EXPERIMENT-3

Aim: Study of different types of Network cables and Network Devices

Apparatus (Components): RJ-45 connector, Climping Tool, Twisted pair

Cable
TYPES OF NETWORK CABLES
To connect two or more computers or networking devices in a network, network
cables are used. There are three types of network cables;
1.coaxial,
2. twisted-pair, and
3.fiber-optic
Coaxial cable
This cable contains a conductor, insulator, braiding, and sheath. The sheath covers
the braiding, braiding covers the insulation, and the insulation covers the
conductor.

The following image shows these components.

Sheath
This is the outer layer of the coaxial cable. It protects the cable from physical
damage.

Braided shield
This shield protects signals from external interference and noise. This shield is built
from the same metal that is used to build the core.

Insulation
Insulation protects the core. It also keeps the core separate from the braided-shield.
Since both the core and the braided-shield use the same metal, without this layer,
they will touch each other and create a short-circuit in the wire.

Conductor
The conductor carries electromagnetic signals. Based on conductor a coaxial cable
can be categorized into two types; single-core coaxial cable and multi-core coaxial
cable.

A single-core coaxial cable uses a single central metal (usually copper) conductor,

while a multi-core coaxial cable uses multiple thin strands of metal wires. The
following image shows both types of cable.
Coaxial cables in computer networks
The coaxial cables were not primarily developed for the computer network. These
cables were developed for general purposes. They were in use even before
computer networks came into existence. They are still used even their use in
computer networks has been completely discontinued.

At the beginning of computer networking, when there were no dedicated media

cables available for computer networks, network administrators began using
coaxial cables to build computer networks.

Because of low-cost and long durability, coaxial cables were used in computer
networking for nearly two decades (80s and 90s). Coaxial cables are no longer used
to build any type of computer network.

Specifications of coaxial cables

Coaxial cables have been in use for the last four decades. During these years, based
on several factors such as the thickness of the sheath, the metal of the conductor,
and the material used in insulation, hundreds of specifications have been created to
specify the characteristics of coaxial cables.
From these specifications, only a few were used in computer networks. The
following table lists them.

Type Ohm AWG Conductor Description

s
RG-6 75 18 Solid copper Used in cable network to provide cable Internet service
distances.
RG-8 50 10 Solid copper Used in the earliest computer networks. This cable was
bus topology. In Ethernet standards, this cable is docum
cable.
RG-58 50 24 Several thin This cable is thinner, easier to handle and install than th
strands of copper used to connect a system with the backbone-cable. In E
documented as the 10base2 Thinnet cable.
RG-59 75 20 - Solid copper Used in cable networks to provide short-distance servic
22

 Coaxial cable uses RG rating to measure the materials used in shielding and
conducting cores.
 RG stands for the Radio Guide. Coaxial cable mainly uses radio frequencies
in transmission.
 Impedance is the resistance that controls the signals. It is expressed in the
ohms.
 AWG stands for American Wire Gauge. It is used to measure the size of the
core. The larger the AWG size, the smaller the diameter of the core wire.

Twisted-pair cables
The twisted-pair cable was primarily developed for computer networks. This cable
is also known as Ethernet cable. Almost all modern LAN computer networks use
this cable.

This cable consists of color-coded pairs of insulated copper wires. Every two wires
are twisted around each other to form pair. Usually, there are four pairs. Each pair
has one solid color and one stripped color wire. Solid colors are blue, brown, green
and orange. In stripped color, the solid color is mixed with the white color.

Based on how pairs are stripped in the plastic sheath, there are two types of
twisted-pair cable; UTP and STP.

In the UTP (Unshielded twisted-pair) cable, all pairs are wrapped in a single

plastic sheath.

In the STP (Shielded twisted-pair) cable, each pair is wrapped with an additional

metal shield, then all pairs are wrapped in a single outer plastic sheath.

Procedure: To do these practical following steps should be done:

1. Start by stripping off about 2 inches of the plastic jacket off the end
of the cable. Be very careful at this point, as to not nick or cut into the
wires, which are inside. Doing so could alter the characteristics of your
cable, or even worse render is useless. Check the wires, one more time
for nicks or cuts. If there are any, just whack the whole end off, and
start over.

2.Spread the wires apart, but be sure to hold onto the base of the jacket with
your other hand. You do not want the wires to become untwisted down inside
the jacket. Category 5 cable must only have 1/2 of an inch of 'untwisted' wire
at the end; otherwise it will be 'out of spec'. At this point, you obviously have
ALOT more than 1/2 of an inch of un-twisted wire.

3. You have 2 end jacks, which must be installed on your cable. If you
are using a pre-made cable, with one of the ends whacked off, you only
have one end to install - the crossed over end. Below are two diagrams,
which show how you need to arrange the cables for each type of cable
end. Decide at this point which end you are making and examine the
associated picture below.
Diagram shows you how to prepare Cross wired connection

Diagram shows you how to prepare straight through wired connection

Study of following Network Devices in Detail
 Repeater
 Hub
 Switch
 Bridge
 Router
 Gate Way

Apparatus (Software): No software or hardware needed.

Procedure: Following should be done to understand this practical.

1.Repeater:
Functioning at Physical Layer. A repeater is an electronic device that
receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher
power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can
cover longer distances. Repeater have two ports ,so cannot be use to
 connect for more than two devices

2.Hub: An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub, hub or
concentrator
is a device for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber optic Ethernet
devices together and making them act as a single network segment. Hubs
work at the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI model. The device is a
form of multiport repeater. Repeater hubs also participate in collision
detection, forwarding a jam signal to all ports if it detects a collision.

3. Switch:A network switch or switching hub is a computer

networking device that connects network segments. The term
commonly refers to a network bridge that processes and routes data at
the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that
additionally process data at the network layer (layer 3 and above) are
often referred to as Layer 3 switches or multilayer switches.

4. Bridge: A network bridge connects multiple network segments at

the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. In Ethernet networks,
the term bridge formally means a device that behaves according to the
IEEE 802.1D standard. A bridge and switch are very much alike; a
switch being a bridge with numerous ports. Switch or Layer 2 switch is
often used interchangeably with bridge.Bridges can analyze incoming
data packets to determine if the bridge is able to send the given packet
to another segment of the network.

5. Router: A router is an electronic device that interconnects two or

more computer networks, and selectively interchanges packets of data
between them. Each data packet contains address information that a
router can use to determine if the source and destination are on the
same network, or if the data packet must be transferred from one
network to another. Where multiple routers are used in a large
collection of interconnected networks, the routers exchange information
about target system addresses, so that each router can build up a table
showing the preferred paths between any two systems on the
interconnected networks.

6.Gate Way: In a communications network, a network node equipped for

interfacing with
another network that uses different protocols.
 A gateway may contain devices such as protocol translators,
impedance matching devices, rate converters, fault isolators, or
signal translators as necessary to provide system interoperability.
It also requires the establishment of mutually acceptable
administrative procedures between both networks.
 A protocol translation/mapping gateway interconnects networks
with different network protocol technologies by performing the
required protocol conversions.