Telecommunications

Tutorial
 Telecommunication

• is the transmission of signals

over a distance for the purpose
of communication.
 The basic elements of a
telecommunication system
• 1) A transmitter that takes information and converts it to
a signal or code for transmission.
a. The transmission may be a broadcast transmission
that is sent to multiple receivers or a point-to-point
transmission to a single receiver.
• 2) A transmission medium over which the signal is
transmitted.
a. Common mediums are: free space, cable, and optical
fiber.
• 3) A receiver that converts the signal back to useable
information.
a. Some systems use transceivers which serve as both
transmitter and receiver (ex. Telephone).
 Telecommunication Networks
• The elements of a system may be linked with other
systems to form a network of systems that
communicate with each other.
• Modern telecommunication systems use either an
analogue or a digital signal.
• Varying the modulation creates analogue signals.
• Digital signals use a series of 1s and 0 s as a code.
 Telecommunication Networks
• Private Networks: a group of two or more
computer systems linked together which does
not provide outside access.
• Computers deliver Digital Information, the
concept of meaning, knowledge, instruction,
communication, representation, and mental
stimulus through the Internet and other
electronic resources, using digital code.
Internet-The biggest computer network reaching
millions of people on interconnected networks.
• The Internet began in 1940 when George Stibitz transmitted
problems from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire over
teletype to his Complex Number Calculator in New York.
• A four node network developed between UCLA, the
Stanford Research Institute, the University of Utah and the
University of California, Santa Barbara during the late 60s.
• This network known as ARPANET had grown to 213 nodes
by the early 80s.
 “LANs , WANs, and the WWW”
• Local area networks (LANs) begin to develop.
• Wide Area networks (WANs) consisting of two or
more LANs connected by host computers formed
covering wider geographical areas.
• These early networks formed the World Wide
Web (WWW) eventually allowing users access to
text, graphics, sound and video.
• There was no master plan or oversight, an
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) was developed by
non-profit organizations as the WWW continued to
grow.
 Internet Service Providers (ISP).
• ISP companies (ex:AOL, Earthnet) offer connection to the
Internet through servers and routers. Servers are powerful
computers with large databases of internet addresses;
routers are computers that direct the server to the quickest
path to an internet site.
• To connect to the ISP company’s server the user must have
matching web browser software. The web browser gives
the computer instructions about transforming data to
protocol the server recognizes.
• The user’s computer connects through a modem that
transfers the digital signal into a signal suitable for the
transmission medium to the ISPs server.
 Internet Protocol (IP):
• Internet servers use IP addresses to identify
individual computers web locations.
• IP addresses are a series of numbers that are
sequenced in a manner to identify locations by
subdivisions, much as phone numbers and zip codes
do.
 Domain Name System
• The University of Wisconsin created the Domain
Name System (DNS) in 1983.
• The system links text names to IP addresses
automatically.
• Web addresses known as Uniform Resource
Locators (URL) use specific text domain names that
often give hints to the content of the site or e-mail
address.
 Web page addresses
• For example our school web page’s address is
http://www.buncombe.k12.nc.us/ems/site/default.asp
• URL addresses are divided into four sections:
– The protocal (“http”)
– The server name (“www”)
– The file name (buncombe.k12.nc.us/ems/site/default),
- First level domain names (.asp)
 First Level Domain Addresses
The .asp at the end of the URL is the school site’s first level
domain. First level domain addresses identify the type of
site being located, they include:
• .asp - application software provider
• .com- commercial sites
• .org- organizations
• .net- networks
• .edu- education (primarily used by universities)
• .gov- government
 Domain Levels
Each sequent domain level of the file farther identifies the
site. Our school’s site
http://www.buncombe.k12.nc.us/ems/site/default.asp
has:
• .us (United States)
• .NC (North Carolina),
• .buncombe
• /ems (Enka Middle School)
among its domain levels to help identify the site.
 Web-sites
• Websites begin with a homepage, which not only
introduces the site but also uses links to jump to other
pages within the site when clicked.
• Hyperlinks and hypertext take the user to related
information in other sites.
• The navigation of a site may use button bars or other
graphics which are highlighted in a different color than
the other text and graphic borders to help identify the
link.
• A small hand appears on the screen when the pointer is
over a link.
 Types of Web-sites
• Blog, short for Web log, is a webpage that
serves as a publicly accessible personal journal
for an individual. Typically updated daily, they
often reflect the personality of the author.
• Threaded Discussion is a set of related
messages in an online group or e-mail. One of
these includes the initial message and all replies
to that message.
 Types of Web-sites
• Bulletin boards: sites on which online
discussion groups participate in forums, an
exchange of open messages with participants
with common interests.
 Internet/ Web-Site Features
• Computers may have filters using content control
software to screen content from web-sites.
• Bookmarks/Favorites allows the computer to
form a list of URL addresses for often used web
sites. The sites may be opened with a click
without typing in URL addresses
• File Transfer Protocol allows the exchange of
files over the internet.
 Internet/ Web-Site Features
• Data streaming a technique for transferring data
such that it can be processed as a steady and
continuous flow. Data streaming allows web sites
to show short video clips.
• WYSIWYG, pronounced “wizzy wig”, is an
acronym for “What You See Is What You Get”.
A feature which allows text and graphics shown
by a website to exactly match a printout of the
page.
 Search Engines
• Search engines are large databases of web site
URLs.
• Commercial Search Engines such as Google and
Yahoo were developed to help navigate the Web.
• Users of search engines use search strategies to
locate pertinent information.
– Try to guess the URL.
– Use subject directories provided by the search engine.
– Use keyword search provided by the search engine’s database to
look for matches or “hits” of the keyword(s) use in the web site.
 E-mail (electronic mail):
• Has become one of the most widely used types of
communication.
• E-Mail is used by individuals or companies to
communicate written messages to other
individuals or companies.
• Unsolicited e-mail or Spam is used in mass
mailings to advertise products or causes. Often
referred to as junk mail it can clog e-mail
accounts.
 E-Mail
• E-mail addresses use URL addresses with
domain name levels to locate the e-mail server.
The email server has a list of user names to
which it routes incoming e-mail messages.
 User Name
The user name is located before the @
sign in the URL addresses. For example
in the e-mail address:
someonesname@bcsemail.org
• someonesname is the username
• the @ symbol serves as the divider
• bcsemail.org is the server name.