Physical Layer

The Physical Layer

Foundation on which other layers build

• Properties of wires, fiber, wireless
limit what the network can do Application
Transport
Network
Key problem is to send (digital) bits
Link
using only (analog) signals
Physical
• This is called modulation
 Physical Layer Issues

• Media: wires, fiber, satellites, radio

• Signal propagation: bandwidth, attenuation, noise
• Modulation: how bits are represented as voltage signals
• Fundamental limits: Nyquist, Shannon
 Abstract Model of a Link
Channel: bit rate, delay, error rate
Sender Receiver

• Bit rate: bits/sec depends on the channel’s bandwidth

• Delay: how long does it take a bit to get to the end?
• Error rate: what is the probability of a bit flipping?
 Bandwidth-Delay Product

• Bits have a physical size on the channel!

• Storage capacity of a channel is: bit rate x delay
• Example:
• 100 Mbps 5000-km fiber, delay = 50 msec
• In 50 msec we can pump out 5 million bits
• So the fiber can store 5 million bits in 5000 km
• 1 km holds 1000 bits so a bit is 1 meter long
• At 200 Mbps, a bit is 0.5 m long
 Signal Propagation over a Wire
• The signal has a finite propagation speed (2/3 c)
• The signal is attenuated per km
• Frequencies above a cutoff are strongly reduced
• Noise is added to the signal
Theoretical Basis for Data Communication

Communication rates have fundamental limits

• Fourier analysis
• Bandwidth-limited signals
• Maximum data rate of a channel
 Sine wave
g(t) = A sin (2 π f t + ϕ)
A (Volts)

Period = 1/f Time

• A is the amplitude = how strong the signal is
• f is the frequency (cycles/sec or Hz) = how fast it changes in time
A (Volts)
A
 Fourier Analysis
A time-varying periodic signal can be represented as a
series of frequency components (harmonics):

Signal over time a, b weights of harmonics

 Bandwidth-Limited Signals
Having less bandwidth (harmonics) degrades the signal

8 harmonics

Lost!

Bandwidth

4 harmonics
Lost!

2 harmonics

Lost!
Maximum Data Rate of a Channel - Nyquist
Nyquist’s theorem relates the data rate to the bandwidth (B)
and number of signal levels (V) on a noiseless channel:

Max. data rate = 2B log2V bits/sec

• Examples
− 3000 Hz channel (tel. line), binary signals = 6000 bps
− 3000 Hz channel (tel. line), 4-level signals = 12,000 bps
− 3000 Hz channel (tel. line), 16-level signals = 48,000 bps

• Nyquist is a property of mathematics that relate

bandwidth to symbols/sec and bits/sec
Maximum Data Rate of a Channel - Shannon

• Signal to noise is signal power to noise power:

- Expressed as log10 signal power/noise power
- S/N of 10 is written as 10 dB
- S/N of 100 is written as 20 dB
- S/N of 1000 is written as 30 dB

Shannon's theorem relates the data rate to the bandwidth

(B) and signal strength (S) relative to the noise (N):

Max. data rate = B log2(1 + S/N) bits/sec

How fast signal How many levels

can change can be seen
 Nyquist vs. Shannon
• Nyquist:
- For noiseless channel
- Depends on number signal levels per symbol

• Shannon
- For noisy channel
- Depends on S/N ratio, not bits/symbol
Guided Transmission (Wires & Fiber)

Media have different properties, hence performance

• Reality check
− Physical transport of storage media
• Wires:
− Twisted pairs
− Coaxial cable
− Power lines
• Fiber cables
 Wires – Twisted Pair
Very common; used in LANs, telephone lines
• Twists reduce radiated signal (interference)
• UTP = Unshielded Twisted Pair

