Unit : 3

Transmission Media

Prepared By:
Mr. A. K. Panchasara
Lecturer, AVPTI, RAJKOT

1
 COURSE OUTCOME (CO3)

• After the completion of this unit,

students will be able to…. Illustrate
use of transmission media used in
computer network.

2
 LEARNING OUTCOME

• After the completion of this session,

students will be able to…. list out
guided and unguided transmission
media

3
 3.1 Types of Transmission Media
• Transmission media is the way through which the data,
information or messages can flow between the
nodes/workstations/computers. OR
• A transmission media can be defined as anything that can carry
information from a source to a destination. It should be air, water,
cable etc.
• Transmission media can be classified in to two broad categories:
Guided media and Unguided media.

wireless
wired

4
 LEARNING OUTCOME

• After the completion of this session,

students will be able to…. select
appropriate guided transmission
media for given network.

5
 3.2 Guided Media (Physical media)
• Transmission Media uses a "cabling" system that guides the data
signals along a specific path.
• It provides a conduit from one device to another
• It is also known as ‘bounded media’ or ‘wired communication’.
• Examples of guided media are: twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable,
and fiber-optic cable.
Twisted pair cable
• Twisted pair cable comes into two forms  unshielded and
shielded twisted pair.
• Both of these types uses
metallic (copper) conductor
that accept and transport
signals in the form of electric current.
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Effect of Noise on Parallel Lines (Extra)

7
Noise on Twisted-Pair Lines (Extra)

8
 Unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP)
• It is most common type of medium used now a days.
• It is mostly used in telephone system.
• It’s frequency range is suitable for both data and voice.
• Frequency range is 100 hz to 5mhz.

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 Advantages of UTP
o Low cost
o Easy to use
o Cheap and flexible
o Easy to install
o Used in many LAN technology like Ethernet and token ring
 Disadvantages of UTP
o It can be affected by EMI (electromagnetic interference) which
can create noise and damage the signal.
• Electronics Industries Association (EIA) has categorized UTP by
quality are:
• Category 1
– Used in telephone system
– Law speed data communication
• Category 2
– Suitable for voice and data up to 4 mbps
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• Category 3
– It can be used for data transmission up to 10mbps.
– It is now used in standard telephone system.
• Category 4
– It can be used for data transmission up to 16mbps.
• Category 5
– It can be used for data transmission up to 100mbps.
 UTP Connectors
• UTP is most commonly connected to network devices via a type
of snap in plug like that used with telephone jacks.
• Connectors are either male (the plug) or female (the receptive).
• Each wire in a cable is attached to one conductor (or pin) in the
connector.
• The most frequently use of these plugs is an RJ45 (Registered
Jack), connector with 8 conductor or RJ11 connector with 4
conductor (see figure).
11
RJ11 connector with 4 conductor, RJ45 connector with 8 conductor,
used in telephone system used in networking

12
 Shielded twisted pair cable (STP)

• STP cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh covering that encases

each pair of insulated conductors, which are a higher quality and
more protective jacket than UTP has.
• This gives STP excellent insulation to protect the transmitted data
from outside interference (Noise).
• It is less susceptible to electrical interference and supports higher
transmission rates over longer distance than UTP.
13
• It has also a drawback that it is more expensive than UTP.
 STP connector
• STP uses the same connectors as UTP but the shield must be
connected to ground.

14
 Coaxial cable

• This cable has better shielding than twisted pair, so it can span
longer distance at higher speed.
• As we can see in the figure, it has central core conductor of solid
or standard wire (usually copper) enclosed in an insulating
sheath, which is in turn encased in an outer conductor of metal
foil, braid or combination of two.
15
• The outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield against noise
and as the second conductor, which completes the circuit.
 Advantages of coaxial cable
o It is most widely used in network cable
o It is relatively inexpensive, light, flexible and easy to work with.
o Installation is very easy.
o It is good choice for longer distance and for reliably supporting
higher data rates.
• There are two types of coaxial cable
1. Thin (Thinnet)
2. Thick (Thicknet)

 Thinnet coaxial cable

• It is a flexible coaxial cable about 0.25 inches thick.
• Easy to install and work with it. 16
• it can be used in almost any type of network installation almost in
BUS topology.
• can carry a signal up to approximately 185 meters (about 607ft)
before the signal starts to suffer from attenuation.
• It is referred to the RG-58 (radio grade) family and has 50 - ohm
impedance.
• Commonly used for digital transmission.

