Preview
IB DP Computer Science — A2 Networks — Data transmission | SL | A2.3.2
📋 What You Will Learn
- Describe how data travels over fibre optic cable, twisted pair cable and wireless links
- Define the comparison factors: bandwidth, attenuation, interference, range, cost, installation complexity, reliability, security
- Compare the three media factor by factor, with the reasons behind each difference
- Recommend and justify a medium for a given scenario, weighing trade-offs
📡 Why This Matters You can pass a message by shouting across a room (anyone can hear, it fades with distance), by speaking tube (private, but you must install the tube), or by flashing light down a mirrored pipe (fast, far, untappable). Wireless, twisted pair and fibre are exactly these three trade-offs.
The Three Media
Twisted pair (copper cable)
- Data is sent as