D ata and C om puter C om m unications

Chapter 4 –Transmission Media

Eighth Edition
by W illiam Stallings

Lecture slides by Law rie Brow n

 D esign Factors
• bandw idth
– higher bandwidth gives higher data rate
• transm ission im pairm ents
– eg. attenuation
• interference
• num ber of receivers in guided m edia
– m ore receivers introduces m ore attenuation
E lectrom agnetic S pectrum
 Transm ission C haracteristics of G uided
M edia
  Frequency Typical Typical Repeater
Range Attenuation Delay Spacing
Twisted pair  0 to 3.5 kHz 0.2 dB/km @  50 µs/km 2 km
(with loading) 1 kHz

Twisted pairs  0 to 1 MHz 0.7 dB/km @  5 µs/km 2 km

(multi-pair  1 kHz
cables)
Coaxial cable 0 to 500 MHz 7 dB/km @ 10  4 µs/km 1 to 9 km
MHz
Optical fiber 186 to 370  0.2 to 0.5  5 µs/km 40 km
THz dB/km
Tw isted P air
Tw isted Pair - Transm ission C haracteristics
• analog
– needs am plifiers every 5km to 6km
• digital
– can use either analog or digital signals
– needs a repeater every 2-3km
• lim ited distance
• lim ited bandw idth (1 M H z)
• lim ited data rate (1 00M H z)
• susceptible to interference and noise
 U nshielded vs S hielded TP
• unshielded Tw isted Pair (U TP)
– ordinary telephone w ire
– cheapest
– easiest to install
– suffers from external E M interference
• shielded Tw isted Pair (STP)
– m etal braid or sheathing that reduces interference
– m ore expensive
– harder to handle (thick, heavy)
• in a variety of categories - see EIA-568
 U TP C ategories

Category 3 Category 5 Category 5E Category 6 Category 7

Class C Class D Class E Class F
Bandwidth 16 MHz 100 MHz 100 MHz 200 MHz 600 MHz
Cable Type UTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP UTP/FTP SSTP
Link Cost 0.7 1 1.2 1.5 2.2
(Cat 5 =1)
 C om parison of Shielded and U nshielded
Tw isted Pair

Attenuation (dB per 100 m) Near-end Crosstalk (dB)

Frequency Category 3 Category 5 Category 3 Category 5
(MHz) UTP UTP 150-ohm STP UTP UTP 150-ohm STP
1 2.6 2.0 1.1 41 62 58
4 5.6 4.1 2.2 32 53 58
16 13.1 8.2 4.4 23 44 50.4
25 — 10.4 6.2 — 41 47.5
100 — 22.0 12.3 — 32 38.5
300 — — 21.4 — — 31.3
 N ear E nd C rosstalk
• coupling of signal from one pair to another
• occurs w hen transm it signal entering the link
couples back to receiving pair
• ie. near transm itted signal is picked up by near
receiving pair
C oaxial C able
 C oaxial C able - Transm ission
C haracteristics
• superior frequency characteristics to T P
• perform ance lim ited by attenuation & noise
• analog signals
– am plifiers every few km
– closer if higher frequency
– up to 500M H z
• digital signals
– repeater every 1 km
– closer for higher data rates
O ptical Fiber
 O ptical Fiber - B enefits
• greater capacity
– data rates of hundreds of G bps
• sm aller size & w eight
• low er attenuation
• electrom agnetic isolation
• greater repeater spacing
– 1 0s of km at least
O ptical Fiber - Transm ission C haracteristics
• uses total internal reflection to transm it light
– effectively acts as w ave guide for 1 01 4 to 1 01 5 H z
• can use several different light sources
– Light Em itting D iode (LED )
• cheaper, w ider operating tem p range, lasts longer
– Injection Laser D iode (ILD )
• m ore efficient, has greater data rate
• relation of w avelength, type & data rate
O ptical Fiber Transm ission M odes
 Frequency U tilization for Fiber Applications

Wavelength (in Frequency Band Fiber Type Application

vacuum) range Range (THz) Label
(nm)
820 to 900 366 to 333 Multimode LAN
1280 to 1350 234 to 222 S Single mode Various
1528 to 1561 196 to 192 C Single mode WDM
1561 to 1620 192 to 185 L Single mode WDM
A ttenuation in G uided M edia
 W ireless Transm ission Frequencies
• 2G H z to 40G H z
– m icrow ave
– highly directional
– point to point
– satellite
• 30M H z to 1 G H z
– om nidirectional
– broadcast radio
• 3 x 1 01 1 to 2 x 1 01 4
– infrared
– local
 A ntennas
• electrical conductor used to radiate or collect
electrom agnetic energy
• transm ission antenna
– radio frequency energy from transm itter
– converted to electrom agnetic energy byy antenna
– radiated into surrounding environm ent
• reception antenna
– electrom agnetic energy im pinging on antenna
– converted to radio frequency electrical energy
– fed to receiver
• sam e antenna is often used for both purposes
 R adiation P attern
• pow er radiated in all directions
• not sam e perform ance in all directions
– as seen in a radiation pattern diagram
• an isotropic antenna is a (theoretical)point in space
– radiates in all directions equally
– w ith a spherical radiation pattern
P arabolic R eflective A ntenna
 A ntenna G ain
• m easure of directionality of antenna
• pow er output in particular direction verses that
produced by an isotropic antenna
• m easured in decibels (dB )
• results in loss in pow er in another direction
• effective area relates to size and shape
– related to gain
 Terrestrial M icrow ave
• used for long haul telecom m unications
• and short point-to-point links
• requires few er repeaters but line of sight
• use a parabolic dish to focus a narrow beam onto a receiver
antenna
• 1 -40G H z frequencies
• higher frequencies give higher data rates
• m ain source of loss is attenuation
– distance, rainfall
• also interference
 S atellite M icrow ave
• satellite is relay station
• receives on one frequency, am plifies or repeats signal and
transm its on another frequency
– eg. uplink 5.925-6.425 G H z & dow nlink 3.7-4.2 G H z
• typically requires geo-stationary orbit
– height of 35,784km
– spaced at least 3-4° apart
• typical uses
– television
– long distance telephone
– private business netw orks
– global positioning
S atellite P oint to P oint Link
S atellite B roadcast Link
 B roadcast R adio
• radio is 3kH z to 300G H z
• use broadcast radio, 30M H z - 1 G H z, for:
– FM radio
– U H F and VH F television
• is om nidirectional
• still need line of sight
• suffers from m ultipath interference
– reflections from land, w ater, other objects
 Infrared
• m odulate noncoherent infrared light
• end line of sight (or reflection)
• are blocked by w alls
• no licenses required
• typical uses
– TV rem ote control
– IR D port
W ireless Propagation
G round W ave
W ireless Propagation
Sky W ave
W ireless Propagation
Line of Sight
 R efraction
• velocity of electrom agnetic w ave is a function of density of
m aterial
~3 x 1 0 8 m /s in vacuum , less in anything else
• speed changes as m ove betw een m edia
• Index of refraction (refractive index)is
– sin(incidence)/sin(refraction)
– varies w ith w avelength
• have gradual bending if m edium density varies
– density of atm osphere decreases w ith height
– results in bending tow ards earth of radio w aves
– hence optical and radio horizons differ
 Line of S ight Transm ission
• F ree space loss
– loss of signal w ith distance
• A tm ospheric A bsorption
– from w ater vapour and oxygen absorption
• M ultipath
– m ultiple interfering signals from reflections
• R efraction
– bending signal aw ay from receiver
Free S pace Loss
M ultipath Interference