T209 A lecture 2

Arab Open University - AOU T209 Information and Communication Technologies: People and Interactions Second Session Aims The essential concepts about Systems from the point of view of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) This helps one to conduct the study of ICT at a high level of abstraction without the need to go into the details of the device level electronics and without the need for detailed computer science software algorithmic implementation discussions etc… The systems concept enables one to understand the functionality of the ICT System thus allowing one to put it to practical use The 2 main systems that form part of students study include Communication Systems and Computer Systems Reference Material This tutorial is based on the following references: 1- Chapters 1 to 5 of Book S: Systems 2- A part of the study is based on Book C: Communication Skills 3- Also we refer to the Book D: Documents Topic 1: Introduction to portable personal/communication devices Portable Personal and Portable Communication devices have experienced very rapid growth during the last few decades and these devices have become indispensable Module 1 of the course undertakes the following studies about these devices: A- Mobile Phones B- PDAs C- In touch and informed  A- Mobile Phones The study of the new revolution in the field of telecommunications is called Personal Communications and the devices studied in this field are called Personal Communication Devices The study of the above mentioned devices consists of mobile/cellular/wireless communication devices such as Mobile Phones These mobile phones can be used for 1- mobile speech communications 2- mobile data communications such as messaging and mobile internet access etc... B- PDAs You will also study about portable Personal Information Devices The study of Personal Information Devices consists of portable electronic devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) etc It wasn’t too long before the idea came along of providing PDAs with Internet access by using the mobile telephone network to transmit and receive data The term Internet appliance is sometimes used for such Internet-enabled devices C- In touch and informed The above mentioned devices enable people to keep in touch and informed at any time and place where they may find themselves In touch: because you are physically carrying the technology or dealing with it (e.g., mobile or and PDA) Informed: because using the technology you have an access to the internet (e.g., PDA and mobile) or you may call a friend (e.g., mobile) or if wish you may call the press ….etc and here where the word communications fits Topic 2: Rate of technological change The Electronics Industry has grown at tremendous rates as compared to any other industry in the last few decades The rate of technological change in the electronics industry is phenomenal According to the Moore’s Law : The number of transistors that can be placed on the same area of a microprocessor doubles every couple of years (18 months) and the microprocessor’s speeds have experienced exponential growths for last few decades This has also enabled the growth of associated industries such as Telecommunication and Consumer Electronics for personal use The associated technology in the Digital Communication area such as Cellular and Wireless Communication has also experienced a very rapid growth and development in the last few decades Examples 1- PDAs have also experienced rapid developmental changes and growth Their user interface is much more user friendly than older keyboard inputs and monocolour displays Nowadays they come with fancy color displays, miniature key pads, stylus and touch- sensitive screens for input and output functions 2- The mobile cellular phone systems were introduced in the early 1980s in different parts of the world The Size and Power Consumption of hand held portable devices has reduced considerably Whereas the Battery Life is on the rise The mobile phone systems are now experiencing a new revolution which will be as dramatic as the change from Analog technology to Digital one It is the revolution of migrating from 2G systems (which were purely voice-centric) to 3G systems that will also incorporate Data (mobile Internet functionality) Topic 3: Convergence issues (related to technology) There exists the ever popular demand for putting multiple functionalities in an electronic device and hence there is a need for international standards in order to ensure interoperability of devices Convergence in technology means to combine or group together various functionalities into a single entity/product It is a concept that could be applied in the following manner: 1- Convergence of Content (audio, video, text, graphics) - all can now be represented digitally and so all can 2- Convergence of Platforms (mobile phones, wireless PDA, computer, TV, games etc.) 3- Convergence of Distribution (how the content reaches the platform) Examples being via wired cable, or via radio waves (wireless), etc. or, looked at another way, via telephone company, via broadcasting company, via Internet service provider (ISP), etc.) The ultimate convergence is then of the following: Audio, Video, Graphics and Text all delivered by a single type of service provider via a single type of connection to a single type of platform This convergence can