TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Transmission medium is a communication channel that carries information from the sending
device to the receiving device.

Classification of Transmission Media:

Guided Media
It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are transmitted. It is also
known as Bounded media.

Types of Guided media:

Twisted pair:
Twisted pair is a physical medium made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A
twisted pair cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation of the
twisted pair cable is easy, and it is a lightweight cable. The frequency range for twisted
pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.

A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.

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The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined by the number of turns per foot.
Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.

Types of Twisted pair:

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

Refers to a pair of wires that are twisted around each other to minimize interference. Telephone
and Ethernet cables are common examples of UTP wires.

Advantages of Unshielded Twisted Pair:

o It is cheap.
o Installation of the unshielded twisted pair is easy.

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 o It can be used for high-speed LAN.

Disadvantage:

o This cable can only be used for shorter distances because of attenuation.

Shielded Twisted Pair

A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains a mesh surrounding the wire that allows
the higher transmission rate.

Advantages of Shielded Twisted Pair

1. Cheaper than fibre optic cables

2. Easy to install
3. The shield allows for higher transmission rates

Disadvantages of Shielded Twisted Pair

1. It is more expensive as compared to UTP and coaxial cable.

2. It has a higher attenuation rate.

Attenuation is the reduction of the amplitude of a signal, electric current, or other oscillation.

Coaxial Cable
o Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV wire is
usually a coaxial cable.
o The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each
other.
o It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.
o The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of copper, and the outer
conductor is made up of copper mesh. The middle core is made up of non-
conductive cover that separates the inner conductor from the outer conductor.
o The middle core is responsible for the data transferring whereas the copper mesh
prevents from the EMI (Electromagnetic interference).

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Coaxial cable is of two types:

1. Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting a single

signal at high speed.
2. Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting multiple
signals simultaneously.

Advantages of Coaxial cable:

o The data can be transmitted at high speed.

o It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.
o It provides higher bandwidth.

Disadvantages of Coaxial cable:

o It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.

o If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the entire network.

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Fibre Optic
Fiber optics are thin glass or plastic fibers used to transmit data via light. A fiber optic cable
consists of a bundle of optical fibers that can transmit information over long distances and at
high bandwidth.

The core is the actual glass fiber that the light travels through, and the cladding is wrapped
around the core to ensure the light signals cannot escape the fiber.

Outside appearance Inside are multiple glass fibres

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Advantages of fibre optic cables

o Better bandwidth

o Higher transmission speeds due to better bandwidth

o Longer transmission distances

A fibre optic cable is a low power loss medium, meaning you can achieve higher

bandwidths over greater transmission distances. Fibre optic cables can reach 10’s

of kilometres in distance compared to the maximum 100-metre distance that is

the limit of copper cables.

o Greater flexibility. Fibre is flexible, can bend easily and resists most corrosive
elements that often attack copper cables.

o Stronger security. Fibre optic cable keeps data secure. It does not radiate signals

and is very difficult to tap without your knowledge. It has higher physical security

as all hardware and electronics can be installed in one central location, unlike

copper systems, where equipment is required to be installed within distribution

locations throughout a facility.

o Fibre optic cables are lighter to carry from one place to another unlike copper
cables such as coaxial and twisted pair.

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Unguided Media
Unguided transmission media are methods that allow the transmission of data by
use of non physical means. Examples of this include microwave, radio or infrared.

1. Radio waves: The radio waves can be defined as electromagnetic waves which can
be used to transmit the information in any direction without having any restriction. The
radio waves can travel in any direction. In radio waves transmission, there is no necessity
that the sending antenna and receiving antenna should be aligned, the signals can be
transmitted to any receiving antenna. One of the best examples of radio waves signal is
FM radio.

Radio waves application:

o The radio waves are used where there is a requirement of sending the same

information to multiple users from a single source.

o The applications of radio waves are television, FM radio, and cordless phone.

2. Microwave: The microwave is unidirectional. In this transmission, whenever the

signals are transmitted through an antenna, the signals can make narrow to focus to a

particular point. And in this transmission, there is a requirement of proper alignment of

sending antenna and receiving antenna.

Microwave application:

o The unicast transmission becomes easier using microwave transmission.

In computer networking, unicast is a one-to-one transmission from one point in the network

to another point; that is, one sender and one receiver, each identified by a network address

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 o The microwaves are used in satellite network communication and wireless LANs.

3. Infrared waves: These types of waves are used when there is a requirement to have

communication for shorter distances. As the frequency is very high for infrared waves,

the signals cannot penetrate through walls. Infrared communication can be done for

long-range also depending on the requirements. The infrared waves can be intervening

if the sun rays fall on it as the sunrays also have infrared waves.

Infrared application:

o The data transmission quality for the infrared is comparatively higher than other

types of electromagnetic waves.

o Used in computer system components to have communication between them.

Assignment
Explain advantages and disadvantages of unguided transmission media.

Reference
https://www.javatpoint.com/unguided-transmission-media

https://www.educba.com/unguided-media-transmission/

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