UNIT II

Physical Layer

Physical layer in the OSI model plays the role of interacting with actual
hardware and signaling mechanism. Physical layer is the only layer of OSI
network model which actually deals with the physical connectivity of two
different stations. This layer defines the hardware equipment, cabling, wiring,
frequencies, pulses used to represent binary signals etc.

Physical layer provides its services to Data-link layer. Data-link layer hands
over frames to physical layer. Physical layer converts them to electrical pulses,
which represent binary data.The binary data is then sent over the wired or
wireless media.

Signals

When data is sent over physical medium, it needs to be first converted into
electromagnetic signals. Data itself can be analog such as human voice, or
digital such as file on the disk.Both analog and digital data can be represented in
digital or analog signals.

• Digital Signals

Digital signals are discrete in nature and represent sequence of voltage

pulses. Digital signals are used within the circuitry of a computer system.

• Analog Signals

Analog signals are in continuous wave form in nature and represented by

continuous electromagnetic waves.

Transmission Impairment

When signals travel through the medium they tend to deteriorate. This may have
many reasons as given:

• Attenuation

For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be
sufficiently strong.When the signal passes through the medium, it tends to
get weaker.As it covers distance, it loses strength.

• Dispersion
 As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The
amount of dispersion depends upon the frequency used.

• Delay distortion

Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the
signal speed and frequency do not match, there are possibilities that
signal reaches destination in arbitrary fashion. In digital media, this is
very critical that some bits reach earlier than the previously sent ones.

• Noise

Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be

Noise in signal, which may distort the actual information being carried.
Noise can be characterized in one of the following class:

o Thermal Noise

Heat agitates the electronic conductors of a medium which may

introduce noise in the media. Up to a certain level, thermal noise is
unavoidable.

o Intermodulation

When multiple frequencies share a medium, their interference can

cause noise in the medium. Intermodulation noise occurs if two
different frequencies are sharing a medium and one of them has
excessive strength or the component itself is not functioning
properly, then the resultant frequency may not be delivered as
expected.

o Crosstalk

This sort of noise happens when a foreign signal enters into the
media. This is because signal in one medium affects the signal of
second medium.

o Impulse

This noise is introduced because of irregular disturbances such as

lightening, electricity, short-circuit, or faulty components. Digital
data is mostly affected by this sort of noise.
Transmission Media

The media over which the information between two computer systems is sent,
called transmission media. Transmission media comes in two forms.

• Guided Media

All communication wires/cables are guided media, such as UTP, coaxial

cables, and fiber Optics. In this media, the sender and receiver are
directly connected and the information is send (guided) through it.

• Unguided Media

Wireless or open air space is said to be unguided media, because there is

no connectivity between the sender and receiver. Information is spread
over the air, and anyone including the actual recipient may collect the
information.

Channel Capacity

The speed of transmission of information is said to be the channel capacity. We

count it as data rate in digital world. It depends on numerous factors such as:

• Bandwidth: The physical limitation of underlying media.

• Error-rate: Incorrect reception of information because of noise.
• Encoding: The number of levels used for signalling.

physical layer interfaces

The physical layer represents the first level of the hierarchy of the reference
model. This level is responsible for transporting the bits on physical media
varied. To access a support, use an access interface.
All the modern physical layer interfaces with a physical medium, which here is
the optical fiber, to transit IP packets. We see that we can encapsulate an IP
packet in an ATM frame, or at least a fragment of the IP packet since the ATM
frame is of limited size. Then, the ATM frame may be transmitted directly over
an optical fiber, if the speed is low enough that there is no need for clock
synchronization, or encapsulated in a SONET / SDH frame before being
transported on fiber optics.
To allow the synchronization of the clocks, the HDLC and PPP frames are
themselves encapsulated in a SONET / SDH frame before being transmitted
over the optical fiber..
figure shows that the IP packet can also be encapsulated in a conventional
Ethernet frame, GbE (1 Gbit/s) or 10GbE (10Gb/s). These frames are either
transported directly to the optical fiber, or transmitted via SONET / SDH
according to the speed, the distance of the stations, etc.
This is a technique compatible with Ethernet, wherein the preambles Ethernet
frames are increased to allow time to perform clock synchronization. This
solution, standardized as IEEE 802.17, should pretty quickly replace SONET /
SDH standard by its very competitive price.
The three most used frames on the physical interface is PPP, ATM and
Ethernet. When considering the standards, there is often, although not an
obligation, that the physical layer is itself divided into two: the PM layer
(Physical Medium) sub layer lowest of physical layer, which is responsible for
transporting information over the physical medium and bit synchronization and
the TC layer (Transmission Convergence), high sub layer of the physical layer,
which is responsible for adapting the support physics bits from frames.
The functions of the access interface to the TC sub layer include the following:
• Rate adaptation;
• Header protection;
• Delimitation of frames;
• Adaptation to transmission systems;
• Generation and recovery of the frame.

