TRANSMISSION

MEDIA &
ITS CLASSIFICATION

TRANSMISSION MEDIA
Means through which data is transmitted from one place to
another .

Transmission medium is the cable or air over which data can

travel from sender to receiver.

In the OSI Model, transmission media are located below the

physical layer.

CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSMISSION MEDIA

TRANSMISSION
MEDIA

UNGUIDED
MEDIA

GUIDED
MEDIA

TWISTEDPAIR
CABLE

CO-AXIAL
CABLE

FIBEROPTIC
CABLE

RADIO
WAVES

MICRO
WAVES

INFRA
RED

GUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

It is the transmission media in which signals are confined to a
specific path using wire or cable.
Also known as Wired or Bounded media.
Examples of wired media are:
copper pair wires, co-axial cables and fiber optic cables.

UNGUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

It transports electromagnetic waves without using a physical
conductor.
Instead signals are broadcast through air.
Also known as Wireless media.
Examples of wireless media are:
Radio and Infrared light.

GUIDED TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Sof guided media :

There are three type

1. Co-axial cable.
2. Twisted pair cable.
3. Optical fiber cable.

CO-AXIAL CABLE
It contains two conductors that are parallel to each other.
It provides better shielding than Twisted pairs.
It can span longer distances at higher speeds.
Inner conductor is a solid metal
wire(copper) as the core enclosed
trc
in insulating dielectric medium.
The insulator is encased by a
cylindrical conductor(mesh).
The tough jacket forms the cover of
the cable.

Fig. Co-axial cable

TWISTED PAIR CABLES

The least expensive & most widely used medium is twisted
pair.
It consists of two insulated copper wires.
The wires are twisted together in a helical form , just like a
DNA molecule.
Twisted pair comes in two forms:
1. Unshielded twisted pair.
2. Shielded twisted pair.
.Twisting helps to reduce the interference(noise) & crosstalk.

TYPES OF TWISTED PAIR

UTP(Unshielded twisted pair):

UTP is a ordinary telephone wire.
Very cheap & easy to install.
They are badly affected by the
noise interference.

STP(Shielded twisted pair):

It has a metal foil or braided mesh
to cover each pair of insulating
conductors(shield).
It reduces the interference of the
noise but makes the cable bulky &
expensive.

OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

An optical transmission
has
three main components:
The light source

The transmission
medium

The detector.
It consists of an inner glass
core surrounded by a glass
cladding.
Consists of three

Fig: Optical fibre cable

LIGHT SOURCES FOR FIBER

For data transmission to

take place, the

transmitter must be
capable of inducing data
0 to 1 into the light
source.
At the receiver, a

photodiode is used to
light back into
translate
2 light sources are widely used:
data bits.
LED(Light Emitting Diode).
Injection Laser Diode(ILD).

FIG: LIGHT SOURCES FOR OPTICAL FIBER

WORKING PRINCIPLE
Light enters into the

fiber gets reflected

within the fiber.
Most of it propagates
along the length of the
fiber & comes out from
the far end.
A small portion of it
escapes
through the side walls.
The light stays inside
the fiber & does not
escape through the walls
because of the total

FIG: WORKING PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL FIBRE CABLE

OBSERVATIONS
Two important observations:
When the angle of

incidence is greater than the

critical angle, light will be
reflected within core totally.
If the incident light makes

an angle less than the critical

angle then it gets refracted.
The refracted ray enters into
the cladding & gets lost.

FIG: INTERNAL REFRACTION OF INCIDENT

LIGHT

WIRELESS /UNGUIDED
TRANSMISSION
No physical connection (cables or wires) required

Cables are dependent on terrain unlike wireless

transmission

PRINCIPLE:

Moving electron produces EM waves and can propagate

through free space

By attaching antenna, EM waves can be broadcast

ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Radio ,
microwave ,visible light
portion can
be used for
transmission
of information
Radio
communication is
divided into eight
ranges, called bands,
each regulated by
government

FIG: ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

BANDS
Band

Range

Propagation

Application

VLF

330 KHz

Ground

Long-range radio navigation

LF

30300 KHz

Ground

Radio beacons and

navigational locators

MF

300 KHz3 MHz

Sky

AM radio

HF

330 MHz

Sky

Citizens band (CB),

ship/aircraft communication

VHF

30300 MHz

Sky and
line-of-sight

VHF TV,
FM radio

UHF

300 MHz3 GHz

Line-of-sight

UHF TV, cellular phones,

paging, satellite

SHF

330 GHz

Line-of-sight

Satellite communication

EHF

30300 GHz

Line-of-sight

Long-range radio navigation

RADIO TRANSMISSION
Radio Waves :

Easy to generate

Travel long distances

Penetrate buildings easily

Radio waves are omnidirectional so no need to align

source and destination physically

At low frequencies,radio waves penetrate
At high frequencies, radio waves bounce off obstacles

MICROWAVE TRANSMISSION
Before use of fibre optics , microwaves were used for

long distance
telephonic transmission system
Adavantage of microwaves over fibre optics is that they

are

realatively inexpensive

Do not penetrate walls

They have another use, namely,

Industrial/Scientific/Medical
band

These bands do not require govt. Licensing

INFRARED TRANSMISSION
Used for short range communication

Directional,cheap and easy to build

Do not pass through solid objects that is why used in

lans

Remote controls for TVs, VCRs use infrared

transmission

LIGHTWAVE TRANSMISSION
Unguided optical signalling used for this transmission
LANs in two buildings can be connected via laser

mounted On rooftop

It is unidirectional

Offers high bandwidth and low cost

Easy to install and no licensing is required

Disadvantage is that cannot penetrate through rain or

thick fog

THAn
K YOU