TRANSMISSION MEDIA

CHAPTER 6
Lesson Outcomes

• At the end of this lesson, the students should be able

to:
– Differentiate between guided and unguided
transmission media
– Explain the characteristics of each type of guided
and unguided transmission media
Introduction

• A transmission medium can be defined as anything

that can carry information from a source to a
destination
• The transmission medium is usually free space,
metallic cable, or fiber-optic cable
• The information is usually a signal that is the result of
a conversation of data from another form
• In telecommunications, transmission media can be
divided into two categories: guided and unguided
• In chapter 4, we have discussed that before data is
transferred over the medium it will be converted
from digital information to become a (digital signal or
analog signal).
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.1 Classes of transmission media

Guided Media
Introduction

• Provide physical conductor from one device to

another
• Include twisted pair wire, coaxial cable and fiber optic
• A signal traveling along any of these media is directed
and contained by the physical limits of the medium
• Twisted pair and coaxial cable use cooper that
transport signal in the form of electrical current
• Fiber optic use a glass or plastic that transport signals
in the form of light
Twisted Pair Cable

• Consists of two conductors (normally copper), each

with its own plastic insulation, twisted together (Figure
5.2)
● One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the
other is used only as a ground reference – the receiver uses the
difference between the two
• Interference (noise) and crosstalk may affect both wires
and create unwanted signals
• By twisting the pairs, it probable that both wires are
equally effected by internal influences
• When the receiver calculates the difference between
the two, receives no unwanted signals
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.2 Twisted-pair cable

Twisted Pair Cable

• Can be divided into two forms

1. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
2. Shielded twisted pair (STP)
• Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
– Most common twisted-pair cable used in communications
– Suitable for transmitting both data and voice
– Frequency range for twisted pair wire is between 100 Hz to 5 Mhz
– Consists of two conductors (cooper) each with its own colored plastic
insulation
– Advantages of UTP are cost and ease to use
Twisted Pair Cable

• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

– Has a metal shield that encases each pair of
insulated conductors
– The metal casing prevents the penetration of
electromagnetic noise
– Also can eliminate phenomenon called crosstalk
– More expensive than UTP but uses same
connectors
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.3 UTP and STP cables

a) STP b) UTP
Category Bandwidth Data Rate Digital/Analog Use

1 very low < 100 kbps Analog Telephone

2 < 2 MHz 2 Mbps Analog/digital T-1 lines

3 16 MHz 10 Mbps Digital LANs

4 20 MHz 20 Mbps Digital LANs

5 100 MHz 100 Mbps Digital LANs

6 (draft) 200 MHz 200 Mbps Digital LANs

7 (draft) 600 MHz 600 Mbps Digital LANs

Table 5.1 Categories of unshielded twisted-pair cables

 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.4 UTP connector

Figure 5.5 UTP connector
Coaxial Cable

• Carriers signals of higher frequency ranges than

twisted pair wire
• Frequency range of coaxial cable is between 100 KHz
to 500 MHz
• Has a central core conductor of solid wire (usually
cooper) enclosed with insulator which encased an
outer conductor of metal foil (usually cooper)
• The whole cable is protected by a plastic cover
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.6 Coaxial cable

Coaxial Cable

• A few common of coaxial cable

– RG-59 used for Cable TV
– RG-58 used for Thin Ethernet
– RG-11 used for Thick Ethernet
• Most commonly type of connectors used are Bayone-
Neill-Concelman (BNC) connector, BNC T connector
and BNC terminator
Table 5.2 Categories of coaxial cables
RG-59 RG-58

RG-11
Figure 5.7 Categories of coaxial cable
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.8 BNC connectors

BNC connectors
Fiber optic cable

• Made of glass or plastic and transmits signals in the

form of light

Image source: Data Communications

Figure 5.9 Fiber construction And Networking, Forouzan
Fiber optic cables
Table 5.3 Fiber types
Fiber optic cable

• Three types of connectors:

– Subscriber channel (SC) connector – used for cable
TV
– Straight-tip (ST) connector – used for connecting
cable to networking devices
– MT-RJ – same size as RJ46
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.10 Fiber-optic cable connectors

