Physical Layer

Sajjad Ali Rajper

Lecturer
Aror University
Sukkur, Sindh
Physical Layer

• Physical layer is the only layer of OSI network model which

actually deals with the physical connectivity of two different
stations. This layer defines the hardware equipment, cabling,
wiring, frequencies, pulses used to represent binary signals etc.

• Data-link layer hands over frames to physical layer. Physical layer

converts them to electrical pulses, which represent binary
data. The binary data is then sent over the wired or wireless
media.
Signals

• When data is sent over physical medium, it needs to be first

converted into electromagnetic signals. Data itself can be analog
such as human voice, or digital such as file on the disk. Both
analog and digital data can be represented in digital or analog
signals.
• Digital Signals
• Digital signals are discrete in nature and represent sequence of voltage pulses.
Digital signals are used within the circuitry of a computer system.
• Analog Signals
• Analog signals are in continuous wave form in nature and represented by
continuous electromagnetic waves.
Digital Transmission

• Digital-to-Digital Conversion
• Explains how to convert digital data into digital signals.
• It can be done in two ways,
• line coding
• block coding.
Line coding

• The process for converting digital data into digital signal is said to
be Line Coding. Digital data is found in binary format. It is
represented (stored) internally as series of 1s and 0s.
Line coding

• Digital signal is denoted by discreet signal, which represents

digital data. There are three types of line coding schemes
available.
Uni-Polar Encoding

• Unipolar encoding schemes use single voltage level to represent

data. In this case, to represent binary 1, high voltage is
transmitted and to represent 0, no voltage is transmitted. It is also
called Unipolar-Non-return-to-zero, because there is no rest
condition i.e. it either represents 1 or 0.
Polar Encoding

• Polar encoding scheme uses multiple voltage levels to represent

binary values. Polar encodings is available in four types:
• Polar Non-Return to Zero (Polar NRZ)
• Return to Zero (RZ)
• Manchester
• Differential Manchester
Bipolar Encoding

• Bipolar encoding uses three voltage levels, positive, negative

and zero. Zero voltage represents binary 0 and bit 1 is
represented by altering positive and negative voltages.
Block Coding

• To ensure accuracy of the received data frame redundant bits are

used. For example, in even-parity, one parity bit is added to make
the count of 1s in the frame even. This way the original number of
bits is increased. It is called Block Coding.
• Block coding is represented by slash notation, mB/[Link], m-bit
block is substituted with n-bit block where n > m. Block coding
involves three steps:
• Division,
• Substitution
• Combination.
Analog-to-Digital Conversion

• Microphones create analog voice and camera creates analog videos,

which are treated is analog data. To transmit this analog data over
digital signals, we need analog to digital conversion.
• Analog data is a continuous stream of data in the wave form whereas
digital data is discrete. To convert analog wave into digital data, we
use Pulse Code Modulation (PCM).
• PCM is one of the most commonly used method to convert analog data
into digital form. It involves three steps:
• Sampling
• Quantization
• Encoding
Sampling

• The analog signal is sampled every T interval. Most important

factor in sampling is the rate at which analog signal is sampled.
According to Nyquist Theorem, the sampling rate must be at least
two times of the highest frequency of the signal.
Quantization

• Sampling yields discrete form of continuous analog signal. Every

discrete pattern shows the amplitude of the analog signal at that
instance. The quantization is done between the maximum
amplitude value and the minimum amplitude value. Quantization
is approximation of the instantaneous analog value.
Encoding

• In encoding, each approximated value is then converted into

binary format.
Transmission Modes

• The transmission mode decides how data is transmitted between

two computers. The binary data in the form of 1s and 0s can be
sent in two different modes: Parallel and Serial.
Parallel Transmission
Serial Transmission
Transmission Impairment

• When signals travel through the medium they tend to deteriorate. This may
have many reasons as;
• Attenuation
• For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be sufficiently [Link]
the signal passes through the medium, it tends to get weaker. As it covers distance, it loses
strength.
• Dispersion
• As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The amount of dispersion
depends upon the frequency used.
• Delay distortion
• Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the signal speed and
frequency do not match, there are possibilities that signal reaches destination in arbitrary
fashion. In digital media, this is very critical that some bits reach earlier than the previously
sent ones.
• Noise
• Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be Noise in signal,
which may distort the actual information being carried.
Transmission Media

• The media over which the information between two computer systems
is sent, called transmission media. Transmission media comes in two
forms.
• Guided Media
• All communication wires/cables are guided media, such as UTP, coaxial cables,
and fiber Optics. In this media, the sender and receiver are directly connected
and the information is send (guided) through it.
• Unguided Media
• Wireless or open air space is said to be unguided media, because there is no
connectivity between the sender and receiver. Information is spread over the air,
and anyone including the actual recipient may collect the information.
Channel Capacity

• The speed of transmission of information is said to be the channel

capacity. We count it as data rate in digital world. It depends on
numerous factors such as:
• Bandwidth: The physical limitation of underlying media.
• Error-rate: Incorrect reception of information because of noise.
• Encoding: The number of levels used for signaling.
Multiplexing

• Multiplexing is a technique to mix and send multiple data streams

over a single medium. This technique requires system hardware
called multiplexer (MUX) for multiplexing the streams and sending
them on a medium, and de-multiplexer (DMUX) which takes
information from the medium and distributes to different
destinations.
Multiplexing in Computer Network

• Multiplexing is a technique by which different analog and digital

streams of transmission can be simultaneously processed over a
shared link.
• When multiple senders try to send over a single medium, a device
called Multiplexer divides the physical channel and allocates one
to each. On the other end of communication, a De-multiplexer
receives data from a single medium, identifies each, and sends to
different receivers.
Frequency Division Multiplexing

• FDM is an analog technology. FDM divides the spectrum or carrier

bandwidth in logical channels and allocates one user to each
channel. Each user can use the channel frequency independently
and has exclusive access of it. All channels are divided in such a
way that they do not overlap with each other.
Time Division Multiplexing

• In TDM the shared channel is divided among its user by means of

time slot. Each user can transmit data within the provided time
slot only.
Switching

• Switching is a mechanism by which data/information sent from

source towards destination which are not directly connected.
Networks have interconnecting devices, which receives data from
directly connected sources, stores data, analyze it and then
forwards to the next interconnecting device closest to the
destination.
Circuit Switching

• When two nodes communicate with each other over a dedicated

communication path, it is called circuit [Link] 'is a need
of pre-specified route from which data will travels and no other
data is [Link] circuit switching, to transfer the data, circuit
must be established so that the data transfer can take place.
• Circuits can be permanent or temporary. Applications which use
circuit switching may have to go through three phases:
• Establish a circuit
• Transfer the data
• Disconnect the circuit
Circuit Switching

• Circuit switching was designed for voice applications. Telephone is

the best suitable example of circuit switching. Before a user can
make a call, a virtual path between caller and callee is established
over the network.
Message Switching

• This technique was somewhere in middle of circuit switching and

packet switching. In message switching, the whole message is
treated as a data unit and is switching / transferred in its entirety.
• A switch working on message switching, first receives the whole
message and buffers it until there are resources available to
transfer it to the next hop. If the next hop is not having enough
resource to accommodate large size message, the message is
stored and switch waits.
Packet Switching

• The entire message is broken down into smaller chunks called

packets. The switching information is added in the header of each
packet and transmitted independently.
• It is easier for intermediate networking devices to store small size
packets and they do not take much resources either on carrier
path or in the internal memory of switches.
• Packet switching enhances line efficiency as packets from multiple
applications can be multiplexed over the carrier. The internet uses
packet switching technique.