CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr.

Chinenye Ezeh

Topics to be covered:

• Communication channels
• Noise detection
• Radio propagation
• Antennas

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

A communication channel is a pathway through which two devices establish a connection in order
to send and receive data. There are three types of communication channels namely Simplex, Half-
Duplex, and Full-Duplex. Each has its place in communication. In a Simplex Communication data
is sent in only one direction. In a Half-Duplex Communication data can only be sent from one
device at a time. Once that device has finished sending its data, the other device may send data. In
a Full-Duplex Communication all devices on the network may transmit data at any time.

Simplex Channel

A Simplex Channel communication is for data transmission in which a device will send
information to a client or multiple clients without the clients having the ability to send data back.
The clients need not send a feedback/acknowledgement notice to the sender. It is a one-way
channel emanating only from the sender.

With this method of communication, the sender of the data does not know the quality of the
received data or care if the information being sent was received. This is often called a broadcast,
similar to radio or tv broadcast. Figure 1 shows an example of Simplex channel transmission.

Figure 1: TV broadcast as example of Simplex channel transmission

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

Simplex Communication Example

An example of Simplex Communication would be a radio or TV station broadcasting their program

to their listeners. The station will broadcast and the listeners can only receive the broadcast. They
do not have an option to send information to the station from their gadgets. The Simplex Channel
communication method works well in situations where the sender does not need to know the client
received the information. Also, the station does not need to confirm that you are receiving their
broadcast. As the receiver, if you miss part of the message such as hearing static during the data
transmission, the broadcaster does not know and will continue with the broadcast. The receiver
may desire to have the transmission resent in order to hear that missing part of a favorite
programme, but there is no way to contact the radio/TV station from the gadget to have the station
re-broadcast the information.

Other examples of the Simplex communication channel include loudspeaker, mouse/keyboard to

computer, computer to printer, remote and Television, etc.

Half-Duplex Channel

Half-Duplex Channel is a communication style in which all parties involved communicate back
and forth but only one device can send information per a time. This is an older communication
technology and is typically not used any longer in large networks. With this communication
method there is only one system that can send data at a time.

Presently, Half-Duplex Channel is typically between two devices at a time. One is sending data
and the other is receiving the data. If they both try to transmit data at the same time, neither message
will be received by the other device. While it is possible to have multiple devices using Half-
Duplex Channel, the more devices using the same network, the more complicated the
communication process becomes. For instance, if 40 devices try to use the same Half-Duplex
Channel on a network, each would have to wait its turn in order to send its message.

In the past, computer networks which used this technology implemented a protocol called token
passing. In a token passing network, a virtual token or permission slip was passed from device to
device, and it was only when a device possessed the token that data could be sent. This token was
passed around the network from one device to another. If a device possessed the token but didn't

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

need to transmit data it would pass the token to the next device. If a device needed to transmit but
didn't have the token, it would have to wait until it received the token.

Half-Duplex Communication Example

An example of Half-Duplex Communication would be the use of walkie talkies. When using a
walkie talkie only one user may transmit their message at a time. If both parties try to transmit,
neither will be able to hear the other message. If only two people are using the walkie talkies the
process of communication would be fairly simple. Since humans naturally communicate in a Half-
Duplex Channel style, the use of the walkie talkies replicates normal conversations. One person
talks and the other listens. As more users are added to the group of walkie talkie users, the process
of regulating who gets to talk would be difficult to manage. Imagine having 40 people all using
the same walkie talkie channel. Rules would have to be put into place to ensure those who want to
talk could do so and that a few users would not monopolize the transmission. Figure 2 shows an
example of a Half-Duplex channel communication.

Figure 2: Walkie Talkie communication as an example of Half-Duplex channel communication

Other examples of a Half-Duplex channel of communication include conference presentation,

browsing the internet (requests and responses), Emails etc.

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

Full-Duplex Channel Communication

Full-Duplex Channel is the most current and popular form of device communication in computer
networks. In this method, all devices on the network are able to transmit and receive data at the
same time. It consists of two simplex channels, a forward channel and a backward (reverse)
channel, linking at the same points. There may be a single channel dedicated to each sending and
receiving, or a system may have multiple channels for both sending and receiving multiple
transmissions all at the same time.

