Physical Layer - List of Services

List of Services

The major functions and services performed by the physical layer are:

  • Bit-by-bit or symbol-by-symbol delivery
  • Providing a standardized interface to physical transmission media, including
    • Mechanical specification of electrical connectors and cables, for example maximum cable length
    • Electrical specification of transmission line signal level and impedance
    • Radio interface, including electromagnetic spectrum frequency allocation and specification of signal strength, analog bandwidth, etc.
    • Specifications for IR over optical fiber or a wireless IR communication link
  • Modulation
  • Line coding
  • Bit synchronization in synchronous serial communication
  • Start-stop signalling and flow control in asynchronous serial communication
  • Circuit switching
  • Multiplexing
    • Establishment and termination of circuit switched connections
  • Carrier sense and collision detection utilized by some level 2 multiple access protocols
  • Equalization filtering, training sequences, pulse shaping and other signal processing of physical signals
  • Forward error correction for example bitwise convolutional coding
  • Bit-interleaving and other channel coding

The physical layer is also concerned with

  • Bit rate
  • Point-to-point, multipoint or point-to-multipoint line configuration
  • Physical network topology, for example bus, ring, mesh or star network
  • Serial or parallel communication
  • Simplex, half duplex or full duplex transmission mode
  • Autonegotiation

Read more about this topic:  Physical Layer

Famous quotes containing the words list of, list and/or services:

    The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)

    Modern tourist guides have helped raised tourist expectations. And they have provided the natives—from Kaiser Wilhelm down to the villagers of Chichacestenango—with a detailed and itemized list of what is expected of them and when. These are the up-to- date scripts for actors on the tourists’ stage.
    Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)

    The community and family networks which helped sustain earlier generations have become scarcer for growing numbers of young parents. Those who lack links to these traditional sources of support are hard-pressed to find other resources, given the emphasis in our society on providing treatment services, rather than preventive services and support for health maintenance and well-being.
    Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)