Telecom Systems

Lecture09 Transmission Media

Transmission Medium
The following terms will be used interchangeably transmission medium, Transmission system, and transmission facility Need of a physical transmission medium The conveyance, or transmission, of information across a distance necessarily involves some form of transmission medium Selection of a physical transmission medium Every transmission medium has some pros and cons which makes it suitable or unsuitable for a certain environment

Categorization of Transmission medium

Types of Transmission media fall into two distinctive categories,
the


first of which includes all wired media

also referred as conducted, guided, or bounded media

The

second category includes all traditional wireless media



also referred as radiated, unguided, or unbounded media

Frequency Spectrum

Transmission Characteristics of a transmission medium

Basic transmission characteristics Bandwidth Error performance Distance between network elements The attractiveness of any given transmission system increases with: greater bandwidth fewer errors greater maximum distance between various network elements (e.g., amplifiers and repeaters).

Interrelation of Bandwidth, error performance, and distance

Example

In a twisted pair network, bandwidth can be increased by using higher frequencies Unfortunately, higher frequencies attenuate (loose power) more rapidly than do lower frequencies. This fact results in more errors in transmission, unless the amplifiers/repeaters are spaced more closely together

Propagation Delay
It refers to the time required for a signal to travel from transmitter to receiver across a transmission system Every transmission system has a certain value of propagation delay, which makes it suitable or unsuitable to be selected for transmission Main factors of propagation delay

nature of the transmission system total length of the circuit number of network elements (devices) in the network

Transmission media
Different transmission media are used for transmission The three most important media are:

copper  which is used in two main types of cable: paired cable and coaxial cable; glass fiber  which is used in optical fiber cable radio waves  which are used in terrestrial point-to-point systems or area coverage systems (such as mobile telephony), and  for point-to-point or area coverage communication via satellite

Wired Medium
Open wires Twisted pair Coaxial Optical fiber

Open wires
Metallic wires were used almost exclusively in telecommunications networks for the first 80 years The early metallic electrical circuits were one-wire, supporting two-way communications with each telephone connected to ground in order to complete the circuit Glass insulators mounted on wooden crossbeams of the telephone pole suspend the wires between poles

Open wires
Open wire is usually made of steel, coated with copper

Steel is used for the strength necessary to withstand the suspension weight of the wire between poles

Frequency range up to 160kHz Disadvantages:

Bulky Affected by weather conditions i.e. large leakage with wet insulators Severe cross-talk

Twisted Pair
Insulated Pairs of copper wire bundled together Individual pairs of wires twisted together to minimize cross-talk Cables can contain several hundreds of twisted pairs in different gages. Laid in cities underground

Twisted Pair: Gauge

Gauge is a measure of the thickness of the conductor The thicker the wire, the less the resistance, the stronger the signal over a given distance, and the better the performance of the medium American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a commonly used standard measurement of gauge

The gauge numbers are retrogressive; in other words, the larger the number, the smaller the conductor. For example, a 24-gauge (AWG) wire has a diameter of .0201 in. (.511mm), a weight of 1.22 lbs./ft. (1.82 kg./km.), a maximum break strength of 12.69 lbs. (5.756 kg.), and D.C. resistance ohms of 25.7/1000ft. (84.2/km.) Twisted pairs commonly employed in telco networks vary from 19 to 28gauge, with the most common being 24-gauge.

