Std XII Computer Science

LESSON 2 COMPUTER NETWORKS

Transmission Media HANDOUT Module: 1/1

Transmission media
A transmission medium is one which carries a signal
from one computer to another. It is also known as communication channel.
Wired transmission media includes twisted pair cable, Ethernet cable, coaxial
cable and optical fibre whereas wireless transmission media includes
microwave, radio wave, satellite, infrared, Bluetooth, WIFI etc.

Transmission media can be grouped in two categories:

1) Wired or Guided transmission media
It includes cables i.e. Twisted pair cable, Ethernet cable, Coaxial
cable and Optical fibre etc.
2) Wireless or Unguided transmission media
It includes waves through air, water or vacuum i.e. Infrared, Radio link,
Microwave link, Satellite link, Bluetooth, WIFI etc.

Wired or Guided transmission media

Some of the wired transmission media are discussed below:
1. Twisted Pair Cables

This is one of the common forms of wiring in networks, especially in

LANs and it consists of two insulated wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern
(double helix). It is generally used for telephone communications in offices and
also in modern Ethernet networks. For telephonic communication a Voice
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Grade Medium (VGM) cable is used but for LAN applications a higher quality
cable known as Data Grade Medium (DGM) is used. The twisting of wires
reduces crosstalk which is the bleeding of a signal from one wire to another.
This crosstalk can corrupt the signal and hence cause network errors. In
addition to preventing internal crosstalk, the twisting of wires also protects the
signal from external interference which affects both the wires and also creates
unwanted signals.

Advantages
1. It is capable of carrying a signal over long distances without amplification.
2. It is simple, low weight, easy to install and easy to maintain.
3. It is an adequate and least expensive medium for low speed (up to 10
mbps) applications where thedistance between the nodes is relatively small.

Disadvantages
1. It can easily pick up noise signals.
2. Being thin in size, it is likely to break easily.
3. It is unsuitable for broadband applications.

2. Coaxial Cables

It is the most commonly used transmission media for LANs. It consists of solid
wire cores surroundedby one or more foil or wire shields, each separated by
some kind of plastic insulator. The inner corecarries the signal and the shield
provides the ground. It has high electrical properties and is suitable for high
speed communication. It is widely used for television signals and also by large
corporations inbuilding security systems. Multi-channel television signals can
be transmitted around metropolitanareas at considerably less cost.
The two most common types of Coaxial cables are Thicknet and Thinnet.
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Advantages
1. Data transmission characteristics are better than that of twisted pair.
2. It can be used for broadband communication i.e. several channels can be
transmittedsimultaneously.
3. It offers high bandwidth (up to 400 mbps)
4. It can be used as the basis for shared cable network.
Disadvantages
1. It is expensive as compared to twisted pair cables.

3. Optical Fibres

These consists of thin strands of glass or glass like material which are so
constructed that they carrylight from a source at one end of the fibre to a
detector at the other end. The light sources used are eitherlight emitting
diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs). The data to be transmitted is modulated
onto a lightbeam using frequency modulation techniques. At the receiver's
end, the signals are demodulated.Optical fibres offer a very high bandwidth
and this makes it capable of multichannel communication.

Fibre Optic cable can be of two types:

i) Single node fibre optic cable: It supports a segment length of up to 2kms and
bandwidth of up to100Mbps
ii) Multinode fibre optic cable: It has a segment length of 100kms and
bandwidth of 2Gbps.
The Optical fibre consists of three layers:
i) Core - glass or plastic through which the light travels
ii) Cladding - covering of the core that reflects the light back to the core
iii) Protective (Buffer) coating-protects the fibre cable from hostile
environments
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Advantages
1. It is immune to electrical and magnetic interference.
2. It is highly suitable for harsh industrial environments.
3. It guarantees secure transmission and has a very high transmission
capacity.
4. It can be used for broadband transmission where several channels can be
handled in parallel.

Disadvantages
1. It is difficult to install and maintain since they are quite fragile.
2. It is most expensive of all cables.
3. Connecting two fibres together or even connecting the light source with the
cable is a difficultprocess. Hence connection loss is a common problem.
4. Light can reach the receiver out of phase.

