3. Data units in Networks

3.3. Coaxial cable

1 Construction:

·         copper core,

·         plastic insulation,

·         copper screen,

·         outer shirt.

It ends with a connector called a BNC. Sometimes at the end of a coaxial cable we also find a so-called BNC terminator, whose function is to remove reflections from the signal transmitted over the cable.

There are two types of coaxial cable: thin coaxial cable and thick coaxial cable. The differences between the two varieties are as follows:

TYPE

THICKNESS

LENGTH MAX

NETWORK STANDARD

MAXIMUM THROUGHPUT

THIN

5 mm

185 M

10base-2

10 Mbps

THICK

10 mm

500 M

10base-5

10 Mbps


 It is worth noting that coaxial cable is no longer used in the construction of new networks. It has been replaced by more efficient solutions such as twisted-pair
and optical fibres.