AWG

Wire gauge 19 22 24 26

Ohms per 1000 feet 9.5 19 32 48

Twisted Pair
Suffer from cross-talk because of pairs being bound closely. Due to the small diameter of the wires, resistance contributes significantly to signal loss Repeaters required every 3 to 6.5 km Frequency range up to 1MHz Example

Used in the Access network Also used in the core network, where there are small distances to cover

Twisted Pairs
UTP

Ordinary Telephone wires Cheapest and easy to install Subject to external electromagnetic interference

UTP

UTP
Distance As the distance between network elements increases, attenuation (signal loss) increases Even low-speed (voice grade) analog voice transmissions require amplifiers spaced at least every 2-4 miles (10,000 to 18,000 feet) In case of digital transmission (1.544 Mbps), repeaters are required at intervals of approximately 6,000 feet. Cost Very cheap for inside wire applications Not suitable for long haul trunks

Twisted Pairs
STP

Better performance at higher data rates More expensive Harder to handle and work with Suitable for high-noise environments

Coaxial cable
The center conductor is much thicker than a twisted pair conductor, It is surrounded by an outer shield/conductor that serves to greatly improve signal strength and integrity. Frequency Range (~1000MHz) Radiation losses and adjacent channel interference are virtually eliminated by coaxial shielding

Coaxial cable
Highly suited for Long haul trunk circuits such as inter-city or interstate routes. Several individual coaxial tubes are often bound together with insulating material and steel reinforcement to produce a high capacity trunk cable Repeaters spacing 3-65kms Each coaxial tube can carry several thousands of voice channels

History
Invented by AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1934, first coaxial cable was placed into service in New York City in 1936. The Bell System's L5 coaxial carrier A long-haul trunk that includes 22 coaxial tubes bound together to form a single cable. Total of 108,000 simultaneous two-way voice conversations can be carried by the cable. Overall system frequency 58Mhz

Coaxial Cable Applications

CATV
330

MHz in support of up to 40 channels, or 750 MHz in support of up to 116 channels.

Long Distance Telephone Network

Including

submarine transmission system

LAN

Transmission Characteristics of Guided Media

Frequency Range Typical Attenuation Typical Delay Repeater Spacing

Twisted pairs (multi-pair cables) Coaxial cable Optical fiber

0 to 1 MHz

0.7 dB/km @ 1 kHz 7 dB/km @ 10 MHz 0.2 to 0.5 dB/km

5 s/km

2 km

0 to 500 MHz 186 to 370 THz

4 s/km 5 s/km

1 to 9 km 40 km

Optical Fiber
An optical fibre is a glass or plastic fibre that carries light along its length It is as thin as a human hair The use of fiber-optics was generally not available for communication until 1970 when Corning Glass Works was able to produce a fiber with a loss of 17 dB/km Today's optical fiber attenuation can be as low as 0.2 dB/km

Advantages of Optical Fiber

Light has a greater information-carrying capacity than the highest radio frequencies Greater repeater spacing low error rates Immunity to electrical interference Secure media
Can

not be tapped

light weight Longer life

Operation windows
Specific regions in the optical spectrum where optical attenuation is low
the

first window for silica-based optical fiber; systems were developed to operate around 850 nm wavelength second window (S band), at 1310 nm, soon proved to be superior because of its lower attenuation followed by a third window (C band) at 1550 nm with an even lower optical loss Today, a fourth window (L band) near 1625 nm is under development and early deployment

Wavelengths used in Fiber Optic communication

Single optical fiber

Core - Thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels Cladding - Outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the core Buffer coating - Plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture

Bending of light ray

Total internal reflection

Optical fiber

Propagation Modes

Fiber types

Multimode fiber
Multi-mode fibers have larger cores (about 2.5 x 10-3 inches or 62.5 microns in diameter) and transmit infrared light (wavelength = 850 to 1,300 nm) from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) Multimode fiber is best designed for short transmission distances, and is suited for use in LAN systems and video surveillance

Multimode step index fiber

The principle of total internal reflection applies to multimode step-index fiber The cores index of refraction is higher than the claddings index of refraction, the light that enters at less than the critical angle is guided along the fiber. The disparity between arrival times of the different light rays is known as dispersion, and the result is a muddied signal at the receiving end

Multimode graded index fiber

Graded-index refers to the fact that the refractive index of the core gradually decreases farther from the center of the core The increased refraction in the center of the core slows the speed of some light rays, allowing all the light rays to reach the receiving end at approximately the same time, reducing dispersion.

