2) UNGUIDED
Guided Media :
- Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
- Shielded Twisted Pair
- Coaxial Cable
- Optical Fiber
- Radio Transmission
- Microwave
- Satellite Communication
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) : UTP is the copper media, inherited from telephony, which is being used for increasingly higher data rates, and is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for horizontal wiring, the connection between, and including, the outlet and the termination in the communication closet.
A Twisted Pair is a pair of copper wires, with diameters of 0.4-0.8 mm, twisted together and wrapped with a plastic coating. The twisting increases the electrical noise immunity, and reduces the bit error rate (BER) of the data transmission. A UTP cable contains from 2 to 4200 twisted pairs.
Coaxial Cable: Coaxial cable is a two-conductor cable in which one conductor forms an electromagnetic shield around the other. The two conductors are separated by insulation. It is a constant impedance transmission cable. This media is used in base band and broadband transmission. Coaxial cables do not produce external electric and magnetic fields and are not affected by them. This makes them ideally suited, although more expensive, for transmitting signals.
UNGUIDED MEDIA:
Radio Frequencies : The frequency spectrum operates from 0 Hz (DC) to gamma rays (1019 Hz). Radio frequencies are in the range of 300 kHz to 10 GHz. We are seeing an emerging technology called wireless LANs. Some use radio frequencies to connect the workstations together, some use infrared technology.
Microwave : Microwave transmission is line of sight transmission. The transmit station must be in visible contact with the receive station. This sets a limit on the distance between stations depending on the local geography. Typically the line of sight due to the Earth’s curvature is only 50 km to the horizon! Repeater stations must be placed so the data signal can hop, skip and jump across the country.
Satellite : Satellites are transponders (units that receive on one frequency and retransmit on another) that are set in geostationary orbits directly over the equator. These geostationary orbits are 36,000 km from the Earth’s surface. At this point, the gravitational pull of the Earth and the centrifugal force of Earth’s rotation are balanced and cancel each other out. Centrifugal force is the rotational f0000000orce placed on the satellite that wants to fling it out into space.
