UNITII

The Physical Layer

Prof: Santosh. B
ARJ BCA College, Ilkal

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 Physical Layer is the bottom-most layer in the
Open System Interconnection (OSI) Model which is a
physical and electrical representation of the system. It
consists of various network components such as power
plugs, connectors, receivers, cable types, etc.

Physical Layer sends data bits from one device(s) (like a

computer) to another device(s).

Physical Layer defines the types of encoding (that is

how the 0’s and 1’s are encoded in a signal). Physical
Layer is responsible for the communication of the
unstructured raw data streams over a physical
medium.

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 Functions Performed by Physical Layer
• Physical Layer maintains the data rate (how many bits a sender
can send per second).
• It performs Synchronization of bits.
• It helps in Transmission Medium decision (direction of data
transfer).
• It helps in Physical Topology (Mesh, Star, Bus, Ring) decision
(Topology through which we can connect the devices with each
other).
• It helps in providing Physical Medium and Interface decisions.
• It provides two types of configuration Point to Point configuration
and Multi-Point configuration.
• It provides an interface between devices (like PC’s or computers)
and transmission medium.
• It has a protocol data unit in bits.

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 Transmission media

What is Transmission media?

• Transmission media is a communication channel that carries
the information from the sender to the receiver. Data is
transmitted through the electromagnetic signals.
• The main functionality of the transmission media is to carry
the information in the form of bits through LAN(Local Area
Network).
• It is a physical path between transmitter and receiver in data
communication.
• In a copper-based network, the bits in the form of electrical
signals.
• In a fiber based network, the bits in the form of light pulses.

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Guided Media: It is also referred to as Wired or
Bounded transmission media. Signals being
transmitted are directed and confined in a narrow
pathway by using physical links.
Features:
• High Speed
• Secure
• Used for comparatively shorter distances

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 Twisted pair
• Twisted pair is a physical media 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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• Twisted pairs can be used for transmitting either
analog or digital information. The bandwidth
depends on the thickness of the wire and the
distance travelled, but several megabits/sec can
be achieved for a few kilometers in many cases

• Twisted pair consists of two insulated wires

gently twisted together. Four such pairs are
typically grouped in a plastic sheath to protect
the wires and keep them together

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[Link] Twisted Pair (UTP):
UTP consists of two insulated copper wires twisted around
one another. This type of cable has the ability to block
interference and does not depend on a physical shield for
this purpose. It is used for telephonic applications.
Advantages:
• ⇢ Least expensive
• ⇢ Easy to install
• ⇢ High-speed capacity
Disadvantages:
• ⇢ Susceptible to external interference
• ⇢ Lower capacity and performance in comparison to STP
• Short distance transmission due to attenuation
Applications:
• Used in telephone connections and LAN networks

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[Link] Twisted Pair
• A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the
mesh surrounding the wire that allows the higher
transmission rate.
Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:
• The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very
high and not very low.
• An installation of STP is easy.
• It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded
twisted pair cable.
• It has a higher attenuation.
• It is shielded that provides the higher data
transmission rate.

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Advantages:
• ⇢ Better performance at a higher data rate in comparison to
UTP
• ⇢ Eliminates crosstalk
• ⇢ Comparatively faster
Disadvantages:
• ⇢ Comparatively difficult to install and manufacture
• ⇢ More expensive
• ⇢ Bulky
Applications:
• The shielded twisted pair type of cable is most frequently
used in extremely cold climates, where the additional layer of
outer covering makes it perfect for withstanding such
temperatures or for shielding the interior components.
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Coaxial Cable
• Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission
media, for example, TV wire is usually a coaxial cable.
• The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two
conductors parallel to each other.
• It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair
cable.
• 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.
• The middle core is responsible for the data transferring
whereas the copper mesh prevents from
the EMI(Electromagnetic interference).

