Communication

Channel

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Definition
p A path through which information are
transmitted from one place to another is
called communication channel.
p It is also referred to as communication
medium or link.
p In network communication, the
communication media’ are wires, cables
and other means through which
information travels from its source to its
destination.
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Characteristics of a communication channel

• Transmission speed (measured in bps)

• Band width (capacity of communication
channel, measure is Hertz or bps)
• Transmission mode
§ Asynchronous transmission
§ Synchronous transmission
• Transmission direction
• Simplex
• Half duplex
• Full-duplex
p
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Con’t
p In communication channel, data is transmitted in the
form of signals (analog signal).
p The data transmission is measured in bandwidth. The
bandwidth will be higher if more signals can be
transmitted. Actually, the bandwidth measures the
amount of information that can be transmitted
through the media within the given period of time.
p For analog signals bandwidth is represented in hertz
(Hz). It means number of signals transmitted per
second. For digital signals, it is represented in bits
per second (bps). Different transmission media
have different bandwidth.
p The higher the bandwidth of the transmission media,
the more information can be transmitted.

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Transmission media are
divided into:
p Physical Transmission Media
n In Physical Transmission Media, communication
devices are directly linked with each other via
cables or other physical materials for data
communication. These are also referred to as
wired channels. The physical transmission
media are usually used in LAN.
p Wireless Transmission Media
n In wireless transmission media, communication
devices communicate with each other and
data is communicated through the air or
space
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Physical Transmission Media
p Twisted-Pair Cable
p Coaxial Cable
p Fiber-Optic Cable
p

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Twisted-Pair Cable
p Twisted-pair cable is one of the most
commonly used communication media
for network cabling.
p It consists of two separate copper wires
that are covered by insulating material
such as plastic and are twisted together
to form a cable. One of the wires is used
to carry signals to the receiver, and
other is used only as ground reference.

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Con’t
p The wires are twisted
together to reduce
the noise. The noise
is created due to
high-voltage
equipment or due to
light energy of sun.
p The noise creates
disturbance in the
signal when it is
received. It means
that noise creates
problem in
communication.

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Coaxial Cable
p Coaxial cable is also referred to as Coax. It
carries signals of higher frequency ranges
than twisted-pair cable.
p Coaxial cable can be used for telephone lines
for voice and data transmission with very
high frequency. The bandwidth of coaxial
cable is 80 times greater than twisted pair
media, Coaxial cable is also widely used in
local area network (LAN). It is more
expensive than twisted-pair wire.

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Con’t
p Coaxial cable consists of a single solid copper
wire, which is called the inner conductor. The structure of coaxial cable
Usually, the inner conductor is surrounded is shown in figure below
by three layers:
n An insulting material, which covers the
inner conductor.
n An outer conductor of solid metal foil
(shield). The outer conductor (shield)
serves both as a shield against noise
and as a second conductor, which
completes the circuit.
n An insulting material, which covers the
outer conductor.
p The whole cable is protected by an external
plastic cover.
p

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The main advantages of coaxial
cable are:
p It creates less noise and protects the cable from
interference of external electromagnetic waves.
Therefore coaxial cable has low transmission
error rates.
p These cables can transmit data over longer
distances than that of twisted pair.
The data transmission speed of coax is from 10
Mbps to 200 Mbps. Now-a-days, this transmission
medium is not used in computer network because
other transmission media such as fiber-optic cables
have higher transmission speed.
p

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Fiber-Optic Cable
p In twisted-pair cable and coaxial cable, data is
transmitted in the form of electric frequencies. So
copper wire has to be protected from water and
electromagnetic waves.
p In fiber optic cable, these types of problems are not
present. A fiber optic cable is made of glass or
plastic and transmits signals in the form of light.
p A fiber optic cable consists of tubes of glass (or thin
glass fibers) through which data is transmitted as
pulses of light. A typical optical fiber consists of a
very narrow strand or fiber of glass called the core
(It is as thin as a human hair). The core is
surrounded by a concentric layer of glass called
Cladding.

