TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

ISMN 5270/6270/6276 Chetan Sankar, Auburn University

Competitive Advantage
Competitive advantage provided by telecommunications Low-cost leadership (Wal-Mart) Focus on market niche (Netflix) Product and service differentiation (Expedia) Linkage to partners (Amazon)

The World is Flat: Thomas Friedman

IT is the duct tape and Elmers Glue of organization

Flatteners according to Friedman: 16 - 26

Collapse of Berlin Wall Windows Operating System Glut of fiber optics Work flow software: ERP

Basics of Telecommunications
Communication Model

SENDER

Channel

RECEIVER

Feedback

Fundamentals
Analog vs. Digital Analog information has continuous values
Ex. Temperature, vibration, time

Digital information has discrete values

Ex. Salary, steps on a ladder

Sine wave - Amplitude

+

Crest

Amplitude

Midpoint

Trough Time

Acoustic Frequency Bandwidth of various devices

Hertz Healthy ear Compact disk Cassette FM Radio and TV Human voice AM radio Telephone 20 50 100 300 4,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

Conversion
Analog to Digital (ADC) Continuous to Discrete Values Handled by modems
Modem Modulate/Demodulate

Digital to Analog (DAC) Discrete to Continuous Values Handled by codecs

Codec Code/Decode

Multimedia Translation
Four conversion processes Digital information on a digital network
Ex. ATM

Digital information on an analog network

Ex. Internet served through phone lines

Analog information on an analog network

Ex. Plain Old Telephone Service

Analog information on a digital network

Ex. VOIP (Skype)

Varieties of Digital Networks

Networks based on distance LANs, MANs, and WANs Networks based on ownership Public vs. Private Internet vs. Intranet

Circuit-Switched vs. Packet-Switched Determined by the connection between sender and receiver
Wired vs. Wireless

Internet
Routers and Hosts Routers distribute packets to the appropriate host throughout the network TCP/IP Protocol

Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Five-layer Model

Some merge lower two

TCP/IP Layers Application T ransport Internet Data Link Physical

layers for a four-layer model.

Table 3.9 TCP/IP Five

Layer Model

Internet (contd)
IP Addressing 32-bit integers Allows for 4.3 billion different addresses Identifies the ISP, the network, and the host

Wireless Networks
Analog User connects to a cell, which connects to a nearby transmitter Ex. Cellular phones Digital Personal Communications Services (PCS) Covers a wider area Is more personal due to varying networks Importance of radio transmission in cell phones

Cell tower up close; the top

Satellite Networks
Types of satellites Geostationary
Remains over the same spot on Earth

Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO)
Maintains a constant altitude of a few hundred miles

Highly Elliptic Orbiting Satellite (HEO)

Moves in elliptic circles Moves more rapidly at their lowest altitude

Full communications coverage provided by three geostationary satellites