Physical Layer

Lecture – 7-9 (Theory)

Department of Computer Science and Engineering,

Chitkara University, Punjab

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 INDEX

1. Transmission Media (Cable Media)

2. Wireless Media (Cellular Phones, Satellite Networks)
3. Types of Connecting Devices (Hub, Switch, Routers)

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TRANSMISSION MEDIUM AND
PHYSICAL LAYER
• Transmission media is a communication channel that carries the information from the sender to
the receiver.

• Data is transmitted through the electromagnetic signals.

• The main functionality of the transmission media is to carry the information in the form of bits
through LAN(Local Area Network).

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CLASSES OF TRANSMISSION
MEDIA

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 GUIDED MEDIA

• It is also referred as Wired or Bounded transmission media. Signals being transmitted are
directed and confined in a narrow pathway by using physical links.

Features:
• High Speed
• Secure
• Used for comparatively shorter distances.

There are 3 major types of Guided Media:

• Twisted Pair Cable.
• Coaxial Cable.
• Optical Fiber Cable

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 TWISTED PAIR CABLE
• It consists of 2 separately insulated conductor wires wound about each other.
• Generally, several such pairs are bundled together in a protective sheath.
• They are the most widely used Transmission Media.

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APPLICATION OF TWISTED
PAIR
Application of Twisted Pair:

 Telephone network
 Between house and local exchange (subscriber loop)
 Within buildings
 To private branch exchange (PBX)
 For local area networks (LAN)
 10Mbps or 100Mbps

Twisted Pair is of two types:

 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
 Shielded Twisted Pair(STP)

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UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR (UTP)
AND SHIELDED TWISTED PAIR(STP)

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

• UTP consists of two insulated copper wires twisted around one another.
• This type of cable can block interference and does not depend on a physical shield for this
purpose.
• It is used for telephonic applications.
Advantages:
• Least expensive
• Easy to install
• High-speed capacity
• Susceptible to external interference
• Lower capacity and performance in comparison to STP
• Short distance transmission due to attenuation

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UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR (UTP)

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 SHIELDED TWISTED PAIR(STP)
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP):
• This type of cable consists of a special jacket (a copper braid covering or a foil shield) to block
external interference.
• It is used in fast-data-rate Ethernet and in voice and data channels of telephone lines.
Advantages:
• Better performance at a higher data rate in comparison to UTP
• Eliminates crosstalk
• Comparatively faster
• Comparatively difficult to install and manufacture
• More expensive
• Bulky

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 COAXIAL CABLE

• It has an outer plastic covering containing an insulation layer made of PVC or Teflon and 2
parallel conductors each having a separate insulated protection cover.
• The coaxial cable transmits information in two modes: Baseband mode(dedicated cable
bandwidth) and Broadband mode(cable bandwidth is split into separate ranges).
• Cable TVs and analog television networks widely use Coaxial cables.

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
OF COAXIAL CABLES

Advantages:
• High Bandwidth
• Better noise Immunity
• Easy to install and expand
• Inexpensive

Disadvantages:
• Single cable failure can disrupt the entire network.

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 OPTICAL FIBER CABLE
• It uses the concept of reflection of light through a core made up of glass or plastic.
• The core is surrounded by a less dense glass or plastic covering called the cladding.
• It is used for the transmission of large volumes of data.
• The cable can be unidirectional or bidirectional.
• The WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexer) supports two modes, namely unidirectional and
bidirectional mode.