 Thicknet coaxial cable

• Thicknet is relatively rigid coaxial cable about 0.5 inches in
diameter (Almost Double of thin net coaxial cable).
• Thick net can carry signal for 500 meters [about 1640 ft].
• Because of thicknet's ability to support data transfer over longer
distance it is sometimes used as backbone to connect several
smaller thinnet based networks.
17
• A device called a transceiver connects the thinnet coaxial to the
larger thicknet coaxial cable.
• RG-8, RG-9 and RG-11 used for thicknet coaxial cable.

 Coaxial cable connectors

• There are four types of coaxial cable connectors
1. Barrel connectors
2. BNC (bayonet network connector)
3. T-connectors
4. Terminators
 Barrel connectors

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• It is the most common connector.
• Generally this connector is used to connect BNC coaxial cable to
increase the length of network.
 BNC connectors

• After the Barrel connector, the most popular is the BNC, which
pushes on and locks in to place with a half turn as shown in fig.
• Generally, a cable terminates in a male connector that plugs or
screws on to a corresponding female connector attached to the
device.
• Generally used in cable TV and VCR hook-ups.
19
• These connectors are used to connect RG-58 or RG-62 with the
NIC.
• And these are generally used in BUS and STAR topology.
 T - connectors

• T-Connectors (used in thin Ethernet) allow a secondary cable or

cables to branch off from a main line.
• It is also used to extend the network or increase the number of
node at any point in the network.

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 Terminators

• Terminators are required for bus topologies where one main

cable acts as a backbone with branches to several devices but
does not itself terminate in a device.
• If the main cable is left non terminated any signal transmitted
over the line echoes. A terminator absorbs the wave at the end
eliminates echo-back.
• It is used to prevent the signal disturbance.

21
 Fiber Optic Cable (FOC)

Side view of
End view of
FOC
FOC

• Fiber optic cables are similar to coax, except without the braid.
• A fiber-optic cable is made of glass or plastic and transmits signals
in the form of light.
22
• Optical fibers use reflection to guide light to move through a
channel.
• As we can see in figure, a glass or plastic core is surrounded by a
cladding of less dense glass or plastic.
• Figure shows a single fiber viewed from the side. At the centre is
the glass core through which the light propagates.
• The core is surrounded by a glass cladding with a lower index of
refraction than the core, to keep all the light in the core.
• Next comes a thin plastic jacket to protect the cladding. Fibers are
typically grouped in bundles, protected by an outer sheath (ચુસ્ત
આવરણ). (that we can see in FOC figure b)
• Generally FOC comes in two types: Single mode and Multi mode.
In single mode fibers  the core is about 8 to 10 microns and in
multi mode fibers  the core is about 50 microns.

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 Concept of REFRACTION

2/21/2025 A K Panchasara,Lecturer 24
 Refraction

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 Critical Angle

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 Reflection

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 Multimode Step-Index

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 Multimode Graded-Index

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 Single Mode

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 Advantages of FOC
• Higher bandwidth: It can support dramatically higher bandwidths.
• Light weight: Fiber-optic cables are much lighters than copper
cables.
• Longer Distance: in it, optical cables are capable of providing low
power loss, which enables signals can be transmitted to a longer
distance than copper cables.
• Faster speed: speed of data transmission is much higher in it.
• Excellent Security: it provides excellent security because they do
not leak light and it is quite difficult to tap (વચ્ચેથી સ ્ંદે શો
સભ ્ં ળવો).
• Noise Resistance: because fiber optic transmission uses light
rather than electricity, noise is not damaging the signal.