Category 5 UTP cable with four twisted pairs

 Kinds of Wire

• STP = Shielded Twisted Pair

• UTP = Unshielded Twisted Pair
- Cat 3: Home telephone lines
- Cat 5: Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)
- Cat 5e: Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps)
- Cat 6: 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10 Gps) up to 100 m
- Cat 6A: Better quality Cat 6
- Cat 7: Includes shielding (not in common use)
 Connectors

RJ11 – 4 wires RJ45 – 8 wires

Modern buildings are wired for RJ45 but there are adaptors
 Link Terminology
Simplex link
• Only one fixed direction at all times; not common
Half-duplex link
• Both directions, but not at the same time
• e.g., senders take turns on a wireless channel
Full-duplex link
• Used for transmission in both directions at once
• e.g., use different twisted pairs for each direction
 Wires – Coaxial Cable
Also common. Better shielding and more bandwidth for
longer distances and higher rates than twisted pair.
 Wires – Power Lines
Household electrical wiring is another example of wires
• Convenient to use, but poor for sending data
 Fiber Optics

Three examples of a light ray from inside a

silica fiber impinging on the air/silica boundary
at different angles.
 Fiber Cables
Common for high rates and long distances
• Long distance ISP(Internet Service Provider) links,
Fiber-to-the-Home
• Light carried in very long, thin strands of glass

Light source Light trapped by

(LED, laser) Photodetector
total internal reflection
 Fiber Cables

Fiber has enormous bandwidth (THz) and tiny signal

loss – hence high rates over long distances
 Fiber Cables

Single-mode
• Core so narrow (10um) light can’t
even bounce around
• Used with lasers for long distances,
e.g., 100km

Multi-mode
• Other main type of fiber
• Light can bounce (50um core)
• Used with LEDs for cheaper, shorter
distance links

Fibers in a cable
 TAT-14 TransAtlantic Cable

• The TAT-14 is a 15,428 km transatlantic submarine

cable system, connecting the United States to the
United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany,
and Denmark.
• Fiber cable lies on the ocean floor (8000 m deep)
• Ring structure
• Two pairs of fibers used plus two pairs for backup
• Theoretical capacity is 3 Tbps
• Cables are not well protected and there is no backup
 Wire vs. Fiber

Comparison of the properties of wires and fiber:

Property Wires Fiber

Distance Short (100s of m) Long (tens of km)
Bandwidth Moderate Very High
Cost Inexpensive Less cheap
Convenience Easy to use Less easy
Security Easy to tap Hard to tap
 Wireless Transmission
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Radio Transmission
• Microwave Transmission
• Light Transmission
• Wireless vs. Wires/Fiber
 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Different bands have different uses:

− Radio: wide-area broadcast; Infrared/Light: line-of-sight
− Microwave: LANs and 3G/4G; Networking focus

Microwave
 Electromagnetic Spectrum

To manage interference, spectrum is carefully divided,

and its use regulated and licensed, e.g., sold at auction.

300 MHz 3 GHz

WiFi (ISM bands)

3 GHz Source: NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, 2003 30 GHz

Part of the US frequency allocations

 Electromagnetic Spectrum
Fortunately, there are also unlicensed (“ISM”) Industrial
Scientific and Medical frequency bands:
− Free for use at low power; devices manage interference
− Widely used for networking; WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

802.11 802.11a/g/n/ac
b/g/n
 Radio Waves
• Radio waves have a frequency, f, in Hz
• They have a wavelength, λ in meters
• λf = c in vacuum
• For microwaves, megahertz x meters = 300
− 300 MHz waves are 1 meter long
− 1 GHz waves are 30 cm long
− 2.4 GHz waves are 12.5 cm long
 Radio Transmission

Radio signals penetrate buildings well and propagate for

long distances with path loss

In the VLF, LF, and MF bands, radio In the HF band, radio waves bounce off
waves follow the curvature of the earth the ionosphere.
 Microwave Transmission
Microwaves have much bandwidth and are widely used
indoors (WiFi) and outdoors (3G, satellites)
• Signal is attenuated/reflected by everyday objects
• Strength varies with mobility due multipath fading, etc.
 Light Transmission
Line-of-sight light (no fiber) can be used for links
• Light is highly directional, has much bandwidth
• Use of LEDs/cameras and lasers/photodetectors
 Wireless vs. Wires/Fiber

