NETWORK MEDIA

CHAPTER 2

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NETWORK MEDIA

• When working with an existing network or implementing a new one,

• you need to identify the characteristics of network media and their associated
cabling.
• This chapter focuses on the media and connectors used in today’s networks
and how they fit into wiring closets.

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BROADBAND VERSUS BASEBAND TRANSMISSIONS
• Networks employ two types of signaling methods/modulation techniques:
• Baseband transmissions:
• Baseband transmissions use digital signaling over a single wire.
• Communication on baseband transmissions is bidirectional, allowing signals to be sent
and received, but not at the same time.
• To send multiple signals on a single cable, baseband uses something called time
division multiplexing (TDM). TDM divides a single channel into time slots.
• The key thing about TDM is that it does not change how baseband transmission
works—only how data is placed on the cable.
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BROADBAND VERSUS BASEBAND TRANSMISSIONS
• Broadband transmissions:
• In terms of LAN network standards, broadband transmissions use analog
transmissions.
• For broadband transmissions to be sent and received, the medium must be split into
two channels. (Alternatively, two cables can be used: one to send and one to receive
transmissions.)
• Multiple channels are created using frequency-division multiplexing (FDM).
• FDM allows broadband media to accommodate traffic going in different directions
on a single medium at the same time.

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DIALOG MODES
1. Simplex,
2. Half-Duplex, and
3. Full-Duplex Modes
Simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex modes are referred to as dialog modes,
and they determine the direction in which data can flow through the network
media:

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BROADBAND VERSUS BASEBAND TRANSMISSIONS
• Simplex mode enables one-way communication of data through the network, with the full
bandwidth of the cable used for the transmitting signal.
• One way communication is of little use on LANs, making it unusual at best for network
implementations.
• Half-duplex mode :For more common is half-duplex mode, which accommodates transmitting
and receiving on the network, but not at the same time.
• Many networks are configured for half-duplex communication.
• Full-duplex mode: The preferred dialog mode for network communication is full-duplex mode.
To use full-duplex, both the network card and the hub or switch must support full duplexing.
Devices configured for full duplexing can simultaneously transmit and receive. This means that 100
Mbps network cards theoretically can transmit at 200 Mbps using full-duplex mode.

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DATA TRANSMISSION RATES
• One of the more important media considerations is the supported data transmission
rate or speed.
• Different media types are rated to certain maximum speeds, but whether they are
used to this maximum depends on the networking standard used and the network
devices connected to the network.
• Transmission rates normally are measured by the number of data bits that can
traverse the medium in a single second.
• In the early days of data communications, this measurement was expressed in bits
per second (bps), but today’s networks are measured in megabits per second (Mbps)
and gigabits per second (Gbps).

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• The different network media vary greatly in the transmission speeds they
support.
• Many of today’s application-intensive networks require more than the 10
Mbps or 100 Mbps offered by the older networking standards.
• In some cases, even 1 Gbps, which is found in many modern LANs, is not
enough to meet current network needs.
• For this reason, many organizations now deploy 10 Gbps implementations.

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TYPES OF NETWORK MEDIA
• Whatever type of network is used, some type of network medium is needed
to carry signals between computers.
• Two types of media are used in networks:
• cable-based media, such as twisted-pair, and
• the media types associated with wireless networking, such as radio waves.
• In networks using cable-based media, there are two basic choices:
1. Copper
2. Fiber-optic
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COPPER WIRE
• Copper wire is used with both twisted-pair and coaxial cables to conduct the signals
electronically;
• fiber-optic cable uses a glass or plastic conductor and transmits the signals as light.
• For many years, coaxial was the cable of choice for most LANs.
• Today, twisted-pair has proven to be the cable medium of choice, thus retiring coaxial to the
confines of storage closets.
• Fiber-optic cable has seen a rise in popularity, but cost slowed its adoption to the home
(although it is common today).
• It is widely used as a network backbone where segment length and higher speeds are
needed and is common in server room environments as a server-to-switch connection method
and in building-to-building connections in metropolitan-area networks (MANs).
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TWISTED-PAIR CABLING
• Twisted-pair cabling has been around for a long time. It was originally
created for voice transmissions and has been widely used for telephone
communication.
• Today, in addition to telephone communication, twisted-pair is the most widely
used medium for networking.
• Two main types of twisted-pair cabling are in use today:
1. unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) and
2. shielded twisted-pair (STP).
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• UTP is significantly more common than STP and is used for most networks. Shielded
twisted-pair is used in environments in which greater resistance to EMI and
attenuation is required.
• The greater resistance comes at a price, however. The additional shielding, plus the
need to ground that shield (which requires special connectors), can significantly add
to the cost of a cable installation of STP.
• STP provides the extra shielding by using an insulating material that is wrapped
around the wires within the cable. This extra protection increases the distances that
data signals can travel over STP but also increases the cost of the cabling. below
Figure 2.1 shows UTP and STP cabling.
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FIGURE 2.1 SHOWS UTP AND STP CABLING.

