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UNIT – 2
PHYSICAL LAYER
• This is the last layer of the OSI model.
• The data is nothing but a sequence of binary zeros and
ones.
• Physical layer converts this binary sequence into signals.
• These electrical signals can be transfer through wired or
wireless mode.
• Consists of Various Network Components such as Power
Plugs, Connectors, Receivers, cable type etc.
• This layer Comes Under the category of hardware layer.
• To move data in the form of electromagnetic signals
across a transmission medium.
• The Physical Layer data consists of bits (Sequence of 0’s
and 1s)
• Bits are encoded into Signal.
• Data and Signals.
• Source/Destination➔Data ➔Signals
• One of the major functions of the physical layer is to
move data in the form of electromagnetic signals across a
transmission medium.
• Physical Layer is the Botton-most layer in the OSI
model.
• It activates, maintain and deactivate the physical
connections

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• It converts the logical 1’s and 9’s into electrical signals

• Transmit to sender
• Hubs, Repeater, cables are physical layer devices.

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Function of physical layer

• 1. bit synchronization: example clock
• 2. bit rate control: no of the bit send per second
• 3.physical topologies: Arranging different devices /nodes
in Network in Bus, star or mesh topology,
• 4. Transmission Mode: 3 modes
❑ Simplex
❑ Half Duplex
Full Duplex
Transmission Media
➢ To Send Our data from one place to another.
➢ The First Bytes (Physical Layer) of Communication network OSI
Sever Bytes Model is Dedicated to Transmission Media.
➢ It is a physical Path Between Transmitter and Receiver
➢ Repeater or Amplifies may be used to Extend the length of
medium.

• The Factor to be Consider

1. Transmission Rate.
2. Cost and Ease of Installation

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3. Resistence
4. Distance

• It Refer to Physical Pathways through which data is transmitted

form one device to another.
• These Pathways Can be Wired or Wireless.
• The Choice of Medium Depends on factors like Distance and
speed etc
Guided Transmission Media
➢ It Consists of wires through which the data is transferred .
➢ It is a Physical Link Between Transmitter and Recipient Devices.
➢ It is Used for Shorter Distances that’s why limits signal flows.
➢ It provides High Speed and Secure Data.
➢ Types of Guided Media
➢ Twisted Pair Cable
➢ Coaxial Cable
➢ Fiber Optic Cable

Twisted Pair Cable

• Here pair of Copper cables twisted with each other .
• It has 2 separately insulated conductor wires wound about
each other.
• Type1 Unshielded Twisted Pair
❖ Mostly used in Telecommunication

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❖ Low Cost, Simple to install and high speed.

❖ It is Categorized between 4 to 200 mbps speed
• Type 2: Shielded Twisted Pair:
❑ Mostly used in Ethernet, industrial Control system, Medical
Equipment.
❑ Higher data transmission rate then UTP
❑ Installation is easy and Expensive then UTP
❑ Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cables

COAXIAL CABLE
➢ The Inner Conductor made up of copper and the outer conductor is
made up of capper mesh.
➢ The middle core is made up of non-Conductive cover that separates the
inner conductor from the outer conductor
➢ It has a Higher Frequency as Compared to Twisted Pair Cable.
➢ Easy to install but Expensive.
➢ Type 1: Baseband Transmission
➢ It’s Transmission a single at high speed.
➢ Mainly used in LAN.

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➢ Type 2: Broadband Transmission

➢ Its Transmission multiple signals at high speed.
➢ Manily used in Modern and Tv system

❑ It used to send the data by pulses of light.

❑ It perform well in long –distance data transmission and
telecommunications.
❑ They can carry a large amount of information and
transmit data at ahigh speed.
❑ It is high cost and difficult for installation and maintence
❑ Core ➔is Designed transport light
❑ Coating➔ is a thin layer that help transmit data through
the fiber.
❑ Strength member ➔ Keep fiber core from damage from
installation.
❑ Outer Jacket ➔ is designed to protect cable from
Environmental Damage.
❑ Application:
❑ Internet, telephone, Computer Network, Military and
Aerospace etc.
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Unguided Transmission Media

❑ It is also referred to as Wireless or Unbounded Transmission Media.
❑ No Physical Medium is required for the transmission of electromagnetic
signals.
❑ It is used for larger distances.
❑ The Signals is broadcasted through air
❑ It is less secure

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Types of Unguided Media

➢ Radio Waves
➢ Macro Waves
➢ Infrared
1. Radio Waves
➢ The type of electromagnetic waves which are transmitted in every
➢ Direction of free space.
➢ It is used for Wide Area Network or Larger Geographical areas.
➢ It provides a higher data transmission media.
➢ The Sending and Receiving antenna are not aligned.
➢ It is useful for multimedia when there is one sender and many receivers

Applications of Radio Waves

❑ FM Radio
❑ Mobiles
❑ Television

Macro Waves
❑ It uses antennas as the main element for sending and receiving
the Data.

