ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED TO: BY: Mrs. Jasdeep Kaur

SUBMITTED Jyoti Bhanot MCA 2nd Sem Roll no:2219/10

Transmission medium:
Transmission medium provides physical entity for the conveyance of signals. Transmission medium is the physical path between transmitter and receiver in a data transmission system.

Characterstics and quality of transmission medium:

The characteristics and quality of a data transmission are determined both by the characteristics of the medium and the characteristics of the signal. In the case of guided media, the medium itself is more important in determining the limitations of transmission. For unguided media, the bandwidth of the signal produced by the transmitting antenna is more important than the medium in determining transmission characteristics.

Design of data transmission system:

A number of design factors relating to the transmission medium and to the signal determine the data rate and distance: Bandwidth. All other factors remaining constant, the greater the bandwidth of a signal, the higher the data rate that can be achieved. Transmission impairments. Impairments, such as attenuation, limit the distance. For guided media, twisted pair generally suffer more impairment than coaxial cable, which in turn suffers more than optical fiber. Interference. Interference from competing signals in overlapping frequency bands can distort or wipe out a signal. Interference is of particular concern for unguided media, but it is also a problem with guided media. For guided media, interference can be caused by emanations from nearby cables. For example, twisted pair are often bundled together, and conduits often carry multiple cables. Interference can also be experienced from unguided transmissions. Proper shielding of a guided medium can minimize this problem. Number of receivers. A guided medium can be used to construct a point-topoint link or a shared link with multiple attachments. In the latter case, each

attachment introduces some attenuation and distortion on the line, limiting distance and/or data rate.

Figure : Types of transmission media

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. Guided Transmission Media uses a "cabling" system that guides the data signals along a specific path. The data signals are bound by the "cabling" system. Guided Media is also known as Bound Media.Cable is the medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. Twisted pair cable and coaxial cable use metallic (copper) conductors that accept and transport signals in the form of electric current. Optical fiber is a glass or plastic cable that accepts and transports signals in the form of light.

1)Twisted pair:
It is one types of copper cables, it consists of two insulated copper wires that are twisted together in helical form. There are two types of twisted pairs, Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cable and Shielded Twisted Pairs (STP). Both of types are used Ethernet LANs, they consists of four pairs of color-coded wires that have been twisted together and then encased in a flexible plastic sheath. STP cable differs then UTP as it supported with outer shield which give it more noise immunity. As seen in figure , the color codes identify the individual pairs and wires in the pairs and aid in cable termination. The purpose of twisting the wire is to reduce electrical interference from similar pairs closed by.

Twisted pairs can run approximately 100 meter with out amplification, but for longer distances, repeaters are needed. Twisted pairs can be used for either analogue or digital transmission. The bandwidth depends on the thickness of wire and the distance traveled. Twisted pair can carry 10Mbps, 100Mbps or 1000MBps, this variation depends on the category of cable.

Comparison of Unshielded and shielded twisted pairs:

Unshielded twisted pair (UTP). Ordinary telephone wire. Subject to external electromagnetic interference. Shielded twisted pair (STP) Shielded with a metallic braid or sheath. Reduces interference. Better performance at higher data rates. More expensive and difficult to work compared to UTP.

Twisted Pair advantages:

It is a thin, flexible cable that is easy to string between walls. More lines can be run through the same wiring ducts. UTP costs less per meter/foot than any other type of LAN cable.

Twisted Pair Disadvantages:

susceptibility to interference and noise attenuation problem o For analog, repeaters needed every 5-6km o For digital, repeaters needed every 2-3km relatively low bandwidth (3000Hz)

Coaxial Cables:
It is one type of copper cables. It consists of a stiff copper conductor as a core surrounded by a layer of flexible insulation, the insulator is incased by cylindrical conductor often as a closely woven braided mesh. The outer conductor is covered in a protective plastic sheath. as shown in the figure

The bandwidth possible depends on the cable length. For 1-Km cables, a data rate of 1 to 2 Gbps is feasible. Longer cables can also be used but at lower data rate or with periodic amplifiers. At one time, coaxial cable was the most widely used network cabling.

There were a couple of reasons for coaxial wide usage. Coaxial was relatively inexpensive, and it was light, flexible, and easy to work with. It was so popular that it became a safe, easily supported installation. Coaxial cables are widely used in telephone system but have now largely replaced by fiber optics on long land routers. However coaxial cables are still widely used for TV cables and some LAN. Coaxial cable is more resistant to interference and attenuation than twisted-pair cabling. Attenuation is the loss of signal strength which begins to occur as the signal travels further along a copper cable. Advantages: -sufficient frequency range to support multiple channel -lower error rates -greater spacing between amplifiers is allowed because coaxial cable has the ability to reduce noise and crosstalk. Disadvantage: -more expensive to install compared to others. -the thicker the cable, the more difficult to work with.