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Advantages Of Coaxial cable:
• The data can be transmitted at high speed.
• It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.
• It provides higher bandwidth.
Disadvantages Of Coaxial cable:
• It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.
• If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the
entire network.
Applications:
• Radio frequency signals are sent over coaxial wire. It can
be used for cable television signal distribution, digital
audio (S/PDIF), computer network connections (like
Ethernet), and feed lines that connect radio transmitters
and receivers to their antennas.

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Optical Fiber Cable
It uses the concept of refraction of light through a core
made up of glass or plastic. The core is surrounded by a
less dense glass or plastic covering called the cladding.
It is used for the transmission of large volumes of data.
• Fiber optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals
for communication.
• Fiber optic is a cable that holds the optical fibers
coated in plastic that are used to send the data by
pulses of light.
• The plastic coating protects the optical fibers from
heat, cold, electromagnetic interference from other
types of wiring.
• Fiber optics provide faster data transmission than
copper wires.

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• Core: The optical fiber consists of a narrow strand of
glass or plastic known as a core. A core is a light
transmission area of the fiber. The more the area of the
core, the more light will be transmitted into the fiber.
• Cladding: The concentric layer of glass is known as
cladding. The main functionality of the cladding is to
provide the lower refractive index at the core interface
as to cause the reflection within the core so that the
light waves are transmitted through the fiber.
• Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is
known as a jacket. The main purpose of a jacket is to
preserve the fiber strength, absorb shock and extra
fiber protection.

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Unguided Media
• An unguided transmission transmits the
electromagnetic waves without using any physical
medium. Therefore it is also known as wireless
transmission.
• In unguided media, air is the media through
which the electromagnetic energy can flow easily.
Types
 Radio transmission
 Microwaves
 Infrared transmission
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 Radio Transmission
• Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that
are transmitted in all the directions of free space.
• Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals
are propagated in all the directions.
• The range in frequencies of radio waves is from
3Khz to 1 khz.
• In the case of radio waves, the sending and
receiving antenna are not aligned, i.e., the wave
sent by the sending antenna can be received by
any receiving antenna.
• An example of the radio wave is FM radio.
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Applications of Radio Waves:
• When there is only one transmitter and numerous recipients, a radio wave
is helpful for multicasting.
• Radio waves are used by FM radio, television, and cordless phones
Advantages of Radio Waves:
• Radio transmission is mostly utilized for wide area networks and mobile
phones.
• Radio waves may penetrate barriers and cover a vast area.
• A greater transmission rate is provided through radio transmission.

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 Microwaves
It is a line of sight transmission i.e. the sending and receiving
antennas need to be properly aligned with each other. The
distance covered by the signal is directly proportional to the
height of the antenna. Frequency Range:1GHz – 300GHz. These
are majorly used for mobile phone communication and television
distribution.
• Propagation of electromagnetic waves with respect to sight is
one-directional which does not allow any intrusion.
• Once the transmission medium faces each other then the
communication between two endpoints and line of sight becomes
streamline to establish any connection.
• Above the two points are referred to as source point from where
the wave gets generated and then the antennae receive the final
transmission in the destination end which is called as receiving
end.
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Categories of microwave Transmission are as follows :
• Terrestrial microwave
• Satellite microwave communication.
Terrestrial microwave
• Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that
transmits the focused beam of a radio signal from one
ground-based microwave transmission antenna to another.
• Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves having the
frequency in the range from 1GHz to 1000 GHz.
• Microwaves are unidirectional as the sending and receiving
antenna is to be aligned, i.e., the waves sent by the sending
antenna are narrowly focused.
• In this case, antennas are mounted on the towers to send a
beam to another antenna which is km away.

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Satellite microwave communication.
• A satellite is a physical entity that orbits the Earth at a fixed altitude.
• Satellite communication is more dependable nowadays since it is
more adaptable than cable and fiber optic technologies.
• Using satellite communication, we can connect with any location on
the planet.
How Does Satellite work?
The satellite accepts the signal that is transmitted from the earth
station, and it amplifies the signal. The amplified signal is
retransmitted to another earth station.
Advantages Of Satellite Microwave Communication:
• The coverage area of a satellite microwave is more than the
terrestrial microwave.
• The transmission cost of the satellite is independent of the distance
from the centre of the coverage area.
• Satellite communication is used in mobile and wireless
communication applications.

