UNIT II CHAPTER 4 Transmission Media

Overview
Guided (thro Physical Path) - wire / optical fiber Unguided (thro air,Vaccum, or Water) - wireless characteristics and quality determined by medium and signal in unguided media - bandwidth produced by the antenna is more important in guided media - medium is more important key concerns are data rate and distance

Design Factors
Bandwidth higher bandwidth gives higher data rate Transmission impairments eg. (Attenuation, Delay Distortion) Interference - Interference can also be experienced from unguided transmissions. Proper shielding of a guided medium can minimize this problem. Number of receivers in guided media more receivers introduces more attenuation (attenuation and distortion on the line, limiting distance and/or data rate)

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Transmission Characteristics of Guided Media

Frequency Range Twisted pair (with loading) Twisted pairs (multi-pair cables) Coaxial cable Optical fiber 0 to 3.5 kHz Typical Attenuation 0.2 dB/km @ 1 kHz 0.7 dB/km @ 1 kHz 7 dB/km @ 10 MHz 0.2 to 0.5 dB/km Typical Delay 50 s/km Repeater Spacing 2 km

0 to 1 MHz

5 s/km

2 km

0 to 500 MHz 186 to 370 THz

4 s/km 5 s/km

1 to 9 km 40 km

Twisted Pair
Wire Pair act as a Single Communication link The Twist length typically varies from 5 to 15 cm. The wires in a pair have thicknesses of from 0.4 to 0.9 mm

Twisted Pair - Transmission Characteristics

analog
needs amplifiers every 5km to 6km

digital
can use either analog or digital signals needs a repeater every 2-3km

limited distance limited bandwidth (1MHz) limited data rate (100MHz) susceptible to interference and noise

Unshielded vs Shielded TP
unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
ordinary telephone wire cheapest easiest to install suffers from external EM interference

shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference more expensive harder to handle (thick, heavy)

Categories of UTP
To support higher speeds, EIA-568-A was issued in 1995. It covers 150-ohm shielded twisted pair and 100-ohm unshielded twisted pair. EIA-568-A recognizes three categories of UTP cabling: Category 3: Transmission characteristics up to 16 MHz Category 4: Transmission characteristics up to 20 MHz Category 5: Transmission characteristics up to 100 MHz Category 3 and Category 5 cable - LAN applications. Category 3 corresponds to the voice-grade cable (office building)
Over limited distances, and with proper design, data rates of up to 16 Mbps should be achievable with Category 3.

Category 5 is a data-grade (pre installation in new office buildings).

Over limited distances, and with proper design, data rates of up to 100 Mbps are achievable with Category 5.

UTP Categories
Category 3 Class C Bandwidth Cable Type Link Cost (Cat 5 =1) 16 MHz UTP 0.7 Category 5 Class D 100 MHz UTP/FTP 1 Category 5E 100 MHz UTP/FTP 1.2 Category 6 Class E 200 MHz UTP/FTP 1.5 Category 7 Class F 600 MHz SSTP 2.2

Comparison of Shielded and Unshielded Twisted Pair

Attenuation (dB per 100 m) Frequency (MHz) 1 4 16 25 100 300 Category 3 UTP 2.6 5.6 13.1 Category 5 UTP 2.0 4.1 8.2 10.4 22.0 150-ohm STP 1.1 2.2 4.4 6.2 12.3 21.4 Near-end Crosstalk (dB) Category 3 UTP 41 32 23 Category 5 UTP 62 53 44 41 32 150-ohm STP 58 58 50.4 47.5 38.5 31.3

Near End Crosstalk

coupling of signal from one pair to another occurs when transmit signal entering the link couples back to receiving pair ie. near transmitted signal is picked up by near receiving pair

Coaxial Cable

Coaxial Cable - Transmission Characteristics

Superior frequency characteristics to TP (used at high frequency and data rates) Coaxial cable is much less susceptible to interference and crosstalk than twisted pair (shielded, concentric construction) . The principal constraints on performance are attenuation, thermal noise. Inter modulation noise (only when several channels (FDM) or frequency bands are in use on the cable) analog signals amplifiers every few km closer if higher frequency up to 500MHz digital signals repeater every 1km closer for higher data rates

Optical Fiber
Thin 2 to 125 m, flexible medium (guiding an optical ray). Various glasses and plastics can be used to make optical fibers

Optical Fiber
Core is the innermost section and consists of one or more very thin strands, or fibers, made of glass or plastic; the core has a diameter in the range of 8 to 50 m. Each fiber is surrounded by its own cladding, a glass or plastic coating that has optical properties different from those of the core and a diameter of 125 m. The outermost layer, surrounding one or a bundle of cladded fibers, is the jacket (to protect against moisture, abrasion, crushing, and other environmental dangers) Optical fiber already enjoys considerable use in long-distance telecommunications, and its use in military applications is growing. Five basic categories of application have become important for optical fiber: Long-haul trunks, Metropolitan trunks, Rural exchange trunks, Subscriber loops & Local area networks.

Optical Fiber - Benefits Greater capacity

data rates of hundreds of Gbps

Smaller size & weight Lower attenuation Electromagnetic isolation Greater repeater spacing
10s of km at least

Optical Fiber - Transmission Characteristics

uses total internal reflection to transmit light (Total internal reflection can occur in any transparent medium that has a higher index of refraction than the surrounding medium) effectively acts as wave guide for 1014 to 1015 Hz can use several different light sources Light Emitting Diode (LED) cheaper, wider operating temp range, lasts longer Injection Laser Diode (ILD) more efficient, has greater data rate relation of wavelength, type & data rate

Optical Fiber Transmission Modes