Multimode Graded Index

25 times increase in bandwidth over step index More bandwidth could have been achieved

but core size is kept large for convenient termination and use of lower cost diodes

Popular standard for use in medium distance (2-15km) data communication links

Single mode fiber

Single-mode fibers have small cores (about 3.5 x 10-4 inches or 9 microns in diameter) and transmit infrared laser light (wavelength = 1,300 to 1,550 nanometers). Single-mode fiber is best designed for longer transmission distances, making it suitable for long-distance telephony and multichannel television broadcast systems.

Single mode fiber

Single-mode fiber gives you a higher transmission rate and up to 50 times more distance than multimode More costly The small core and single light-wave virtually eliminate any distortion that could result from overlapping light pulses, providing the least signal attenuation and the highest transmission speeds of any fiber cable type.

Optical fiber modes

Optical fiber Applications

Long-distance trunks:
Average about 1500 km with high capacity (20 - 60,000 voice channels). Undersea optical fiber being used.

Metropolitan trunks:
Average about 12 km with 100,000 voice channels Join telephone exchanges.

Rural exchange trunks:

Ranging from 40 to 160 km with fewer than 5000 voice channels.

LANs: capacity of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

Optical transmission- analog and digital

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)

Analogous to FDM WDM technique is used to transmit multiple signals at the same time, thus increase in bandwidth is achieved many folds Each signal is distinguished with a different wavelength

Unidirectional WDM Transmission

Single fiber unidirectional transmission

Bi-directional WDM Transmission

Single fiber bi-directional transmission

Development of DWDM Technology

Advantages of WDM/DWDM
Enormous increase in bandwidth using the same cable
Only

needs to replace the equipment capable of WDM

Light sources
Light


Emitting Diode (LED)

relatively slow devices, suitable for use at speeds of less than 1 Gbps  cheaper,  wider operating temp range, lasts longer  Suited for multimode fibers
Injection


Laser Diode (ILD)

more efficient, has greater data rate

Other equipment
Light detectors Amplifiers
OEO


amplifiers amplifiers

The attenuated signal needs to be converted to electrical signal, and then to a fresh optical signal The OA has made it possible to amplify the optical signal without optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversion

Optical


Add/Drop multiplexers
remove

or insert one or more wavelengths at some point along this path

Attenuation in Guided Media

Wireless medium
Broadcast radio range
Frequencies

of upto 1GHz

Microwave radio
Terrestrial Satellite

Infra red

Frequency Spectrum

Broadcast Radio
Frequency of upto 1GHz is known as broadcast radio range Applications
Radio

stations UHF and VHF television Cellular transmission

Omnidirectional antennas are used mostly need line of sight above 30 MHz

Wireless Propagation
Ground wave propagation Sky wave propagation Line of sight propagation

Wireless Propagation

Wireless Propagation Line of Sight

Above 30 MHz, neither ground wave nor sky wave propagation modes operate, and communication must be by line of sight

Microwave radio
A form of radio transmission which uses frequencies of 1GHz 100GHz is known as microwave transmission Developed by Harold T. Friis and his associates at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1945 Advantage is high bandwidth Problem

High frequency means high attenuation, and less distance covered

Microwave radio
The radio beams are highly focused, in order to maximize the strength of such a high-frequency signal

Much as a light bulb in a flashlight is centered in a mirror which serves to focus the light beam

Antenna shape
Parabolic antenna (most commonly used antenna type) A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish.

