Part A.

Circle the correct answer ONLY

1. Which type of network provides clients with limited access to corporate data such as inventory, part lists and orders? a) b) 2. a) b) 3. a) b) 4. a) b) 5. a) b) 6. Intranet Extranet Network administration Network traffic Scalability Convergence Layer 1 Layer 2 IP address Logical connection c) d) c) d) c) d) c) d) Internetwork Internet QoS strategy Network evaluation

A phrase to describe prioritization of traffic and management of data.

Which term describes a common platform for diverse communication types of data? Fault tolerance Quality of service c) d) Layer 3 Layer 4

Which OSI layer is associated with IP addressing?

Which of the following is associated with the network layer? MAC address Physical addressing

Which of the following terms defines dividing data streams into smaller pieces suitable for transmission? a) b) Protocol Multiplexing d) c) Segmentation Encapsulation

7.

Choose the correct sequence of PDUs starting from upper down to lower layer. a) b) c) d) Data, Segment, Frame, Packet, Bits Data, Segment, Packet, Frame, Bits Bits, Frame, Segment, Packet, Data Bits, Packet, Segment, Frame, Data

8.

Which statement is FALSE regarding the benefits of layered model to the industry?

a) Foster competition because products from different vendor can work together b) Allow greater understanding and cooperation as layered model defines common terms. c) Provides multiple languages to describe networking functions and capabilities. d) Defines interoperability between devices from different vendors 9. Which of the following pertains to network infrastructure security? A competitor accesses sensitive information through an unsecured wireless Builders accidentally cut a network cable while digging. A disgruntled employee alters information in a customer database. A secretary sends confidential information in a reply to an email that falsely appears to come from her boss. Network outage, causing a loss of information and business transaction Loss of manpower Exposure of confidential customer data Theft of intellectual property a) network b) c) d) 10.

A network security breach can lead to a variety of serious consequences, EXCEPT: a) b) c) d)

Part B. Question 1 i) Write down and explain briefly the Nyquist formula. (4 marks) ii) Write down and explain briefly the Shannon formula. (4 marks) iii) Adam is working with a transmitter that can only send at two amplitude levels. He assumes that he can never send faster than the Nyquist rate. Do you agree with him? If yes, please provide a qualitative/quantitative value to justify your answer and vice versa. (7 marks) iv) Consider a 1 MHz bandwidth channel with each signal element encodes a 4bit word. Find the SNR, in dB, required for the channel to transmit at its channel capacity. (10 marks) Answer: i) Nyquist formula:
C = 2B Log2 M, [1 mark] C is the channel capacity B is bandwidth of medium M is number of discrete signal or voltage level [1 mark] The formula states that, in noise free channel, given a bandwidth of B, the highest signal rate that can be carried is 2B [2 marks]

ii) Shannon formula: C = B log2 (1 + SNR) [1 mark]

C is channel capacity B is bandwidth SNR is signal to noise ratio [1 mark] This expression represents the maximum possible rate of information transmission through a given channel or system. The maximum rate we can transmit information is set by the bandwidth, the signal level, and the noise level [2 marks]

iii) Yes. [2 mark]

This is because the Nyquist formula defines the maximum channel capacity, C = 2B log2 M C = 2B log2 2 C = 2B [3 marks] Which is only applied to noiseless channel. [2 marks]

iv) By Nyquist formula C = 2B log2 M B = 106 Hz M = 24 = 16 Thus C = 2 x 106 log2 C = 8 MHz

[1 mark] [1 mark] [1 mark] 16 [3 marks]

By Shannon formula C = B log2 (1+SNR) [1 mark] 8 x 106 = 106 log2 (1+SNR) 8 = log2 (1+SNR) 28 1 = SNR SNR = 255 [2 marks] SNRdB = 24.07 dB [1 mark]

Question 2 i. ii. Specify three types of the most common guided media for data communication. (3 marks) Compare and discuss the transmission characteristics (i.e. bandwidth and attenuation) among these media. You may use a table to provide the comparison. Specify which guided medium is most suitable for high data rate and long distance transmission and discuss why. (10 marks) Figure 1 shows the attenuation comparison for guided medium.

iii.

Figure 1: The attenuation comparison for guided medium. Given a 100-Watt power source, what is the maximum allowable length for the following transmission media if a signal of 1 Watt is to be received? a) 24-gauge (0.5 mm) twisted pair operating at 1 MHz. (4 marks) b) 0.375-inch (9.5 mm) coaxial cable operating at 25 MHz. (4 marks) c) Optical fiber operating at 230 THz. (4 marks)

Answer: i. ii. Twisted pair, coaxial cable and optical fiber. (3 mark) This is a very subjective question; the answer can be in any form that making sense. For example, the answers as shown in Table 1, 2 and 3 are all acceptable.

