Introduction to Data Communications
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Propagation delay for a specific cable length in meters is calculated by:

What is the propagation delay for a 500 m length of 10Base5 cable?

Maximum Number of Segments

Maximum of 5 segments (with 4 repeaters) can be along the path between any 2 network nodes: 3 may be coax segments having a maximum delay of 2.165 uSec and 2 may be link segments having a maximum delay of 2.570 uSec.

With no link segments used 3 populated coax segments can exist on a path.

5-4-3 Rule

The 5-4-3 Rule states that you are allowed 5 segments with 4 repeaters and 3 populated segments.

Maximum Transfer Rate

The Maximum Data Transfer Rate for IEEE 802.3 is 10 Mbps (10,000,000 bits per second of data). In actual fact, data transfer is dependant on how many users are fighting for the bus and how fast the user's data can get on the bus.

Physical Bus/Logical Bus

IEEE 802.3 is a Physical Bus - the cable is physically laid out as 1 long cable with the network nodes attached to it. It is also treated as a Logical Bus - electronically and logically it appears as 1 long cable with the network nodes attached to it.

Introduction to Data Communications
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