Users: Which Type Of Network Medium Would You Use — Guided Q ✓ Solved

Users: Which type of network medium would you use — guided o

Users: Which type of network medium would you use — guided or unguided? What is your first priority? 1) transfer data as quickly as possible (you may lose some data). 2) data may be delayed but not lost. Sports Complex Management (Staff): How many hops do you require? What is your first priority? 1) transfer data as quickly as possible (you may lose some data). 2) data may be delayed but not lost.

Paper For Above Instructions

Executive summary

This paper compares guided and unguided network media and recommends architectures and transport priorities for two stakeholders: general users and staff of a sports complex. It evaluates trade-offs between minimizing latency (and tolerating some loss) versus ensuring in-order, lossless delivery with possible delay. It also discusses recommended hop counts and practical deployment guidance including technologies, QoS, and redundancy approaches. Recommendations prioritize a hybrid approach: guided backbone for capacity and reliability plus controlled unguided access for mobility and convenience.

Definitions and fundamental trade-offs

Guided media (copper twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber optic) confines signals to physical paths and delivers higher capacity, lower error rates, and predictable latency; unguided media (radio, microwave, infrared, cellular) propagates through the atmosphere and provides mobility at the expense of variable latency, interference, and higher loss probability (Stallings, 2013; Tanenbaum, 2011). Transport priority choices map to protocol and physical-layer decisions: choosing speed-over-reliability aligns with using low-latency transports (e.g., UDP and real-time codecs) and high-throughput links; choosing reliability-over-speed aligns with TCP-style reliable transfers, retransmission mechanisms, and guided media with error-free characteristics (RFC 768; RFC 793; Forouzan, 2007).

Recommendation for Users (general consumers)

Primary use cases for users typically include web browsing, video streaming, file downloads, and real-time communications. If the user's first priority is "transfer data as quickly as possible and occasional loss is acceptable" (priority 1), then an unguided wireless access such as Wi‑Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) or cellular 4G/5G is appropriate for mobility and low-latency paths combined with UDP-optimized streaming and adaptive codecs (IEEE 802.11ax, 2021; 3GPP, 2020). For live video or voice, RTP/UDP with adaptive jitter buffers and forward error correction (FEC) can preserve perceived quality while tolerating packet loss (Schulzrinne et al., standards).

If the user's priority is "delayed but not lost" (priority 2), a guided medium (fiber-to-home, cable broadband, or Ethernet) plus reliable transport (TCP or application-layer acknowledgements) is preferable. Guided media give lower bit error rates and higher throughput for bulk transfers, and retransmission-based reliability prevents data loss at the cost of variable latency (Stallings, 2013; Tanenbaum, 2011).

Recommendation for Sports Complex Management (staff)

Staff in a sports complex operate use cases that include ticketing/point-of-sale, real-time scoreboard feeds, live-streaming of events, security camera feeds, and operational telemetry. For staff, reliability and predictability are typically more important for transactional systems (payments, ticketing, database updates) while live video and score updates demand low latency.

How many hops are required? Architecturally, minimize hops between critical endpoints: 1–3 hops is the ideal within a campus environment (client → access switch → aggregation/core → server). Each additional hop adds processing and queuing delay and increases failure domains; keeping traffic on the local LAN (1–2 hops) is best for low latency and reliability (Cisco campus design guidance, 2019).

Priority choices for staff:

  • Transactional systems (payments, booking, staff communications): choose priority 2 (delay acceptable but no loss). Use guided media (fiber backbone, Cat6/6A at access), VLAN segmentation, redundant paths (STP or modern fabric with rapid convergence), and TCP-based services with strong acknowledgements and regular backups (Stallings, 2013; Forouzan, 2007).
  • Real-time operational feeds (scoreboard, live scoreboard control, time-critical alerts): choose a hybrid approach. Use a guided wired backbone to serve low-latency, deterministic links to edge devices and dedicated wireless for handsets where mobility is needed. Apply QoS to prioritize control and telemetry packets over bulk traffic to ensure prompt delivery (Cisco QoS design, 2019).
  • Live video for spectators: can tolerate some loss but needs high throughput and low latency — use a guided backbone to the edge and Wi‑Fi 6 / 5G for client access with multicast/edge caching for streaming (IEEE 802.11ax; 3GPP, 2020).