31
• Better reliability: FOC is immune (મુક્ત) to temperature changes,
severe weather and moisture and it’s not bothered about
electromagnetic interference (EMI) which can interrupt the data.
 Disadvantages of FOC
• Difficult to install: special skills are required to install and
maintain fiber optic cables.
• Higher cost: it is expensive compare to other cables.
• Unidirectional (one direction): propagation of light is
unidirectional. If we need bidirectional communication then two
fibers are needed.
• Fragility: it is made up with glass, so is can be easily broken and it
is less useful for application where portability required.

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 Fiber optic connectors

• Fiber optic cables use three different connectors as shown in above

figure.
1. The subscriber channel (SC): connector is used for cable TV. It uses a
push/pull locking system.
2. The straight-tip (ST): connector is used for connecting cable to
networking devices.
3. MT-RJ (Mechanical Transfer Registered jack): is a new connector with
same size as RJ45
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 Fiber optic communication
• Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting
information from one place to another by sending pulses
of light through an optical fiber.
• There are three main basic elements of fiber optic
communication system.
1. Light source
Two components are used as light sources: light emitting diodes (LED’s) and
LASER diodes, in which LEDs are used for short distances and low data rate
applications and LASER is used for longer distances and high data rate
transmission.
2. Optical fiber as a medium
For data transmission, ultra thin optical fiber cable is used.
3. Photo detector
The purpose of photo detectors is to convert the light signal back to an
electrical signal. Two types of photo detectors are mainly used for optical
receiver in optical communication system: PN photo diode and avalanche
photo diode.
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(Just for information)

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Most common types of Ethernet cabling

Name Cable Max Nodes Advantages

Segment
10Base2 Thin Coax 185 m 30 No hub needed
10Base5 Thick Coax 500 m 100 Original cable, now
obsolete
10BaseT Twisted pair 100 m 1024 Cheapest system
10BaseF Fiber optics 2000 m 1024 Best between buildings

36
 LEARNING OUTCOME

• After the completion of this session,

students will be able to…. select
appropriate unguided transmission
media for given network.

37
 3.3 Un guided media
• Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor.
• In it, signals are normally broadcast through air and thus are
available to anyone who has a device capable of receiving them.
• This type of communication is often referred to as wireless
communication.
• In some situations where it is impossible to use cables, unguided
media are good alternatives.
• Electromagnetic spectrum for unguided media is shown below

38
 Signal transmission in unguided media

Sky propagation
Ground propagation

Line-of-sight
propagation 39
 Signal transmission in unguided media
• Unguided signals can travel from source to destination in several
ways: ground propagation, sky propagation, and line-of sight
propagation.
 Ground propagation
• In this propagation, radio waves travel through lowest portion of
atmosphere, hugging the earth.
• These low-frequency signals emanate (મ થ ્ં ી પસ ર થવુ) in all
directions from the transmitting antenna and follow the curvature
of planet.
• Distance depends on the amount of power in the signal: greater
the power, the greater the distance.
 Sky Propagation
• In this 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. 40
• This type of transmission allows for greater distances with lower
power output.
 Line of sight Propagation
• In this propagation, very high-frequency signals are transmitted in
straight lines directly from antenna to antenna.
• Antennas must be directional, facing each other and either tall
enough or close enough together not to be affected by curvature
of earth.
• Line-of-sight propagation is tricky because radio transmission
cannot be completely focused.

41
 Frequency band for unguided media

Band Range Propagation Application

Long-range radio
VLF (very low frequency) 3 - 30 kHz Ground
navigation
Radio beacons and
LF (low frequency) 30 - 300 kHz Ground
navigational locator

MF (middle frequency) 300 kHz - 3 MHz Sky AM radio

Citizens band (CB),

HF (high frequency) 3 - 30 MHz Sky Ship / aircraft
communication
Sky and
VHF (very high frequency) 30 - 300 MHz VHF TV, FM radio
Line-of-sight

UHFTV, cellular
UHF (ultra high frequency) 300 MHz - 3 GHz Line-of-sight
phones, satellite

Satellite
SHF (super high frequency) 3 - 30 GHz Line-of-sight
communication
EHF (extremely high
30 - 300 GHz Line-of-sight Radar, satellite
frequency)

42
 Classification of unguided media
• Main three categories are there  1. Radio wave and Micro
wave, 2. Infrared waves and 3. LASER
Radio wave transmission

