Transmission Media and
Signals
Gail Hopkins
Types of Transmission Media
• Copper Wire
• Glass Fibre
• Infrared
• Laser
• Electromagnetic Radiation (EM)
Forms of Energy
Twisted Pair
Electrical
Coaxial Cable
Optical Fibre
Energy Types Light InfraRed
Laser
Terrestrial
Electromagnetic Radio
Radiation (Radio) Satellite
Textbook Chapters 13+14
Electrical Signals – Copper Wire
• Common, inexpensive, easy to install, BUT interference
• Why copper???
• Twisted Pair
• UTP, STP
• Coaxial cable
Light Signals - Optical Fibre
• Thin glass tube that reflects light internally and is
coated in plastic for flexibility
• Transmitter uses LED or laser and receiver uses a
light sensitive transistor
• Advantages
• no electrical interference
• carry a signal much further than
copper
• carry more information at a time
• only needs one fibre - unlike
copper that requires a pair to
form a circuit
Source: How Stuff Works
• BUT hard to find breaks
Light Signals - Infrared
• Point-to-point
• Initially used in remote controls
• Can be used to connect computer to peripherals, e.g. printer
• Advantages:
• portable - no antennae required
• inexpensive
• Disadvantages:
• limited range
• sensitive to orientation of transmitter to receiver
Light Signals - Laser
• Use of light to carry information through the air (no fibre
required)
• Point to point
• A laser beam will stay focussed over a long distance
• Therefore sending and receiving equipment must be aligned precisely
• Requires a straight line of sight and can easily be blocked (e.g.,
by fog).
EM Signals – Radio, Satellite, Microwave
• Broadcast of electromagnetic waves through the air at radio frequency
(RF)
• ~3KHz-300GHz
• Each computer uses an antenna - no direct connection is required
• Properties vary according to frequency
• Size of antenna determines range - 2m pole across town vs. inside a
laptop for a room
• RF transmission has advantage over light
• Can traverse long distances and penetrate walls
• Microwave – higher frequency that RF
• Directional
• Can carry more information than RF
• Cannot penetrate metal structures so require tall towers with direct
line of sight
EM Waves - Signal Propagation
• Frequency of an EM wave determines how the wave propagates,
power requirements, susceptibility to noise
Classification Range Type of Propagation
Low Frequency <2 Mbps Wave follows earth’s
curvature, but can be
blocked by unlevel terrain
Medium Frequency 2-30 Mbps Wave can reflect from
layers of the atmosphere,
especially the ionosphere
High Frequency >30 Mbps Wave travels in a direct
line, and will be blocked
by obstructions
• Frequencies used for wireless networking technologies can’t be
chosen arbitrarily
• Use of spectrum controlled by governments
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The Electromagnetic Spectrum – Another View
Source: [Link]
Tradeoffs Among Media Types
• Cost
• Materials, installation, operation, maintenance
• Data rate
• Bits per second
• Delay
• Time required for signal propagation or processing
• Affect on signal
• Attenuation and distortion
• Environment
• Susceptibility to interference and electrical noise
• Security
• Susceptibility to eavesdropping
Computer Communication
• Computer communication involves encoding data
into some form of energy and sending this across a
transmission medium
• This involves signals, which could be:
• Electrical, light, EM radiation
• To understand how computer communication
works, we will look at:
• Signal characteristics
• Basic transmission concepts
Introduction to Data Communication
• Sources of information can be of arbitrary types
• Bits stored on a computer, audio, video
• One form can be transformed into another
• Transmission uses a physical system
• i.e. Natural phenomena
• E.g. Electricity, EM radiation
• Multiple sources of information can share the underlying
medium
Information Sources and Signals
• Communication system:
• Accepts input from one or more sources
• Delivers information from a given source to a specified
destination
• The source of information can be arbitrary, not just
computers!
Analogue and Digital Signals
• Analogue
• Changes from one value to another via all possible
intermediate values
• Digital
• Fixed set of valid levels
• Instantaneous move from one level to another
Level
4 Level 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 Time 0 Time
Periodic and Aperiodic Signals
• Periodic signals repeat
Textbook, Chapters 13+14
• Sine waves
• Oscillate in time
• Many natural phenomena produce a signal that
corresponds to a sine wave as a function of time
Sine Waves and Signal Characteristics
• Four important characteristics of signals that relate to sine
waves
• Frequency
• Number of oscillations per unit of time (s)
• Measured in Hertz (Hz)
• Amplitude
• Difference between maximum and minimum signal heights
• Phase
• How far the start of the sine wave has shifted from a reference time
• Wavelength
• The length of a cycle as a signal propagates across a medium
Sine Waves and Signal Characteristics (2)
Original sine wave Higher frequency
Lower amplitude New Phase
Textbook, Chapters 13+14
Composite Signals
• Most signals are composite signals
• Signal can be decomposed into a set of simple
sine waves
Signal 1 Signal 2
Composite Signal Textbook, Chapters 13+14
Composite Signals (2)
• It is common for sources to share a communication
medium
• So signals have to be combined in some way - modulation
• Modulation usually forms a composite signal
• Can decompose a composite signal into its constituent
parts
• Thus – most data communication systems use composite
signals to carry information!
Summary
• Types of transmission media in terms of:
• The form of energy each uses
• Tradeoffs between cost, data rate, delay, security and effect of
environment on them
• Types of signals
• Analogue
• Digital
• Signal characteristics