UNIT V: PHYSICAL LAYER CHARACTERISTICS

Physical Layer overview

Latency, Bandwidth, Delay

Wireless: 802.11

Transmission Media : Twisted pair, Coaxial, Fibre

802.15, 802.15.4

802.16

The Physical Layer:

Data Transmission Basics
Encode data as energy at the data (information) source and transmit the encoded energy using
transmitter hardware: Possible Energy Forms: Electrical, light, radio, sound.
The transmitted energy is decoded at destination back into data.
Each form of energy has different properties and requirements for the transmission media to be
used for data transmission.
The transmission medium used forms a data transmission channel.

Data Transmission Channel Characteristics

Channel Noise:
A small amount of background interference or stray energy present on the channel
(usually electro-magnetic) that carries no data or information.
Main cause of transmission errors.
Given as the signal to noise ratio S/N and measured in decibels (dB).
Channel Bandwidth:
The size of the range of frequencies that can be transmitted through a channel. Measured
in Hertz (Hz). Affected by:
Type and physical characteristics of media used.
 Amount of noise present in transmission channel
Data encoding method used.
Channel Data Transmission Rate (or Bit Rate):
The maximum number of bits that can be transmitted per unit time through the physical
medium. Measured in bits per second (bps).
Channel Utilization:
The fraction of the channels data rate actually used to transmit data.
Channel Latency, or Propagation Delay:
The amount of time needed for information to propagate from source to destination
through the channel. It is the distance divided by the signal propagation speed (usually the speed
of light). Depends on:
Media characteristics
Signal propagation speed
Transmission distance
Transmission Delay:
The time it takes to transmit a message through the channel. It is the size of the message
in bits divided by the data rate (in bps) of the channel over which the transmission takes place.
Bit Length:
The length of a one-bit signal being transmitted = signal propagation speed / data
transmission rate
Example: Channel data-rate is 10Mbps. One bit is transmitted in 10-7 seconds. Since
signals propagate in a medium at about 200,000 km/s, ie 2*108 m/s, bit-length is: 10-7 * 2 * 108
= 20 meters.

Wireless: 802.11
Wireless LAN
In Wireless LAN, a host is connected to a base station or to another wireless host through a
wireless communication link within LAN.
WLAN is one of the fastest growing technologies.

WLAN CONFIGURATIONS
In Wireless LANs can operate in one of the two following configurations:

1. Infrastructure based
2. Ad-hoc networking based

Infrastructure based WLAN

This common base station model does not permit direct communication between the client nodes.
 Here, all the communication was go through only the base station, which is called access point
(AP) in 802.11 terminologies that provides all traditional network services.

Base station
A base station is responsible for sending and receiving data to and form a wireless host that is
associated with that base station.
Usually, the base station has no mobility but has a wired connection to the internet or other
networks. The node at the other end of the wireless link is a client node, which is often mobile.

Ad-hoc networking based WLAN

In the ad-hoc based WLAN configurations, wireless hosts have no base station and the hosts
would just communicate to one another directly. This node is now sometimes called ad-hoc
networking.
A typical example is two or more people sitting together in a room not equipped with a wireless
LAN and having their computers just communicate directly.

Advantages of WLAN
Flexibility
Planning
 Design
Cost
Robustness

Disadvantages of WLAN
Quality of service
Restrictions
Security
Bit error rate
Decreasing signal strength

Wireless Technologies
Wi-fi (IEEE 802.11)
Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1)
Third generation (3G) of cellular wireless standards

Wi-fi (IEEE 802.11)

IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN standard, also know as WIfi is designed for use in a limited
geographical area (home, office, buildings) and its primary challenge is to mediate access to a
shared communication medium when signals propagating through free space.

1.Physical properties
IEEE 802.11 defines a number of different physical layers that operate in various
frequency bands and provide a range of different data rates.

