EET 3533

Introduction to
Telecommunication
s
Unit 1: Telecommunications Concepts
Or Here is a flyover from 50,000 feet.
Dr. Antone Kusmanof

Presentation Reference: The slide set for William Stallings 10 th edition

of Data and Computer Communications was the basis for most of the
slides in this course (with helpful additions, coloring and figure
1
animations from your instructor)

Course Objectives
(Theory)
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit
Unit

01)
02)
03)
04)
05)
06)
07)
08)
09)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)

Introduction
High level Protocols
Data Transmission
Transmission Media
Signaling Techniques
Handling Errors
Low Level Protocols
Multiplexing
Circuit Switching
Cellular
Local Area Networks
Ethernet
Wireless LANs
Wireless Transmissions
Internet Protocol
2

Course Objectives
(Theory)
Unit 01) Introduction
Unit 02) High level Protocols
Unit 03) Data Transmission
Unit 04) Transmission Media
Unit 05) Signaling Techniques
Unit 06) Handling Errors
Unit 07) Low Level Protocols
Unit 08) Multiplexing
Unit 09) Circuit Switching
Unit 10) Cellular
Unit 11) Local Area Networks
Unit 12) Ethernet
Unit 13) Wireless LANs
Unit 14) Wireless Transmissions
Unit 15) Internet Protocol
3

The fundamental problem of communication is

that of reproducing at one point either exactly
or approximately a message selected at
another point
- The Mathematical Theory of
Communication,
Claude Shannon

Unit 01: Introduction

Transmission mediums
Radio Frequency
telecommunications:
Fiber optic
Data Traffic growth
Wireless
Development of new
Network categories:
digital services
Wide Area Networks
Advances in
Local Area Networks
technology
Wireless Networks
Data Transmission
Internet

Trends challenging

and Network
Capacity
Requirements
Convergence

Origin
Key elements
Internet architecture

Driving Forces

For Cable Internet

Subscribers
160

Averagedata rateper subscriber (kbps)

140
120

Other protocols
Web browsing

100

Peer-to-peer
80

Streaming media

60
40
20

J anuary 2010

J anuary 2011

Figure1.1 AverageDownstreamTraffic per Internet Subscriber

Todays Notable Trends

Projected Growth

Changes in Networking Technology

* Emergence of high-speed LANs

*

Corporate WAN needs

Digital
electronics

Emergence of HighSpeed LANs

Personal computers and microcomputer workstations have

become an essential tool for office workers

Examples of requirements that call for higher-speed LANs:

Centralized server farms
Power workgroups
High-speed local backbone

Wide Area Networking Needs

Digital Electronics
Consumer electronics going into digital

technology had an impact on the Internet and

corporate intranets
Images and video traffic carried by
communication networks is dramatically
increasing
Because of their huge storage capacity digital
versatile disks (DVDs) are being incorporated
into Web sites
Digital camcorders make it easy to build digital
video files to be placed on corporate and Internet
Web sites

Technology Convergence
The merger of previously distinct

telephony and information

technologies and data markets
Conversion Involves:
Moving voice and video

into a data infrastructure

Integrating all the voice
and data networks inside
a user organization into a
single data network
infrastructure
Then extending that into the wireless
arena

Foundation is packet-based

transmission using the Internet

Protocol (IP)
Increases the function and scope of
both the infrastructure and the
application base

Enterprise services
Services the
Infrastructure
information
network
Communication
supplies to
links available
support
to the
applications
enterprise

Simple Telecommunications Model

Key Telecommunications Tasks

Transmission System

Utilization
Interfacing
Signal Generation
Synchronization
Exchange
Management
Error Detection and
correction

Flow Control
Addressing
Routing
Recovery
Message Formatting
Security
Network Management

Data Communication
Focus

Transmission Lines
The basic building block of

a communications facility
are the transmission lines
How transmission lines do
their jobs is not a business
managers main concern
Business managers are
mainly concerned with the
facility providing required
capacity, with acceptable
reliability, at lowest cost
But informed decisions
need data communication
technology understanding

Capacity

Reliabilit
y
Cost
Transmission
Line Concerns

Transmission Mediums
Two newer telecommunication mediums are currently driving

the revolution of data communications

Fiber optic transmissions
Wireless transmissions

Business premises: Choice is up to the business (CIO)

Long-distance: Long-distance carrier determines how
Cost of fiber optics has dropped and capacity has grown
Almost all of the US long-distance telephone communications

trunks and highest speed Internet links are fiber optic cable
It is becoming increasingly used in office buildings and in
local area networks to carry the load of business information.
Long haul remotely linked telecommunication circuits are still
carried by Microwave Radio Frequency Transmissions
Cell phones and wireless technology is supported with Radio
Frequency transmissions