Full-Duplex channel Communication Example

In a telephone conversation, two people communicate, and both are free to speak and listen at the
same time. Other examples include instant chat messengers, video calls, etc. Figure 3 shows an
illustration of a Full-Duplex channel communication.

Key Differences of the Three Communication Channels

• In simplex mode, the signal is sent in one direction. In half duplex mode, the signal is sent
in both directions, but one at a time. In full duplex mode, the signal is sent in both
directions at the same time.
• In simplex mode, only one device can transmit the signal. In half duplex mode, both devices
can transmit the signal, but one at a time. In full duplex mode, both devices can transmit
the signal at the same time.
• Full duplex performs better than half duplex, and half duplex in turn performs better than
simplex.
• Simplex: The keyboard sends the command to the monitor. The monitor cannot reply to
the keyboard.
• Half duplex: Using a walkie-talkie, both speakers can communicate, but they have to take
turns.
• Full duplex: Using a telephone, both speakers can communicate at the same time.
• The full duplex transmission mode offers the best performance among the three, on account
of the fact that it maximises the amount of bandwidth available.

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

Communication mediums

There are basically 2 types of communication medium namely: Guided medium and Unguided
medium.

Guided Media

The term guided media essentially refers to a physical connection between two devices - usually a
cable of some kind. Some cables carry electrical signals using copper wire conductors, others carry
pulses of light using optical fibres made from high-purity glass or plastic. The following types of
guided media are commonly used in telecommunication systems:

• Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable:

• Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable:
• Coaxial cable
• Single-mode optical fibre cable
• Multi-mode optical fibre cable
• Plastic optical fibre (POF) cable

In the first three types of cable listed above, the transmission medium consists of two or more
copper conductors, and the signals that propagate along these copper conductors are electrical in
nature. The last three items in the list are the most commonly-used fibre optic cable types. The
signals that propagate through optical fibres take the form of light pulses. Even though copper and
fibre optic cables carry very different types of signals, all of the signals consist of electromagnetic
waves.

The cable itself acts as a waveguide. What this means is that it is a physical structure that forces
electromagnetic waves to travel in a single direction, as opposed to being radiated outwards from
their point of origin in all directions. This allows the wave to propagate over relatively long
distances with minimal loss of energy.

For example, in a twisted-pair Ethernet cable, each wire pair provides a waveguide for an Ethernet
signal. In a fibre optic cable, each fibre strand acts as a waveguide for a stream of light pulses. The
main difference between copper cables and fibre optic cables is that the copper conductors in a
twisted-pair or coaxial cable carry an alternating electrical current, which means that they will

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

radiate energy in the form of electromagnetic waves. The construction of coaxial and twisted-pair
copper cables is designed to minimise this effect, but some energy will still be lost as the signal
propagates along the cable, limiting the distance over which signals can be carried before they
need to be regenerated.

An optical fibre does not radiate electromagnetic energy, and although some energy is lost due to
the absorption and scattering of light within the fibre itself, the energy losses are far lower than for
copper cables. As a consequence, a fibre optic link can carry signals over a much greater distance
than a twisted-pair or coaxial copper cable.

Fibre optic cables are used almost exclusively in the core networks that make up the Internet and
the telephone system because of their high data rates, low power loss, and immunity to electrical
noise. The downside of fibre optic cables is that they are expensive and relatively difficult to install
and maintain by comparison with copper cable. The connection and termination points are also
sensitive to mechanical disturbances. In computer networks, they are typically used for the fixed
links that connect critical devices such as routers, network switches and hubs. Twisted-pair
Ethernet cables are used for most other fixed network connections because they are cheap, robust,
and easy to install and maintain.

Coaxial cables are no longer widely used in computer networks, having been largely replaced by
twisted-pair Ethernet cables or fibre optic links, but they are still used in cable TV systems to
deliver television programmes and broadband Internet services to consumers. They are also used
to carry signals from a television antenna or satellite dish to a television set or set-top box.

Wired Media

Wired medium of transmission physically connects a transmitter to a receiver using (usually)

copper cables. The most commonly used types of copper cabling are twisted-pair cables and
coaxial cables.

