Chapter 5

GUIDED AND UNGUIDED

TRANSMISSION MEDIUM

EP301 Communication System Fundamentals

LEARNING OUTCOME:
Upon completion of this course,
students should be able to:4. Identify the differences between
guided and unguided transmission
media using the illustration of its
concept.

Transmission Medium and Physical

Layer

TRANSMISSION
MEDIUM/ CHANNEL

GUIDED

TWISTED
PAIR

UNGUIDED

FIBER
OPTIC

GROUND
WAVES

COAXIAL

SPACE
WAVES

Transmission Medium
Medium is the physical path between
transmitter and receiver provide
connection
Guided Medium: waves are guided along a
solid medium path (twisted pair, coaxial
cable, and optical fiber).
Unguided Medium: waves are propagated
through the atmosphere and
inner/outerspace (satellite, laser and
wireless transmissions).

Transmission Medium cont

Pair of wires carry electric signal.
Optical fiber carries the information
on a modulated light beam.
Free space information-bearing signal
is radiated by antenna

1) Twisted Pair Cable

Separately insulated
Twisted together
Often bundled into cables
Usually installed in building during construction
Twists decrease the cross-talk
Neighboring pairs have different twist length
Most of telephone and network wiring in homes and
Offices is TP.

Twisted Pair Cable cont

Types of Twisted Pair
UTP (unshielded twisted pair)
each wire is insulated with plastic wrap,
but the pair is encased in an outer
covering

STP (shielded twisted pair)

the pair is wrapped with metallic foil or
braid to insulate the pair from
electromagnetic interference

Unshielded and Shielded TP

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

Ordinary telephone wire
Cheap, Flexible Easiest to install
No shielding Suffers from external EM interference
Used in Telephone and Ethernet

Unshielded and Shielded TP

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

Metal braid or sheathing that reduces
interference
More expensive
Harder to handle (thick, heavy)
Used in token rings

Categories of unshielded twistedpair cables

Category

Bandwidth Data Rate

Digital/Analog

Use

< 100
kbps

Analog

Telephone

very low

2 Mbps

Analog/digital

T-1 lines

<2
MHz
16 MHz

10 Mbps

Digital

LANs

20 MHz

20 Mbps

Digital

LANs

100 MHz

100
Mbps

Digital

LANs

Digital

LANs

Digital

LANs

Digital

LANs

5e
6
6a

100/1000
Mbps
1000
250 MHz
Mbps
500 MHz 10 Gbps

100 MHz

Twisted Pros and Cons

Advantages
a high installed
base
cheap to install
easy to terminate

Disadvantages:
very noisy
limited in distance
suffers from
interference

Twisted Pair - Applications

Most common medium
Telephone network
Between house and local exchange
(subscriber loop)
Within buildings
For local area networks (LAN)
10Mbps or 100Mbps

Twisted Pair - Conclusions

Cheap
Easy to work with
Low data rate
Short range
Speed and throughput 10-100 Mbps
Maximum Cable length 100m

Coaxial cable
Widely installed for use in business
and corporation ethernet and other
types of LANs.
Consists of inter copper insulator
covered by cladding material, and
then covered by an outer jacket

Coaxial cable cont

Physical Descriptions:
Inner conductor (Copper Core)
Inner insulation (Inner Dielectric Insulator)
Outer conductor (Shield)
Outer insulation

Coaxial cable cont

Coax Layers
outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)

insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor

Categories of coaxial cables

Category

Impedance

Use

RG-59

75

Cable TV

RG-58

50

Thin Ethernet

RG-11

50

Thick Ethernet

Coaxial Cable Applications

Most versatile medium
Television distribution
Cable TV

Long distance telephone transmission

Can carry 10,000 voice calls simultaneously

Being replaced by fiber optic

Short distance computer systems links

Local area networks
Maximum cable length 500m in case of Thick Ethernet and
185 m in Thin Ethernet.
Speed 10-100 Mbps

Coaxial Cable
Advantages
cheap to install
conforms to
standards
widely used

Disadvantages
limited in distance
limited in number
of connections
terminations and
connectors must be
done properly

Fiber Optic Cable

Optical fiber (or "fiber optic") refers to the
medium and the technology associated with
the transmission of information as light pulses
along a glass or plastic wire.

Fiber Optic
Optical fiber is thin (2 to 125 um)
Used to carry signals in the form of light
over distances up to 50 km.
Glasses and plastics can be used to make
optical fibers
Optical fiber carries more information than
conventional copper wire.
Most telephone companys long-distance
lines are now of optical fiber.

Fiber Optic Cable cont

Fiber Optic Layers

Three main regions

center: core (9 to 100 microns)
middle: cladding (125 or 140
microns)
outside: coating or buffer (250,
500 and 900 microns)
Coating

A micron (m) is equal to one-millionth of a meter.

