Introduction to

Telecommunications
Introduction to
Telecommunications
 Credits
 2 ( 2 lecture hours per week)
 Scheme of Evaluation
 Continuous assessment – 20% (assignments, quizzes)
 Examns – 80%
 Learning Objectives
 The basic concepts related to communication systems
 The difference between analog and digital
communications principles
 The difference between network topologies and types of
networks
 The operation of end user equipment in communications.
What is
Telecommunications ?
 One of the fastest-growing areas of
technology in the world.
 Rapid growth
 Businesses and individuals can access
information at electronic speed from
almost anywhere in the world.
 Businesses can provide better services
and products to their customers.
What is
Telecommunications?
 Communications
 Communicate
▪ to make common, to share, to impart, or
to transmit
▪ the activity associated with distributing or
exchanging information.
 tele
 distant
 telecommunications
 disciplines, means and methodologies
to communicate over distances
 transfer of information by
electromagnetic means
What is Information?

 Information is created or used in

every human and machine activity
 Information is distributed or
exchanged in communication
 Information needs to be quantified
 The sun has risen today
 The sun will rise tomorrow
 The sun will rise at 5.44 a.m. tomorrow
Historical Milestones
1800
s
 Mid 1800s: the telegraph, whereby letters were
translated into sounds manually, and vice-versa
 1858: The fist telegraph circuit established
between Galle and Colombo
 1864: James Clerk Maxwell predicts the existence of
radio waves
 1864: The International Telegraph Union founded, the
precursor to today’s International Telecommunications
Union (ITU)
 1866: The first transatlantic telegraph cable is laid
 1876: the telephone is invented
 1877: first private line telephones installed for
business use
Historical Milestones
1800
s
 1878 : First commercial telephone
exchange opened with 21 subscribers
 1879: National Bell Telephone Company
formed in the US
 1885: American Telephone and Telegraph
Company (AT&T) is established in New
York City....to establish telephone
communication to cities on the American
continent and elsewhere around the world
by wire, cable and "other appropriate
means“
Historical Milestones
1800
s
 1886: Heinrich Rudolph Hertz
demonstrates that rapid variations of
electric current could be projected into
space in the form of radio waves
similar to those of light and heat.
 1897: Wireless telegraph is patented
by Marconi
 1898: Wireless telegraphic connection
between England and France
established
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y

 1902: First bidirectional communication across

the Atlantic
 1914: First voice over radio transmission
 In 1925 John Logie Baird demonstrated the
transmission of moving pictures, and television
was born
 1927: Public demonstration of TV transmission
by wire
 1932: The International Telegraph Union is
renamed as The International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 20th century:
 1900: 855,900 telephones in the Bell
system
 1910: 5,883,000
 1920: 15,000,000
 1948: 30,000,000
 1956: 50,000,000
 1971: 100,000,000
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 1934 : Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) created in the US for telecom regulation
 1936 : First coaxial cable installed between New
York and Philadelphia for multi-channel telephone
systems
 1940: Broad band carrier systems are introduced
allowing for simultaneous calls over a single pair of
wires
 1945 : Arthur Clarke introduces the concept of
using satellites for communications
 1946: First commercial multi-channel high
frequency microwave radiotelephone system
introduced
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 1948: First public demonstration of
the transistor by Bell Telephone
Laboratories
 1955 : Initial trial installation of an
electronic switch
 1956: First transatlantic cable
goes into service with 36 channels
between Newfoundland and
Scotland
 Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 1962:
 world’s first international
telecommunications satellite, Telstar is
launched
 160 million telephones worldwide
 1965:
 The first commercial communications
satellite, Early Bird, is launched from Cape
Kennedy with 240 telephone circuits
 The first Soviet communications satellite,
Molniya 1 is launched. This carries out
transmissions of television programs
 The first commercial electronic switching
office goes into operation
 Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 1967: Bell Laboratories introduces a
wireless telephone extension
 1968: First computer network using
packet switching is established at the
US National Laboratory
 1969:
 Bell Labs creates the UNIX operating
system
 1973:
 Development of a common Internetwork
Protocol
 The first “Mobile Phone” call by Motorola
 1974: The term Internet is adopted
 Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
 1976 y
: AT&T installs its first digital
switch.
 1978: Field trials of the first cellular
system, AMPS
 1983:
 The fist cellular system goes into operation in
the US.
▪ 1 million subscribers by 1987
 UN declares the year as the World
Communications Year
 1984:The AT&T Divestiture creates seven
(7) regional Bell operating companies.
 1987: GSM, the first digital cellular
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 1988 :
 The first transatlantic fiber optic cable is
installed between USA and England/France
with 40, 000 channels
 1991
 Bell Labs develops photonic switching
 The first US digital cellular system introduced
 1992 – US introduces the first CDMA-
based digital cellular system introduced
 1993 –
 The first digital mobile network is established
in the U.S.
 The first web browser, Mosaic, is introduced
Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y