CSMA/CD access method could not be used in wireless LANs

Wireless LANs cannot implement CSMA/CD for three reasons:

o For collision detection, a station must be able to send data and receive collision signals at
the same time. It will increase the bandwidth requirements.
o Collision may not be detected because of the hidden station problem.
o When there is more distance between the stations, the signal fading could prevent a
station at one end form hearing collision at the other end.
o Components of an 802.11 system
o Stations
Access point (AP)
o Basic service set (BSS)
o Extended service set (ESS)
o Distribution system (DS)
 Basic Service Set
Set of stations that communicate with each other
Independent BSS ( IBSS)
When all stations in a BSS are mobile and there is no connection to a wired
network
Typically short-lived with a small number of stations
Ad-hoc in nature
Station s communicate directly with one another
No relay capabilities nodes must be in direct range
Infrastructure BSS (BSS)
Includes an Access Point (AP)
All mobiles communicate directly to AP
AP provides connection to wired LAN and relay functionality
Use of AP may increase BW (2-hop rather than 1-hop data tx)
AP provides central control, allows packet buffering, etc.

Extended Service Set (ESS)

Set of infrastructure BSSs
APs communicate with each other
Forward traffic from one BSS to another
Facilitate movement of stations from one BSS to another
Extends range of mobility beyond reach of a single BSS

IEEE 802.11 Standards

The original 802.11 standard specifies three transmission techniques allowed in the physical
layer.
Infrared
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum(FH-SS)
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS)

The IEEE 802.11a, which delivers upto 54 Mbps using variant for FDM called orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and also runs in the license frequency band of 5-Ghz.
The IEEE 802.11b provides data rate upto 11Mpbs and use 2.4 Ghz ISM DS-SS Technique.
MIMO is a wireless networking standard that uses multiple antennas both for transmitting
as well as receiving to increase data rates and allowing greater wireless channels
bandwidth.

2.Collision avoidance
 1.Hidden node (station) problem
2.Exposed node problem
3.CSMA/CA

1.Hidden node (station) problem

Hidden node problem occurs on a wireless network when two nodes are sending to a
common destination but are unaware that the other exists.

The Hidden Node Problem. Although A and C are hidden from each other, their signals
can collide at B. (Bs reach is not shown.)

2.Exposed node problem

Exposed node problem situation occurs on a wireless network when two nodes are
receive signals from a common source but each one is able to reach other nodes that
do not receive this signal.

Exposed Node Problem. Although B and C are exposed to each others signals, there is
no interference if B transmits to A while C transmits to D. (A and Ds reaches are not
shown.)

3.CSMA/CA
802.11 addresses these two problems with an algorithm called Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance (MACA). The idea is for the sender and receiver to exchange
control frames with each other before the sender actually transmits any data.
This exchange informs all nearby nodes that a transmission is about to begin.
Specifically, the sender transmits a Request to Send (RTS) frame to the receiver; the RTS
 frame includes a field that indicates how long the sender wants to hold the medium (i.e.,
it specifies the length of the data frame to be transmitted).
The receiver then replies with a Clear to Send (CTS) frame; this frame echoes this length
field back to the sender.
Any node that sees the CTS frame knows that it is close to the receiver, and therefore
cannot transmit for the period of time it takes to send a frame of the specified length. Any
First, the receiver sends an ACK to the sender after successfully receiving a frame. All
nodes must wait for this ACK before trying to transmit.
Second, should two or more nodes detect an idle link and try to transmit an RTS frame at
the same time, their RTS frames will collide with each other.
802.11 does not support collision detection, but instead the senders realize the collision
has happened when they do not receive the CTS frame after a period of time, in which
case they each wait a random amount of time before trying again.
The amount of time a given node delays is defined by the same exponential backoff
algorithm used on the Ethernetnode that sees the RTS frame but not the CTS frame is not
close enough to the receiver to interfere with it, and so is free to transmit.

3.Distribution System
Base station which are called as access point (APs) and they are connected to each
other by using distribution system.

