Ethernet at the Physical Layer
Ethernet was first implemented by a group called DIX (Digital, Intel, and Xerox). They created and implemented the first Ethernet LAN specification, which the IEEE used to create the IEEE 802.3 Committee. This was a 10Mbps network that ran on coax, and then eventually twistedpair and fiber physical media.
The IEEE extended the 802.3 Committee to two new committees known as 802.3u (Fast Ethernet) and 802.3ab (Gigabit Ethernet on category 5) and then finally 802.3ae (10Gbps over fiber and coax).
Figure as below shows the IEEE 802.3 and original Ethernet Physical layer specifications. When designing your LAN, it’s really important to understand the different types of Ethernet media available to you. Sure, it would be great to run Gigabit Ethernet to each desktop and 10Gbps between switches, and although this might happen one day, justifying the cost of that network today would be pretty difficult. But if you mix and match the different types of Ethernet media methods currently available, you can come up with a cost-effective network solution that works great.
The EIA/TIA (Electronic Industries Association and the newer Telecommunications Industry Alliance) is the standards body that creates the Physical layer specifications for Ethernet. The EIA/TIA specifies that Ethernet uses a registered jack (RJ) connector with a 4 5 wiring sequence on unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling (RJ-45). However, the industry is moving toward calling this just an 8-pin modular connector.
Each Ethernet cable type that is specified by the EIA/TIA has inherent attenuation, which is defined as the loss of signal strength as it travels the length of a cable and is measured in decibels (dB). The cabling used in corporate and home markets is measured in categories. A higher quality cable will have a higher rated category and lower attenuation. For example, category 5 is better than category 3 because category 5 cable has more wire twists per foot and therefore less crosstalk. Crosstalk is the unwanted signal interference from adjacent pairs in the cable.
Near End Crosstalk (NEXT) is crosstalk measured at the transmitting end of the cable. Far End Crosstalk (FEXT) is measured at the far end from where the signal was injected into the cable. Power Sum NEXT (PSNEXT) is basically a mathematical calculation that simulates all four pairs being energized at the same time. PSNEXT calculations are used to ensure that a cable will not exceed crosstalk noise performance requirements when all pairs are operating simultaneously. PSNEXT is typically used in Gigabit Ethernet, rather than 10BaseT or 100BaseT.
Here are the original IEEE 802.3 standards:
10Base2 10Mbps, baseband technology, up to 185 meters in length. Known as thinnet and can support up to 30 workstations on a single segment. Uses a physical and logical bus with AUI connectors. The 10 means 10Mbps, Base means baseband technology, and the 2 means almost 200 meters. 10Base2 Ethernet cards use BNC (British Naval Connector, Bayonet Neill Concelman, or Bayonet Nut Connector) and T-connectors to connect to a network.
10Base5 10Mbps, baseband technology, up to 500 meters in length. Known as thicknet. Uses a physical and logical bus with AUI connectors. Up to 2500 meters with repeaters and 1024 users for all segments.
10BaseT 10Mbps using category 3 UTP wiring. Unlike the 10Base2 and 10Base5 networks, each device must connect into a hub or switch, and you can only have one host per segment or wire. Uses an RJ-45 connector (8-pin modular connector) with a physical star topology and a logical bus.
The “Base” in the preceding network standards means “baseband” which is a signaling method for communication on the network.
Each of the 802.3 standards defines an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI), which allows a onebit- at-a-time transfer to the Physical layer from the Data Link media access method. This allows the MAC to remain constant but means the Physical layer can support any existing and new technologies. The original AUI interface was a 15-pin connector, which allowed a transceiver (transmitter/receiver) that provided a 15-pin to twisted-pair conversion.
The thing is, the AUI interface cannot support 100Mbps Ethernet because of the high frequencies involved. So 100BaseT needed a new interface, and the 802.3u specifications created one called the Media Independent Interface (MII), which provides 100Mbps throughput. The MII uses a nibble, defined as 4 bits. Gigabit Ethernet uses a Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII) and transmits 8 bits at a time.
802.3u (Fast Ethernet) is compatible with 802.3 Ethernet because they share the same physical characteristics. Fast Ethernet and Ethernet use the same maximum transmission unit (MTU), use the same MAC mechanisms, and preserve the frame format that is used by 10BaseT Ethernet. Basically, Fast Ethernet is just based on an extension to the IEEE 802.3 specification, except that it offers a speed increase of 10 times that of 10BaseT.
Here are the expanded IEEE Ethernet 802.3 standards:
100BaseTX (IEEE 802.3u) EIA/TIA category 5, 6, or 7 UTP two-pair wiring. One user per segment; up to 100 meters long. It uses an RJ-45 connector with a physical star topology and a logical bus.
100BaseFX (IEEE 802.3u) Uses fiber cabling 62.5/125-micron multimode fiber. Point-topoint topology; up to 412 meters long. It uses an ST or SC connector, which are media-interface connectors.
1000BaseCX (IEEE 802.3z) Copper twisted-pair called twinax (a balanced coaxial pair) that can only run up to 25 meters.
1000BaseT (IEEE 802.3ab) Category 5, four-pair UTP wiring up to 100 meters long.
1000BaseSX (IEEE 802.3z) MMF using 62.5- and 50-micron core; uses a 850 nanometer laser and can go up to 220 meters with 62.5-micron, 550 meters with 50-micron.
1000BaseLX (IEE 802.3z) Single-mode fiber that uses a 9-micron core and 1300 nanometer laser, and can go from 3 kilometers up to 10 kilometers.
100VG-AnyLAN is a twisted-pair technology that was the first 100Mbps LAN. But since it was incompatible with Ethernet signaling techniques (it used a demand priority access method), it wasn’t very popular, and is now essentially dead.
