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How do you make data move?

Creating connections with electromagnetic waves

How, exactly, does information travel from one device to another in today’s digital age? Explore how electromagnetic waves make it possible and see how broadband has evolved over the years to make connections even faster and more reliable.

Part One

Starting with the spectrum

So many factors affect how we transmit data, but it all starts with the electromagnetic spectrum.

Explore some of the many ways electromagnetic waves impact your everyday life and transmit data.

The electromagnetic spectrum

Line wavelength that becomes compressed on the right side
Radio antenna dish with signal waves coming out of it.
Microwave
Remote control with signal waves coming out of it
Open eye
Sun with rays extending out from it
Xray picture showing a rib cage
Radiation warning symbol

Radio waves

Used in radio and TV broadcasting.

Microwaves

Used in microwave ovens, radar, satellite communication, and Wi-Fi.

Infrared waves

Heat-transmitting waves used in thermal imaging cameras, meteorology, and even remote controls.

Visible light spectrum

Waves that objects reflect, allowing our eyes and brains to process the color of the object.

Ultraviolet waves

Come from the Sun, mostly absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere but can also cause sunburn.

X-rays

Used in X-ray scans to see the inside of bodies or thing.

Gamma rays

Highest energy, highest frequency, and shortest wavelength of any electromagnetic waves; can be used in medicine to kill cancer cells.

Properties of waves

Energy
Frequency
Wavelength

Transmitted by waves, generated by electrons moving through space at the speed of light.

How many waves pass a given point each second, measured in Hertz.

The distance from the crest of one wave to the next.

Spectrum management

Spectrum management is the process of regulating the use of radio frequencies to promote efficient use and gain a net social benefit.

It’s almost like the Tragedy of the Commons, an economics problem in which individuals have an incentive to use a resource at the expense of other individuals with no way of excluding or regulating use.

For example, if shepherds all acted in their own best interest and allowed their sheep to graze as much as they want in a common field,Bar divided in half with an arrow pointing to the rightthe grass would all be eaten, which is detrimental for everyone.

Likewise, a lack of regulation around the use of radio frequencies would clog up communication and prevent people from communicating.

Part Two

Moving data by modulating waves

As electromagnetic waves move data, modulation minimizes interference along the way.

More properties of waves

Amplitude
Phase

The maximum distance from the rest position to the top of a wave’s crest or the lowest point in a trough.

The relationship between the position of the amplitude crests and troughs of two waveforms with the same frequency and wavelength. If the peaks of the two signals are aligned at the same time, they’re “in phase.”

Modulation

Modulation uses a high frequency wave as a carrier signal, varying a property of that signal in accordance with the message signal.

  • Carrier Signal

  • Message Signal

  • Modulated Signal

Transmitting electromagnetic waves without modulation is like trying to throw a feather across a room. Modulating waves to a high frequency channel is like attaching your feather to an arrow.

Bow and arrow

Analog modulation methods are commonly used for radio stations.

  • Illustration of amplitude modulation

    Amplitude modulation (AM):
    Constant frequency, modulated amplitude

  • Illustration of frequency modulation

    Frequency modulation (FM):
    Constant amplitude, modulated frequency

Digital modulation uses a modem—short for "Modulator-Demodulator”—a hardware component that allows a computer or another device to connect to the Internet through a form of modulation called shift-keying .

Illustration of digital modulation

Part Three

From dial-up connections to future-ready fiber

As long as we’ve been modulating and transmitting data with electromagnetic waves, we’ve been innovating infrastructure to make the process even better.

"To keep you connected, broadband providers use the vast ocean of the electromagnetic spectrum to carry your data on waves of energy. Whether wireless or wired, electrical or optical, it all flows where it needs to go. Orchestrating this complex and sophisticated dance of waves and signals is what we do and how your data moves."

Jon Pederson, Chief Technology Innovation Officer of Midco

As we look to the future of broadband, exciting new infrastructure will help make sure our connections can keep up with the data we want to transmit.

Remember when you couldn’t use the landline in your house if someone was on the internet? That’s because the earliest internet access came from dial-up connections, an analog signal carried over phone lines.

Newer cable types help us transmit data faster and more reliably

Twisted cable
Twisted pair cable
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable
Fiber cable
Fiber

Twisted pair cable

  • Intertwined insulated wires run parallel to each other
  • Used for telephone communications and most modern Ethernet networks
  • Durable and fairly cost-effective, though still somewhat susceptible to interference

Coaxial cable

  • A single copper core as an inner conductor surrounded by an insulating layer
  • Used with a cable modem to provide cable internet, but can also be used to provide cable TV
  • Anti-jamming capabilities to help protect from signal interference
  • 80x more transmission capacity than twisted pair cables

Fiber

  • Optic fibers in an Ethernet cable
  • Use light instead of electrical pulses to move data
  • Fastest option available today, resistant to interference
  • Can be used with existing coaxial cable in a hybrid coax model, with the fiber network extending from the cable provider’s master facility (or “headend”) out into a hub site where coaxial cable nodes take over to serve groups of homes

The hybrid fiber-coax model

As providers look to future-proof their broadband infrastructure with fiber, they’re even able to combine it with existing coaxial cable in a hybrid fiber-coax model.

The fiber network extends from the cable provider’s master facility, or “headend”, and out to a hub site in a neighborhood, where coaxial cable nodes take over to serve groups of homes.