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❑ The Distance covered by the signal is directly proportional to

the height of the antenna.
❑ The Signal range for this type of transmission is between 1 GHz
and 300GHz
❑ They carry large amount information which capacity.
❑ Satellite microwaves can communicate via any device globally.

Application of Macro Waves.

• Mobiles
• Television Network
• Satellite Network

Infrared
➢ It is wireless Technology used for communication over
extremely short distance
➢ The frequency range is from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
➢ Data cannot pass through the obstacles.
➢ It provides high bandwidth and Security.
➢ It holds lower information rate of transmission.
Application of Infrared
• TV Remote

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• Wireless mouse, keyboard, printer

• Transfer data between two Mobiles.

Switching
➢ In computer networking, Switching is the process of
transferring data packets from one device to another in a
network, or from one network to another, using specific
devices called switches. A computer user experiences
switching all the time for example, accessing the Internet
from your computer device, whenever a user requests a
webpage to open, the request is processed through
switching of data packets only.
➢ Switching takes place at the Data Link layer of the OSI
Model
➢ A switch is a hardware device in a network that connects
other devices, like computers and servers. It helps multiple
devices share a network without their data interfering with
each other.

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What is a Network Switching?

• A switch is a dedicated piece of computer hardware that
facilitates the process of switching i.e., incoming data
packets and transferring them to their destination.
• Types of Switching
• There are three types of switching methods:
• Message Switching
• Circuit Switching
• Packet Switching
• Datagram Packet Switching
• Virtual Circuit Packet Switching

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Circuit Switching in Computer Network

• Circuit Switching is a type of switching, in which a
connection is established between the source and
destination beforehand. This connection receives the
complete bandwidth of the network until the data is
transferred completely.
• In circuit switching network resources (bandwidth) are
divided into pieces and the bit delay is constant during a
connection. The dedicated path/circuit established
between the sender and receiver provides a guaranteed
data rate. Data can be transmitted without any delays
once the circuit is established.
• In circuit switching network resources (bandwidth) are
divided into pieces and the bit delay is constant during a
connection. The dedicated path/circuit established
between the sender and receiver provides a guaranteed
data rate. Data can be transmitted without any delays
once the circuit is established.

Why is Circuit Switching Used for?

➢ Continuous connections
➢ Dial-up network connections
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➢ Optical circuit switching

Advantages of Circuit Switching
➢ 1. Reliability
➢ 2. Quality of service
➢ 3. Security
➢ 4. Ease of management
➢ 5.Compatibility
Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
➢ 1.High cost
➢ 2. Waste of Resources
➢ 3. Expensive
➢ 4. Limited scalability
➢ 5. Vulnerability to failures
Packet Switching
➢ Packet Switching is a technique of switching in which the
message is usually divided into smaller pieces that are known as
packets.
➢ Every packet contains a header that contains the knowledge of
the destination. With the help of this knowledge/information,
these packets find the route.
➢ A unique number is given to each packet in order to identify
them at the receiving end.
➢ One of the biggest examples of the Packet-switched network is
the Internet.
➢ his switching is also based on the store and forward method.

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• In Datagram Switching, the packet is commonly known

as a datagram. Datagram Packet switching is also
known as Connectionless Packet Switching.
• A packet-switched network (PSN) is a kind of computer
communications network that sends data in the form of
small packets. It allows the sender to send data or
network packets to the source and destination node over
an internet network channel that is transferred between
multiple users and/or applications. A packet-switched is
also called a connectionless network, as it does not create
an endless connection between a source and destination
points.
Advantages of Packet Switching over Circuit Switching
• More efficient in terms of bandwidth, since the concept
of reserving a circuit is not there.
• Minimal transmission latency.
• More reliable as a destination can detect the missing
packet.

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• More fault tolerant because packets may follow a

different path in case any link is down, Unlike Circuit
Switching.
• Cost-effective and comparatively cheaper to implement.
Disadvantage of Packet Switching over Circuit
Switching
• Packet Switching doesn’t give packets in order, whereas
Circuit Switching provides ordered delivery of packets
because all the packets follow the same path.
• Since the packets are unordered, we need to provide
sequence numbers for each packet.
• Complexity is more at each node because of the facility
to follow multiple paths.
• Transmission delay is more because of rerouting.
• Packet Switching is beneficial only for small messages,
but for bursty data (large messages) Circuit Switching is
better.

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Difference between Circuit switching and packet switching

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