Introduction

Wireless transmission is a form of unguided media. Wireless communication involves no

physical link established between two or more devices, communicating wirelessly. Wireless
signals are spread over in the air and are received and interpret by appropriate antennas.
When an antenna is attached to electrical circuit of a computer or wireless device, it converts the
digital data into wireless signals and spread all over within its frequency range. The receptor on
the other end receives these signals and converts them back to digital data.
A little part of electromagnetic spectrum can be used for wireless transmission.

[Image:
Electromagnetic Spectrum]

Radio Transmission
Radio frequency is easier to generate and because of its large wavelength it can penetrate
through walls and alike structures. Radio waves can have wavelength from 1 mm 100,000 km
and have frequency ranging from 3 Hz (Extremely Low Frequency) to 300 GHz (Extremely
High Frequency). Radio frequencies are sub-divided into six bands.
Radio waves at lower frequencies can travel through walls whereas higher RF travel in straight
line and bounces back. The power of low frequency waves decreases sharply as it covers longer
distance. High frequency radio waves have more power.
Lower frequencies like (VLF, LF, MF bands) can travel on the ground up to 1000 kilometers,
over the earths surface.

[Image: Radio wave grounded]

Radio waves on high frequencies are prone to be absorbed by rain and other obstacles. They use
Ionosphere of earth atmosphere. High frequency radio waves such as HF and VHF bands are
spread upwards. When it reaches Ionosphere it is refracted back to the earth.

[Image: Radio wave Ionosphere]

Microwave Transmission
Electromagnetic waves above 100 MHz tend to travel in a straight line and signals over them can
be sent by beaming those waves towards one particular station. Because Microwaves travels in
straight lines, both sender and receiver must be aligned to be strictly in line-of-sight.
Microwaves can have wavelength ranging from 1 mm 1 meter and frequency ranging from 300
MHz to 300 GHz.

[Image: Microwave Transmission]

Microwave antennas concentrate the waves making a beam of it. As shown in picture above
multiple antennas can be aligned to reach farther. Microwaves are higher frequencies and do not
penetrate wall like obstacles.

Microwaves transmission depends highly upon the weather conditions and the frequency it is
using.

Infrared Transmission
Infrared waves lies in between visible light spectrum and microwaves. It has wavelength of 700
nm to 1 mm and frequency ranges from 300 GHz to 430 THz.
Infrared waves are used for very short range communication purposes such as television and its
remote. Infrared travels in a straight line so they are directional by nature. Because of high
frequency range, Infrared do not cross wall like obstacles.

Light Transmission
Highest most electromagnetic spectrum which can be used for data transmission is light or
optical signaling. This is achieved by means of LASER.
Because of frequency light uses, it tends to travel strictly in straight line. So the sender and
receiver must be in the line-of-sight. Because laser transmission is unidirectional, at both ends of
communication laser and photo-detectors needs to be installed. Laser beam is generally 1mm
wide so it is a work of precision to align two far receptors each pointing to lasers source.

[Image:
Light Transmission]

Laser works as Tx (transmitter) and photo-detectors works as Rx (receiver).

Lasers cannot penetrate obstacles like walls, rain and thick fog. Additionally, laser beam is
distorted by wind and atmosphere temperature or variation in temperature in the path.
Laser are safe for data transmission as it is very difficult to tap 1mm wide laser without
interrupting the communication channel.
Multiplexing is a technique by which different analog and digital streams of transmission can be
simultaneously processed over a shared link. Multiplexing divides the high capacity medium into
low capacity logical medium which is then shared by different streams.
Communication is possible over the air (radio frequency), using a physical media (cable) and
light (optical fiber). All mediums are capable of multiplexing.
When more than one senders tries to send over single medium, a device called Multiplexer
divides the physical channel and allocates one to each. On the other end of communication, a Demultiplexer receives data from a single medium and identifies each and send to different
receivers.

Frequency Division Multiplexing

When the carrier is frequency, FDM is used. FDM is an analog technology. FDM divides the
spectrum or carrier bandwidth in logical channels and allocates one user to each channel. Each
user can use the channel frequency independently and has exclusive access of it. All channels are
divided such a way that they do not overlap with each other. Channels are separated by guard
bands. Guard band is a frequency which is not used by either channel.

