TELECOMMUNICATIONS MEDIA

WIRED TECHNOLOGIES

(1) Twister-Pair Wire

Ordinary telephone wire, consisting of copper wire twisted
into pairs (twisted-pair wire), is the most widely used medium for
telecommunications from a local area to a wide area network.

One hundred (100) million bits per second

Two (2) million bits per second

(2) Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cable consists of a sturdy copper or aluminum wire wrapped

with spacers to insulate and protect it. These high-quality lines can be placed
underground and laid on the floors of lakes and oceans. They allow high-
speed data transmission (from 200 million to more than 500 million bits per
second—200–500 Mbps) and are used instead of twisted-pair wire lines in
high-service metropolitan areas, for cable television systems, and for short-
distance connections of computers and peripheral devices. This is the “cable”
referred to when we think of “the cable company.”
(3) Fiber Optics

Fiber optics uses cables consisting of one or more hair-thin filaments

of glass fiber wrapped in a protective jacket. They can conduct pulses of
visible light elements ( photons ) generated by lasers at transmission rates as
high as trillions of bits per second (terabits per second, or Tbps). Fiber-optic
cables provide substantial size and weight reductions, as well as increased
speed and greater carrying capacity. Fiber-optic cables are not affected by
and do not generate electromagnetic radiation; therefore, multiple fibers can
be placed in the same cable. Fiber-optic cables have less need for repeaters
for signal retransmissions than copper wire media.
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

(1)Terrestrial Microwave
Terrestrial microwave involves earthbound microwave
systems that transmit highspeed radio signals in a line-of-sight
path between relay stations spaced approximately 30 miles
apart.
(2) Communications Satellites

Communications satellites also use microwave radio as their

telecommunications medium. Satellites are powered by solar panels
and can transmit microwave signals at a rate of several hundred million
bits per second. They serve as relay stations for communications signals
transmitted from earth stations. Earth stations use dish antennas to
beam microwave signals to the satellites that amplify and retransmit
the signals to other earth stations thousands of miles away.
(3) Cellular and PCS Systems

Cellular and PCS telephone and pager systems use several radio
communications technologies. However, all of them divide a
geographic area into small areas, or cells, typically from one to several
square miles in area. Each cell has its own low-power transmitter or
radio relay antenna device to relay calls from one cell to another.
Computers and other communications processors coordinate and
control the transmissions to and from mobile users as they move from
one area to another.
(4) Wireless LANs

Wiring an office or a building for a local area network is often a

difficult and costly task. Older buildings frequently do not have
conduits for coaxial cables or additional twisted-pair wire, and the
conduits in newer buildings may not have enough room to pull
additional wiring through. Repairing mistakes in and damage to wiring
is often difficult and costly, as are major relocations of LAN
workstations and other components.
(5) Bluetooth

The short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth is

becoming commonplace in computers and other devices. Bluetooth
serves as a cable-free wireless connection to peripheral devices such as
computer printers and scanners. Operating at approximately 1 Mbps
with an effective range from 10 to 100 meters, Bluetooth promises to
change significantly the way we use computers and other
telecommunication devices.
(6) The Wireless Web