• Radio waves are electromagnetic waves occurring on radio

frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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• These electromagnetic waves are ranging in frequency between
3KHz and 1GHz.
• A common use is to transport information through the
atmosphere or outer space without wires.
• Radio waves are Omni directional, means they can travel in all
direction from the source. So transmitter and receiver do not
have to be aligned physically.
• Radio waves are easy to generate, can travel long distance and
can penetrate (મ થ ્ં ી પસ ર થવુ)્ં buildings. So they are widely
used for communication in both indoors and outdoors.
• Radio waves are of ‘sky propagation’.
 Advantages of radio waves
• It can travel long distance (for ex. AM radio).
• Widely used for communication in both indoors and outdoors.
• Radio waves can travel in omni direction, so no need to aligned
antennas physically. 44
 Disadvantages of radio waves
• Because of omni directional antenna, the signal sent by one
antenna can be interfered by another antenna that may be using
same frequency or band.
• They can penetrate walls, so we can not isolate whether the
communication to just inside or outside the building.
• Due to the narrow side bands (up to 1GHz), there is low data rate
for digital communication.
 Applications of radio waves
• AM and FM radio
• GPS service
• Cordless phone
• Police radio
• Television broadcast.

45
 Micro waves transmission

• These electromagnetic waves are ranging in frequency between

1GHz and 300GHz.
• These waves are unidirectional, means when an antenna
transmits microwaves, the sending and receiving antenna need to
be aligned. Signals of micro waves are narrowly focused.
• Micro waves are of ‘line-of-sight’ propagation.
46
 Advantages of micro waves
• There is no interference of another pair of aligned antennas.
• As band is wider than radio waves, high data rate for digital
communications.
• Inexpensive and easy to install.
 Disadvantages of micro waves
• These waves are unidirectional, so sending and receiving
antennas must be aligned.
• Repeaters are required for longer distance.
• Very high frequency waves can not penetrate the walls, so
receivers inside the buildings can not communicate.
 Applications of micro waves
• These waves are used for unicasting (one sender and one receiver).
• Cellular phones
• Satellite networks
• Wireless LANs
47
 Infrared waves transmission

• These electromagnetic waves are ranging in frequency between

300GHz and 400THz.
• These waves are used for short range communication.
• Examples of infrared are  remote controls used on televisions,
VCRs, and stereos.
• Infrared waves are of ‘line-of-sight propagation’.
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 Advantages of infrared waves
• Infrared waves are relatively directional, cheap, and easy to build.
• Infrared waves having high frequency, so they are not able to
penetrate the walls, so in a room infrared systems can’t be
interfered.
• Infrared waves are useful for short range communication. It is
more secure against taping.
 Disadvantages of infrared waves
• These waves are useless for long range communication.
• They do not pass through solid objects.
• Sun’s ray can interfere the radio waves, so it is not good to use
infrared outside the buildings.

49
 Applications of infrared waves
• Used in short range wireless communication devices (e.g.
Wireless mouse or keyboard).
• Used in remote controls of TV, VCRs and stereos based on
infrared.
• Used in thermal efficiency analysis, remote temperature sensing,
weather forecasting.
• Also used in military applications: target acquisition, surveillance,
tracking.

50
 LASER transmission

• The full form of LASER is  Light Amplification Stimulated

Emission of Radiation.
• Laser beams are unidirectional, therefore this type of
transmission system use ‘line-of-sight’ propagation. So sender
and receiver must be aligned
• It is similar to infrared technology but can transmit signal to long
distance.
51
• Lasers cannot penetrate obstacles such as walls, rain, and thick
fog. Additionally, laser beam is distorted by wind, atmosphere
temperature, or variation in temperature in the path.
• In such a transmission system, a photo detector and laser is set on
both sender and receiver side.
• The carrier used for the transmission signal is typically generated
by laser diode.
 Advantages of laser
• Laser is safe for data transmission as it is very difficult to tap 1mm
wide laser without interrupting the communication channel.
• It offers very high band width at a very low cost.
• It is free from electro-magnetic interference. This phenomenon is
used in optical wireless communication through free space for
telecommunication as well as computer networking
• High speed.
• It has very minimum signal leakage. 52
• Higher data storage is possible because single laser beam can be
focused in areas smaller than 1 micro diameter.
 Disadvantages of laser
• Maintenance is costly and difficult.
• It is harmful to human beings and often burns them during
contacts.
 Applications of laser
• Laser communications have been utilized for mass
communications including telephone conversations and even
television channels.
• Used in digital data transmission.
• Effectively used for shorter distance communication.

