250+ TOP MCQs on Physical Layer and Answers

Computer Networks Multiple Choice Questions on “Physical Layer”.

1. The physical layer is concerned with ___________
a) bit-by-bit delivery
p) process to process delivery
c) application to application delivery
d) port to port delivery

Answer: a
Clarification: Physical layer deals with bit to bit delivery in networking. The data unit in the physical layer is bits. Process to process delivery or the port to port delivery is dealt in the transport layer. The various transmission mediums aid the physical layer in performing its functions.

2. Which transmission media provides the highest transmission speed in a network?
a) coaxial cable
b) twisted pair cable
c) optical fiber
d) electrical cable

Answer: c
Clarification: Fiber optics is considered to have the highest transmission speed among the all mentioned above. The fiber optics transmission runs at 1000Mb/s. It is called as 1000Base-Lx whereas IEEE standard for it is 802.3z. It is popularly used for modern day network connections due to its high transmission rate.

3. Bits can be sent over guided and unguided media as analog signal by ___________
a) digital modulation
b) amplitude modulation
c) frequency modulation
d) phase modulation

Answer: a
Clarification: In analog modulation, digital low frequency baseband signal (digital bit stream) is transmitted over a higher frequency. Whereas in digital modulation the only difference is that the base band signal is of discrete amplitude level. The bits are represented by only two frequency levels, one for high and one for low.

4. The portion of physical layer that interfaces with the media access control sublayer is called ___________
a) physical signalling sublayer
b) physical data sublayer
c) physical address sublayer
d) physical transport sublayer

Answer: a
Clarification: The portion of physical layer that interfaces with the medium access control sublayer is Physical Signaling Sublayer. The main function of this layer is character encoding, reception, decoding and performs optional isolation functions. It handles which media connection the signal should be forwarded to physically.

5. The physical layer provides __________
a) mechanical specifications of electrical connectors and cables
b) electrical specification of transmission line signal level
c) specification for IR over optical fiber
d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d
Clarification: Anything dealing with a network cable or the standards in use – including pins, connectors and the electric current used is dealt in the physical layer (Layer 1). Physical layer deals with bit to bit delivery of the data aided by the various transmission mediums.

6. In asynchronous serial communication the physical layer provides ___________
a) start and stop signalling
b) flow control
c) both start & stop signalling and flow control
d) only start signalling

Answer: c
Clarification: In asynchronous serial communication, the communication is not synchronized by clock signal. Instead of a start and stop signaling and flow control method is followed. Unlike asynchronous serial communication, in synchronous serial communication a clock signal is used for communication, so the start and stop method is not really required.

7. The physical layer is responsible for __________
a) line coding
b) channel coding
c) modulation
d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d
Clarification: The physical layer is responsible for line coding, channel coding and modulation that is needed for the transmission of the information. The physical configuration including pins, connectors and the electric current used is dealt in the physical layer based on the requirement of the network application.

8. The physical layer translates logical communication requests from the ______ into hardware specific operations.
a) data link layer
b) network layer
c) trasnport layer
d) application layer

Answer: a
Clarification: Physical layer accepts data or information from the data link layer and converts it into hardware specific operations so as to transfer the message through physical cables. Some examples of the cables used are optical fiber cables, twisted pair cables and co-axial cables.

9. A single channel is shared by multiple signals by ____________
a) analog modulation
b) digital modulation
c) multiplexing
d) phase modulation

Answer: c
Clarification: In communication and computer networks, the main goal is to share a scarce resource. This is done by multiplexing, where multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The multiple kinds of signals are designated by the transport layer which is the layer present on a higher level than the physical layer.

10. Wireless transmission of signals can be done via ___________
a) radio waves
b) microwaves
c) infrared
d) all of the mentioned

Answer: d
Clarification: Wireless transmission is carried out by radio waves, microwaves and IR waves. These waves range from 3 Khz to above 300 Ghz and are more suitable for wireless transmission. Radio waves can penetrate through walls and are used in radio communications, microwaves and infrared (IR) waves cannot penetrate through walls and are used for satellite communications and device communications respectively.