Fiber Optics:
Fiber-optic cabling uses either glass or plastic fibers to guide light impulses from source to destination. The bits are encoded on the fiber as light impulses. Optical fiber cabling is capable of very large raw data bandwidth rates. With current optical fiber technology, the achievable bandwidth is certainly in excess of 50,000 Gbps (50 Tbps). The current practical signaling limit of a bout 1 Gbps which due to our inability to convert between electrical and optical signals any faster.

Advantages of fiber-optic cable 1.Higher Bandwidth : Higher data rate than TP & coaxial cable. 2.Less signal attenuation: Fiber-optic transmission distance is significantly greater than that of other guided media. A signal can run for 50 km without requiring regeneration. We need repeaters after every 5km for coaxial or TP cable. 3.Noise resistance : Because fiber-optic transmission uses light rather than electricity, noise is not a factor. External light, the only possible interference, is blocked from the channel by the outer jacket. 4.Light weight : Fiber-optic cables are much lighter than copper cables. 5.More immune to tapping (or Security) : Fiber-optic cables are more immune to tapping than copper cables. Copper cables create antennas that can easily be tapped. 6.Optical fiber can carry thousands of times more information than copper wire. For example, a single-strand fiber strand could carry all the telephone conversations in the United States at peak hour. Fiber is more lightweight than copper. Copper cable equals approximately 80 lbs/1000 feet while fiber weighs about 9 lbs/1000 feet. 7.Reliability : Fiber is more reliable than copper and has a longer life span. 8.Fiber optic cable can carry signals for longer distance without repeater than coaxial cable.

Disadvantages of fiber-optic cable: 1.Installation/maintenance expertise : Installation and maintenance need expertise that is not yet available everywhere. 2.Unidirectional : Propagation of light is unidirectional. 3.Cost : Fiber-optic cable is more expensive. 4.Fragility : Glass fiber is more easily broken than wire, making it less useful for applications where h/w portability is required. 5.Limited physical arc of cable of cable. Bend it too much and it will Break.

Unguided Media:
This is the wireless media that transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. Signals are broadcast either through air. This is done through radio communication, satellite communication and cellular telephony. Unguided transmission media are methods that allow the transmission of data without the use of physical means to define the path it takes. Examples of this include microwave, radio or infrared.

Communication satellites:

Satellite communication is based on ideas similar to those used for line-ofsight. A communication satellite is essentially a big microwave repeater or relay station in the sky. Microwave signals from a ground station is picked up by a transponder, amplifies the signal and rebroadcasts it in another frequency, which can be received by ground stations at long distances. To keep the satellite stationary with respect to the ground based stations, the satellite is placed in a geostationary orbit above the equator at an altitude of about 36,000 km. As the spacing between two satellites on the equatorial plane should not be closer than 4, there can be 360/4 = 90 communication satellites in the sky at a time. A satellite can be used for point-to-point communication between two groundbased stations or it can be used to broadcast a signal received from one station to many ground-based stations Number of geo-synchronous satellites limited (about 90 total, to minimize interference). International agreements regulate how satellites are used, and how frequencies are allocated. Weather affects certain frequencies. Satellite transmission differs from terrestrial communication in another important way: One-way propagation delay is roughly 270 ms. In interactive terms, propagation delay alone inserts a 1 second delay between typing a character and receiving its echo.

Use: Now-a-days communication satellites are not only used to handle telephone, telex and television traffic over long distances, but are used to support various internet based services such as e-mail, FTP, World Wide Web (WWW), etc. New types of services,based on communication satellites, are emerging.

Comparison/contrast with other technologies: 1. Propagation delay very high. On LANs, for example, propagation time is in nanoseconds -- essentially negligible. 2. One of few alternatives to phone companies for long distances. 3. Uses broadcast technology over a wide area - everyone on earth could receive a message at the same time! 4. Easy to place unauthorized taps into signal.

Microwave Transmission
Microwave transmission also requires line of sight in order to work properly. In order to allow two way communications two frequencies are used. However, this does not mean that there has to be two antennas because the frequencies can be dealt with by one antenna at both ends.

The distance covered by microwave signals is based upon the height of the antenna. In order to increase this coverage each antenna has a built-in repeater that regenerates the signal before passing it on to the next antenna in line. The placement of the antenna to do this is approximately 25 miles. The main drawback of microwave signals is that they can be affected by weather, especially rain. Properties

Suitable over line-of-sight transmission links without obstacles Provides good bandwidth[clarification needed] Affected by rain, vapor, dust, snow, cloud, mist and fog, heavy moisture, depending on chosen frequency (see rain fade)

Uses:

Backbone or backhaul carriers in cellular networks. Used to link BTSBSC and BSC-MSC. Communication with satellites Microwave radio relay links for television and telephone service providers

Advantages:

No cables needed Multiple channels available Wide bandwidth

Disadvantages:

Line-of-sight will be disrupted if any obstacle, such as new buildings, are in the way

Signal absorption by the atmosphere. Microwaves suffer from attenuation due to atmospheric conditions. Towers are expensive to build