[Image:
Frequency Division Multiplexing]

Time Division Multiplexing

TDM is applied primarily on digital signals but can be applied on analog signals as well. In TDM
the shared channel is divided among its user by means of time slot. Each user can transmit data
within the provided time slot only. Digital signals are divided in frames, equivalent to time slot
i.e. frame of an optimal size which can be transmitted in given time slot.
TDM works in synchronized mode. Both ends, i.e. Multiplexer and De-multiplexer are timely
synchronized and both switch to next channel simultaneously.

[Image: Time
Division Multiplexing]
When at one side channel A is transmitting its frame, on the other end De-multiplexer providing
media to channel A. As soon as its channel As time slot expires this side switches to channel B.
On the other end De-multiplexer behaves in a synchronized manner and provides media to
channel B. Signals from different channels travels the path in interleaved manner.

Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Light has different wavelength (colors). In fiber optic mode, multiple optical carrier signals are
multiplexed into on optical fiber by using different wavelengths. This is an analog multiplexing
technique and is done conceptually in the same manner as FDM but uses light as signals.

[Image:
Wavelength Division Multiplexing]

Further, on each wavelength Time division multiplexing can be incorporated to accommodate

more data signals.

Code Division Multiplexing

Multiple data signals can be transmitted over a single frequency by using Code Division
Multiplexing. FDM divides the frequency in smaller channels but CDM allows its users to full
bandwidth and transmit signals all the time using a unique Code. CDM uses orthogonal codes to
spread signals.
Each station is assigned with a unique code, called chip. Signals travels with these codes
independently travelling inside the whole bandwidth. The receiver in this case, knows in advance
chip code signal it has to receive signals.
Switching is process to forward packets coming in from one port to a port leading towards the
destination. When data comes on a port it is called ingress, and when data leaves a port or goes
out it is called egress. A communication system may include number of switches and nodes. At
broad level, switching can be divided into two major categories:

Connectionless: Data is forwarded on behalf of forwarding tables. No previous

handshaking is required and acknowledgements are optional.
Connection Oriented: Before switching data to be forwarded to destination, there is a
need to pre-establish circuit along the path between both endpoints. Data is then
forwarded on that circuit. After the transfer is completed, circuits can be kept for future
use or can be turned down immediately.

Circuit Switching
When two nodes communicates with each other over a dedicated communication path, it is
called circuit switching. Theres a need of pre-specified route from which data will travel and no
other data will permitted. In simple words, in circuit switching, to transfer data circuit must
established so that the data transfer can take place.
Circuits can be permanent or temporary. Applications which use circuit switching may have to
go through three phases:

Establish a circuit
Transfer of data
Disconnect the circuit

[Image: Circuit Switching]

Circuit switching was designed for voice applications. Telephone is the best suitable example of
circuit switching. Before a user can make a call, a virtual path between caller and callee is
established over the network.

Message Switching
This technique was somewhere in middle of circuit switching and packet switching. In message
switching, the whole message is treated as a data unit and is switching / transferred in its entirety.
A switch working on message switching, first receives the whole message and buffers it until
there are resources available to transfer it to the next hop. If the next hop is not having enough
resource to accommodate large size message, the message is stored and switch waits.

[Image:
Message Switching]

This technique was considered substitute to circuit switching. As in circuit switching the whole
path is blocked for two entities only. Message switching is replaced by packet switching.
Message switching has some drawbacks:

Every switch in transit path needs enough storage to accommodate entire message.
Because of store-and-forward technique and waits included until resources available,
message switching is very slow.
Message switching was not a solution for streaming media and real-time applications.

Packet Switching
Shortcomings of message switching gave birth to an idea of packet switching. The entire
message is broken down into smaller chunks called packets. The switching information is added
in the header of each packet and transmitted independently.
It is easier for intermediate networking devices to store smaller size packets and they do not take
much resources either on carrier path or in the switches internal memory.

[Image: Packet Switching]

Packet switching enhances line efficiency as packets from multiple applications can be
multiplexed over the carrier. The internet uses packet switching technique. Packet switching
enables the user to differentiate data streams based on priorities. Packets are stored and forward
according to their priority to provide Quality of Service.