Assignment No.

03
SEMESTER Fall 2010
CS601- Data Communication

Total Marks: 15
Due Date: 23/01/2010
Mc100402263

Assignment no. 3

Question 1:

Compare and contrast Twisted pair cable, coaxial cable and optical fiber with respect to
Property of Media, Cost and Bandwidth associated with each? Also discuss the
Appropriate application of each.

Answer:

Twisted Pair Cable:

There are two types of twisted pair cable:

• Shielded Twisted pair (STP) cable

• Unshielded Twisted pair (UTP) cable

Twisted pair cable is an inexpensive cable comprises of multiple conductor cable of one or more pairs of 18 to 24
gauge copper strands. The strands are twisted which help the wire to protect against electromagnetic and radio
frequency distortion. The cable whether it is shielded or unshielded is used in low-speed communications like
telephone. As its bandwidth is small so it is only used in baseband networks.

Coaxial Cable:

Coaxial cable is an electrical cable which have a solid wire conductor in its center and is all surrounded by some
insulating materials. There is also an outer metal screen conductor with an axis of curvature coinciding with the
inner. That’s why it is called coaxial.
Examples:
• Standard Ethernet cable

• Thin Wire Ethernet cable

Fiber-Optic Cable:

Fiber optic is a transmission medium consists of a central glass or plastic optical fiber cable which is surrounded
by cladding and an outer protective sheath. It transmits digital signals in the form of modulated light from a laser
of LED (light-emitting diode).
Comparison of property of media:

Twisted pair cable Coaxial cable Optical fiber

Metal covered with non metal Metal covered with plastic Glass covered with plastic

Comparison of bandwidth:

Twisted pair cable Coaxial cable Optical fiber

100Hz – 5MHz 100KHz – 500MHz 2GHz to 10 GHz

Applications:

Twisted pair cable Coaxial cable Optical fiber

Used in mainly telephone Used for Ethernet and TV Transmission is significantly

systems cables for transmission of greater than the twisted pair
large amount of data and voice cable and coaxial cable
without the regeneration of
signals and can support higher
data rates. So, used in internet.

Comparison of Cost:

Twisted pair cable Coaxial cable Optical fiber

Inexpensive Expensive than twisted pair Expensive

but not more than optical fiber
Question 2:

What are the categories newer than CAT5 of Twisted pair cable? What are the
Specification and application of these?

• Cat 5:
o Cat 5 is known for high speed data installation.
o Rated frequency is 100 MHz’s.
o This cable works well from voice to 100 BASE-T Ethernet and 155Mbps ATM.
o It is also known as ISO/IEC 11801 Class D cabling.
o Cat 5 copper communications is the minimum requirement for broadband services.
o The standard required for this wiring are ISO/IEC-11801 and TIA/EIA-568-A-5.
o CAT5 does only works when cable, connector modules, patch cords, and all electronics carry the
same CAT5 rating.

• Cat 5e:
o Cat 5e is the new rating developed in USA.
o Rated frequency is 100 MHz’s.
o Cat 5e is becoming the new standard as it is the minimum requirement for all future installations
by TIA/EIA, IEEE and many equipment manufacturers.
o Enhanced Category 5, was ratified in 1999.
o Category 5E Crossover
o Category 5E Shielded
o Category 5E Value-Packs

• Cat 6:
o Cat 6 is a new rating just developed in US, ISO/IEC and CENELEC.
o Rated frequency is 200 MHz and in some requirements specified for 250 MHz’s.
o Category 6 is being specified concurrently by both ISO in the 11801-2001 document and the TIA
in its Category 6 in addition to TIA 568B (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 ratified by the TIA/EIA in
June 2002).
o Cat 6 presents the best performance possible with the current T568A and T568B wiring
configurations on an 8 position 8 conductor modular connector (RJ-45).
o In Europe this is known as ISO/IEC 11801 Class E cabling.
o Category 6 Crossover

• CAT6A:
o Cat6a is a shielded cable
o Cat6a is a UTP cable copper cable
o Cat6a now support 10Gig
o Cat6a rated frequency is 300 MHz and in some requirement specified for 400 MHz.
o This is also known as ISO/IDE 11801 Class EA.
 o This cabling is fully shielded and user non-standard RJ-45 interface
o Cat6a is being specified concurrently by both ISO in 11801-2006 document an the
IEC and EIA/TIA in its category
o Cat. 6A standard 568B.2-10
• CAT6EA:
o Cat6EA is a shielded cable
o Cat6EA is a UTP copper cable
o Cat6EA now support 10Gig but Cat6EA support when Ethernet is work
on the speed of 40Gig bit
o This is also known as ISO/IDE 11801 class EA.
o Cat6EA rated frequency is 400MHz and in some requirements specified
for 500MHz
o This cabling is fully shielded and user non-standard RJ-45 interfaces.

• Cat 7:

o Cat 7 is a rating for individual pair screened cables derived from the German DIN 44312-2
standard requirements.
o Rated frequency is 600 MHz’s.
o Cat 7 work is on progress.
o This is also known as ISO/IEC 11801 Class E.
o This cable is fully shielded and uses non-standard RJ-45 interface.
o This cabling is primarily for European market place.
o Other alternative connector style is IBM Mini-C connector.
o In Europe this is known as Class F cabling.