1.Scanning
2.Node Mobility

1. Scanning
The technique for selecting an AP is called scanning

o The node sends a Probe frame.

o All APs within reach reply with a Probe Response frame.

o The node selects one of the access points and sends that AP an
Association Request frame.
 o The AP replies with an Association Response frame.

2. Node Mobility
This is called active scanning since the node is actively searching for an access point.

APs also periodically send a Beacon frame that advertises the capabilities of the
access point; these include the transmission rate supported by the AP This is called
passive scanning.
A node can change to this AP based on the Beacon frame simply by sending it an
Association Request frame back to the access point.

4.IEEE 802.11 MAC Frame Format

Source and Destinations addresses: each 48 bits.

Data: up to 2312 bytes.

 CRC: 32 bit.

Control field: 16 bits.

Contains three subfields (of interest).

6 bit Type field: indicates whether the frame is an RTS or CTS frame or
being used by the scanning algorithm.

A pair of 1 bit fields : called ToDS and FromDS .

Frame contains four addresses.

How these addresses are interpreted depends on the settings of the ToDS and FromDS
bits in the frames Control field.

This is to account for the possibility that the frame had to be forwarded across the
distribution system which would mean that,

the original sender is not necessarily the same as the most recent transmitting node.

Same is true for the destination address.

Simplest case.

When one node is sending directly to another, both the DS bits are 0, Addr1 identifies the
target node, and Addr2 identifies the source node.

Most complex case.

Both DS bits are set to 1.

Indicates that the message went from a wireless node onto the distribution system, and
then from the distribution system to another wireless node.

With both bits set,

Addr1 identifies the ultimate destination,

Addr2 identifies the immediate sender (the one that forwarded the frame from the
distribution system to the ultimate destination).

Addr3 identifies the intermediate destination (the one that accepted the frame from a
wireless node and forwarded across the distribution system)

Addr4 identifies the original source.

Addr1: E, Addr2: AP-3, Addr3: AP-1, Addr4: A .

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is, with the infrared, one of the major wireless technologies
developed to achieve WPAN. Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology used to connect
devices of different functions such as telephones, computers (laptop or desktop),
notebooks, cameras, printers and so on.
Nowadays, Bluetooth technology is used for several computer and non computer
application:
1. It is used for providing communication between peripheral devices like wireless
mouse or keyboard with the computer.
2. It is used by modern healthcare devices to send signals to monitors.
3. It is used by modern communicating devices like mobile phone, PDAs, palmtops etc
to transfer data rapidly.
Bluetooth devices have a built-in short range radio transmitter. The rate provided is
1Mbps and uses 2.4 GHz bandwidth.
Bluetooth is that when the device is within the scope of a other devices automatically
start the transfer information without the user noticing. a small network between the
devices is created and the user can accessed as if there were cables.

Bluetooth Architecture
Bluetooth architecture defines two types of networks:
1. Piconet
2. Scattemet
1. Piconet
Piconet is a Bluetooth network that consists of one primary (master) node and seven
active secondary (slave) nodes.
Thus, piconet can have upto eight active nodes (1 master and 7 slaves) or stations
within the distance of 10 meters.
There can be only one primary or master station in each piconet.
The communication between the primary and the secondary can be one-to-one or one-
to-many.
All communication is between master and a slave. Salve-slave communication is not
possible.
In addition to seven active slave station, a piconet can have upto 255 parked nodes.
These parked nodes are secondary or slave stations and cannot take part in
communication until it is moved from parked state to active state.
2. Scatternet
Scattemet is formed by combining various piconets.
A slave in one piconet can act as a master or primary in other piconet.
Such a station or node can receive messages from the master in the first piconet and
deliver the message to its slaves in other piconet where it is acting as master. This node
is also called bridge slave.
Thus a station can be a member of two piconets.
A station cannot be a master in two piconets.

