Chapter 7

Transmission Media

7.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
• OSI Layer

7.2
Figure 7.1 Transmission medium and physical layer

7.3
Figure 7.2 Classes of transmission media

7.4
7-1 GUIDED MEDIA

Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit

from one device to another, include twisted-pair cable,
coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable.

Topics discussed in this section:

Twisted-Pair Cable
Coaxial Cable
Fiber-Optic Cable

7.5
Telephone Channels

• It is designed for providing service to voice signals such as

telephones.
• The telephone channels are also used for the worldwide
Internet connection.
• Therefore, the telephone channel is the best possible
option for data communication over long distances
• Phase delay affects data transmission
• Equalizers are used for flat amplitude response and liner
phase response
Figure 7.3 Twisted-pair cable

7.7
 Construction
• This is also a commonly used medium and it is quite cheaper
than the co-axial cable.
• A twisted pair consists of two insulated conductors twisted
together in the spiral form. It can be shielded or unshielded.
• The unshielded twisted pair cables are very cheap and easy to
install. However, they are badly affected by the noise interference
Figure 7.4 UTP and STP cables

7.9
Table 7.1 Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables

7.10
Figure 7.5 UTP connector

7.11
Figure 7.6 UTP performance

7.12
Coaxial Cable
• It consists of two concentric conductors separated by a dielectric
material.
• The external conductor is metallic braid and used for the purpose of
shielding.
• The co-axial cable may contain one or more co-axial pairs.
Advantages
• Because of the shield provided, this cable has excellent noise
immunity.
• It has a large bandwidth compared to twisted pair cables and low
losses.
• This cable is suitable for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint
applications and most widely used medium for local area networks
(LANs).
• These cables are costlier than twisted pair cables, however, they are
cheaper than optical fiber cables.
Figure 7.7 Coaxial cable

7.15
Table 7.2 Categories of coaxial cables

7.16
Figure 7.8 BNC connectors

7.17
Figure 7.9 Coaxial cable performance

7.18
 Optical Fiber Cable

• It consists of an inner glass core surrounded by a glass cladding which

has a lower refractive index.
• Digital signals are transmitted in the form of intensity-modulated light
signal which is trapped in the glass core
• Light is launched into the fiber using a light source such as a light
emitting diode (LED) or Laser.
• It is detected on the other side using a photodetector
Figure 7.10 Fiber optics: Bending of light ray

7.20
Figure 7.11 Optical fiber

7.21
Figure 7.12 Propagation modes

7.22
Figure 7.13 Modes

7.23
Table 7.3 Fiber types

7.24
Figure 7.14 Fiber construction

7.25
Figure 7.15 Fiber-optic cable connectors

7.26
Characteristics
• Higher bandwidth therefore can operate at higher data rates
• Reduced losses as the signal attenuation is low
• Distortion is reduced hence better quality is assured.
• They are immune to electromagnetic interference.
• Small size and lightweight
• Used for point-to-point communication
Factors affecting OFC Communication
• Optical Power
• Dispersion
• Attenuation
• Receiver sensitivity
Figure 7.16 Optical fiber performance

7.29
7-2 UNGUIDED MEDIA: WIRELESS

Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves

without using a physical conductor. This type of
communication is often referred to as wireless
communication.

Topics discussed in this section:

Radio Waves
Microwaves
Infrared

7.30
Figure 7.17 Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication

7.31
Figure 7.18 Propagation methods

7.32
Table 7.4 Bands

7.33
Figure 7.19 Wireless transmission waves

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Note
Radio waves are used for multicast communications, such as radio and television,
and paging systems. They can penetrate through walls.
Highly regulated. Use omni directional antennas

7.35
Figure 7.20 Omnidirectional antenna

7.36
Note
Microwaves are used for unicast communication such as cellular telephones, satellite
networks,
and wireless LANs.
Higher frequency ranges cannot penetrate walls.
Use directional antennas - point to point line of sight communications.

7.37
Figure 7.21 Unidirectional antennas

7.38
Note

Infrared signals can be used for short-range communication in a closed area using
line-of-sight propagation.

7.39
Wireless Channels

• Are subject to a lot more errors than guided media

channels.
• Interference is one cause for errors, can be
circumvented with high SNR.
• The higher the SNR the less capacity is available
for transmission due to the broadcast nature of
the channel.
• Channel also subject to fading and no coverage
holes.

7.40