Networking Fundamentals

Frequency

Frequency can be defined as the number of times a specific event occurs in a specified period of time. Looking at Figure 4.4, we can see that when the wave signal has returned to its starting point, it has completed a single RF signal cycle. Each cycle is measured in hertz (Hz):

Figure 4.4: RF signal cycle

Frequency is defined by the number of cycles it completes in one second. One cycle per second is 1 Hz. Figure 4.5 shows radio waves at two different frequencies. The top wave has a lower frequency (2 Hz) than the bottom wave, which is ~9 Hz. The higher the frequency, the more data can be transmitted per second. However, higher ...