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Transmission Modes

Baseband Transmission


  • Entire bandwidth of the channel is used to send one signal at a time
  • Data is sent as digital signals
  • Used in LAN(Ethernet)
  • In coaxial or twisted pair cables
  • Transmission distance is limited as digital signals decay easily
  • simpler and cheaper

Info

XBaseY -> Ethernet Cable

  • X refers to the speed or bandwidth
  • Base marks the cable as Base band
  • Y refers to the maximum distance in 100 metres

Info

  • Y can be replaced by
    • T => It is Twisted pair cable
    • FX => It is optical fibre

Example

10Base5

  • 10Mbps
  • 500 metres

Example

10GBaseT

  • 10Gbps
  • Twisted pair cable

Example

10GBaseFX

  • 10Gbps
  • Optical Fibre

Broadband Transmission


  • The channel is divided into multiple frequency ranges using Frequency Division Multiplexing(FDM)
  • Each frequency band carries a separate analog signal (can carry modulated digital signals also)
  • Used in WAN, Cable TV ...
  • Multiple signals can travel simultaneously over the same medium
  • Longer distance possible due to analog modulation
  • More complex and costly

Info

Device to transform

  • digital data into analog signals => Modem
  • analog data into digital signals => Codec (Coding, Decoding)