Bluetooth layers and Protocol Stack

 Bluetooth standard has many protocols that are organized into different layers.
The layer structure of Bluetooth does not follow OS1 model, TCP/IP model or any
other known model.
The different layers and Bluetooth protocol architecture.

Radio Layer
The Bluetooth radio layer corresponds to the physical layer of OSI model.
It deals with ratio transmission and modulation.
The radio layer moves data from master to slave or vice versa.
It is a low power system that uses 2.4 GHz ISM band in a range of 10 meters.
This band is divided into 79 channels of 1MHz each. Bluetooth uses the Frequency
Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) method in the physical layer to avoid interference
from other devices or networks.
Bluetooth hops 1600 times per second, i.e. each device changes its modulation
frequency 1600 times per second.
In order to change bits into a signal, it uses a version of FSK called GFSK i.e. FSK with
Gaussian bandwidth filtering.
Baseband Layer
Baseband layer is equivalent to the MAC sublayer in LANs.
Bluetooth uses a form of TDMA called TDD-TDMA (time division duplex TDMA).
Master and slave stations communicate with each other using time slots.
The master in each piconet defines the time slot of 625 sec.
In TDD- TDMA, communication is half duplex in which receiver can send and receive
data but not at the same time.
 If the piconet has only no slave; the master uses even numbered slots (0, 2, 4, ...) and
the slave uses odd-numbered slots (1, 3, 5, .... ). Both master and slave communicate in
half duplex mode. In slot 0, master sends & secondary receives; in slot 1, secondary
sends and primary receives.
If piconet has more than one slave, the master uses even numbered slots. The slave
sends in the next odd-numbered slot if the packet in the previous slot was addressed to
it.
In Baseband layer, two types of links can be created between a master and slave. These
are:
1. Asynchronous Connection-less (ACL)
It is used for packet switched data that is available at irregular intervals.
ACL delivers traffic on a best effort basis. Frames can be lost & may have to be
retransmitted.
A slave can have only one ACL link to its master.
Thus ACL link is used where correct delivery is preferred over fast delivery.
The ACL can achieve a maximum data rate of 721 kbps by using one, three or more
slots.
2. Synchronous Connection Oriented (SCO)
sco is used for real time data such as sound. It is used where fast delivery is preferred
over accurate delivery.
In an sco link, a physical link is created between the master and slave by reserving
specific slots at regular intervals.
Damaged packet; are not retransmitted over sco links.
A slave can have three sco links with the master and can send data at 64 Kbps.
Logical Link, Control Adaptation Protocol Layer (L2CAP)
The logical unit link control adaptation protocol is equivalent to logical link control
sublayer of LAN.
The ACL link uses L2CAP for data exchange but sco channel does not use it.
The various function of L2CAP is:
1. Segmentation and reassembly
L2CAP receives the packets of upto 64 KB from upper layers and divides them into
frames for transmission.
It adds extra information to define the location of frame in the original packet.
The L2CAP reassembles the frame into packets again at the destination.
2. Multiplexing
L2CAP performs multiplexing at sender side and demultiplexing at receiver side.
 At the sender site, it accepts data from one of the upper layer protocols frames them
and deliver them to the Baseband layer.
At the receiver site, it accepts a frame from the baseband layer, extracts the data, and
delivers them to the appropriate protocol1ayer.
3. Quality of Service (QOS)
L2CAP handles quality of service requirements, both when links are established and
during normal operation.
It also enables the devices to negotiate the maximum payload size during connection
establishment.
Bluetooth Frame Format
The various fields of blue tooth frame format are:
Access Code: It is 72 bit field that contains synchronization bits. It identifies the
master.
2. Header: This is 54-bit field. It contain 18 bit pattern that is repeated for 3 time.
The header field contains following subfields:
(i) Address: This 3 bit field can define upto seven slaves (1 to 7). If the address is zero,
it is used for broadcast communication from primary to all secondaries.
(ii)Type: This 4 bit field identifies the type of data coming from upper layers.
(iii) F: This flow bit is used for flow control. When set to 1, it means the device is unable
to receive more frames.
(iv) A: This bit is used for acknowledgement.
(v) S: This bit contains a sequence number of the frame to detect retransmission. As
stop and wait protocol is used, one bit is sufficient.
(vi) Checksum: This 8 bit field contains checksum to detect errors in header.
3. Data: This field can be 0 to 2744 bits long. It contains data or control information
coming from upper layers
WiMAX(802.16) is
Acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.

