sub-channels. Each logical sub-channel is allotted for a different signal frequency. The
individual signals are filtered and then modulated (frequency is shifted), in order to fit exactly into
logical sub-channels

How FDM system works

The below figure shows the schematic diagram of an FDM system. The transmitter end contains
multiple transmitters and the receiver end contains multiple receivers. The communication channel
is present between the transmitter and receiver.
At transmitter end, each transmitter sends a signal of different frequency. In the below figure, the
transmitter 1 sends a signal of 30 kHz, transmitter 2 sends a signal of 40 kHz, and transmitter 3
sends a signal of 50 kHz. These signals of different frequencies are then multiplexed or combined
by using a device called multiplexer. It then transmits the multiplexed signals over a
communication channel.
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At the receiver end, the multiplexed signals are separated by using a device called demultiplexer. It
then sends the separated signals to the respective receivers. In the above figure, the receiver 1
receives signal of 30 kHz, receiver 2 receives signal of 40 kHz, and receiver 3 receives signal of 50
kHz.
Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Wavelength division multiplexing is an analog technique. The working principle of

wavelength division multiplexing is similar to frequency division multiplexing. The only
difference is in wavelength division multiplexing optical signals are used instead of electrical
signals. In wavelength division multiplexing, optical signals are transmitted through fiber
optic cables.

How WDM system works

The schematic diagram of a WDM system is shown in the below figure. The transmitter end
contains multiple optical transmitters and the receiver end contains multiple optical receivers. The
communication channel (optical fiber) is present between the transmitter and receiver.
At transmitter end, each transmitter sends an optical signal of different wavelength or color. These
optical signals of different wavelengths or colors are then multiplexed or combined by using a
device called multiplexer.

The multiplexed signals are then transmitted over a single communication channel (optical fiber). In
between the transmitter and receiver, optical amplifiers are used to compensate the optical signal
loss caused during the transmission.
At the receiver end, the multiplexed signals are separated by using a device called demultiplexer.
The separated signals are then sent to the respective receivers.

Time Division Multiplexing

Time division multiplexing combines multiple signals by dividing in them into a fixed-length time
slot. The input signals are divided into time slots of equal length, these slots are then multiplexed
and streamed over a single data link.

In the figure below you can observe that the multiplexer is receiving signals from three different
sources. Using the TDM technique the bits from each signal are taken in a fixed time slot.
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TDM further has

two variations synchronous TDM and Statistical TDM. Let us first discuss synchronous TDM.

a. Synchronous Time Division Multiplexing (STDM)

In synchronous TDM, each source of a signal has an allotted slot in the time frame even if it is not
sending any signal. In the figure below you can see that even if the source B has no signal to send,
its slot has been reserved in each time frame.

This faster the data rate n times if all the channel has data to be sent. But, this technique can be
inefficient if any source has no data to send and still the slot has been reserved for it in each time
frame. To remove this inefficiency

asynchronous TDM is introduced.

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b. Asynchronous Time Division Multiplexing (ATDM)

In Asynchronous TDM or statistical TDM, the allotment of the slot is done dynamically. It means
if the source has some data to send it over the communication channel then only the slot is allotted
to it in the time frame. The figure below explains to you the working of asynchronous TDM.

Comparison FDM,WDM and TDM

FDM WDM TDM

1. The communication 1. The communication 1. The communication
channel is divided by channel is divided by channel is divided by time.
frequency. wavelength.
2. Analog technique. 2. Analog technique. 2. Digital technique.

3. Synchronization is not 3. Synchronization is not 3. Synchronization is

required. required. required.
4. It requires complex 4. It requires complex 4. It does not require complex
circuitry at the transmitter circuitry at the transmitter circuitry.
and receiver. and receiver.
5. In FDM, the problem of 5. In WDM, the problem of 5. In TDM, the problem of
crosstalk is severe. crosstalk is severe. crosstalk is not severe.
6. The channel bandwidth is 6. The channel bandwidth is 6. The channel bandwidth is
effectively used. effectively used. wasted.
7. FDM stands for Frequency 7. WDM stands for 7. TDM stands for Time
Division Multiplexing. Wavelength Division Division Multiplexing.
Multiplexing.
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Switching techniques
In large networks, there can be multiple paths from sender to receiver. The switching technique will
decide the best route for data transmission.

Switching technique is used to connect the systems for making one-to-one communication.

Circuit Switching

Circuit switching is a switching technique that establishes a dedicated path between sender and
receiver.
In the Circuit Switching Technique, once the connection is established then the dedicated path will
remain to exist until the connection is terminated.
Circuit switching in a network operates in a similar way as the telephone works.
A complete end-to-end path must exist before the communication takes place.
In case of circuit switching technique, when any user wants to send the data, voice, video, a request
signal is sent to the receiver then the receiver sends back the acknowledgment to ensure the
availability of the dedicated path. After receiving the acknowledgment, dedicated path transfers the
data.
Circuit switching is used in public telephone network. It is used for voice transmission.
Fixed data can be transferred at a time in circuit switching technology.
Communication through circuit switching has 3 phases:

Circuit establishment
Data transfer
Circuit Disconnect

Datagram Networks

In a connectionless communication systems, datagram refers to the smallest unit via which data is
transmitted. Datagrams are data packets which contain adequate header information so that they can
be individually routed by all intermediate network switching devices to the destination. These
networks are called datagram networks since communication occurs via datagrams. They exist in
packet switching networks.
Features of Datagram Networks
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 Datagram switching is done at the network layer of the communication system.

 In datagram networks, each data packet or datagram is routed independently from the source
to the destination even if they belong to the same message. The network treats the packet as
if it exists alone.
 Since the datagrams are treated as independent units, no dedicated path is fixed for data
transfer. Each datagram is routed by the intermediate routers using dynamically changing
routing tables. So two successive packets from the source may follow completely separate
routes to reach destination.
 In these networks, no prior resource allocation is done for the individual packets. This
implies that no resources like buffers, processors, bandwidth, etc. are reserved before the
communication commences.
 In datagram networks, resources are allocated on demand on a First−Come First−Serve
(FCFS) basis. When a packet arrives at a router, the packet must wait if there are other
packets being processed, irrespective of its source or destination.
 Datagram communication is generally guided by User Datagram Protocol or UDP.
The following diagram shows datagram packets being send by host H1 to host H2. The four
datagram packets labelled as A, B, C and D, all belonging to same message are being routed
separately via separate routes. The packets in the message arrives in the destination out of order. It
is the responsibility of H2 to reorder the packets in order to retrieve the original message.