Table 1: The comparison between among twisted pair, coaxial cable and optical fiber for the bandwidth and the attenuation (Example 1). Twisted pair Coaxial Optical Fiber

The bandwidth is about 1 The bandwidth is about The bandwidth is about MHz. (1 mark) 500 MHz. (1 mark) 184 THz. (1 mark) The attenuation is about The attenuation is about 7 The attenuation is about 0.7 dB/km @ 1 kHz. (1 dB/km @ 10 MHz. (1 0.2 to 0.5 dB/km. (1 mark) mark) mark)

Table 2: The comparison between among twisted pair, coaxial cable and optical fiber for the bandwidth and the attenuation (Example 2). Twisted pair Coaxial Optical Fiber

Low attenuation from 0 to Low attenuation from 0 to Low attenuation from 800 1 MHz. (1 mark) 100 MHz. (1 mark) to 1700 nm. (1 mark) The bandwidth in the low The bandwidth in the low The bandwidth in this is attenuation range is 1 attenuation range is 100 about 200 THz. (1 mark) MHz. (1 mark) MHz. (1 mark)

Table 3: The comparison between among twisted pair, coaxial cable and optical fiber for the bandwidth and the attenuation (Example 3). Twisted pair Attenuation High (1 mark) Bandwidth Low (1 mark) Coaxial High (1 mark) Medium (1 mark) Optical Fiber Low (1 mark) High (1 mark)

Table 1(2 or 3) depicted that twisted pair and coaxial cable have higher attenuation compared with optical fiber, thus twisted pair and coaxial cable can only be used for short distance transmission while optical fiber can be used for longer distance transmission (1 mark). The table also shows that the bandwidth of twisted pair is less than coaxial cable, while that of coaxial cable is less optical, thus optical fiber can support the higher data rate than that of coaxial cable and twisted pair (1 mark). [Note: If the discussion is inside the table is also acceptable.]

Optical fiber is most suitable for high data rate and long distance transmission (1 mark) because it has low attenuation and higher bandwidth (1 mark).

iii.

Loss = 20 dB

a) The attenuation is 20 dB/km [+/- 2 dB/km is acceptable] (2 marks), thus

20 dB = 1 km (2 marks). 20 dB/km

b) The attenuation is 10 dB/km [+/- 2 dB/km is acceptable] (2 marks), thus

20 dB = 2 km (2 marks). 10 dB/km

c) =

c 3 10 8 = = 1304 10 9 =1300 nm 12 f 230 10

The attenuation is 0.4 dB/km [+/- 0.1 dB/km is acceptable] (2 marks), thus

20 dB = 50 km (2 marks). 0.4 dB/km

Question 3 i. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of point-to-point microwave transmission compared to that of twisted pair and coaxial cable transmission? (5 marks) What is the advantage of a parabolic reflective antenna? (3 marks) For a parabolic reflective antenna with a diameter of 2 m, operating at 5 GHz and the effective area of 0.56A. Here A is the area of the antenna. What is the antenna gain in dB? (5 marks) Let the distance between a satellite and the earth station is 36,000 km. The microwave operating at 3.5 GHz is used for transmission between the earth station and the satellite. a. Determine the free space loss from the earth station to the satellite in dB. (4 marks) b. Given the antenna gain of both the satellite and the earth station are 44 dB and 48 dB respectively. What is the total loss after compensated with the antenna gains? (4 marks) c. Now assume a transmitting power of 250 W at the earth station. What is the power received at the satellite antenna? (4 marks)

ii. iii.

iv.

Answer:

i.

Table 2 shows the advantages and disadvantages of point-to-point microwave transmission. Advantage Higher data rate (1 mark) Less attenuation (1 mark) Disadvantage Affected by rainfall (or whether condition), especially above 10 GHz. (1 mark) Requires line of sight (1 mark) Subject to interference from other microwave transmission. (1 mark)

[Note: Other points not mention in the table but making sense can be considered.]

ii.

A parabolic antenna creates a parallel, highly focused, directional beam (2 marks). Hence, it produces significant directional antenna gain (1 mark). [Note: Other points that making sense can be considered.]

iii.

The physical area A = r 2 = (1 mark) The wavelength = The antenna gain

c 3 10 8 = = 0.06 m (1 mark) f 5 10 9

4Ae 4 .0.56 A 2.24 2 G = 2 (1 mark) = = = 6,141 (1 mark) = 37.88 dB (1 mark). 0.06 2 0.06 2

iv. a. The wavelength =

3 10 8 = 0.0857 m (1 mark) 3.5 10 9

2

4d (1 mark) The free space loss L = 4 3.6 10 7 L= 0.0857 L = 2.78 1019 LdB = 194.45 dB (2 marks)
2

b. The total loss = 194.45 44 - 48 = 102.45 dB (4 marks). c. Transmitting power = 250 W = 24 dB (2 marks) Receiving power = 24 102.45 = -78.45 dB (2 marks) [Note: the answer in watt is also acceptable, i.e. 14.29 nW.]

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List of Formula

c=f

Antenna gain: G=

4 e A

4 2 Ae f c2

For ideal isotropic antenna, free space loss is:

Pt ( 4d ) 2 4f 2 d = = Pr 2 c2
LdB = -20 log () + 20 log (d) +21.98 dB LdB = 20 log (f) + 20 log (d) 147.56 dB

[End of Test 1]

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