Based on Wireless MAN technology.

A wireless technology optimized for the delivery of IP centric services over a

wide area.

A scalable wireless platform for constructing alternative and complementary

broadband networks.

A certification that denotes interoperability of equipment built to the IEEE

802.16 or compatible standard. The IEEE 802.16 Working Group develops
standards that address two types of usage models

o A fixed usage model (IEEE 802.16-2004).

o A portable usage model (IEEE 802.16e).

WiMAX - Salient Features

WiMAX is a wireless broadband solution that offers a rich set of
features with a lot of flexibility in terms of deployment options and potential
service offerings. Some of the more salient features that deserve
highlighting are as follows

Two Type of Services

WiMAX can provide two forms of wireless service

Non-line-of-sight service is a WiFi sort of service. Here a small antenna

on your computer connects to the WiMAX tower. In this mode, WiMAX uses
a lower frequency range -- 2 GHz to 11 GHz (similar to WiFi).

Line-of-sight service, where a fixed dish antenna points straight at the

WiMAX tower from a rooftop or pole. The line-of-sight connection is stronger
and more stable, so it's able to send a lot of data with fewer errors. Line-of-
 sight transmissions use higher frequencies, with ranges reaching a possible
66 GHz.

WiMAX - Building Blocks

A WiMAX system consists of two major parts

A WiMAX base station.

A WiMAX receiver.

WiMAX Base Station

A WiMAX base station consists of indoor electronics and a WiMAX tower
similar in concept to a cell-phone tower. A WiMAX base station can provide
coverage to a very large area up to a radius of 6 miles. Any wireless device
within the coverage area would be able to access the Internet.

The WiMAX base stations would use the MAC layer defined in the standard,
a common interface that makes the networks interoperable and would
allocate uplink and downlink bandwidth to subscribers according to their
needs, on an essentially real-time basis.

Each base station provides wireless coverage over an area called a cell.
Theoretically, the maximum radius of a cell is 50 km or 30 miles however,
practical considerations limit it to about 10 km or 6 miles.

WiMAX Receiver
A WiMAX receiver may have a separate antenna or could be a stand-alone
box or a PCMCIA card sitting in your laptop or computer or any other
device. This is also referred as customer premise equipment (CPE).

WiMAX base station is similar to accessing a wireless access point in a WiFi

network, but the coverage is greater.

WiMAX - Reference Network Model

The IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard provides the air interface for WiMAX, but
does not define the full end-to-end WiMAX network. The WiMAX Forum's
Network Working Group (NWG) is responsible for developing the end-to-end
network requirements, architecture, and protocols for WiMAX, using IEEE
802.16e-2005 as the air interface.

The WiMAX NWG has developed a network reference model to serve as an

architecture framework for WiMAX deployments and to ensure
interoperability among various WiMAX equipment and operators.

The network reference model envisions a unified network architecture for

supporting fixed, nomadic, and mobile deployments and is based on an IP
service model. Below is simplified illustration of an IP-based WiMAX network
architecture. The overall network may be logically divided into three parts

Mobile Stations (MS) used by the end user to access the network.

The access service network (ASN), which comprises one or more base
stations and one or more ASN gateways that form the radio access network
at the edge.

Connectivity service network (CSN), which provides IP connectivity and all

the IP core network functions.