Microwave radio
Example microwave frequency bands (USA)

LOS calculation
The coverage area for LOS propagation is limited by the curvature of the earth. max LOS for a transceiver at height h is approximately (assuming no physical obstructions such as
mountains)
d

= 3.57(Kh)1/2


where K=4/3

Measurement of Distance and Loss

Loss L due to attenuation over distance d at wavelength expressed as is

Microwave Links
Advantages
Fewer

repeaters are necessary for amplifying

signals Underground facilities are not necessary High bandwidth Minimal delay times Fewer repeaters mean increased reliability and less maintenance

Satellite Radio
A microwave transmission system utilizing a nonterrestrial relay station positioned in space First satellite Intelsat I (called Early Bird) was designed to handle 240 voice channels (in 1965)

Satellite Communications
A device called a transponder is used in the satellite to receive the weak microwave signal, amplify and condition it, and retransmit the signal back to another earth station in a different location on earth Most commercial satellite links separate, transmit, and receive carrier frequencies by about 2 GHz

Earth stations typically transmit their signals to satellites on carrier frequencies in the 6-GHz band (the up-link frequency) The satellite's transponder down-converts these signals to a 4GHz band (the down-link frequency)

The Altitude and Velocity of Satellites

SATELLITE ALTITUDES

Satellite orbits
Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)

altitude: 36 000 km TV/radio broadcast, research, weather, backbone, navigation, altitude: 5000-12 000 km

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

remote access, navigation, (MEOs not common yet)



Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

altitude: 500-1500 km

satellite phones, remote access,  ~same apps as MEO



Satellite Communications
At an altitude of 22,300 miles, 40% of the Earth is exposed. The satellite's antenna is designed to emit a radiation pattern that covers this entire exposed portion Three Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit, 120 apart from each other, can cover the entire surface of the earth Subject to long delays signals must travel approximately 22,300 miles up to the satellite; the resulting delay is approximately .25 seconds Adding the satellite processing time and the return path, it makes around 0.64 seconds Hence, highly interactive voice, data, and video applications are not effectively supported via two-way satellite communication Much lower cost per channel than submarine cable for transatlantic communications

GEO
GEO pros huge coverage (large footprints)


only 3 sat. to cover earth (populated areas) simple adjustment/tuning of earth stations/terminals

fixed antenna position



long system lifetime (~15-18 years) GEO cons poor coverage at north/south poles


(low elevation, need high positioned antennas) bad for point-to-point links (good for broadcast)

large footprints


long delays (long distance, ~0.3 s, critical for voice) high transmission power (~10W) (excludes battery-powered devices) expensive to launch/transfer into orbit

LEO
LEO pros
shorter

delays: 5-10 ms (shorter distance) lower transmission power (1W)



(handheld devices, omni-directional antennas)

cheaper

to launch

LEO cons
global

coverage = many satellites complex system (moving satellites,)



routing between sat.

short

systems lifetime (5-8 years)

MEO
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

circular rotation (in arbitrary plane) rotation period: ~6 h, visibility period: ~2-3 h coverage (footprint) Satellites for global coverage (~12) delays (~45 ms) transmission power (3-5W) system complexity, (<LEO) system lifetime (10-15 years) launch costs  total cost (<LEO)


Pros and Cons (between LEO, GEO)

(fewer satellites)

Broadcast

Applications
Mapping Ice and sand movement Locating environmental situations (such as disappearing rainforests) Locating mineral deposits Finding crop problems Researching plants and animals Earth science, such as monitoring volcanoes Tracking wildlife Astronomy Global Positioning System, or GPS Press agency news feeds Stock market, business and other financial information International radio broadcasters moving from short-wave to (or supplementing their short-wave broadcasts with) satellite feeds using microwave uplink feeds Global television Digital radio for CD-quality audio

Infrared
Infrared light transmissions have existed for many years with their use limited to remote controls for TV sets, slide projectors, etc. Infrared systems use the infrared light spectrum (TeraHertz, or THz, range) to send a focused light beam to a receiver, much as would a microwave system,

Infrared
No licensing requirements. Require line-of-sight and suffer from environmental interference Limited to distances of two miles Good for building to building connectivity

Reference
Chp4 Transmission Medium
Wireless


Communication & Networks

William Stallings

Chp2 Fundamentals of Transmission Systems: Technologies & Applications

Communication


Systems & Networks

Ray Horak