Transmission Media And Its Types

Transmission Media

   Usually all computer communication involves encoding data in a form of energy and sending the energy across a transmission medium. In other words the physical media through which we can transmit data from one point to another is called a transmission media. The transmission of the data can be using electromagnetic signals which consist of both electrical and magnetic fields conjugating with each other.

   Transmission media is divided into following two broad categories:

1.   Guided/Wired Media

2.Unguided/Wireless Media

1.   Guided Media:

a) Twisted Pair Cable

    The twisted pair cable consists of two insulated wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern or cable made by intertwining two separate insulated wires.It is further of two types:

• Unshielded Twisted Pair Cables (UTP):

UTP cables as the name suggests have no protection against interference. The performance of UTP is often gets degraded. However UTP cable is the most common cable used in computer networking due to its feasibility.For eg it is used for urban outdoor telephone cables etc.

• Shielded Twisted Pair Cables (STP):

STP simply has additional shielding material that is used to cancel any external interference that may be introduced at any point in the path of the cable. Using STP cables ensure that you get the maximum bandwidth from your cabling even if the external condition is less than ideal. However in comparison to UTP it is slightly costly.