only be possible due: 1-The development in the IC (integrated circuit) technology Today’s ICs can contain extremely complex circuits incorporating millions of tiny components 2-The development in the DSP (digital signal processing) technology Digital representations for text, graphics, video and audio Once these are all represented as sets of bits then they can all be treated in the same way Topic 4: Standards Issues Standards issues are normally concerned with how a product will interact with other products or with users. A standard is a technical specification approved by a recognized standardization body for repeated or continuous application Compliance with standards may not be compulsory in case of products that do not need to work with other products (e.g. PDAs) but in the case of mobile phones, unless a phone adheres to appropriate standards it will not work with other mobile phones etc. The above factor is usually called interoperability Sub Topic 4.1: Standards Categories That Standards usually tend to fall into the following three groups: A- International Standards: These are defined and maintained by International bodies for use by any manufacturer These are sometimes known as de jure standards Manufacturers can use these standards without any risk of legal problems Example 1: The “V series” standard for modems drawn up by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) Example 2: GSM is an international standard for cell phones B- Industry-Wide Standards: These typically emerge from common usage in any industry These are also called de facto standards Manufacturers can use these standards without any risk of legal problems Example 1: Universal Serial Bus (USB) Standard Example 2: Virtual Component Interface (VCI) Standard C- Proprietary Standards: Proprietary standards are privately owned, developed and maintained specifications that have been created by commercial companies These are also called close standards Manufacturers cannot use these standards without any risk of legal problems Example 1: Adobe Acrobat for document publishing in .pdf format Example 2: Microsoft Corp. has many Proprietary standards for Word Processing, Windows OS, Web Browsing etc... Example 3: Qualcomm Corp. considers many components of the various CDMA standards for cell phones, such as the North American IS-95 and CDMA2000 standards, as Proprietary. However, many people in the mobile cell phone industry consider such claims as contentious Sub Topic 4.2: Standards Bodies Some of the standardization bodies responsible for the electronics industry are listed below: A- ITU (It stands for International Telecommunications Union) Web Address: http://www.itu.int/home/ B- ETSI (It stands for European Telecommunications Standards Institute) It is responsible for the GSM, GPRS, EDGE, GERAN etc. standards for TDMA based mobile phone systems Web Address: www.etsi.org C- UMTS (It stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Web Address: www.umts-forum.org D- 3GPP (It stands for Third Generation Partnership Project) It is responsible for the UMTS/ WCDMA standard Web Address: www.3gpp.org E- 3GPP2 (It stands for Third Generation Partnership Project Two) It is responsible for the CDMA200 standard Web Address: www.3gpp2.org F- Bluetooth SIG (SIG stands for Special Interest Group) It is responsible for the Bluetooth standard Web Address: www.bluetooth.com G- IEEE (It stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) It is responsible for the 80 2.11 WLAN etc. standard and many other standards Web Address: www.ieee.org Topic 5: The System View The various Personal Communication Devices and Personal Information Devices can all be studied under the unified Systems View or model A System is usually considered as an entity that operates on any given Input to produce a desired Output It is usually represented by block diagrams and a single block is shown in Figure 1 Sub Topic 5.1: Sub-Systems Concept Structurally, the System could be constructed from numerous sub-systems and may involve complex interactions and working of hardware, software and algorithms Each subsystem does a sub function The summattion of the subsystems constitutes the system The summation of the sub functions is the function of the system Sub Topic 5.1: Sub-Systems Concept Examples of simple communication sub-systems could be: Filters (low-pass, high-pass or band-pass), Amplifiers (Low Noise or High Power), Oscillators Mixers etc. When these sub-systems are put together in a meaningful manner then they behave as a useful overall communication system One may think of the sub system as system and hence consists of subsystems The Systems Concept allows us to study the system from the point of view of its operation on a given input in order to produce a desired output This is a high level of abstraction since we do not need to know the detailed inner working of the system in order to understand its behavior as a system. To understand the device level physics of the Intel microprocessor chip may be very complicated but from a System point of view it may suffice to understand that the Intel microprocessor family of chips are some of the sub-systems that are used for the construction of overall IT systems such as the Personal Computers (PCs) etc. The Intel microprocessors themselves have many sub-systems working inside them to provide them their processing