53
Satellite communication

54
• The satellite is man made equipment that is placed in orbit
around the earth. They provide communication from one point
on the Earth to another.
• Satellite work as transmitter/receiver that is launched by rocket
and placed in orbit.
• Satellites enable communication over large distance (beyond line
of sight).
• Used in communication in ships, aircrafts and other mobile
vehicles, weather forecasting, television broadcast, internet
communication, radio communications and global positioning
system (GPS).
• There are two types of communication satellites  ACTIVE and
PASSIVE.
• Active satellite acts as a repeater, it amplifies the received signals
and retransmits them back to earth.

55
• Passive satellite only reflects received radio signals back to earth.
• As we have seen in the figure, earth station transmits signals to
the satellite using UP-LINK frequency and the satellite then
amplifies the signals, covert them and transmit back to the
receiving earth station using DOWN-LINK frequency.
 Advantages of satellite communication
• Mobile communication can be easily established by satellite
communication.
• It is best communication for long geographical distance where
cable communication is impossible.
• Effective point-to-multipoint communication.
• Signal quality is high compared to fiber optics.
• Low operating cost.

56
 Disadvantages of satellite communication
• Delay in signal transmission.
• Efficiency reduced in long file transfer.
• Manufacturing of satellites is expensive.
 Applications of satellite communication
• TV/radio broadcasting and global mobile communication.
• Weather forecast, military, navigation

57
Thank You…

58
 Unit : 4
Network Devices

Prepared By:
Mr. A. K. Panchasara
Lecturer, AVPTI, Rajkot

1
 COURSE OUTCOME (CO4)

• After completion of this Unit,

students will be able to
Illustrate use of various
network devices used in
computer network.
2
 LEARNING OUTCOME (LO)

• After completion of this

session, students will be able
to explain use of various
network devices

3
 Introduction
• Two or more devices connected with each other for sharing their
data and resources are called a network.
• When two networks are connected, then called internetwork.
• Examples of networking and internetworking devices are:
– Repeater, Hub, Switch, Bridge, router, gateway etc..

Network Adapter (NIC)

• It is ad-on card available on motherboard.
• It is a small printed circuit board that is installed on a mother
board of CPU.
• This is additional hardware card required to install physically on
the slot of motherboard.

4
• This card provides the connectivity between computer internal
resources and external resources connected to the network.
• Each NIC has a unique address called MAC address / physical
address that is different from other NIC.
• Types of NICs are
1. ARCNET Card
2. Ethernet Card

Back side of NIC, there is an

interface for a specific connector.

NIC
5
1. ARCNET Card
• The full form of ARCNET is Attached Resource Computer
Network.
• It consists of 8 dual inline packages (DIP) switches. Which are
used for defining address of nodes.
• If all switches are OFF then the address is 00h and if all ON then
address is FFh.
• So we can connect 256 nodes with it.
• It supports MCA (micro Channel Architecture) bus.
• The cable used for this card is co-axial (RG-62).
• It has 8/16 bit port.
• Its transmission rate is 2.5 mbps.
• Has BNC connector
• ARCNET uses token ring bus access method.
• This type of NIC supports BUS topology and STAR topology. 6
DIP switches

ARCNET
7
2. ETHERNET Card
• It consists of PCI (peripheral component interface) bus.
• The slots available for this card are 8,16,32 bits.
• Node address is between 1 to 1023 (total 1024).
• DIP switches are not available.
• Cable used: RG-58 (previously) UTP (Now a days)
• Data transfer rate is 10 mbps.
• It uses BNC(previously) and RJ-45 (Now a days) connector.
• No switches for port address settings available.