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 OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

Advantages:
• Greater capacity
• Data rates of hundreds of Gbps
• Smaller size & weight
• Lower attenuation
• Electromagnetic isolation
• Greater repeater spacing
• 10s of km at least

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 OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

Applications:
• Long-haul trunks
• Metropolitan trunks
• Rural exchange trunks
• Subscriber loops
• LANs

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 UNGUIDED MEDIA
• It is also referred to as Wireless or Unbounded transmission media.
• No physical medium is required for the transmission of electromagnetic signals.
Features of Unguided Media:
• The signal is broadcasted through air
• Less Secure
• Used for larger distances
Electromagnetic spectrum of Unguided media shown below:

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 UNGUIDED MEDIA
There are 3 types of Signals transmitted through unguided media:
(i) Radio waves
(ii) Microwaves
(iii) Infrared

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 INFRARED
• Infrared is used for short-range communication like TV remotes, mobile phones, personal
computers etc.
• In science, the Infrared is part of a spectrum that is not visible to the human eye.
• The limitation of infrared rays is that they cannot penetrate any obstacles and can only use for
short-range.
• Also, Infrared is used in night vision cameras as it has thermal properties. The frequency range
of infrared rays 300GHz – 400THz.
Advantage and Disadvantage:
• Infrared is one of the secure wireless communication mediums as it is used for short-range. Also,
unlike other wireless mediums, infrared is quite inexpensive, and this is some reason it is used in
many electronic devices.
• Disadvantage part of Infrared waves is that they can only be used in short-range communication.
Also, they cannot penetrate any obstacles like walls or any building.

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 INFRARED

INFRARED SIGNALS CAN BE USED FOR SHORT-RANGE COMMUNICATION IN A

CLOSED AREA USING LINE-OF-SIGHT PROPAGATION.

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 RADIO WAVES

• To overcome the limitation of Infrared ,we are using Radio waves.

• They can travel large distances as well as can penetrate through buildings.
• The requirement of radio waves is antennas, sending antennas where one can transmit its
message and the other is receiving antennas.
• Frequency Range:3KHz – 1GHz.
• AM and FM radios and cordless phones use Radio waves for transmission.

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 RADIO WAVES

Advantage and Disadvantage:

• Radio waves have some advantages like they can travel long distances in all directions
and can pass through any obstacles,
• Since they are wireless communication mediums so there is no need of digging and
spreading wires.
• Radio waves have some disadvantages too like radio waves are not effective in bad
weather conditions, and they are less secure as they can travel large distances.

Radio waves are used for multicast

communications, such as radio and
television, and paging systems.

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 MICROWAVES

• Microwaves are a line of sight transmission, meaning both the antennas sending and receiving
should be properly aligned. Also, the distance covered by the signal is directly proportional to
the height of the antenna.
• Microwaves have a frequency Range between 1GHz – 300GHz. Basically, we used
Microwaves in mobile phones communication and television distribution.
• Unlike radio waves, they are unidirectional, as they can move in only one direction, and
therefore it is used in point-to-point communication or unicast communication such as radar and
satellite.
• Microwaves are used in mobile phones communication and television distribution.

Microwaves are used for unicast

communication such as cellular
telephones, satellite networks,
and wireless LANs.
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 MICROWAVES

Advantage and Disadvantage:

• Microwaves have advantages that it is a very fast way of communication, that

can carry 25000 voice channels at the same time.
• Also, it is a wireless communication medium so there is no need of digging and
spreading wires.
• Microwave have disadvantages that of their installation and maintenance are
very expensive. that turns this into a very expensive mode of communication.
• Moreover, Microwaves are also not very effective in bad weather conditions.

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COMPARISON OF INFRARED, RADIO
WAVES, MICROWAVES

Infrared Radio Waves Microwaves

Infrared is used for short-range Radio waves are the type of wireless Microwaves are a line of sight
communication like TV remotes, communication that can travel large transmission, meaning both the
mobile phones, personal computers, distances as well as can penetrate antennas sending and receiving
etc. any wall should be properly aligned.

The frequency range of infrared rays The frequency range of radio waves: Microwaves have a frequency Range
300GHz – 400THz 3KHz – 1GHz. between 1GHz – 300GHz.

The limitation of infrared rays is that They are unidirectional, as they can
It can travel large distances as well as
they cannot penetrate any obstacles move in only one direction, such as
can penetrate any wall.
and can only use for short-range. radar and satellite.

