Telecommunications networks

What you will learn:

This course maps out the landscape of telecoms infrastructure - from local access networks through to national and international networks - and explains the role of key network elements and technologies. The reasons for the transition from PSTN telephony to voice over broadband is also explored. The course provides the big-picture context that makes detailed study of individual technologies more meaningful.

 

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• explain that the suitability of a telecommunications link for a certain service can be measured in in terms of bit rate, latency, error rate and availability.
• explain that telecommunications networks are connection oriented in contrast to the Internet which is connectionless.
• compare the provision and characteristics of circuits and virtual circuits.
• describe the features, capabilities and components of copper and optical fibre based transmission links.
• describe the applications, components and capabilities of terrestrial radio links used in modern telecommunications networks.
• describe the applications and capabilities of geostationary and low earth orbit satellite systems.
• compare the role, structure and technologies employed in access, regional and core networks.
• describe the capabilities, facilities, and role of the various elements, of networks conforming to the SDH ITU recommendations.
• describe the role, benefits, structure and features of a next generation network.
• describe how virtual circuits are provided over a next generation network.
• describe the capabilities, structure, functional components and facilities of systems that provide public telephony services.
• explain that mobile networks have evolved to incorporate the structure and features of next generation networks.
• compare the capabilities of the various technologies employed to provide access to telecommunications services.

 

Course prerequisites:

An understanding of the principles of digital transmission. It is recommended that the PTT courses "Transmission fundamentals", "Modulation and multiplexing", and "Data communications principles" are studied before attempting this course.

 

Approximate study time: 6 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.