Wireless Transmission Media

Wireless or unbounded or unguided media transport electromagnetic waves
without using a physical conductor. The signals are broadcasted through air or
water and thus are available to anyone that has a device capable of receiving
them. Some of the wireless media are:

Some of the wireless media are:

Infrared

Infrared is the frequency of light that is not visible to human eye. It has a range
of wavelengths, just like visible light has wavelengths from red light to violet
light. Far infrared waves are thermal. This is the reason we feel the heat from
sunlight, a fire or a radiator. Shorter, near infrared waves are not hot at all in

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fact we can't even feel them. These shorter wavelengths are the ones used by
your TV remotes.
Infrared communication requires a transceiver (a combination of transmitter
and receiver) in both devices that communicate. Infrared communication is
playing an important role in wireless data communication due to the popularity
of laptop computers, personal digital assistants(PDAs) , digital cameras ,
mobile phones , pagers and other devices.

Infrared is used in Night Vision Camera,Remote control, File sharing between

two phones, Communication between a PC and peripheral device,

But being a line-of-sight transmission, it is sensitive to fog and other

atmospheric conditions.

Advantages
1. Since it is having short range of communication hence it is considered to be
a secure mode of transmission.
2. It is quite inexpensive transmission medium.

Disadvantages
1. It can only be used for short range communication.
2. Infrared wave transmission cannot pass through obstructions like walls,
buildings etc.

Radio waves

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of

electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light.

Inradio wave transmission, certain radio frequencies are allocated to

private/government organizations for direct voice communications. Each radio

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signal uses a different frequency and this differentiates it from others. The
transmitter takes some message, encodes it and then transmits it with radio
wave. The receiver on the other hand receives the radio waves and decodes
it. Both the transmitter and the receiver use antennas to radiate and capture
the radio signal. Radio transmission is widely used by delivery services,
policemen, security personals etc.

Advantages
1. It is easy to communicate through radio waves in difficult terrains since
there is no need of digging and laying cables.
2. Radio waves can travel through long distances in all directions.
3. Radio waves can easily pass through obstacles like a building so they can
be used for both indoor and outdoor communication.

Disadvantages
1. It is susceptible to weather effects like rain, thunderstorm etc.
2. Data transmitted through radiowaves is not secure.

Microwaves

Microwave permits data transmission rates of about 16 gigabits per second.

This type of transmission uses high frequency radio signals to transmit data
through space. Microwaves offer a line of sight method of communication. A
transmitter and receiver of a microwave system are mounted on very high
towers and both should be visible to each other (line of sight) In case of
microwave transmission, curvature of the earth, mountains and other
structures often block the line of sight. Hence several repeater stations are

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required for long distance transmission thereby increasing the cost
considerably. It is generally used for long distance telephonic communications.

Advantages
1. Microwave transmission does not require the expense of laying cables.
2. It can carry 25000 voice channels at the same time.
3. Since no cables are to be laid down so it offers ease of communication over
difficult terrains like hilly areas.

Disadvantages
1. Repeaters are used at regular intervals (25-30 kms). This makes it a very
expensive mode of communication
2. Installation and maintenance of microwave links turns out be a very
expensive affair.
3. The transmission is affected by weather conditions like rain, thunderstorms
etc.

Satellites

Satellites can carry a large amount of data in addition to TV signals.

Satellite communication is a special use of microwave transmission system. A
satellite is placed precisely at 36000 km above the equator where its orbit
speed exactly matches the earth's rotation speed. Hence it always stays over
the same point with respect to the earth. This allows the ground station to aim

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its antenna at a fixed point in the sky. The ground station consists of a satellite
dish that functions as an antenna and communication equipment to transmit
(called Uplink) and receive (called Downlink) data from satellites passing
overhead. Such satellites can cost $60 million to build but only three of them
are needed to cover the entire earth's surface. Capacity or number of channels
used in satellite communications depends on the frequency used. Typical data
transfer rates are 1 to 10 Mbps. Satellites are especially used for remote
locations, which are difficult to reach with wired infrastructure.

Advantages
1. Satellite communication is very economical keeping in mind the fact that the
area covered through satellite transmission is quite large.
2. Transmission and reception costs are independent of the distance between
the two points.

Disadvantages
1. Placing the satellite into its orbit involves very high cost.
2. Since signals sent to a satellite are broadcasted to all receivers, so
necessary security measures have to be taken to prevent unauthorized
tampering of data.
3. Transmission is affected by weather conditions like rain, thunderstorm etc.

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