Transmission Mediums
Increased use of wireless transmission is a result of two trends
Personal telecommunications: Ability of a person to a single
account to use any communication system anytime-anywhere
Universal access to communications: Ability to use ones
preferred computing device to connect to information services
Wireless LANs are common components of enterprise

networks, small office and home office networks

Smartphones, tablets, etc are rapidly becoming mainstream
business user communications devices
Mobility has the potential for higher performance at all
business levels: personal, workgroup, and enterprise-wide
Compelling rationale for business investment in wireless

Transmission Services
The most costly component of a communications

budget
Two major approaches to gain greater efficiency:

Networks
It is estimated that by 2016 there will be
Howover
Many?20

billion fixed and mobile networked devices

This afects traffic volume in a number of ways:
A user can be continuously consuming network

capacity
Capacity is consumed by many devices
simultaneously
Broadband devices can enable diferent
applications which have greater traffic generation
capability

Networking
Advances in technology have led to greatly

increased capacity and the concept of

integration, allowing equipment and networks to
work simultaneously
Voic
e

Data

Imag
e

Vide
o

Wide Area Networks

(WANs)
Generally span a large geographical area
Require the crossing of public right-of-ways
Rely in part on common carrier circuits
Consist of a number of interconnected switching

nodes
Alternative technologies used include:
Circuit switching
Packet switching
Frame relay
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

Circuit Switching
Uses a dedicated communications path
Connected sequence of physical links between

nodes
Logical channel dedicated on each link
Rapid transmission
The most common example of circuit switching
is the telephone network

Packet Switching
Data are sent out in a sequence of chunks called

packets
Packets are passed from node to node along a
path leading from source to destination
Packet-switching networks are commonly used
for terminal-to-terminal computer and computerto-computer communications

Frame Relay
Developed to take advantage of high data rates

and low error rates

Operates at data rates of up to 2 Mbps
Key to achieving high data rates is to strip out
most of the overhead involved with error control

Asynchronous Transfer Mode

Referred to as cell relay
Culmination of developments in circuit switching

and packet switching

Uses fixed-length packets called cells
Works in range of 10s and 100s of Mbps in the
Gbps range
Allows multiple channels with the data rate on
each channel dynamically set on demand

Local Area Networks

(LAN)
Smaller scope,
typically a single
building

LANs are usually

owned by the same
organization that
owns attached
devices
LAN

Internal data rates

greater than WANs

Most common
configurations are
switched LANs and
wireless LANs

The Internet
Internet evolved from ARPANET
Developed to solve the dilemma of

communicating across arbitrary, multiple,

packet-switched networks
Foundation is the TCP/IP protocol suite

Key Elements of the

Internet
Standalone
Mainframe

Local Area
Network

Ethernet
switch

Router
WideArea Network
(e.g. ATM)

Router

Router

WideArea Network
(e.g. ATM)

Local Area
Network
Ethernet
switch

Router

Information
server

Figure1.5 Key Elements of theInternet

LAN PCs
and workstations

Simplified Internet
Portion

Telecommunications Terminology
Central Office (CO)
The place where telephone companies terminate
customer lines and locate switching equipment to
interconnect those lines with other networks
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)
Telecommunications equipment that is located on

the customers premises

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A company that provides other companies or
individuals with access to, or presence on, the
Internet

Telecommunications Terminology
Network Access Point (NAP)
One of several major Internet interconnection
points that serve to tie all the ISPs together
Network Service Provider (NSP)
A company that provides backbone services to an

Internet service provider (ISP)

Point of Presence (POP)

A site that has a collection of telecommunications
equipment, usually refers to ISP or telephone
company sites

Typical Communication Network

IP Back Bone
Surrounded by routers
Edge Routers or aggregate routers
An Enterprise network in the upper portion of

figure
Connected with ATM WAN
Separated from IP backbone with firewall

Lower left small business with router and DSL

Lower right has my home network
And finally there is the Cellular network for

mobility
36

Summary
Transmission mediums
Radio Frequency
telecommunications:
Fiber optic
Data Traffic growth
Wireless
Development of new
Network categories:
digital services
Wide Area Networks
Advances in
Local Area Networks
technology
Wireless Networks
Data Transmission
Internet

Trends challenging

and Network
Capacity
Requirements
Convergence

Origin
Key elements
Internet architecture

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