Lesson 5: Wireless Communications
Objectives:
From this lesson you should learn:
- The different types of wireless communications
-
How wireless communications networks work
-
How wireless networks depend on fiber backbones
Today's users of mobile devices depend on wireless
connections for their voice, data and even video communications.
Wireless depends on fiber for the communications backbone and
increasingly the connection to the wireless antennas, no matter what
kinds of wireless we use.
Wireless is not entirely wireless. The easiest way to understand
wireless is to think of it as a link that replaces the cable that
connects your cellular or wireless phone to the phone system or the
patchcord that connects your computer or other portable Internet device
to the network. To understand wireless, it is necessary to look at
several different and unique types of wireless systems, including
cellular wireless phones, wireless in premises cabling, municipal or
private wireless links and even some of the short distance links used
for computer peripheral connections.
And wireless is not just cellular and WiFi, it also includes satellites.
Satellites have been providing Internet service for decades but newer
technology makes them more powerful and a major factor in broadband,
especially for rural areas, oceans, etc.
Student Assignment:
Read either of the references and take the
quiz.
Online FOA Reference:
Fiber Optics For Wireless Networks
Satellite Communications
Book Chapter:
The Fiber Optic Association Guide To Broadband, Chapter 5
(Print Version)
Optional - Extra Credit (and future reference)
Fiber Optic Jargon from the Basics of Fiber Optics
Test Your Knowledge:
- Next:
Lesson 6: Fiber To The Home
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