INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING

PHYSICAL LAYER IMPLEMENTATIONS OF STANDARD ETHERNET

IEEE identifiers, such as 10Base5, 10Base2, 10BaseT, and 10BaseF include 3 pieces of information:

 The number 10: At the front of each identifier, it denotes the standard data transfer speed over
these media – 10Mbps
 Base: short for baseband, it signifies the network that uses only one carrier frequency for
signaling and requires all network stations to share its use.
 Segment length/type: Examples include 5, which means the total segment length of 10base5 is
no more than 500m, and T, which stands for twisted-pair.

10Base-T

 Star Topology (explained later)

 Unshielded Twisted Pair cable
 Is the most commonly used ethernet
 Uses four pair UTP wiring with RJ-45 connectors at each end.
 Maximum length of 100m.

10Base-2

 Bus Topology
 Thin Coaxial cable
 Thin Coaxial cables along with British Naval Connectors are used to connect the computers, and
50-ohm terminators are placed at each end of the coaxial cable.
 Maximum length of approx. 200m (exactly 185m).

10Base-5

 Bus Topology
 Thick Coaxial cable
 Special connectors called Attachment Unit Interface connectors are used.
 Maximum length of 500m.

10Base-F

 Star Topology
 Fiber Optic Cable
 No other information provided.

IEEEs may require repeaters, an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. In a 10Base-5,
for example, 4 repeaters are required.
FIBER OPTICS
Fiber Optics don’t send data in electromagnetic waves, they transmit data in the form of light beams.

There are two types of fiber optics – single-mode and multi-mode.

 Single-mode transmits one light beam from one source to the destination, whereas multi-mode
fiber optics split the light beam and then transmits it.
 Thus, multi-mode is weaker, making single-mode fiber optics more expensive.

In each fiber optic, there is an inner core to reflect light beams in the fiber.

BUS TOPOLOGY
Bus topology only needs:

 a cable
 British naval connectors (T)
 terminators

Basically get a BNC T-Connector, thin coaxial cables. You also need a cable end terminator, in order to
close both ends of the wire. 50-ohm terminators are required - OHM is the unit for resistance -
specifically 50-OHM because we are using thin coaxial cables, which can either be 50 OHM coaxial cable,
and 75 OHM coaxial cables. In networks, we only use 50 OHM coaxial cables thus we need 50 OHM
terminators. If terminators aren’t used on both ends, signals bounce, and signal is lost. Thus, using
terminators on both ends removes this problem.

Disadvantages of Bus Topology:

 If the main cable fails, the whole network fails.

 The more workstations are connected, the performance becomes slower.
 Every workstation sees all the data - thus it is a security risk.

STAR TOPOLOGY
Star topology needs:

 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 RJ-45 Port: RJ-11 for telephones, RJ-45 for network/internet communication
 A Hub: the hub is the central device wherein routes meet and traffic is distributed

THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF HUBS

-PASSIVE HUB: a connector which connects with coming from other devices

-ACTIVE HUB: multi-port repeaters, they receive signals from center computer, and then regenerate the
signals to resend to all computers.

-INTELLIGENT HUB/SWITCHES: it can perform many functions. It can receive information, recognize the
address of the receiver, and transmit data only to a SPECIFIC receiver.