Ethernet was first implemented by a group called DIX (Digital, Intel, and Xerox). They created and implemented the first Ethernet LAN specification, which the IEEE used to create the IEEE 802.3 Committee. This was a 10Mbps network that ran on coax, and then eventually twistedpair and fiber physical media.
The IEEE extended the 802.3 Committee to two new committees known as 802.3u (Fast Ethernet) and 802.3ab (Gigabit Ethernet on category 5) and then finally 802.3ae (10Gbps over fiber and coax).
Figure as below shows the IEEE 802.3 and original Ethernet Physical layer specifications. When designing your LAN, it’s really important to understand the different types of Ethernet media available to you. Sure, it would be great to run Gigabit Ethernet to each desktop and 10Gbps between switches, and although this might happen one day, justifying the cost of that network today would be pretty difficult. But if you mix and match the different types of Ethernet media methods currently available, you can come up with a cost-effective network solution that works great.
The EIA/TIA (Electronic Industries Association and the newer Telecommunications Industry Alliance) is the standards body that creates the Physical layer specifications for Ethernet. The EIA/TIA specifies that Ethernet uses a registered jack (RJ) connector with a 4 5 wiring sequence on unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling (RJ-45). However, the industry is moving toward calling this just an 8-pin modular connector.
Each Ethernet cable type that is specified by the EIA/TIA has inherent attenuation, which is defined as the loss of signal strength as it travels the length of a cable and is measured in decibels (dB). The cabling used in corporate and home markets is measured in categories. A higher quality cable will have a higher rated category and lower attenuation. For example, category 5 is better than category 3 because category 5 cable has more wire twists per foot and therefore less crosstalk. Crosstalk is the unwanted signal interference from adjacent pairs in the cable.
Near End Crosstalk (NEXT) is crosstalk measured at the transmitting end of the cable. Far End Crosstalk (FEXT) is measured at the far end from where the signal was injected into the cable. Power Sum NEXT (PSNEXT) is basically a mathematical calculation that simulates all four pairs being energized at the same time. PSNEXT calculations are used to ensure that a cable will not exceed crosstalk noise performance requirements when all pairs are operating simultaneously. PSNEXT is typically used in Gigabit Ethernet, rather than 10BaseT or 100BaseT.
Here are the original IEEE 802.3 standards:
10Base2 10Mbps, baseband technology, up to 185 meters in length. Known as thinnet and can support up to 30 workstations on a single segment. Uses a physical and logical bus with AUI connectors. The 10 means 10Mbps, Base means baseband technology, and the 2 means almost 200 meters. 10Base2 Ethernet cards use BNC (British Naval Connector, Bayonet Neill Concelman, or Bayonet Nut Connector) and T-connectors to connect to a network.
10Base5 10Mbps, baseband technology, up to 500 meters in length. Known as thicknet. Uses a physical and logical bus with AUI connectors. Up to 2500 meters with repeaters and 1024 users for all segments.
10BaseT 10Mbps using category 3 UTP wiring. Unlike the 10Base2 and 10Base5 networks, each device must connect into a hub or switch, and you can only have one host per segment or wire. Uses an RJ-45 connector (8-pin modular connector) with a physical star topology and a logical bus.
The “Base” in the preceding network standards means “baseband” which is a signaling method for communication on the network.
Each of the 802.3 standards defines an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI), which allows a onebit- at-a-time transfer to the Physical layer from the Data Link media access method. This allows the MAC to remain constant but means the Physical layer can support any existing and new technologies. The original AUI interface was a 15-pin connector, which allowed a transceiver (transmitter/receiver) that provided a 15-pin to twisted-pair conversion.
The thing is, the AUI interface cannot support 100Mbps Ethernet because of the high frequencies involved. So 100BaseT needed a new interface, and the 802.3u specifications created one called the Media Independent Interface (MII), which provides 100Mbps throughput. The MII uses a nibble, defined as 4 bits. Gigabit Ethernet uses a Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII) and transmits 8 bits at a time.
802.3u (Fast Ethernet) is compatible with 802.3 Ethernet because they share the same physical characteristics. Fast Ethernet and Ethernet use the same maximum transmission unit (MTU), use the same MAC mechanisms, and preserve the frame format that is used by 10BaseT Ethernet. Basically, Fast Ethernet is just based on an extension to the IEEE 802.3 specification, except that it offers a speed increase of 10 times that of 10BaseT.
Here are the expanded IEEE Ethernet 802.3 standards:
100BaseTX (IEEE 802.3u) EIA/TIA category 5, 6, or 7 UTP two-pair wiring. One user per segment; up to 100 meters long. It uses an RJ-45 connector with a physical star topology and a logical bus.
100BaseFX (IEEE 802.3u) Uses fiber cabling 62.5/125-micron multimode fiber. Point-topoint topology; up to 412 meters long. It uses an ST or SC connector, which are media-interface connectors.
1000BaseCX (IEEE 802.3z) Copper twisted-pair called twinax (a balanced coaxial pair) that can only run up to 25 meters.
1000BaseT (IEEE 802.3ab) Category 5, four-pair UTP wiring up to 100 meters long.
1000BaseSX (IEEE 802.3z) MMF using 62.5- and 50-micron core; uses a 850 nanometer laser and can go up to 220 meters with 62.5-micron, 550 meters with 50-micron.
1000BaseLX (IEE 802.3z) Single-mode fiber that uses a 9-micron core and 1300 nanometer laser, and can go from 3 kilometers up to 10 kilometers.
100VG-AnyLAN is a twisted-pair technology that was the first 100Mbps LAN. But since it was incompatible with Ethernet signaling techniques (it used a demand priority access method), it wasn’t very popular, and is now essentially dead.