8
 Repeaters
• Repeater is an electronic device which operates only in physical
layer.
• Signal that carry information within a network can travel a fixed
distance before noise can affect its integrity.
• Repeaters, installed on a link receives the signals before it
becomes too weak or corrupted, it regenerates the original bit
pattern and puts the new refreshed copy of signal back on the
link.
• Repeaters allows us to extend only the physical length of a
network.
• it does not change the functionality of the network.
• We can see the functions of the repeater in below figure.

9
10
 Repeater is not an amplifier-JUSTIFY
• An amplifier can not differentiate the intended signal and noise
signal, hence it amplifies equally everything fed (given as input)
into it.
• While repeater does not amplify the signal instead it
regenerates it.
• Repeaters placed so that a signal reaches it before the noise
changes the meaning of any of its bits. So repeater is placed on
the link before it becomes the weak or corrupted.

11
 Bridge
Bridge
• It operates on both physical and data link layer of OSI model.
• It connects two or more LANs.
• Bridge can divide the large network in to smaller segments.
• Bridge has a software which keeps the separate traffic for each
segment.
• Repeater transmits frames to entire connected devices while
bridge transmits the frames only to separate segments.
• Like this way, it filters the traffic.
• Bridges work on data link layer hence gives the access to physical
address of the stations.
• Bridge contains the look up table that contains the physical
addresses of every stations connected to it.
• Bridge is also worked for collision resolution.
12
Bridge placed in a
network between
different segments

13
• In the working of a bridge  when a frame enters to the bridge, it
regenerates the signal and it checks the address of the
destination and forwards the new copy only to the segment to
which the address belongs.
• As a bridge found the frame, it reads the address contained in the
frame and compares the address with a table of all the stations
on both the segments.
• When bridge finds the correct match, it finds to which segment
the station belongs and send the frame to only that segment.

 Types of Bridges
1. Simple bridge
2. Multiport bridge
3. Transparent bridge
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1. Simple bridge
• It is the most primitive (મ ૂળ, પ્રાચીન ઢબન ું) and least expensive
types of a bridge.
• It links two segments.
• It contains a table that lists the physical address of all the stations
connected with it. Physical address must entered manually.
• In this bridge, updating of device is time consuming when new
device is added / removed, the table must be modified at this
time.
• So installation and maintenance for this bridge is time consuming
and tedious.

15
2. Multiport bridge
• It is used to connect more than two LANs.
• In this bridge, different tables are created each one holding the
physical address of stations reachable through the corresponding
port.

Multiport bridge
16
3. Transparent bridge
• It builds the table of physical address on its own as it performs its
bridge function.
• Table is automatically built as frames are moved in the networks.
• Initially when bridge is installed, it is empty.
• As transmission is done the table is updated accordingly.
• The first packet transmitted by each station, the bridge makes
entries inside the table with corresponding segment. So at last
the table is completed with all details.
• So we can say, this bridge has ‘self updating features’.

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 Bridge
Hub
• Hub is used to create connections between stations in physical
star topology.
• Large number of computers can be connected in single or
multiple LANs.
• Hub is a central network device that connects network nodes. So
is also referred as concentrator.
• Hub enables central network management.
• It provides connection for several different media types like:
coaxial, fiber optic, twisted pair.
• Hubs are available in 8/16/24 ports.
• It provides high speed communication.

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19
 Types of Hub
1. Active hub 2. Passive hub 3. Intelligent hub
Active hub
• It acts like repeaters, it regenerates and retransmits the signals.
• Because of multiple ports are available in it, it also called
Multiport Repeaters.
• it needs electric power to run.

20
Passive hub
• It provides the physical connections between the attached
devices.
• It do not amplify or regenerates the signals passes through hub.
• It do not require electricity to run.