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Con’t
The data transmission in fiber
p The diameter of a core optic cable is shown below.
is 62.5 microns. (1
micron l0-6
meters). The
diameter of cladding
is about 125
microns.
p Optic-fiber cable uses
reflection
phenomena to guide
light through a
channel
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Advantages and
Disadvantages
The major advantages of fiber-optical media are:
p The data transmission speed is very high because fiber-optic
cable uses light to transmit data. The data transmission
speed is up to billions bits per second.
p It has high level of security.
p It is not affected by electromagnetic waves.
p It is more reliable and has lower data transmission errors.

Disadvantages
p The disadvantages of fiber optic cable are:
p It is more costly.
p It is difficult to install and modify.
p
p

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Wireless Transmission
Media
p This transmission medium is used when it
is impossible to install the cables. The
data can be transmitted all over the
world through this medium. The
commonly used wireless transmission
media are discussed below.
n Broadcast Radio
n Cellular Radio
n Microwaves
n Communication Satellite
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Broadcast Radio
p It is a wireless transmission medium that is used to
communicate information through radio signals in
air, over long distance such as between cities and
countries.
p In this medium, a transmitter is required to send
messages (signals) and receiver is required to
receive them. To receive the broadcast radio
signal, the receiver has an antenna that is located
in the range of signal.
p Some networks use a special device called transceiver used to
send and to receive messages in the form of radio signals.
The data transmission speed of broadcast radio is up to
54Mbps.
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Cellular Radio
p Cellular radio is a form of
broadcast radio that is used
for mobile communications
such as cellular telephones
and wireless modems.
p A cellular telephone is a
telephone device that uses
high frequency radio waves to
transmit voice and digital
messages.
p Some mobile users connect their
laptop computer or other
mobile device to a cellular
telephone to access the Web,
send and receive e-mail etc.
while away from a standard
telephone line.

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Microwaves
p Microwaves are radio waves that provide a high speed
transmission. In Microwaves transmission, data is
transmitted from one station to another.
p Microwave station contains an antenna, transceiver
(transmitter & receiver) and other equipments that are
required for microwave communication.
p Microwave uses the line-of-sight transmission, which
means that in microwave transmission system the data
signals travel in a straight path and cannot bend.
Microwave stations or antennas are usually installed on
the high towers or buildings. Thus microwave stations
need to be placed within 20 to 30 miles of each other.
p Each microwave station receives signals from the previous
stations. In this way, data is transmitted from one place
to another.

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Con’t
p The data transmission
speed of microwave
transmission is up to 150
Mbps.
p Microwave transmission is
used in environments
where installing physical
transmission media is
impossible and where
line-of-sight
transmission is available.
It is used in wide-open
areas.
p Today, it is used by
telephone companies,
cable television
providers, universities
etc.
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Communication Satellite
p A communication satellite is a space station
that receives microwave signals from earth
microwave station (earth based station).
p The earth based stations often are microwave
stations. Other devices, such as PDAs and
OPS receivers, also functions as earth
based stations. Transmitting a signal from
ground or earth station to a satellite station
in space is called up-linking and the reverse
is called the down- linking.

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 Con’t
p Now-a-days, television & radio broadcast,
global positioning systems and Internet
also use the communication satellites.
p The communication satellite is launched
about 22300 miles (or more) above the
earth into space. The communication
satellite consists of solar powered,
transceiver that receives and sends
signals.
p The signals are transmitted from one earth
station to the satellite. The satellite
receives and amplifies the signals and
sends them to another earth station. This
entire process takes only a few seconds.
To communicate information from one
country to another country more than one
satellites are required.
p The data transmission speed of communication satellite is
very high such as up to 1 Gbps.
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Summary
p Technology has happened at a fast pace. Since modern
communications begun, early forms of media quickly
become outdated and are replaced with newer more
modern methods.
p Each media is suited to different purposes and each has
their place. In the early days of telephones, the
telephone companies wired each persons home with a
twisted pair cable. What limitations do you think such a
connection now poses? In addition, as people become
more and more involved in the technological revolution,
what additional services might they want to access from
their home (one such example is the Internet) and how
do you think the existing telephone connection limits the
provision of those additional services?
p Make a list of some additional services you think people
might be interested in and the benefits of having access
to such services from their home might bring

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Clarifications, additions,
comments, questions?

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