Target audience:
This course is designed for those who require an introduction to the fundamental technical concepts that underpin modern telecommunications. The course is suitable for those joining the industry in a technical role especially those in an apprenticeship.
Course prerequisites:
An understanding of the basic properties of analogue and digital signals, and the effects of signal impairments. It is recommended that the PTT courses "Analogue and digital signals" and "Signal impairments" are studied before attempting this course.
Course objectives:
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- explain the role of modulation in the transmission of data over both wired and wireless links.
- describe the relationship between bit rate, available bandwidth and signal to noise ratio as defined by Shannon’s law.
- describe and compare the principles, bandwidth requirements and noise immunity of various modulation techniques.
- describe the role of multiplexing in telecommunications systems.
- explain the role, principles and applications of the various types of multiplexing used in modern telecommunications networks including TDM, FDM, WDM and OFDM.
- explain that TDM-based networks are synchronous in operation and depend on the distribution of timing signals from a centralised clock.
- list and compare the bit rates and payload capabilities of European SDH and North American SONET aggregate signals.
- explain the purpose of a line code with reference to the bandwidth efficiency and dc component of a transmitted signal, and the requirement for timing extraction and error checking.
- describe and compare the characteristics of various types of line code
- explain the basic principles of block coding with reference to error checking, bandwidth requirement, and typical applications.
Approximate study time: 5 hours
Delivery platform requirements:
To access the course, a computer/tablet running a browser such as Chrome, Safari, Edge etc. is required. The device should have an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024x768.