The network reference model developed by the WiMAX Forum NWG defines
a number of functional entities and interfaces between those entities. The
following figure shows some of the more important functional entities.
 Base station (BS) The BS is responsible for providing the air interface to
the MS. Additional functions that may be part of the BS are micro mobility
management functions, such as handoff triggering and tunnel
establishment, radio resource management, QoS policy enforcement, traffic
classification, DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) proxy, key
management, session management, and multicast group management.

Access service network gateway (ASN-GW) The ASN gateway

typically acts as a layer 2 traffic aggregation point within an ASN. Additional
functions that may be part of the ASN gateway include intra-ASN location
management and paging, radio resource management, and admission
control, caching of subscriber profiles, and encryption keys, AAA client
functionality, establishment, and management of mobility tunnel with base
stations, QoS and policy enforcement, foreign agent functionality for mobile
IP, and routing to the selected CSN.

Connectivity service network (CSN) The CSN provides connectivity to

the Internet, ASP, other public networks, and corporate networks. The CSN
is owned by the NSP and includes AAA servers that support authentication
for the devices, users, and specific services. The CSN also provides per user
policy management of QoS and security. The CSN is also responsible for IP
address management, support for roaming between different NSPs, location
management between ASNs, and mobility and roaming between ASNs.

The WiMAX architecture framework allows for the flexible decomposition

and/or combination of functional entities when building the physical entities.
For example, the ASN may be decomposed into base station transceivers
(BST), base station controllers (BSC), and an ASNGW analogous to the GSM
model of BTS, BSC, and Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN).

WiMAX - Technology
WiMAX is a technology based on the IEEE 802.16 specifications to enable
the delivery of last-mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to
cable and DSL. The design of WiMAX network is based on the following
major principles
 Spectrum able to be deployed in both licensed and unlicensed spectra.

Topology supports different Radio Access Network (RAN) topologies.

Interworking independent RAN architecture to enable seamless

integration and interworking with WiFi, 3GPP and 3GPP2 networks and
existing IP operator core network.

IP connectivity supports a mix of IPv4 and IPv6 network interconnects in

clients and application servers.

Mobility management possibility to extend the fixed access to mobility

and broadband multimedia services delivery.

Transmission Media
For any networking to be effective, raw stream of data is to be
transported from one device to other over some medium. Various
transmission media can be used for transfer of data. These transmission
media may be of two types

Guided In guided media, transmitted data travels through cabling system

that has a fixed path. For example, copper wires, fibre optic wires, etc.

Unguided In unguided media, transmitted data travels through free space

in form of electromagnetic signal. For example, radio waves, lasers, etc.

Each transmission media has its own advantages and disadvantages in

terms of bandwidth, speed, delay, cost per bit, ease of installation and
maintenance, etc. Lets discuss some of the most commonly used media in
detail.

Twisted Pair Cable

Copper wires are the most common wires used for transmitting signals
because of good performance at low costs. They are most commonly used
in telephone lines. However, if two or more wires are lying together, they
can interfere with each others signals. To reduce this electromagnetic
interference, pair of copper wires are twisted together in helical shape like a
DNA molecule. Such twisted copper wires are called twisted pair. To
reduce interference between nearby twisted pairs, the twist rates are
different for each pair.

Up to 25 twisted pair are put together in a protective covering to form

twisted pair cables that are the backbone of telephone systems and
Ethernet networks.

Advantages of twisted pair cable

Twisted pair cable are the oldest and most popular cables all over the world.
This is due to the many advantages that they offer

Trained personnel easily available due to shallow learning curve

Can be used for both analog and digital transmissions

Least expensive for short distances

Entire network does not go down if a part of network is damaged

Disadvantages of twisted pair cable
With its many advantages, twisted pair cables offer some disadvantages too

Signal cannot travel long distances without repeaters

High error rate for distances greater than 100m

Very thin and hence breaks easily

 Not suitable for broadband connections
Shielding twisted pair cable
To counter the tendency of twisted pair cables to pick up noise signals,
wires are shielded in the following three ways

Each twisted pair is shielded.