25 microns are equal to 1/1000 of an inch.

Physical Descriptions Of Fiber Optic

CORE
This is the light transmission area of the fiber, either glass or
plastic. The larger the core, the more light will be transmitted
into the fiber.
CLADDING
The function of the cladding is to provide a lower refractive
index at the core interface in order to cause reflection within
the core so that light waves are transmitted through the fiber.
COATING/BUFFER
Coatings are usually multi-layers of plastic applied to preserve
fiber strength, absorb shock and provide extra fiber
protection. These buffer coatings are available from 250
microns to 900 microns.

Fiber Optic Cable cont

Fiber Size
The size of the optical fiber is commonly referred
to by the outer diameter of its core, cladding and
coating.
Example:
50/125/250 indicates a fiber with a core of
50 microns, cladding of 125 microns, and a
coating of 250 microns. The coating is always
removed when joining or connecting fibers.
(A thick of a paper is approximately 25 microns)

Elements in an Optical
Fiber Communication
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Electrical transmit
Light Source
Light Source-to-Fiber Coupler
Fiber Optics
Fiber-to-detector Coupler
Light Detector
Electrical receive

Transmitter

Optical Fiber

Receiver

Basic Elements - cont

Basic Elements - cont

TRANSMITTER
Encod
Digit
er
al
signa
Electrical
l
Analo Transmit
g
signa
l

Light
Source

Couple
r

OPTICAL FIBER
CABLE

Repeater

RECEIVER
Analo
g
signa
l
Digit
al
signa
l

Electrical
Receive

Light
Detecto
r

Couple
r

Decod
er

Basic Elements of a Fiber Optic Communication System

Physical Media

Mode Of Propagation

Optical fibers use light

to send information
through
the
optical
medium.
It uses the principal of
total
internal
reflection.
Modulated
light
transmissions are used
to transmit the signal.

Physical Media

Total Internal Reflection

Fiber Optic Advantages

greater capacity (bandwidth of up to
2 G bps)
smaller size and lighter weight
lower attenuation
immunity to crosstalk
highly secure due to tap difficulty
and lack of signal radiation

Application of Fiber Optic System

Telecommunication networks
Military application aircraft, ships,
tanks,communication links
Closed-circuit TV system used in
building for security
Industrial applications
Medical application/Optometric
Computer

Military application

Computer application

Sensor application

Gas sensors
Chemical sensors
Mechanical sensors
Fuel sensors
Distance sensors
Pressure sensors

Medical application

Endoscope
Eyes surgery
Blood pressure

The Future
Fiber Optics have immense potential bandwidth
(over 1teraHertz, 1012 Hz)
Fiber optics is predicted to bring broadband services
to the home

interactive video
interactive banking and shopping
distance learning
security and surveillance
high-speed data communication
digitized video

Fiber Optics
Advantages
high capacity
Do not suffer from
electric
interference
can go long
distances
Higher bandwidth
and data rates

Disadvantages
costly
difficult to join
Supports simplex
connection only
Must be handled
with care
Bending is not easy

Waveguides
Waveguide is a conducting tube through which
the energy is transmitted, in the form of
electromagnetic waves
Not carrying a current in the same way as a
regular cable.
Acts as boundary or enclosure for the space
through which the EM wave propagates
Waveguide can carry large amounts of high
frequency EM energy can cause eye damage,
genetic damage, and other temporary or longterm injury
Warning:
Never look into a waveguide or stand in front of the open end
unless you know that the other end is disconnected

Cont
Why waveguides? Not cable?
Regular cable cannot effectively propagate
EM energy above 20GHz except for very
short distance because or the attenuation
caused by skin effect and radiation.
Cable cannot transfer large amount of
power high voltages will break down the
dielectric barrier between conductor
Impractical for many UHF and microwave
applications

Cont

Waveguide components

Rectangular waveguide

Waveguide bends

Waveguide to coax adapter

E-tee

Cont

Functions Of Waveguide
To reduce attenuation loss
High frequencies
High power

Can operate only above certain

frequencies
Acts as a High-pass filter

Normally circular or rectangular

We will assume lossless rectangular

Modes of propagation
TEM (Ez=Hz=0) cant propagate.
TE (Ez=0) transverse electric

In TE mode, the electric lines of flux are

perpendicular to the axis of the waveguide

TM (Hz=0) transverse magnetic, Ez exists

In TM mode, the magnetic lines of flux are
perpendicular to the axis of the waveguide.

