Transmission Media

In accordance with its function is to bring the bit stream of data from one computer, then the data transfer requires a transmission medium that will be used for transmission purposes. Each medium has certain characteristics, the bandwidth, delay, cost and ease of installation and maintenance.

Transmission medium is a physical path between transmitter and receiver in a data transmission system. Transmission media can be classified as guided (guided) or unguided (not guided). Both can occur due to the form of electromagnetic waves. With a wave of media is guided through a solid medium such as twisted copper cable (twisted pair) copper coaxial cable and fiber optics. Atmospheric and air are examples of unguided media, in the form of the transmission medium is referred to as wireless transmission.
            Several factors related to the transmission media and signaling as a determinant of the data rate and distance are as follows:

·         Bandwidth

The greater the bandwidth, the greater the signal data can be handled.

·         Transmission Impairement

For guided media, twisted pair cable in general damaged transmission over the coaxial cable, and coaxial experienced over optical fiber.

·         Interference

Interference of the signal in each frequency band overlapping can cause distortion or damage a signal.

·         Number of Recipients (Receiver)

A guided media can be used to build a relationship of point-to-point or a connection that can be used together.

After knowing the factors related to the transmission medium and can determine a suitable topology for the network to be built of course, we certainly need to know what equipment is needed to build a computer network. The media is needed in addition to the computer regardless of the type of network that will be built are:

·         Cable

·         Transmission cordless (wireless) and

·         Network Interface Card (NIC) or network card