Practical architecture and technology choices

Recommended campus architecture: fiber optic backbone connecting core and distribution switches (ITU-T fiber recommendations), PoE-enabled access switches, Wi‑Fi 6 access points for guest and staff mobile devices, and a segmented LAN for critical services (Ekahau venue design, 2018; ITU-T, 2018). Minimize hops by colocating edge servers (CDN nodes, authentication, and application servers) on-premises so most traffic remains local. Implement QoS and traffic shaping to allocate bandwidth to payment systems and control traffic; use redundancy via dual-homed switches and redundant uplinks to achieve high availability (Cisco, 2019).

For transport-layer decisions: use TCP for reliability where data must not be lost. For low-latency streaming where occasional packet loss is preferable to higher latency, use UDP with FEC and application-layer retransmissions as necessary (RFC 768; Schulzrinne et al.). When both reliability and low latency are needed (e.g., control messages), use application-layer techniques such as prioritized small TCP transactions or hybrid protocols.

Operational controls and monitoring

Deploy monitoring (NetFlow, SNMP, active probes) and SLA enforcement to measure hop count, latency, jitter, and packet loss (Stallings, 2013). Implement admission control for wireless to prevent congestion in peak events. Use edge caching/CDN for video to reduce backbone load and hops to origin servers. Provide a failover access method (cellular backup) to preserve critical transactional connectivity if wired paths fail (3GPP 5G reliability recommendations).

Conclusion

Summary recommendations:

  • Users prioritizing speed over loss: use high-performance wireless (Wi‑Fi 6, 5G) with UDP-based streaming and adaptive codecs.
  • Users prioritizing reliability: use guided media (fiber/Ethernet) and reliable transports (TCP).
  • Sports complex staff should minimize hops (1–3 inside campus), use a guided fiber backbone for capacity and reliability, and reserve wireless for mobility and spectators. Prioritize reliability for transactional systems and a hybrid low-latency approach for operational feeds and live video.

These choices balance latency, loss, scalability, and operational risk. A hybrid guided-backbone + managed wireless access architecture with appropriate QoS and monitoring meets the needs of both user groups while keeping hops low for critical services and offering fast, mobile access where loss is tolerable.

References

  1. Stallings, W. (2013). Data and Computer Communications. Pearson Education. (Discusses media characteristics, error rates, and protocols.)
  2. Tanenbaum, A. S. (2011). Computer Networks. Prentice Hall. (Covers guided vs. unguided media and network design fundamentals.)
  3. Forouzan, B. A. (2007). Data Communications and Networking. McGraw-Hill. (Transport and data link layer mechanisms.)
  4. IEEE 802.11ax Standard. (2021). IEEE. (Specification and performance expectations for Wi‑Fi 6.)
  5. Cisco Systems. (2019). Campus Network Design and QoS Best Practices. Cisco White Paper. (Guidance on hop minimization, QoS, and redundancy.)
  6. RFC 768. (1980). User Datagram Protocol (UDP). IETF. (Describes UDP for low-latency, unreliable transport.)
  7. RFC 793. (1981). Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). IETF. (Describes reliable, connection-oriented transport.)
  8. 3GPP. (2020). 5G System Overview and QoS Guidelines. 3GPP Technical Specification Series. (Cellular options for low-latency and high-reliability connectivity.)
  9. ITU-T. (2018). Recommendations on Optical Fibre and Cable Infrastructure. International Telecommunication Union. (Guidance on fiber backbone deployments.)
  10. Ekahau. (2018). Large Venue Wi‑Fi Design Guide. Ekahau White Paper. (Best practices for Wi‑Fi in stadiums and sports complexes.)

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