Infrared waves are used in TV Microwaves are used in mobile

Radio waves are used in AM and FM
remotes, mobile phones, personal phones communication and television
radios, and cordless phones.
computers distribution.

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 ETHERNET

• Ethernet (pronounced “eether net”) is a most widely used LAN technology , which is defined
under IEEE standards 802.3.
• Ethernet network is used to create local area network and connect multiple computers or other
devices such as printers, scanners, and so on.
• In a wired network, this is done with the help of fiber optic cables, while in a wireless network,
it is done through wireless network technology.
• An Ethernet network uses various topologies such as star, bus, ring, and more.
• Ethernet connecting computers together with cable so the computers can share information.
• Ethernet operates in the data link layer and the physical layer.

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 ETHERNET

Wired Ethernet:
• Wired Ethernet network, devices are connected with the help of a fiber optic cable which
connects the devices within a distance of 10km.
• For this, we have to install a computer network interface card (NIC) in each computer. A
unique address is given to each computer that is connected.
• Ethernet is a shared medium network technology, where all the workstations are connected to
the same cable and must connect with one another to send signals over it.
Wireless Ethernet
• In this, wireless NICs are used for connecting the computer instead of a cable.
• These wireless NICs make use of radio waves for communicating between the systems and
furthers these NICs are connected with a wireless switch or hub.

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 ETHERNET

Ethernet network can be classified into Four types:

i) Standard Ethernet
ii) Fast Ethernet
iii) Gigabit Ethernet
iv) Ten-Gigabit Ethernet

i) Standard Ethernet:
• This type of Ethernet can transfer data at a rate of 10 Mbps.
ii) Fast Ethernet:
• This type of Ethernet can transfer data at a rate of 100 Mbps.
• Fast Ethernet makes use of twisted pair cable or fiber optic cable for communication.

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 ETHERNET

iii) Gigabyte Ethernet:

• This type of Ethernet network can transfer data at a rate of 1000 Mbps.
• Gigabit Ethernet also makes use of twisted pair cable or fiber optic cable. 48 bits used for
addressing in Gigabit Ethernet.
• The latest Gigabit Ethernet is a 10 Gigabit Ethernet, which can transfer data at a rate of 10
Gbps.
• Gigabit Ethernet was developed so that it can meet the needs of the user like faster
communication network, faster transfer of data etc.

iv) Ten-Gigabit Ethernet:

• 10 Gigabit Ethernet is the recent generation and delivers a data rate of 10 Gbit/s (10,000
Mbit/s).
• It is generally used for backbones in high-end applications requiring high data rates.

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 ETHERNET

Various Types of Ethernet Cables:

• 10Base2: This is a thin twisted pair coaxial cable.

• 10Base5: This is thick twisted pair coaxial cables.
• 10Base T: This is a twisted pair cable which offers a speed of around 10 Mbps.
• 100BaseTX: This is a twisted pair cable and offer a speed of 100 Mbps.
• 100Base FX: Fiber optic protocol which offers a speed of 100 Mbps.
• 1000Base SX: Fiber optic protocol which utilizes a wavelength of 850nm for multimode
networks.
• 1000Base LX: Fiber optic protocol which utilizes a wavelength of 1310 nm, for multimode
networks and up to 1550nm for single mode networks.

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 INTRODUCTION

• LANs do not normally operate in isolation, but they are connected to one another or
to the Internet.
• To connect LANs, connecting devices are needed Functions of network devices
Separating (connecting) networks or expanding network
• For Examples: repeaters, hubs, bridges, routers, switches, gateways, Remote access
• For Examples: 56K Modems and ADSL modems

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 CONNECTING DEVICES

• Repeaters
• Hubs
• Switches
• Bridges
• Router
• Gateways
• Network Interface Cards (NICs)
• Wireless access points
• Modems

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 CONNECTING DEVICES

Connecting devices are divided into 5 different categories based on the layer in which they operate
in the network.