 1995 :
 100 million cellular subscribers in the U.S.
 30 million users on the Internet worldwide
 The Dot Com Bubble
 1999:
 The Internet envelopes the business
community as companies scramble to
ensure that they are ready to do business
via this "World Wide Web".
 The first release of UMTS (3G) standards
is completed
 Historical Milestones20 th

Centur
y
 2000:
 World’s first 3G/UMTS call
 2001:
 The first commercial WCDMA 3G mobile network
 9/11 attacks demonstrated the resilience of the telecom
infrastructure
 2002:
 SK Telecom in Korea launches the world's first commercial
CDMA2000 3G network
 Mobilkom Austria launches Europe's First UMTS-Network
 2003:
 Korean mobile operator KTF announced plans to begin
transmitting TV direct to 3G mobile phones via the
CDMA2000 system
Current status

 Submarine cables of the world

Current Status
 Communications satellites in
geostationary orbit

Source: http://www.tekjo.com/Geostationary-Communication-Satellites-in-Orbit-Today
Current Status

 Cellular networks
Current Status: Fixed vs.
Mobile
 Fixed and Mobile International Traffic

Source: ITU
Current Status: Fixed vs.
Mobile
 Mobile Phone Market: Handset sales
 1997 Handset Sales = 107,840,000
 1998 Handset Sales = 175,650,000
 1999 Handset Sales = 295,150,000
 2000 Handset Sales = 414,990,000
 2001 Handset Sales = 413,310,000
 2002 Handset Sales = 427,370,000
 2003 Handset Sales = 519,990,000
 2004 Handset Sales = 674,000,000
 2005 Handset Sales = 778,750,000
 2006 Handset Sales = 847,240,000
 2007 Handset Sales = 914,020,000
 2008 Handset Sales = 980,290,000
 2009 Handset Sales = 1,041,520,000 (Estimated over 1 billion!!)

Source: GB Guide Blog

Current Status: Voice vs.
Data
 Voice and Data Traffic Growth
Current Status: Developed
vs. Developing

Source: ITU
 The Digital Divide
 "The term 'digital divide' describes the fact that the
world can be divided into people who do and
people who don't have access to - and the
capability to use - modern information technology
 Telephone
 Television
 Internet
 The digital divide exists between
 those in cities and those in rural areas
 the educated and the uneducated
 economic classes
and
 globally, between the more and less industrially
developed nations"
The Digital Divide
The Digital Divide
Learning
Telecommunications….
 Telecommunications technologies
are based on a very strong
theoretical background
 Mathematics
 Statistics
 Numerical techniques
 …
 Telecommunications is a fast
changing field
 You will learn the fundamentals
needed to keep up with new
developments
 You will be introduced to the
current telecom industry
environment
 You will learn about the expected
(near) future trends
Learning
Telecommunications….
 Telecommunications is
everywhere
 Travel and transportation
 Security
 Entertainment
 Health and medicine
 Structural engineering
 Environment
 ………..
 Indispensable to businesses
and our lives
Opportunities for you….

 Employment as telecom
engineers
 Innovation and self-
employment
 Postgraduate study and
research