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TWISTED-PAIR CABLE CATEGORIES

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COAXIAL CABLES
• Coaxial cable, or coax as it is commonly called, has been around for a long
time. Coax found success in both TV signal transmission and network
implementations.
• As shown in below figure, coax is constructed with a copper core at the center
(the main wire) that carries the signal, insulation (made of plastic), ground
(braided metal shielding), and insulation on the outside (an outer plastic
covering).

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• Coaxial cable is constructed in this way to add resistance to attenuation (the loss of signal
strength as the signal travels over distance), crosstalk (the degradation of a signal caused by
signals from other cables running close to it), and EMI.
• Two types of coax are used in networking:
• 1.Thin coax, also known as thinnet or 10BASE2, and thick coax, also known as thicknet. Neither
is particularly popular anymore, but you are most likely to encounter thin coax.
• 2.Thick coax was used primarily for backbone cable. It could be run through plenum spaces
because it offered significant resistance to EMI and crosstalk and could run in lengths up to
500 meters. Thick coax offers speeds up to 10 Mbps, far too slow for today’s network
environments.

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FIBER-OPTIC CABLES
• In many ways, fiber-optic media addresses the shortcomings of copper-based
media. Because fiber-based media use light transmissions instead of electronic
pulses, threats such as EMI, crosstalk, and attenuation become nonissues.
• Fiber is well suited for the transfer of data, video, and voice transmissions.
• In addition, fiber-optic is the most secure of all cable media.
• Anyone trying to access data signals on a fiber-optic cable must physically
tap into the medium. Given the composition of the cable, this is a particularly
difficult task.
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• As shown in Figure 2.3, fiber-optic cable is composed of a core (glass fiber)
that is surrounded by cladding (silica). A silicone coating is next, followed by a
buffer jacket. There are strength members next and then a protective sheath
(polyurethane outer jacket) surrounds everything.
• FIGURE 2.3 Fiber-optic cabling

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TWO TYPES OF FIBER-OPTIC CABLE ARE AVAILABLE:
• Multimode fiber:
• Many beams of light travel through the cable, bouncing off the cable walls.
• This strategy actually weakens the signal, reducing the length and speed at which the
data signal can travel.
• Single-mode fiber:
• Uses a single direct beam of light, thus allowing for greater distances and increased
transfer speeds.
• Some common types of fiber-optic cable include the following: 62.5-micron
core/125-micron cladding multimode 50-micron core/125-micron cladding
multimode 8.3-micron core/125-micron cladding single mode.
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TYPES OF MEDIA CONNECTORS
• A variety of connectors are used with the associated network media.
• Media connectors attach to the transmission media and allow the physical
connection into the computing device.
• The following sections describe the connectors and associated media.

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 RJ-45 CONNECTORS
• RJ-45 connectors, as shown in Figure below, are the ones you are most likely to
encounter in your network travels.
• RJ-45 connectors are used with twisted-pair cabling, the most prevalent
network cable in use today.
•

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 FIBER CONNECTORS
A variety of connectors are
associatedwith fiber
Cabling,and these are
several ways of onnecting
.
them.
This includes
Bayonet
Snap lock and
Push pull connectors
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 WIRELESS MEDIA:
• Bluetooth,
• WiMAX,
• RFID, and
• Mobile Communications.
• Each of these technologies plays an important role in the wireless networks.
The sections that follow examine each of these wireless technologies, including
a look at configuration and examples of the hardware being used.

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• This section examines another wireless technology called Bluetooth, based on
the 802.15 standard. Bluetooth was developed to replace the cable
connecting computers, mobile phones, handheld devices, portable computers,
and fixed electronic devices. The information normally carried by a cable is
transmitted over the 2.4GHz ISM frequency band, which is the same
frequency band used by 802.11b/g/n.
• There are three output power classes for Bluetooth. Table 2-1 lists the
maximum output power and the operating distance for each class.