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 HUB

• A hub is used as a central point of connection among media segments.

• A Hub is a hardware device used to connect several computers together.
• A hub contains multiple ports. Cables from network devices plug in to the ports on the hub.
• Types of HUBS :–
• A passive hub is just a connector. It connects the wires coming from different branches.
 The signal pass through a passive hub without regeneration or amplification.
 Connect several networking cables together
• Active hubs or Multiport repeaters- They regenerate or amplify the signal before they are
retransmitted.

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 HUB

• Hubs Acts on the physical layer Operate on bits rather than frames
Also called multiport repeater Used to connect stations adapters in a physical star topology but
logically bus Connection to the hub consists of two pairs of twisted pair wire one for
transmission and the other for receiving.
• Hub receives a bit from an adapter and sends it to all the other adapters without implementing
any access method. does not do filtering (forward a frame into a specific destination or drop it)
just it copy the received frame onto all other links.
• The entire hub forms a single collision domain, and a single Broadcast domain
 Collision domain: is that part of the network (set of NICs) when two or more nodes
transmit at the same time collision will happen.
 Broadcast domain: is that part of the network (set of NIC) where each NIC can 'see' other
NICs' traffic broadcast messages.
• Multiple Hubs can be used to extend the network length
• For 10BaseT and 100BaseT the maximum length of the connection between an adapter and the
hub is 100 meters.

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 HUB

• Hub Advantages:
• simple, inexpensive device
• Multi-tier provides graceful degradation
• Portions of the LAN continue to operate if one hub malfunctions
• As an active hubs regenerate signals, it increases the distance that can be spanned by the
LAN (up to 100 meters per segment).
• Hubs can also be connected locally to a maximum of two other hubs, thereby increasing
the number of devices that can be attached to the LAN.
• Active hubs are usually used against attenuation, which is a decrease in the strength of
the signal over distance.
• Hub Disadvantages:
• Bandwidth is shared by all hosts i.e. 10Mbs shared by 25 ports/users.
• Can create bottlenecks when used with switches.
• Have no layer 3 switching capability.
• Most Hubs are unable to utilise VLANS
• Individual segment collision domains become one large collision domain  (reduce the
performance)Can’t interconnect different Ethernet technologies(like 10BaseT &
100BaseT) because no buffering at the hub

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 REPEATER

• A physical layer device the acts on bits not on frames or packets

• Can have two or more interfaces
• When a bit (0,1) arrives, the repeater receives it and regenerates it, the transmits it onto all other
interfaces
• Used in LAN to connect cable segments and extend the maximum cable length-extending the
geographical LAN range
 Ethernet 10base5 – Max. segment length 500m – 4 repeaters (5 segments) are used to
extend the cable to 2500m)
 Ethernet 10Base2- Max. segment length 185m - 4 repeaters (5 segments) are used to
extend the cable to 925m
• Repeaters do not implement any access method
 If any two nodes on any two connected segments transmit at the same time collision will
happen

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 BRIDGE

• Acts on Data Link Layer (MAC Address Level).

• Used to divide segment LAN into smaller LANs segment or to connect LANs that use identical
physical and DLL.
• Each LAN segment is separate collision domain.
• Bridge doesn't send the received frames to all other interfaces like hub, and repeaters but it
performs filtering which means:
 Whether the frame should be forwarded to another interface that leads to destination or dropped.
• This is done by the bridge table (forwarding table) that contains entries for the node on the LAN.
 The bridge table is initially empty and filled automatically by learning from frames movement in
the network.
 An entry in the bridge table consists of : Node LAN (MAC) address, bridge interface to which
node is connected to, the record creation time.

• A bridge run CSMA/CD before sending the frame onto the link not like hub and repeater.
• Bridge framing handling is done in a software.

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 HOW BRIDGE WORKS

• Bridges work at MAC sublayer of the OSI model.