functionality Sub Topic 5.2: Examples of ICT systems Some examples of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems are given below: A- CT Systems: Mobile Phone, Telephone, Fax, Satellite TV, Telephone Exchange etc… B- IT Systems: PCs, Printers, PDAs etc… C- ICT Systems: Smart Phones, LANs, WANs, Internet, WLANs etc… Sub Topic 5.3: Categorizing functionalities inside Personal Communication Devices and Personal Information Devices In any of these ultimately converged or multi-function devices, we can split the overall functionality into 3 very broad categories as follows: A- The Mobile Phone function B- The PDA function C- The Internet Access function Hence, in any of these devices, we can split the overall system into 3 basic sub-systems as follows: A- The Mobile Phone sub-system (belongs to the family of Communication System) B- The PDA sub-system (belongs to the family of Computer System) C- The Internet Access sub-system (belongs to the family of Communication System) Figure 2 The multifunction device split into three subsystems Figure 3 considers the multifunction device plus the user as the system, and so attention is focused not just on the object but on how the user interacts with it and with its component subsystems Figure 3 A representation of the multifunction device that includes the user Now Look at Figure 4, whose purpose is to put the multifunction device into a wider technological context The diagram makes it clear that the mobile telephone subsystem in the multifunction device is part of another, much wider, system: the mobile telephone system. And it indicates that this mobile telephone system contains many more subsystems than just the one in the user’s multifunction device, for example other mobile telephones and all of the subsystems in the infrastructure of the mobile telephone service company It does something similar for the Internet subsystem, which is a small part of the worldwide Internet Unlike the other two subsystems, the PDA subsystem can be wholly contained within the device: it need not be part of a wider system of PDAs Figure 4 A representation of the multifunction device that shows that its components are also subsystems of wider systems So far the diagram (in Figure 4) is appropriate. But some PDAs can now interchange data with others by infrared or radio links, and many PDAs come with a cable (like my multifunction device) or ‘docking cradle’ to connect to a desktop computer for the exchange of data. So the PDA could perhaps be depicted in Figure 4 as part of a small data communication system in some instances. Again!!, it depends on the purpose of the diagram. Here I wanted to contrast the mobile telephone subsystem and the Internet access subsystem, which must be part of wider systems, with the PDA subsystem, which need not be. Hence the two fundamental types of systems that occur in nearly all mentioned multifunctional devices are: 1- Communication Systems The mobile telephone subsystem The subsystem for Internet access 2- Computer Systems The PDA sub-system Sub Topic 5.4: Communication System The 3 main blocks of a Communication System are as follows: A- Transmitter (sender) Information Source (person or thing, speech or data etc…) Transmitter (actual electronic device) B- Channel Fixed-Wire Wireless Mobile Fiber-Optics etc… C- Receiver Receiver (actual electronic device) Destination (person or thing, speech or data etc… Sub Topic 5.5: Computer System The 3 main blocks of a Computer System are as follows: A- The Processor Unit B- The Memory Unit Main Memory Secondary Memory C- The Input/Output (I/O) Unit Topic 6: Activities Try to perform all the activities related to the tutorial topics from the reference material Example Activities: Look at the pictures of older and newer versions of PDAs and Cell Phones and compare their sizes? The marked reduction in the overall size of these devices is a good feature and has been possible due to rapid development in technology The increase in the size of display is a desired feature and has also been possible due to rapid development in technology without the expense of bulky electronics, battery power drainage issues etc... Topic 7: Communication Skills Communication skills are important for technologists. So try to focus on following important points in this regard: 1- Reading skills are important to gather useful information from technical books, articles, reports etc. 2- Document 11 in Book D has good hints on basic reading skills 3- Do not panic if you do not understand all of a technical document in the first reading 4- Try to get an overview first of a tough article and then take a closer look 5- Writing skills are important in order to communicate technical ideas to others clearly 6- In writing, take into consideration the Audience, Purpose and Medium. Do not put off you readers by neglecting any of these 3 points 7- Write a first draft and later polish it after critical evaluation 8- If the purpose of the document is to influence rather than to inform or describe, then you need to support your arguments with appropriate evidence. Topic 8: Preparation for Next Tutorial You should read about the following topics from Module 1: Book S as a preparation for third session: Chapter-6: Communication Systems Chapter-7: Computer Systems Meshari_mc www.aoua.com 1 Figure 1: Generic block Diagram of a System Output Input     System