Twisted-pair cables

Twisted-pair cables have been used in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) since the
early 1890s, and are still widely used today in the subscriber loop of the PSTN. They are also used
in both local area networks (LANs) and home computer networks to carry data between

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

workstations and network devices such as hubs, switches and routers. They have also been used to
connect core network devices, although in this sphere they have largely been replaced by fibre
optic cables. Figure 3 shows a twisted-pair Ethernet cable.

Figure 3: Twisted-pair Ethernet cables used in LANs and home networks

A twisted-pair cable contains one or more pairs of thin (typically 0.52 mm or 0.57 mm in diameter),
insulated copper wires. Telephone cables can contain anything from two twisted-pairs up to several
hundred, depending on where in the telephone network they are used. A twisted-pair Ethernet cable
of the type typically used in a computer network contains just four twisted-pairs, each of which
provides a balanced transmission circuit. This means that each wire pair constitutes a transmission
line consisting of two conductors of the same type, each having equal impedances along their
lengths and equal impedances to ground and other circuits.

Each pair in a twisted-pair Ethernet cable has a slightly different twist ratio to ensure that two
wires from two different pairs do not repeatedly lie next to each other, undoing the beneficial
effects of the twisting. The precise ratio of twisting in each pair is tightly controlled by cable
manufacturers, and forms part of the technical specification for a particular cable type. Figure
shows the image a twisted pair cable.

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

Figure 4: The wires in each pair are twisted together to reduce "crosstalk"

The term cross-talk is often used to describe interference between wire pairs in a cable, because in
some older types of telephone cable the wire pairs were not always properly balanced with respect
to one another. This could sometimes lead to a situation where voice signals from one telephone
line creates an "echo" on a neighbouring telephone line. If two telephone calls were taking place
simultaneously over adjacent wire pairs, one pair of subscribers could hear the conversation taking
place between the other pair of subscribers, and vice versa.

Coaxial cables

Coaxial cables have also been used extensively for cabling local area networks in the past, but are
rarely found in LANS or home computer networks in recent days. Nevertheless, they are still
widely used in industrial control networks, because their shielding makes them resistant to sources
of electrical interference such as motors and heavy machinery. They are also prevalent in homes,
where they are used to carry television signals from a satellite dish, television antenna, or cable
TV outlet to a television or set-top box. Figure 5 shows the image of a coaxial cable.

Figure 5: Coaxial cables carry RF satellite and cable TV signals

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

A coaxial cable consists of a single central conducting wire inside a flexible cylindrical sheath
made from a dielectric (non-conducting) material. The dielectric sheath is surrounded by an outer
conducting shell, typically constructed using tinned copper or aluminum foil, or braided copper
wire.

Fibre optic cables

Fibre optic cables are increasingly used in local area networks to carry data over fixed links
between major network devices. Optical fibres are also used almost exclusively in the core
networks of the Internet and the telephone system due to their immunity to electrical interference,
high data rates, and the fact that they can carry data reliably over very long distances (typically
100 kilometres) before signals need to be regenerated using an optical repeater. Figure 6 shows
the image of a fiber optic cable.

Figure 6: Fibre-optic cables are used extensively in core telecommunications networks and
LANs.

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CSE 321: Principles of Telecommunication I Dr. Chinenye Ezeh

An optical fibre carries data from a transmitter to a receiver in the form of a modulated beam of
monochromatic (single-colour) light. The core of an optical fibre is a very fine strand of high-
purity glass or plastic, typically 8 to 50 microns in diameter (comparable with the thickness of a
human hair), that acts as an optical waveguide. Surrounding the core is a layer of transparent
cladding, also made from glass or plastic, and having an outer diameter of approximately 125
microns.

The cladding, although also transparent, has a lower refractive index than the core. This means
that, as long as any light travelling through the core is incident on the cladding at less than the
corresponding critical angle, it will be reflected back into the core - a phenomenon known as total
internal reflection. Light is thus unable to escape from the core, and will be transmitted from one
end of the fibre to the other with minimal loss of signal. The cladding is in turn surrounded by a
protective layer of an opaque material, usually some kind of plastic, known as the primary buffer.
Several fibres can be bundled together around a central strength member inside a common sheath
to form a fibre-optic cable. Figure 7 shows the internal image of a fibre optic cable.

Figure 7: Cross-section and longitudinal section of a typical optical fibre cable.

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