Set of multiple twisted pairs in the cable is shielded.

Each twisted pair and then all the pairs are shielded.

Such twisted pairs are called shielded twisted pair (STP) cables. The
wires that are not shielded but simply bundled together in a protective
sheath are called unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables. These cables
can have maximum length of 100 metres.

Shielding makes the cable bulky, so UTP are more popular than STP. UTP
cables are used as the last mile network connection in homes and offices.

Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cables are copper cables with better shielding than twisted pair
cables, so that transmitted signals may travel longer distances at higher
speeds. A coaxial cable consists of these layers, starting from the innermost

Stiff copper wire as core

Insulating material surrounding the core

Closely woven braided mesh of conducting material surrounding

the insulator

Protective plastic sheath encasing the wire

Coaxial cables are widely used for cable TV connections and LANs.
Advantages of Coaxial Cables
These are the advantages of coaxial cables

Excellent noise immunity

Signals can travel longer distances at higher speeds, e.g. 1 to 2 Gbps for 1
Km cable

Can be used for both analog and digital signals

Inexpensive as compared to fibre optic cables

Easy to install and maintain

Disadvantages of Coaxial Cables

These are some of the disadvantages of coaxial cables

Expensive as compared to twisted pair cables

Not compatible with twisted pair cables

Optical Fibre
Thin glass or plastic threads used to transmit data using light waves are
called optical fibre. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or Laser Diodes (LDs)
emit light waves at the source, which is read by a detector at the other
end. Optical fibre cable has a bundle of such threads or fibres bundled
together in a protective covering. Each fibre is made up of these three
layers, starting with the innermost layer

Core made of high quality silica glass or plastic

Cladding made of high quality silica glass or plastic, with a lower

refractive index than the core

Protective outer covering called buffer

Note that both core and cladding are made of similar material. However,
as refractive index of the cladding is lower, any stray light wave trying to
escape the core is reflected back due to total internal reflection.
Optical fibre is rapidly replacing copper wires in telephone lines, internet
communication and even cable TV connections because transmitted data
can travel very long distances without weakening. Single node fibre optic
cable can have maximum segment length of 2 kms and bandwidth of up to
100 Mbps. Multi-node fibre optic cable can have maximum segment length
of 100 kms and bandwidth up to 2 Gbps.

Advantages of Optical Fibre

Optical fibre is fast replacing copper wires because of these advantages that
it offers

High bandwidth

Immune to electromagnetic interference

Suitable for industrial and noisy areas

Signals carrying data can travel long distances without weakening

Disadvantages of Optical Fibre
Despite long segment lengths and high bandwidth, using optical fibre may
not be a viable option for every one due to these disadvantages

Optical fibre cables are expensive

Sophisticated technology required for manufacturing, installing and

maintaining optical fibre cables

Light waves are unidirectional, so two frequencies are required for full duplex
transmission
Infrared
Low frequency infrared waves are used for very short distance
communication like TV remote, wireless speakers, automatic doors, hand
held devices etc. Infrared signals can propagate within a room but cannot
penetrate walls. However, due to such short range, it is considered to be
one of the most secure transmission modes.
Radio Wave
Transmission of data using radio frequencies is called radio-wave
transmission. We all are familiar with radio channels that broadcast
entertainment programs. Radio stations transmit radio waves
using transmitters, which are received by the receiver installed in our
devices.

Both transmitters and receivers use antennas to radiate or capture radio

signals. These radio frequencies can also be used for direct voice
communication within the allocated range. This range is usually 10
miles.

Advantages of Radio Wave

These are some of the advantages of radio wave transmissions

Inexpensive mode of information exchange

 No land needs to be acquired for laying cables

Installation and maintenance of devices is cheap

Disadvantages of Radio Wave
These are some of the disadvantages of radio wave transmissions

Insecure communication medium

Prone to weather changes like rain, thunderstorms, etc.