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 Infrared transmission
• An infrared transmission is a wireless technology
used for communication over short ranges.
• The frequency of the infrared in the range from
300 GHz to 400 THz.
• It is used for short-range communication such as
data transfer between two cell phones, TV
remote operation, data transfer between a
computer and cell phone resides in the same
closed area.
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Characteristics of Infrared Transmission:
• It has a large bandwidth, therefore the data rate
will be quite high.
• Infrared waves are unable to permeate the walls.
As a result, infrared communication in one room
cannot be disturbed by infrared signals from
nearby rooms.
• Infrared communication gives greater security
while causing the least amount of disturbance.
• Outside the building, infrared communication is
unreliable because the sun’s rays interfere with
the infrared signal

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 Switching
• In large networks, there can be multiple paths from
sender to receiver. The switching technique will
decide the best route for data transmission.
• Switching technique is used to connect the systems
for making one-to-one communication.

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 Message Switching
Message switching is a connectionless network switching
technique where the entire message is routed from the source
node to the destination node, one hop at a time. It was a
precursor of packet switching.
• Message Switching is a switching technique in which a message is
transferred as a complete unit and routed through intermediate
nodes at which it is stored and forwarded.
• In Message Switching technique, there is no establishment of a
dedicated path between the sender and receiver.
• The destination address is appended to the message. Message
Switching provides a dynamic routing as the message is routed
through the intermediate nodes based on the information
available in the message.
• Message switches are programmed in such a way so that they can
provide the most efficient routes.

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• Each and every node stores the entire message and then
forward it to the next node. This type of network is known
as store and forward network.
• Message switching treats each message as an independent
entity.

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Advantages Of Message Switching
• Data channels are shared among the communicating
devices that improve the efficiency of using available
bandwidth.
• Traffic congestion can be reduced because the message is
temporarily stored in the nodes.
• Message priority can be used to manage the network.
• The size of the message which is sent over the network can
be varied. Therefore, it supports the data of unlimited size.
Disadvantages Of Message Switching
• The message switches must be equipped with sufficient
storage to enable them to store the messages until the
message is forwarded.
• The Long delay can occur due to the storing and forwarding
facility provided by the message switching technique.

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 Multiplexing
• Multiplexing is a technique used to combine and send the
multiple data streams over a single medium. The process of
combining the data streams is known as multiplexing and
hardware used for multiplexing is known as a multiplexer.
• Multiplexing is achieved by using a device called
Multiplexer (MUX) that combines n input lines to generate
a single output line. Multiplexing follows many-to-one, i.e.,
n input lines and one output line.
• Demultiplexing is achieved by using a device called
Demultiplexer (DEMUX) available at the receiving end.
DEMUX separates a signal into its component signals (one
input and n outputs). Therefore, we can say that
demultiplexing follows the one-to-many approach

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 Why Multiplexing?
• The transmission medium is used to send the signal from
sender to receiver. The medium can only have one signal at
a time.
• If there are multiple signals to share one medium, then the
medium must be divided in such a way that each signal is
given some portion of the available bandwidth. For
example: If there are 10 signals and bandwidth of medium
is100 units, then the 10 unit is shared by each signal.
• When multiple signals share the common medium, there is
a possibility of collision. Multiplexing concept is used to
avoid such collision.
• Transmission services are very expensive

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• The 'n' input lines are transmitted through a multiplexer and multiplexer
combines the signals to form a composite signal.
• The composite signal is passed through a Demultiplexer and demultiplexer
separates a signal to component signals and transfers them to their
respective destinations.
Advantages of Multiplexing:
• More than one signal can be sent over a single medium.
• The bandwidth of a medium can be utilized effectively.

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