21
Intelligent hub
• It is the third and last type of hub which can perform task of both
active and passive hub.
• It can accommodate several types of cables.
• It can perform some other tasks like Bridging and routing.
• It increases the speed and effectiveness of total network thus
makes the performance of whole network fast and efficient.
• It is intelligent because capable of doing hub management and
switching functionality.
Applications of hub
• Hubs are used to create small Home Networks.
• Hubs are used for monitoring the networks.
• It Makes one device or peripheral available throughout the whole
network.
• Hubs are used in Organizations and Computer Labs for
connectivity.
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 Bridge
Switch
• Switch provides the bridging functionality with greater efficiency.
• It acts as a multiport bridge to connect different devices or
segments in a LAN.
• It operates in data link layer of OSI model (also called layer 2
switch).
• Switch has buffer for each link connected with it.
• When it receives the frame, it stores the frame in the buffer of
receiving link and checks address to find outgoing link.
• If outgoing link is free the switch sends the frame to that
particular link.
• two different characteristics of switch:
• Store and forward switch  it stores the frame in input buffer
until the whole frame is arrived.
• Cut through switch  it forwards the frame to the output buffer
as soon as the destination address is received.
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 LEARNING OUTCOME (LO)

• After completion of this

session, students will be able
to Differentiate Layer 2
and Layer 3 Switches.

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 Bridge
Difference between layer 2 and layer 3 switch

Layer2 switch Layer3 switch

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 Layer2 switch
• It operates using MAC address for sending the frames from one
node to next node.
• It performs at the physical and data link layer of OSI model.
• L2 switch is like a multiport transparent bridge, which allows
better and faster performance.
• L2, as a bridge does the filtering decision based on the MAC
address of the frame it received.
• It has buffer to hold the frames for processing.
• It has the switching factor that can forwards the frame faster.
• Generally it is used in small private network.
• L2 provides the following benefits:
- Hardware based bridging - High speed
- Low latency
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 Layer3 switch
• It is used at the network layer of OSI model. (layer-3, hence called
layer-3 switch).
• L3 switch is like a router, but it is more faster and sophisticated.
• Switching in L3 switch allows faster table lookup and forwarding.
• It operates utilizing IP address to make forwarding decision.
• L3 is best for large network and working good in case of heavy
traffic.

• L3 switch provides following benefits:

- High speed scalability - High performance packet switching
- Low latency -Security
- Quality-of-Service (QoS) - Flow accounting
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 LEARNING OUTCOME (LO)

• After completion of this

session, students will be able
to explain use of various
internetworking devices

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 Bridge
Routers

Figure 1

Figure 2
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 Bridge
Routers

Figure 3

Figure 4 30
 Router
• A router is hardware device designed to receive, analyze and
move incoming packets to another network.
• It operates in physical, data link and network layer of the OSI
model. But most active in network layer.
• Routers are able to access network layer address (IP address) of
the device.
• Simple function of router is to receive the packet from one
connected network and pass them to a second connected
network.
• Routers also perform the traffic directing functions on the
Internet.
• A packet sent from a station on one network to a device on a
neighboring network goes first to the jointly device – router
which forwards the packet to the destination network.
• Routers consult with routing table when packet is ready to be
forwarded.
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Routers in OSI model

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 Router characteristics
 Least-cost routing: Router finds the shortest path for the packet which
is fastest, cheapest, reliable and secure.
 Non Adaptive routing: In which, once a pathway to a destination has
been selected, the router sends all packets for that destination along
that one route.
 Adaptive routing: In this, Router may select a new route for each
packet. Routers send the packet depending on which route is most
efficient at that moment.
 Example:
• Packet transmission from A to D
• Non adaptive:
– Once path A-B-D is selected then all packets will follow the same
path.
• Adaptive:
– First through network B, means A-B-D
– Second through network C, means A-C-D
– Third through network E, means A-E-D
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• Routers finds the best path and routes the packets based on the
information stored in routing table.
• Routing table also contains  network address of each connected
device, possible paths and cost of sending data.
 Types of router (Two types)
 Static router
• In it, routing table information are entered manually.
Administrator enters the route for each destination into the table.
• In case of change in the connection, it can not update
automatically.
• It is more secure. It always uses the same route.
 Dynamic router
• In it, routing table is created and updated automatically.
• When there is a change in the connection, routing table is
updates using any of the routing protocols.
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 Bridge
Gateways
• Gateways operate in all seven layers of OSI model.
• A gateway is a hardware device that acts as a "gate" between two
networks
• It is also called as protocol convertor.
• It is generally used to connect two different network systems.
• Routers transfers packets only across networks using similar
protocols while a gateway can accept a packet formatted for one
protocol and coverts in to a packet formatted for another
protocol before forwarding it.
• It may be a router, firewall, server, or other device that enables
traffic to flow in and out of the network.