• Routing table is built to record the segmentation number of address.
• If destination address is in the same segment as the source address, stop
transmitting.
• Otherwise forward to the other segment.

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 TYPE OF BRIDGES

Transparent Bridge
• Also called Learning bridge.
• Build a table of MAC address as frame arrives.
• Ethernet network use transparent bridge.
• Duties of transparent bridge are: Filtering frames, forwarding and blocking

Source Routing Bridge

• Used in Token Ring Networks.
• Each station should determine the route to destination when it wants to send a frame and
therefore include the route information in the header of frame.
• Addresses of these bridges are included in the frame.
• Frame contains not only the source and destination address but also the bridge address.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRIDGE
VS REPEATER

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 SWITCHES

• Switches operate at the DLL (Layer 2) of the OSI Model.

• Can interpret address information.
• Switch resembles bridges and can be considered as multiport bridges.
• By having multiport can better use limited bandwidth and prove more cost- effective
than bridge.

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 SWITCHES

• Switches divide the network into several isolated channels.

• Packets sending from one channel will not go to another if not specified.
• Each channel has its own capacity and need not to be shared with other channel.
• Forward only to the ports that connects to the destination device.
 Knows MAC address
 Match the MAC address in the data they received.

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 ROUTER

• Routers Operates at network layer = deals with packets not frames

Connect LANs and WANs with similar or different protocols together
• Switches and bridges isolate collision domains
• but forward broadcast messages to all LANs connected to them.
• Routers isolate both collision domains and broadcast domains
• Acts like normal stations on a network, but have more than one network address (an address to
each connected network)Deals with global address ( network layer address (IP)) not local
address (MAC address)Routers Communicate with each other and exchange routing information
• Determine best route using routing algorithm by special software installed on them
• Forward traffic if information on destination is available otherwise discard it (not like a switch
or bridge)

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 GATEWAY

• A gateway is a network node used in telecommunications that connects two networks with
different transmission protocols together. Gateways serve as an entry and exit point for a
network as all data must pass through or communicate with the gateway prior to being routed.
In most IP-based networks, the only traffic that does not go through at least one gateway is
traffic flowing among nodes on the same local area network (LAN) segment.

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NETWORK INTERFACE CARD
(NIC)

A network interface card (NIC) is a hardware component without which a computer cannot be
connected over a network. It is a circuit board installed in a computer that provides a dedicated
network connection to the computer. It is also called network interface controller, network adapter
or LAN adapter.

Purpose

• NIC allows both wired and wireless communications.

• NIC allows communications between computers connected via local area network (LAN) as
well as communications over large-scale network through Internet Protocol (IP).
• NIC is both a physical layer and a data link layer device, i.e. it provides the necessary hardware
circuitry so that the physical layer processes and some data link layer processes can run on it.

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WIRELESS ACCESS POINT &
MODEM
An access point is a device that creates a wireless local area network, or WLAN, usually in an
office or large building. An access point connects to a wired router, switch, or hub via an Ethernet
cable, and projects a WiFi signal to a designated area.
MODEM
A modem is a network device that both modulates and demodulates analog carrier signals (called
sine waves) for encoding and decoding digital information for processing. Modems accomplish
both of these tasks simultaneously and, for this reason, the term modem is a combination of
"modulate" and "demodulate."
Features of Modems
• The main features of modems are as follows −
• They have high uploading and communication rates. An X2 modem provides an uploading
bandwidth between 28.8 to 56 Kbps.
• They are upgradeable through a software patch to meet almost any universal standard.
• They enable high-speed downstream data transfers by digitally encoding all downstream data
while upstream runs at conventional rates of 33.6 kbps.
• Some modems incorporate dual simultaneous voice and Data (DSVD), i.e., they can carry both
analog voices and computer data.
• They can detect callers originating telephone number, and thus they can serve as caller ID.
• Some modems provide advanced voice mail features, and those modems serve as intelligent,
answering machines or digital Computer
information systems.
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