In addition to media and connectors, this tutorial identifies the characteristics of the IEEE 802.3 standard and its variants.
General Media Considerations
In addition to identifying the characteristics of network media and their associated cabling, an administrator requires knowledge of some general terms and concepts that are associated with network media. Before looking at the individual media types, it is a good idea to first have an understanding of some general media considerations.
Broadband Versus Baseband
Networks employ two types of signaling methods: baseband and broadband. Baseband transmissions use digital signaling over a single wire. Communication on baseband transmissions is bidirectional, allowing signals to be sent and received but not at the same time. To send multiple signals on a single cable, baseband uses something called Time Division Multiplexing (TDM). TDM divides a single channel into time slots.
In terms of LAN network standards, broadband transmissions, on the other hand, use analog transmissions. For broadband transmissions to be sent and received, the media has to be split into two channels. Multiple channels are created using Frequency Division-Multiplexing (FDM).