35
36
Gateway as protocol convertor

Netware
Gateway
SNA

37
38
 Bridge
Access point
• Definition: An access point is a device that allows wireless devices
to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi.
• Most access points have built-in routers, while others must be
connected to a router in order to provide network access.

• Access points can be found in many places, including houses,

businesses, and public locations.

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• Every access point has its own range. Any device placed within
the range of access point can only use the services of that. (see
below figure)

Due to not in the range,

this device can’t access
the access point.

 How do access point works?

• Wireless access point performs the technique called ‘modulation’ to
transfer the data receives in or out.
• It takes the modulated radio frequency voltages highs and lows
transmitted from a nearby wireless network card, and turns them into
1s and 0s instead. These 1s and 0s assembled into packets and
forwarded to the destination.
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Thank You…

41
 Workstation (client or node)
• A workstation (WS) is a computer dedicated to a user or group of
users for particular work. It includes one or more high resolution
displays and a faster processor than a personal computer (PC).
• In networking term  workstation is an individual single user
computer which is connected with the server.
 There are two types of workstation:
1. Diskless WS  - a node which has no floppy drive, no HDD is
referred as diskless node.
- it has add-on card added with CPU and also has
one boot RAM for temporary data storage.
2. WS with HDD  - programs can be loaded in hard disk. It has
memory for permanent data storage.

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 Concept of wireless network
• Wireless network Is Collection of NICs, APs (access points) and
routers.
 Advantages of wireless network
– Saves the cost of installation of LAN cabling.
– Easy to relocate the network.
– Easy to modify the structure of network.
– Easy to expand.
 Disadvantages of wireless network
– Troubleshooting is difficult.
– More expensive.
 Types of wireless network
– LAN
– Mobile computing
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 Types of communication
1. Unicasting
• Unicast is communication between a single sender and a single
receiver over a network.
• In other term it can be said ‘point-to-point’ communication.
• Examples of unicasting are: HTTP, TELNET, POP3, SSH
2. Multicasting
• Multicast is communication between a single sender and a a
group of users over a network.
• Examples of multicasting are: video conferencing, e-mail system,
teleconferencing.

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3. Broadcasting
• In broadcast, data is delivered from one point to several points.
• Communication between sender to all the nodes (including itself).
• Example  satellite television, education video broadcasting.

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 LEARNING OUTCOME (LO)

• After completion of this

session, students will be able
to explain network
management software.

46
 Network Management Software
• When network becomes more complex in terms of device
population, topology and distances, there should be some way for
controlling all the pieces of whole network.

47
• Network management can be defined as monitoring, testing,
configuring, and troubleshooting network components to meet a
set of requirements defined by an organization.
• Two standard protocols are there for network management and
monitoring.
1. SNMP(Simple Network Management Protocol)
– It defines the set of instructions that can be used to view and
change the settings of any SNMP compliant device.
2. RMON (Remote MONitoring protocol)
– It allows remote collection of network information.

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 Basic features (functions) of network management
software

 Configuration management
– In which network operation is monitored and controlled.
– Addition of new programs and equipments, modification of existing
systems are coordinated. And all these are updated regularly.

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 Fault management
– In it, network problems are found and corrected.
– Future problems are identified and prevented from re occurring.
– Network downtime is minimized and keep network in operational
mode most time.
 Performance management
– In it, the capacity, traffic, throughput, or response time of the
network is measured and improve the performance of the network.
 Security management
– In it, network is protected against hackers and unauthorized users
for physical/ electronic damage.
– User confidentiality is maintained.
 Accounting management
– In which, distributing resources optimally and fairly among network
subscribers.
– Making most effective use of available systems.
– Minimizing cost of operations.
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