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COMPUTER NETWORKS

(DCO-513)

Program 2: Write in detail about networking cable(Optical Fibre, Coaxial Cable


and Twisted Pair)

Submitted by:
Mohd Aadil Rana
Roll. No. 16-DCS-031
Diploma in Computer Engineering- V Semester

Computer Engineering Section


University Polytechnic, Faculty of Engineering and Technology
Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University)
New Delhi-110025
Session 2017-2018
Networking Cable
Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other
network devices or to connect two or more computers to share printers, scanners etc. Different
types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, and twisted pair cables, are
used depending on the network's physical layer, topology, and size. The devices can be separated
by a few meters (e.g. via Ethernet) or nearly unlimited distances (e.g. via the interconnections of
the Internet).
There are several technologies used for network connections. Patch cables are used for short
distances in offices and wiring closets. Electrical connections using twisted pair or coaxial
cable are used within a building. Optical fiber cable is used for long distances or for applications
requiring high bandwidth or electrical isolation. Many installations use structured
cabling practices to improve reliability and maintainability. In some home and industrial
applications power lines are used as network cabling.

Optical Fibre
An optical fiber or optical fibre is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or
plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often
as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic
communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at
higher bandwidths (data rates) than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires
because signals travel along them with less loss; in addition, fibers are immune
to electromagnetic interference, a problem from which metal wires suffer excessively. Fibers are
also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to
carry light into, or images out of confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope.

We're used to the idea of information traveling in different ways. When we speak into a
landline telephone, a wire cable carries the sounds from our voice into a socket in the wall,
where another cable takes it to the local telephone exchange. Cellphones work a different way:
they send and receive information using invisible radio waves—a technology called wireless
because it uses no cables. Fiber optics works a third way. It sends information coded in a beam
of light down a glass or plastic pipe. It was originally developed for endoscopes in the 1950s to
help doctors see inside the human body without having to cut it open first. In the 1960s,
engineers found a way of using the same technology to transmit telephone calls at the speed of
light (normally that's 186,000 miles or 300,000 km per second in a vacuum, but slows to about
two thirds this speed in a fiber-optic cable).

Optical fibers typically include a core surrounded by a transparent cladding material with a
lower index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by the phenomenon of total internal
reflection which causes the fiber to act as a waveguide

A fiber-optic cable is made up of incredibly thin strands of glass or plastic known as optical
fibers; one cable can have as few as two strands or as many as several hundred. Each strand is
less than a tenth as thick as a human hair and can carry something like 25,000 telephone calls, so
an entire fiber-optic cable can easily carry several million calls.

Advantages
 Greater Bandwidth & Faster Speed: Optical fiber cable supports extremely high
bandwidth and speed.
 Cheap: Several miles of optical fiber cable can be made cheaper than equivalent lengths
of copper wire.
 Thinner and Light-weighted: Optical fiber is thinner, and can be drawn to smaller
diameters than copper wire.
 Higher carrying capacity: This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or
more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box.
 Less signal degradation: The loss of signal in optical fiber is less than that in copper wire.
 Long Lifespan: Optical fibers usually have a longer life cycle for over 100 years.

Disadvantages

 Limited Application: Fiber optic cable can only be used on ground, and it cannot leave
the ground or work with the mobile communication.
 Low Power: Light emitting sources are limited to low power. Although high power
emitters are available to improve power supply, it would add extra cost.
 Fragility: Optical fiber is rather fragile and more vulnerable to damage compared to
copper wires. You’d better not to twist or bend fiber optic cables.
 Distance: The distance between the transmitter and receiver should keep short or
repeaters are needed to boost the signal.

Uses

Internet: Fiber optic cables transmit large amounts of data at very high speeds.
Telephone: Calling telephones within or outside the country has never been so easy.
Computer Networking: Networking between computers in a single building or across nearby
structures is made easier and faster with the use of fiber optic cables
Surgery and Dentistry: Fiber optic cables are widely used in the fields of medicine and
research.
Lighting and Decorations: The use of fiber optics in the area of decorative illumination has also
grown over the years.
Military and Space Applications: With the high level of data security required in military and
aerospace

Co-axial Cable
Coaxial cable is a type of copper cable specially built with a metal shield and other components
engineered to block signal interference. It is primarily used by cable TV companies to connect
their satellite antenna facilities to customer homes and businesses. It is also sometimes used by
telephone companies to connect central offices to telephone poles near customers. Some homes
and offices use coaxial cable, too, but its widespread use as an Ethernet connectivity medium in
enterprises and data centers has been supplanted by the deployment of twisted pair cabling.

