LESSON 7 :Copper Media
registered jack 45 (RJ-45) connector.
Twisted-pair - Twisted-pair cables are composed
of one or more pairs of copper wires. Most data and
voice networks use twisted-pair cabling.
Coaxial—Coaxial cable has one center conductor
of either solid or stranded copper wire. Coaxial
cable, once the choice for local-area network (LAN)
cabling, is now used primarily for video
connections, high-
speed connections such as T3 (or E3) lines, and
cable television
American Wire Gauge System
The diameter of cable wires or conductors is
commonly measured using the American wire
gauge (AWG) system. AWG is a U.S. standard for
measuring the diameter of primarily copper and
aluminum cable. Typical residential wiring is AWG
12 or 14.
Twisted-Pair Cable
Twisted-pair cable is a type of cabling that is used
for telephone communications and most modern
Ethernet networks. A pair of wires forms a circuit
that can transmit data. The pairs are twisted to
provide protection against crosstalk, the noise
generated by adjacent pairs.
Two reasons wire pairs are twisted
Cancellation
Differential signals
b. Shielded Twisted-Pair Cable
Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable contains four
pairs of thin, copper wires covered in color-coded
plastic insulation that are twisted together. Each
pair is wrapped in metallic foil, and then the four
pairs are collectively wrapped in another layer of
metallic braid or foil. This layer is wrapped with a
plastic outer jacket.
c. Unshielded Twisted-Pair Cable
Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable is a common
networking media. It consists of four pairs of thin,
copper wires covered in color-coded plastic
insulation that are twisted together. The wire pairs
are then covered with a plastic outer jacket. The
connector used on a UTP cable is called a
d. Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable was a popular choice with LANs in
the past. It offered several advantages. It can be
run with fewer boosts from repeaters for longer
distances between network nodes than either STP
or UTP cable. Although more expensive than UTP,
coaxial cable is less expensive than fiber-optic
cable. The technology is well known, because it
has been used for many years in various types of
data communication.
The largest diameter (1 cm) was once specified for
use as Ethernet backbone cable because it had a
greater transmission length and better noise
rejection characteristics than other types of cable.
This type of coaxial cable is frequently referred to
as thicknet.
Coaxial cable with a diameter of 0.35 cm,
sometimes referred to as thinnet, was also
frequently used in Ethernet networks at one time.
Thinnet was especially useful for cable installations
that required the cable to make many twists and
turns. Because it was easier to install, it was also
cheaper to install. Thus, it was sometimes referred
to as Cheapernet.
LESSON 8:Optical and Wireless
Communication
Fiber-optic cable is a networking medium that
uses modulated light for data transmissions through
thin strands of glass. Signals that represent data
bits are converted into beams of light.
If the diameter of a fiber’s core is large enough so
that many paths exist that light can take as it
passes through the fiber, the fiber is called
multimode fiber. Single-mode fiber has a much
smaller core that allows light rays to travel along
only one path (one mode) inside the fiber.
Wireless Communication
Wireless signals are electromagnetic waves that
can travel through the vacuum of outer space or
through a medium such as air.
 a. Infrared (IR)—Very high data rates and
lower cost, but very short distance.
b. Narrowband—Low data rates and medium
cost. Requires a license and covers a
limited distance.
c. Spread spectrum—Medium cost and high
data rates. Limited to campus coverage.
Cisco Aironet products are spread
spectrum.
d. Broadband personal communications
service (PCS)—Low data rates, medium
cost, and citywide coverage. Sprint is an
exception; Sprint PCS provides nationwide
and international coverage.
e. Circuit and packet data (cellular data and
Cellular Digital Packet Data [CDPD])—Low
data rates, high packet fees, and national
coverage.
f. Satellite—Low data rates, high cost, and
nationwide or worldwide coverage.
Modulation is the process by which the amplitude,
frequency, or phase of an RF or light wave is
altered to transmit data.
- Amplitude modulation (AM)
Modulates the height of the carrier wave
- Frequency modulation (FM)
Modulates the frequency of the wave
- Phase modulation (PM)
Modulates the polarity (phase) of the wave
Effects of Distance on a Signal
As a receiver moves farther from a transmitter, the
signal gets weaker, and the difference between the
signal and noise becomes less.
Effects of Noise on a Signal
Electronic noise and barriers negatively affect RF
efficiency. An exact transmission distance for
WLAN products cannot be provided without going
to the site and actually testing the environment.
Radio Frequency Bands
Most radio frequencies are licensed by government
agencies, such as the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in the United States.
WIFI (Wireless-Fidelity)
Wi-Fi allows you to connect to a wireless network,
also called a Wireless LAN and is usually
broadcasting on a frequency of 2.4GHz and 5GHz
radio bands.
Dual Band wireless LANs use both 2.4GHz and
5GHz
Single Band wireless LANs use either 2.4GHz or
5GHz, not both.
Wi-Fi Extenders
The technical term is wireless repeater and if you
live in a big house, these can help to cover your
whole property if your Wi-Fi router doesn’t quite
reach.
LESSON 9: WIRELESS NETWORK
Wireless Network
A wireless network can consist of as few as two
devices, two nodes with wireless NICs.
Authentication and Association Types
• Unauthenticated and unassociated
The node is disconnected from the network and not
associated to an access point.
• Authenticated and unassociated
The node has been authenticated on the network
but has not yet associated with the access point.
• Authenticated and associated
The node is connected to the network and able to
transmit and receive data through the access point.
Signal and Noise
Narrowband—This is the opposite of spread
spectrum technology.
All band—All band interference affects the entire
spectrum range.
Weather—Generally, the RF signal is not affected
by even the most extreme weather conditions.
WEP
Wired equivalent privacy (WEP) is a security
mechanism, defined within the 802.11 standard,
that is designed to protect the over-the-air
transmission between wireless LAN access points
and NICs.
Extensible Authentication Protocol
Using EAP, the access point does not provide
authentication to the client but passes the duties to
a more sophisticated server designed for that
purpose.
Virtual Private Network
Using an integrated VPN server, VPN technology
creates a tunnel on top of an existing protocol such
as IP.

There are currently two standards for home Wi-Fi:

WPA and WPA2, WPA2 being the more recent
standard. WPA Stands for ‘Wi-Fi Protected Access’
and is implemented using a pre-shared key (PSK).
It is commonly referred to as WPA Personal, and
uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) for
encryption. WPA2 uses Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) for encryption. The security
provided by AES is much more secure than TKIP,
so make sure your Wi-Fi router has WPA2-PSK
encryption.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless technology for exchanging
data over short distances using a frequency of 2.4
to 2.485 GHz. This is often referred to as a PAN (or
personal area network)

Cellular Networks
A cellular network or mobile network is a wireless
network distributed over land and is divided into
areas called cells. This is how a cell phone or
mobile phone network operates.

The frequency in each cell is divided up using a

process known as time- division multiple access
(TDMA). This allows large numbers of phones to
connect at the same time using the same frequency
channel in the cell.