Connecting Devices
MODEM
Modem is abbreviation for Modulator – De-modulator. Modems are used for
data transfer from one computer network to another computer network through
telephone lines. The computer network works in digital mode, while analog
technology is used for carrying massages across phone lines.
Modulator converts information from digital mode to analog mode at the
transmitting end and de-modulator converts the same from analog to digital at
receiving end. The process of converting analog signals of one computer
network into digital signals of another computer network so they can be
processed by a receiving computer is referred to as digitizing.
When an analog facility is used for data communication between two digital
devices called Data Terminal Equipment (DTE), modems are used at each end.
DTE can be a terminal or a computer.
The modem at the transmitting end converts the digital signal generated by DTE
into an analog signal by modulating a carrier. This modem at the receiving end
demodulates the carrier and hand over the demodulated digital signal to the
DTE.

The transmission medium between the two modems can be dedicated circuit or
a switched telephone circuit. If a switched telephone circuit is used, then the
modems are connected to the local telephone exchanges. Whenever data
transmission is required connection between the modems is established
through telephone exchanges.

Types of Modems

• Modems can be of several types and they can be categorized in a number of

ways.
• Categorization is usually based on the following basic modem features:

Directional capacity: half duplex modem and full duplex modem.

2. Connection to the line: 2-wire modem and 4-wire modem.
3. Transmission mode: asynchronous modem and synchronous modem.
Half duplex and full duplex Modems

Half duplex

1. A half duplex modem permits transmission in one direction at a time.

2. If a carrier is detected on the line by the modem, I gives an indication of the
incoming carrier to the DTE through a control signal of its digital interface.
3. As long as they camel’ IS being received; the modem does not give permission
to the DTE to transmit data.

Full duplex

• A full duplex modem allows simultaneous transmission in both directions.

• Therefore, there are two carriers on the line, one outgoing and the other
incoming.
Wire and 4-wire Modems
• The line interface of the modem can have a 2-wire or a 4-wire connection to
transmission medium.
4-wire Modem
• In a 4-wire connection, one pair of wires is used for the outgoing carrier and
the other pair is used for incoming carrier.
• Full duplex and half duplex modes of data transmission are possible on a 4-
wire connection.
• As the physical transmission path for each direction is separate, the same carrier
frequency can be used for both the directions.
2-wire Modem

• 2-wire modems use the same pair of wires for outgoing and incoming carriers.
• A leased 2-wireconrlection is usually cheaper than a 4-wire connection as only
one pair of wires is extended to the subscriber’s premises.
• The data connection established through telephone exchange is also a 2-wire
connection.
• In 2-wire modems, half duplex mode of transmission that uses the same
frequency for the incoming and outgoing carriers can be easily implemented.
• For full duplex mode of operation, it is necessary to have two transmission
channels, one for transmit direction and the other for receive direction.
• This is achieved by frequency division multiplexing of two different carrier
frequencies. These carriers are placed within the bandwidth of the speech
channel.
Asynchronous & Synchronous Modems

Asynchronous Modem

• Asynchronous modems can handle data bytes with start and stop bits.
• There is no separate timing signal or clock between the modem and the DTE.
• The internal timing pulses are synchronized repeatedly to the leading edge of
the start pulse
Synchronous Modem

• Synchronous modems can handle a continuous stream of data bits but requires
a clock signal.
• The data bits are always synchronized to the clock signal.
• There are separate clocks for the data bits being transmitted and received.
• For synchronous transmission of data bits, the DTE can use its internal clock
and supply the same to the modem.

Modulation techniques used for Modem:

The basic modulation techniques used by a modem to convert digital data

to analog signals are :
• Amplitude shift keying (ASK).
• Frequency shift keying (FSK).
• Phase shift keying (PSK).
• Differential PSK (DPSK).
These techniques are known as the binary continuous wave (CW) modulation.
• Modems are always used in pairs. Any system whether simplex, half duplex or
full duplex requires a modem at the transmitting as well as the receiving end.
• Thus a modem acts as the electronic bridge between two worlds – the world of
purely digital signals and the established analog world.