Fiber optic cable

• Advantages of fiber optic

– Less signal attenuation
– Higher bandwidth
– Immunity of electromagnetic interference
– Light weight
– More immune to tapping
– Resistance to corrosive materials
Fiber optic cable

• Disadvantages of fiber optic

– Cost
– Installation and maintenance
– Fragility
– Unidirectional light propagation
Unguided Media
Introduction

• Transport electromagnetic waves without using physical

conductor
• Referred as wireless communication
• Figure 5.13 shows the part of the electromagnetic spectrum
used for wireless communication
Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.11 Electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communication

Introduction

• Unguided signal can travels from the source to

destination in several ways:
1. Ground propagation
– Radio waves travel through the lowest portion of the earth
– Greater power , greater distance
2. Sky propagation
– Higher frequency radio waves radiate upward into the ionosphere
where they are reflected back to earth
3. Line of sight
– Very high frequency signal are transmitted in straight line directly
from antenna to antenna
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.12 Propagation methods

Table source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Table 5.4 Bands

Introduction

Radio waves

Wireless
Transmission
Media

Infrared Microwaves
Radio waves

• Frequency between 3Khz to 1 GHz

• Function of omnidirectional antenna – radio waves
propagated in all direction. Sending antenna and
receiving antenna do not have to be aligned
• Radio waves propagate in the sky can travel in long
distance eg AM radio
• Penetrate building. Used in both outdoor and indoor.
• Travel long distance
• Omni directional Antenna
– Send out signals in all directions
– Useful for multicasting – one sender , many receiver eg
AM and FM radio, television, marine radio, cordless
phone and paging.
Figure 5.13 Omnidirectional antennas
Applications
Microwave

• Frequencies between 1 to 300 GHz

• Microwave are unidirectional - antenna narrowly
focused.
• Sending and receiving antenna need to be aligned
• Characteristics of microwave propagation:
– Propagation is line-of-sight
– Very high frequency microwaves cannot penetrate
wall
– The band is relatively wide, almost 299 GHz
– Use of certain portions of the band requires
permission from authorities
• Produce better throughput and performance than
radio waves
• Two types of data communication system;
a) terrestrial (communication in the earth)
b) satellite
• Signal weaker in long distance. So need repeater
every 35-40km.
• Carry thousand of voice channel at the same time
• Installation cost very high
• For satellite, microwave relay station placed in outer
space.
• Satellite launch by rocket or space shuttle
• Precisely positioned 360,000 km above
Microwave
Unidirectional antenna
- Send out signals in one direction
- Useful in unicast (one-to-one) communication.
Eg: cellular phones, satellite network and wireless
LANs

Parabolic
Horn
dish
antenna
antenna
 Image source: Data Communications
And Networking, Forouzan

Figure 5.14 Unidirectional antennas

Unidirectional (one direction) antenna
• Send out signal in one direction
• 2 types
a) Parabolic antenna
• Based on geometry of a parabola.
• Every line parallel to Line of Symmetry(LOS) reflect off the
curve at angel such that all lines intersect in common point
• It work as a funnel-catching wide range of wave and direct
them to common point.
b) Horn antenna
• Like a gigantic scoop receiver transmission are collected by
the scoop
Applications
Infrared

• Frequencies between 300 GHz to 400 THz

• Used for short range communication. Eg: IrDA port
that allow a wireless keyboard to communicate with
PC
• Useful for data transmission because use high
frequencies (400 THz)
• Cannot penetrate wall or affected by another system
in the next room
• Infrared wave cannot be used outside a building
because the sun’ rays contain infrared waves that
can interfere with the communication
Applications

• It used for communication between devices such as

wireless keyboards, mouse and printer
• Eg;- Infrared signal defined IrDA transmit through
line of sight, the IrDA port on the keyboard needs to
point to the PC for transmission occur
Summary

• Transmission media lie below the physical layer

• Guided medium provides a physical conduit from one
device to another device
• Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves
without physical conductor.
• Each types transmission media has own
characteristics, advantage and disadvantage and its
limitation
End of Chapter 6