Wireless:
+ Easy and inexpensive to deploy
+ Naturally supports mobility
+ Naturally supports broadcast
− Transmissions interfere and must be managed
− Signal strengths hence data rates vary greatly

Wires/Fiber:
+ Easy to engineer a fixed data rate over point-to-point links
− Can be expensive to deploy, esp. over distances
− Doesn’t readily support mobility or broadcast
 Communication Satellites

Satellites are effective for broadcast distribution

and anywhere/anytime communications
• Kinds of Satellites
• Geostationary (GEO) Satellites
• Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites
• Satellites vs. Fiber
 Kinds of Satellites
Satellites and their properties vary by altitude:
• Geostationary (GEO), Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO),
and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)

Sats needed for

global coverage
 Geostationary Satellites

GEO satellites orbit 36,000 km above a fixed location

• VSAT (computers) can communicate with the help of a hub
• Up and down time is about 250 msec
• Big problem for voice

GEO satellite

VSAT
Geostationary Satellites

The principal satellite bands

 Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

Systems such as Iridium use many low-latency satellites

for coverage and route communications via them

The 66 Iridium satellites form six

necklaces around the earth.
Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

Relaying in space.
Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

Relaying on the ground

 Satellite vs. Fiber
Satellite:
+ Can rapidly set up anywhere/anytime communications (after
satellites have been launched)
+ Can broadcast to large regions
− Limited bandwidth and interference to manage

Fiber:
+ Enormous bandwidth over long distances
− Installation can be more expensive/difficult
− Doesn’t work at sea or in remote areas
 Digital Modulation and Multiplexing
Modulation schemes send bits as signals
Multiplexing schemes share a channel among users.

• Baseband Transmission
• Passband Transmission
• Frequency Division Multiplexing
• Time Division Multiplexing
• Code Division Multiple Access
 Baseband Transmission
Line codes send symbols that represent one or more bits
• NRZ is the simplest, literal line code (+1V=“1”, -1V=“0”)
• Other codes tradeoff bandwidth and signal transitions

Four different line codes

 Passband Transmission

Modulating the amplitude, frequency/phase of a carrier

signal sends bits in a (non-zero) frequency range

NRZ signal of bits

Amplitude shift keying

Frequency shift keying

Phase shift keying

 Passband Transmission
Constellation diagrams are a shorthand to capture the
amplitude and phase modulations of symbols:

BPSK QPSK QAM-16 QAM-64

2 symbols 4 symbols 16 symbols 64 symbols
1 bit/symbol 2 bits/symbol 4 bits/symbol 6 bits/symbol

BPSK/QPSK varies only phase QAM varies amplitude and phase

 Frequency Division Multiplexing

FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) shares the

channel by placing users on different frequencies:

Overall FDM channel

 Wavelength Division Multiplexing

WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing), another name

for FDM, is used to carry many signals on one fiber:
Circuit Switching/Packet Switching

(a) Circuit switching. (b) Packet switching.

Circuit Switching/Packet Switching

Timing of events in (a) circuit switching,

(b) packet switching
 Circuit Switching/Packet Switching

A comparison of circuit-switched and packet-switched networks.

 Cellular mobile phone systems

All based on notion of spatial regions called cells

− Each mobile uses a frequency in a cell; moves cause handoff
− Frequencies are reused across non-adjacent cells
− To support more mobiles, smaller cells can be used
2G GSM – Global System for Mobile
Communications
• Mobile is divided into handset and SIM card
(Subscriber Identity Module) with credentials
• Mobiles tell their HLR (Home Location Register) their
current whereabouts for incoming calls
• Cells keep track of visiting mobiles (in the Visitor LR)