Coaxial cable received its name because it includes one physical channel that carries the signal
surrounded -- after a layer of insulation -- by another concentric physical channel, both running
along the same axis. The outer channel serves as a ground.

Coaxial cable was invented in 1880 by English engineer and mathematician Oliver Heaviside,
who patented the invention and design that same year. AT&T established its first cross-
continental coaxial transmission system in 1940. Depending on the carrier technology used and
other factors, twisted pair copper wire and optical fiber are alternatives to coaxial cable.
The center conductor layer is a thin conducting wire, either solid or braided copper. A dielectric
layer, made up of an insulating material with very well-defined electrical characteristics,
surrounds the wire. A shield layer then surrounds the dielectric layer with metal foil or braided
copper mesh. The outer metal shield layer of the coax cable is typically grounded in the
connectors at both ends to shield the signals and as a place for stray interference signals to
dissipate.

Each coaxial cable can provide more than 5000 links. It has a data rate of 10 Mbps which can be
increased with the increase in diameter of the inner conductor. Electrical characteristics of coax
are application-dependent and crucial for good performance. Two standard characteristic
impedances are 50 ohm, used in moderate power environments, and 75 ohm, common for
connections to antennas and residential installations.

Advantage
 Due to skin effect, coaxial cable is used in high frequency applications (> 50 MHz) using
copper clad materials for center conductor.
 The cost of coaxial cable is less.
 It supports high bandwidth signal transmission compare to twisted pair.
 It allows high transfer rates with coaxial cable having better shielding material
 It is less susceptible to noise or interference (EMI or RFI) compare to twisted pair cable.

Disadvantage

 It is bulky.
 It is expensive to install for longer distances due to its thickness and stiffness.
 As single cable is used for signal transmission across the entire network, in case of failure
in one cable the entire network will be down.
 The security is a great concern as it is easy to tap the coaxial cable by breaking it and
inserting T-joint (of BNC type) in between.
 It must be grounded to prevent interference.

Uses
In the home and small offices, short coaxial cables are used for cable television, home video
equipment, amateur radio equipment and measuring devices. Historically, coaxial cables were
also used as an early form of Ethernet, supporting speeds of up to 10 Mbps, but coax has
supplanted by the use of twisted pair cabling. However, they remain widely in use for cable
broadband internet. Coaxial cables are also used in automobiles, aircraft, military and medical
equipment, as well as to connect satellite dishes, radio and television antennae to their respective
receivers.

Twisted Pair
Twisted pair is the ordinary copper wire that connects home and many business computers to the
telephone company. To reduce crosstalk or electromagnetic induction between pairs of wires,
two insulated copper wires are twisted around each other. Each connection on twisted pair
requires both wires. Since some telephone sets or desktop locations require multiple connections,
twisted pair is sometimes installed in two or more pairs, all within a single cable. For some
business locations, twisted pair is enclosed in a shield that functions as a ground. This is known
as shielded twisted pair (STP). Ordinary wire to the home is unshielded twisted pair (UTP).
Twisted pair comes with each pair uniquely color coded when it is packaged in multiple pairs.
Different uses such as analog, digital, and Ethernet require different pair multiples.

Although twisted pair is often associated with home use, a higher grade of twisted pair is often
used for horizontal wiring in LAN installations because it is less expensive than coaxial cable.

Advantage
 Least expensive for short distance.
 Entire network does not go down if a part of network is damaged.
 Can be used for both digital and analog.

Disadvantage
 Signal cannot travel long distance without repeaters.
 High error rate for distance greater than 100m.
 Very thin and hence break easily.
 Not suitable for broadband connection.

Uses
 In telephone lines to carry voice and data channels.
 In the local loop.
 Local area networks such as 10 Base-T and 100 Base-T. Use the twisted pair cables.
 In the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
 In the DSL line (ADSL).

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