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 TABLE 2-1 BLUETOOTH OUTPUT POWER CLASSES

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• When a Bluetooth device is enabled, it uses an inquiry procedure to determine whether any other
Bluetooth devices are available. This procedure is also used to allow itself to be discovered.
• If a Bluetooth device is discovered, it sends an inquiry reply back to the Bluetooth device initiating
the inquiry.
• Next, the Bluetooth devices enter the paging procedure.
• The paging procedure is used to establish and synchronize a connection between two Bluetooth
devices. When the procedure for establishing the connection has been completed, the Bluetooth
devices will have established a piconet.
• A piconet is an ad hoc network of up to eight Bluetooth devices such as a computer, mouse,
headset, earpiece, and so on. In a piconet, one Bluetooth device (the master) is responsible for
providing the synchronization clock reference. All other Bluetooth devices are called slaves.

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WIMAX
• WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a broadband wireless
system that has been developed for use as broadband wireless access (BWA) for
fixed and mobile stations and can provide a wireless alternative for last mile
broadband access in the 2GHz–66GHz frequency range.
• BWA access for fixed stations can be up to 30 miles, whereas mobile BWA access is
3–10 miles. Internationally, the WiMAX frequency standard is 3.5GHz, while the
United States uses both the unlicensed 5.8GHz and the licensed 2.5GHz spectrum.
• There are also investigations with adapting WiMAX for use in the 700MHz
frequency range. Information transmitted at this frequency is less susceptible to signal
blockage due to trees. The disadvantage of the lower frequency range is the
reduction in the bandwidth.
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• WiMAX uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as its
signaling format. T
• his signaling format was selected for the WiMAX standard IEEE 802.16a
standard because of its improved NLOS (non-line-of-sight) characteristics in
the 2GHz–11GHz frequency range.
• An OFDM system uses multiple frequencies for transporting the data, which
helps minimize multipath interference problems. Some frequencies may be
experiencing interference problems, but the system can select the best
frequencies for transporting the data.
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RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)
• A technique that uses radio waves to track and identify people, animals,
objects, and shipments Backscatter Refers to the reflection of the radio waves
striking the RFID tag and reflecting back to the transmitter source Figure 2-10
illustrates the basic block for an RFID system.

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THE RFID SYSTEM CONSISTS OF TWO THINGS:
• An RFID tag (also called the RF transponder) includes an integrated antenna
and radio electronics. • A reader (also called a transceiver) consists of a
transceiver and an antenna.
• A transceiver is the combination of a transmitter and receiver. The reader
(transceiver) transmits radio waves, which activates (turns on) an RFID tag. The
tag then transmits modulated data, containing its unique identification
information stored in the tag, back to the reader. The reader then extracts the
data stored on the RFID tag.

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MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
• Today, many additional types of mobile devices can be used to access computer
networks.
• Examples include smartphones, laptops, tablets, and gaming devices.
• All of these devices are extremely powerful and utilize wireless technology to
connect to the network.
• This chapter has provided an overview of many of the wireless technologies being
used today. These include the 802.11 family of WiFi technologies, Bluetooth,
WiMAX, and RFID. This section provides a brief summary of the some of the other
wireless technologies currently available

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CDMA(CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS)
• This is a communications system in which spread-spectrum techniques are used
to multiplex more than one signal within a single channel.
• In this case, each device uses a different binary sequence to modulate the
carrier, spreading the spectrum of the waveform (spread-spectrum).
• The signals are separated at the receiver by using a “correlator” that accepts
only the signal from the selected binary sequence.

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 MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
• HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) has been developed to provide
network speeds comparable to LTE networks. Theoretical speeds for download
are said to be 168Mbps and uplink 22Mbps.
• 3G/4G 3G (third generation) was developed to provide broadband network
wireless services. The standard defining 3G wireless is called international
mobile communications, or IMT 2000. 4G (fourth generation) is the successor to
3G technology and provides download speeds of 100Mbps.
• LTE/4G LTE, or Long Tem Evolution, is a 4G Wireless communications standard.
It has been designed to provide up to 10 times 3G network speeds.
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• THANK YOU
• PREPARED BY:MR MUKKARAM ALI MOHAMMED

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