HE hybrid modes in which all components

exists

Microstrip
Microstripis a type of electrical
transmission line which can be fabricated
using printed circuit board technology, and is
used to convey microwave-frequency signals
It consists of a conducting strip separated
from a ground planeby a dielectriclayer
known as the substrate

Cont

A: Conductor
C: Substrate
D: Ground plane
B: Air

Cont

Propagation Modes

Mode of propagation of EM waves

i. Ground-wave propagation
ii. Sky-wave propagation
iii. Space-wave propagation or Line-ofsight (LOS)

Ground Wave Propagation

Is the component of a transmitted electromagnetic
wave that travels from ground transmitter to ground
receiver along the surface of the earth
These waves may follow the earths curvature caused
by diffraction and bending and can cover very large
areas

Cont
Also called surface-wave propagation
Dominant mode of propagation
Frequency: below 2MHz (LF)
Applications: AM broadcasting,
maritime radio broadcasting
Disturbances for signal transmission:
atmospheric noise, man-made noise,
thermal noise.

Cont

Sky Wave Propagation

Sky waves are radio waves that
propagate into the atmosphere and
then are returned to earth at some
distance from the transmitter
Transmitted signals being reflected
from ionosphere

Cont

Frequency : 2-30 MHz (HF)

Little loss
Problem : Signal Multipath
Application : amateur radio and long
distance aircraft and ship communication.

Cont
> fc

Antenna at
different angles

Space Wave Propagation

are radio waves that travel directly
from the transmitting antenna to the
receiving antenna
It travel in straight lines (called Line
of Sight)
Frequency: 30-300MHz (VHF)
0.3 3GHz

Cont
Application: mobile phones, FM twoway radio,TV and radar.

Propagation Modes

Cont

Cont

Cont

Satellite Communication Concepts

Satellite is defined as a man-mad vehicle
that orbits the earth
Specialized wireless receiver/ transmitter
that is launched by a rocket and placed in
orbit around the earth
Satellite Communication System is a system
that uses orbiting vehicles to relay radio
transmission between earth terminals

Cont
Types of satellite:
1)Passive simply reflects radio signal back to
earth
2)Active acts as repeaters, it amplifies the
signal received and then transmit them back to
earth
Transmitter transmits to the satellite on a
frequency called uplink frequency.
Satellite amplifies the signal and transmits
back to receiver on a frequency called downlink
frequency

Satellite Frequency Bands

Different kinds of satellites use different frequency
bands.
BAND

FREQUENCY RANGE (GHz)

1-2 (MSS)

2.5 4 (MSS,NASA)

3.7 8 (FSS)

7.25 12 (military)

Ku

12 18 (DBS)

Ka

18 30.4 (FSS)

37.7 50.2 (FSS)

FSS = Fixed Satellite Service
MSS = Mobile Satellite Service
DBS = Direct Broadcast Satellite

Cont
The most common carrier frequencies
used are C-band (6/4 GHz) and Kuband (14/11 GHz) especially for voice,
video and data telecommunications
ITU has allocated the 60GHz band
for intersatellite links ( satellite-tosatellite)

Advantages of SCS
It can access to wide geographical area
Higher Bandwidths are available for use
Transmission cost of a satellite is
independent of the distance from the
center of the coverage
Satellite to satellite communication is very
precise

Limitations of SCS
High initial cost launching cost
Has propagation delay
Satellite bandwidth is gradually becoming
used up

Applications of SCS

Digital audio broadcasting

Television distributions
Servicing remote areas
Remote monitoring and control
Vehicle tracking
Mobile communications
Maritime and air navigation
Video teleconferencing

Antenna
They convert electrical signals on wires into
radio waves and vice versa.
An antenna must be made of conducting material.
Radio waves hitting an antenna cause electrons to
flow in the conductor and create a current.
Likewise, applying a current to an antenna creates
an electric field around the antenna. As the
current to the antenna changes, so does the
electric field. A changing electric field causes a
magnetic field.

ANTENNA
PROPAGATION

An electromagnetic wave is created by a

local disturbance in the electric
andmagnetic fields. From its origin, the
wave will propagate outwards in all
directions.If the medium in which it is
propagating (air for example) is the same
everywhere,the wave will spread out
uniformly in all directions.

TYPES OF ANTENNA
Directional
This type of antenna does not offer any
added power to the signal, and instead
simply redirects the energy it received
from the transmitter. By redirecting this
energy, it has the effect of providing more
energy in one direction, and less energy in
all other directions

Yagi
- better suited for shorter links
- lower dBi gain; usually between 7 and 15 dBi

Parabolic
- used in medium to long links
- gains of 18 to 28 dBi
- most common

Omni-Directional
An omnidirectional antenna is
designed to provide a 360 degree
radiation pattern
This type of antenna is used when
coverage in all directions from the
antenna
is required.

Omni
- used at the CCU or Master NCL for wide coverage
- typical gains of 3 to 10 dBi

END OF CHAPTER 5