BIT 4202

Wireless and mobile computing technology and applications in business World.

By Mr Irungu

Computer Networking

This is an active field

Networks were devised to connect multiple users each with a screen and a key board to a large
centralized computer. As the internet grew it has chaged in two significant ways:

1. Communication speeds
2. New applications.

They fueled a shift away from resource sharing to new applications.

1. High communication speeds.- this enables communication to transfer large data quickly
2. Powerful, affordable personal computers.- this provides the computation power needed for
complex an d graphical display eliminating the demand to share resources.

Therefore the internet has been changed to general purpose communication tool.

FROM TEXT TO MULTIMEDIA INTERNET

Data transmitted in the net has improved from static text to high quality multimedia content.

Multimedia is used to describe data containing –text, graphics, video

Internet supports two basic communication paradigms i.e. stream and message paradigm.

stream Message
Connection oriented conectionless
1 to 1 communication Many to many
communication
Sequence of individual bytes Sequence of individual
messages
Used by most applications Used for multimedia
applications
Built on tcp Protocol Built on UTP protocol

Access network and Physical Media

Access network refer to physical links that connect and edge system to its edge router i.e. to its first
router on a path from edge system to any other distance.
Access networks can be divided into 3 categories:

1. Residential access networks e.g. connecting a home end into network.

2. Institutional access networks. E.g. an educational institute being connected to a network.
3. Mobile access networks. Connecting a mobile end system into the network.

Mobile access networks

They use the radio spectrum to connect a mobile end system (a pda modem or mobile phone.) to a base
system.

An new standards for mobile access is cellular digital packet data CDPD

It uses the same radio spectrum as the cell phone system and operates at speeds of tens of kb/s.

The CDPD system supports the IP protocol and therefore allows an IP end system to exchange IP packets
over the wireless channel with an IP base station.

CDPD can be viewed as extending the internet dial tone across the wireless link between a mobile end
and internet router.

COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERNET

Characteristics of communication devices

1. Fixed and Wired. This describes devices which are connected. The devices use fixed networks
2. Mobile and wired. E.g. laptops.
3. Fixed and wireless. E.g. Used for installing networks in buildings where one needs to avoid the
damage which can be caused by installing wires.
4. Mobile and wireless. E.g. The GSM technology.

Mobile and Wireless Devices

There is no classification of these devices in terms of weights, power. E.g.

1. Sensor. It transmits state information. E.g. a switch sensing a door. If the door is closed it transmits
information to another device.

2. Embedded controllers. Washing machine, hair drier.

3. Pager. It is a very simple receiver which only displays short text messages, it cannot send messages.

4. Mobile phone

5. P D A

6. Laptop
The future mobile and wireless devices will be less heavy, touch sensitive and voice recognition.

It is greatly influenced by the imaging computer networks. The future telephone is likely to be a
computer.

Current Research in Wireless Tech

1. Effect on human body. It is unclear to what extent electronic waves can affect organs.
2. Interferences. Radio can be protected from this using shielding as it is done using coaxial cable
or the shielded twisted pair.
3. Regulations and spectrum. Due to technical and political reasons.
4. Low band width. Transmit ion rates are very low for wireless devices compared to wired
systems.
5. Low security. Radio interface is prone to being trapped therefore wireless access must always
include security mechanism i.e. authentication and encryption.
6. Shared media. Radio access is always realized via a shared medium although different are access
seems have been developed many questions are still answered e.g. how to provide quality with
different access and coding

STRUCTURE OF A COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Arranged in layers

1. Application
2. Transport
3. Network
4. Datalink
5. Physical

Transmition fundamentals In a telecommunication network

Analog and digital

The two terms are used are used in three contexts:

1. Data- entities that convey meaning or information

2. Signal- Electric or electromagnetic representation of data
3. Transmition- Communication of data by the propagation and processing of signals

Both analog and digital are electromagnetic signals.

An analog signal is one in which the signal intensity varies in a smooth fashion of a time. There are no
breaks in the signal.

Digital signal it is one in which the signal intensity maintains a constant level for some period of time
and then changes to another constant level.
Analog data take all continuous values in some interval. E.g. voice and video are continuously
varying patterns of intensity.
Digital data take discreet values e.g. text and integer.

Analog and digital signaling

In a communication system data are propagated from one point to another by means of electric
signals.
An analog signal is a continuously varying electromagnetic wave that may be propagated over a
variety of media depending on frequency. E.g. copper wire, twisted pair, fiber optic, air
A digital signal is a sequence of pulses that Is transmitted in a wire. E.g. a constant voltage level
may represent binary o while a constant negative level will represent binary 1.
The principle advantages of digital signaling are that it is generally cheaper than analog signaling
and is less susceptible to noise interference.
The disadvantage is that they suffer more from attenuation than analog signals (attenuation is
reduction of signal strength at higher frequencies which can read to loss of information)
Generally analog data occupy a ltd frequency. Digital data can be used to rep analog data by use
of a modem.
The modem converts digital pulse into analog signal by modulating a carrier frequency. The
resulting signal occupy a frequency centered about a carrier and may be propagated across a
medium suitable for that carrier. At the end of the transmition a modem demodulates the signal
to recover the original data.
In an operation very similar analog data can be rep by digital signals. The device that performs
this function for voice data is a codec (coder decoder). The codec takes an analog signal that
directly represents the voice data and approximates that signal by a bit string. At the other end
of the line a decoder uses the bit string to reconstruct analog data.

TRANSMITION MEDIA
1. Terrestrial microwave
2. Satellites
3. Broadcast radio
4. Infrared