TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY COAXIAL CABLE Coaxial cable is

TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY

COAXIAL CABLE Coaxial cable is the type of cable which is used with cable TV companies between the community antenna and user homes and businesses. It is often used by telephone companies to connect their central office and telephone poles in the area of their users. Coaxial is also widely used to for businesses and corporation Ethernet and numerous types of LAN. Coaxial provides a maximum transfer rate of 100 Mbps. The thinnet type of coaxial can reach ranges of up to 185 m and thicknet can reach up to 500 m Advantages • Plenty of frequency to support multiple channels, which will allow greater throughput. • Lower error rates because the inner conductor is encased in a faraday shield, noise, improved immunity • Better performance compared to twisted pair Disadvantages • Expensive to install in comparison to twisted pair • Thicker cable is difficult to work with • Lower bandwidth compared to fibre

FIBRE Fibre optic cable is made up of multiple glass threads, which each have the capability of transmitting messages modulated on light waves. Multimode fibre cable will deliver data rates of up to 1 Gbps. It operates at a wavelength of 850 nm and 1300 nm. When the distance of data transfer is 100 m or less, the bandwidth can be virtually unlimited. Advantages • Greater bandwidth compared to metal cables. More data can be carried. • Less prone to interference • Cables are light compared to most cables • Lower power loss which allows longer transmission distances • Does not present a spark hazard • This type of technology is harder to hack as they do not radiate electromagnetic energy. Emissions cannot be intercepted Disadvantages • Cables are expensive to install • Repeating is required at distance intervals • Cable can easily be broken or suffer data loss when wrapped around curves • Great protection is needed to prevent breaks

UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair consists of 2 unshielded wires which have been twisted around one another. UTP is most commonly used in LANs and telephone connections due to its low costs. UTP offers lower bandwidth and less protection from interference compared to coaxial and fibre optic cables, However is less expensive and easier to work with. Category 1: Category 2: Category 3: Category 4: Category 5 e: Category 6: voice only 4 Mbps 10 Mbps 16 Mbps 100 Mbps 1 Gbps 1/10 Gbps Advantages • Fastest copper based cable on the market • Less expensive than STP • Compatible with other networking systems • Does not require grounding Disadvantages • Prone to radio frequency and radio magnetic interference • Long distance networking is difficult due to the cable not being able to carry signals long distances as the distance signal boosts is shorter

STP Shielded Twisted Pair is a type of cable which protects the transmission line from electromagnetic interference both to and from the cable. This is most commonly used in wired networks using Ethernet cabling. Each twisted pair comes with its own colour code which represents whether it is for analog, digital or Ethernet communication. STP cable can transmit signals of speeds up to 100 Mbps. Advantages • Better protection from crosstalk • Has secure data transmission • Greater protection from external interference Disadvantages • Cabling of this sort costs more compared to UTP

Advantages INFRARED IR is a technology used to send a wireless signal from one device to another. For example, a TV remote. IR is used for short to medium range communication, however some system such as a TV remote require a line of sight from the remote to the receiver in order for the IR signal to be picked up. IR cannot pass through walls, which also links in with the fact there must be a line of sight. 3 forms of IR communication Slow speed supports speeds of up to 115 Kbps Medium speed supports speeds of up to 1. 15 Mbps Fast speed supports speeds of up to 4 Mbps • Low power consumption • Devices with IR are easy to use • Does not get interference from radio waves • More security compared to radio technology Disadvantages • Both transmitter and receiver must have clear line of sight • Devices cannot move around while a transmission is in progress • Used for short distance communication

RADIO Radio communication is a technology which sends data through radio waves. Around the world are two main types of radio which are one-to-many and two-way. Oneto-many is used for public information and mass media. Two way is used within police, fire, delivery services etc. The data can be transformed back onto its original sound form once the radio waves hit an electrical conductor. An example of this is a walkie talkie which is a half duplex communication device where only one radio on the channel can transmit at a time. Another example is a DAB radio which is a simplex communication device which allows a broadcaster to broadcast to the receivers and not get data back. Low quality streams on an internet radio can transfer data at 320 Kbps. Advantages • Radio can cover a large area • Can be used anywhere • Radio channels can vary for different regions. Meaning you can listen to radio in your language Disadvantages • Only allows audio communication • Can be affected by the weather • Frequencies need to be adjusted properly • Limited channels are available compared to other forms of communication

SATELLITE Advantages Satellite communication is when information is transferred between sender and receiver via a satellite. For this to work, modulated microwaves are sent towards the satellite, which amplifies the signal and then relays it back to the receivers antenna on the earths surface. There are 2 types of satellite in this type of communication which are passive satellites and active satellites. • Satellites have a high bandwidth • Immensely large coverage over a large geographical area • Can be cheap over long distances Passive satellites: This satellite reflects incoming microwave signals from one area of earth to another. This satellite is coated I metal which allows the waves to reflect off its surface. Disadvantages Active satellites: In this type of satellite there is an antenna system, transmitter, power supply and receiver being used in its operation. These satellites can also be called transponders. Rays from transmitters on earth are received by transponders on the satellite. Amplified signals will be stored on the satellites memory, but only when the satellite is facing the earth. Signals are then sent to earth. The speed of a satellite can vary depending on where you are. However the average speed can be up to 15 Mbps. • Large setup cost • Has some noise and interference • Some propagation delay ( Time required for a digital signal to travel from an input to output)

COMPARISON OF SIMPLEX, DUPLEX AND HALF DUPLEX The three modes of transmission are simplex, half duplex, and full duplex. Duplex uses a parallel connection which beans all bits are sent simultaneously over multiple channels of communication. This is not the case with half duplex and simplex modes as they either only allow data to be sent one way at a time or only one way. Half duplex uses a serial connection which means that data will be sent one way at a time on each channel. Its best to have a full duplex network as data can both be send and received at the same time, which is useful when more than one device is in play. Each mode can be useful for difference purposes however. For example if TV broadcasters used full duplex or half duplex instead of simplex then viewers would be able to send back data. Simplex would however be useless in telephone calls as one person would be allowed to speak and the other to listen. Which is why it is full duplex. Half duplex and full duplex can also use USB connections whereas simplex cannot. This is because a usb is most commonly used to transfer data which means that data must be able to travel both ways, where a simplex connection only allows one way communication. Half duplex would work better with USB connections as data transfer may be faster when data is only being sent one way an not at the same time, which is what will happen in full duplex.