Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management

Riaz Esmailzadeh

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781118995624
• eBook ISBN: 9781118995655
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The focus of this book is broadband telecommunications: both fixed (DSL, fiber) and wireless (1G-4G). It uniquely covers the broadband telecom field from technological, business and policy angles. The reader learns about the necessary technologies to a certain depth in order to be able to evaluate and analyse competing technologies. The student can then apply the results of the technology analysis to business (revenues and costs, market size, etc) to evaluate how successful a technology may be in the market place. Technology and business analyses lead to policy analysis and how government deal with rolling out of broadband networks; content (such as text, audio and video) delivered over them. Furthermore, how government may ensure a competitive and fair environment is maintained for service provision.  The book is unique in its approach as it prepares the student to evaluate products from three different viewpoints of technology-business and policy.  The book provides a unified vision for broadband communications, offering the required background as well a description of existing broadband systems, finishing with a business scenario. The book breaks new ground by discussing telecommunication technologies in a business and policy context.

1
Introduction

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Preview Questions

• How do technology, business and policy considerations matter to the telecommunications industry?
• How does the telecommunications industry feature in the global economy?
• In recent years, which industry segment has filed the largest number of patents?
• What are the reasons for the phenomenal growth in the number of broadband subscribers in recent years?
• How may a broadband content/service provision functions and structure be characterised?

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Learning Objectives

• An historical overview of the telecommunications industry
• An overview of the current state of the telecommunications industry
• An introduction to the technology–business–policy framework
• An introduction to the content/service, retail, infrastructure model for analysing broadband telecommunications businesses
• An introduction to telecommunications management and information and information technology management fields

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Historical Note

An early example of a telecommunications system is the Royal Mail of the Persian Empire circa 500 BC. The Empire ruled over the region between the Indus River (present day India/Pakistan) and Thrace in the present day European Turkey. It also extended as far as Libya in North Africa. The Empire was divided into different ‘Satraps’ or provinces, which were ruled by governors appointed by the central government. To rule effectively, fast and reliable messaging between Susa the capital and provincial centres was necessary. However, the distances were prohibitively long, and the means of travel were slow. For example, the distance between Susa and Sardis, a major Empire centre in Lydia, was some 2700 km. Travelling this distance on foot would take 90 days. A faster way of travelling was by horse but the animal and the rider needed food, water and rest. A messenger travelling by horse could expect to cover perhaps 100 or so kilometres per day, which would have been a great improvement but this still required 27 days of travelling. The Empire needed to respond to emergencies, whether local unrest or natural disasters, and clearly such long delays were not acceptable as they would greatly reduce the chances of a successful response.

The Persians had constructed a network of roads and relay stations to improve travelling time. At these relay stations fresh horses and couriers were ready to receive a message and take it to the next station, thereby removing the need to rest riders and horses. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484–425 BC) wrote of these Persian mounted postal carriers: ‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds’. Interestingly, this is the unofficial motto of the US Postal Service [1].

The main Royal Highway that connected Susa and Lydia comprised of 111 ‘relay’ stations, as recounted below by Herodotus describing the road, the courier resting places and the horse exchange system as a marvel of its time. This relay system enabled the Royal Mail mounted couriers to travel the distance of 2700 km in 7 days. This was the fastest method of ‘telecommunications’ for its time and was an important tool in the governance and security of the Empire [2] (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Persian Empire circa 500 BC, and the Royal Mail route.

Reproduced with permission of the University of Texas [3]

Now the true account of the road in question is the following: Royal stations exist along its whole length, and excellent caravanserais; and throughout, it traverses an inhabited tract, and is free from danger. In Lydia and Phrygia there are twenty stations within a distance of 94½ parasangs.¹ On leaving Phrygia the Halys has to be crossed; and here are gates through which you must needs pass ere you can traverse the stream. A strong force guards this post. When you have made the passage, and are come into Cappadocia, 28 stations and 104 parasangs bring you to the borders of Cilicia, where the road passes through two sets of gates, at each of which there is a guard posted. Leaving these behind, you go on through Cilicia, where you find three stations in a distance of 15½ parasangs. The boundary between Cilicia and Armenia is the river Euphrates, which it is necessary to cross in boats. In Armenia the resting-places are 15 in number, and the distance is 56½ parasangs. There is one place where a guard is posted. Four large streams intersect this district, all of which have to be crossed by means of boats. The first of these is the Tigris; the second and the third have both of them the same name, though they are not only different rivers, but do not even run from the same place. For the one which I have called the first of the two has its source in Armenia, while the other flows afterwards out of the country of the Matienians. The fourth of the streams is called the Gyndes, and this is the river which Cyrus dispersed by digging for it three hundred and sixty channels. Leaving Armenia and entering the Matienian country, you have four stations; these passed you find yourself in Cissia, where eleven stations and 42½ parasangs bring you to another navigable stream, the Choaspes, on the banks of which the city of Susa is built. Thus the entire number of the stations is raised to one hundred and eleven; and so many are in fact the resting-places that one finds between Sardis and Susa [4].

Development and operation of the Royal Highway and Royal Mail depended on a number of technological advances. These included better tools for building roads; better methods for horse breeding; training programmes for horse riding couriers and so on. Technological development for other applications contributed as well. For example, the development of papyrus as a medium for writing contributed to the operational simplicity as paper was lighter to carry than baked clay and less susceptible to breakage. The location of relay stations was likely determined based partly on a number of these technological parameters. For instance, the inter-station distance would have been a factor of the terrain, as well as the fastest speed a horse could typically travel.

Of similar importance were business and operational issues including the costs of operation and maintenance of stations, the number of couriers and their rotation, the security of the stations and so on. These issues and associated costs would have been weighed against the value of telecommunications speed: how important was a 7-day end-to-end travel compared with an 8-day or 6-day travel? In modern days a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) or a cost–effectiveness analysis (CEA) is usually undertaken to arrive at an optimal solution. While it is not known whether the Persians ever undertook such a formal analysis, experience from other courier systems should have given them a guideline for ‘good’ – if not the ‘best’ – practice. As the cost of operation was borne by the Empire, it is difficult to determine how much each individual message transfer cost. Private usage of the courier system, perhaps for trade purposes, is not recorded. The cost of sending such a private message could have given insight into the overall cost of the operation.

The Royal Highway and the Royal Mail clearly had a great strategic and security importance for the Persian Empire. Business considerations would have included the high cost of constructing, securing and operating the stations, and of maintaining the roads but this must have been justified by the strategic benefits that the system provided. The Empire’s policy in funding, building and maintaining the road was also important in the continued operation of the system.

Communication has always been a basic human need. We primarily used it for security: to protect ourselves and our kin. As we evolved, we have used it to learn about others and convey information about ourselves such as what we do and will, how we wish to do business, what our interests are, and so on. Development of speech (our primary communication method), and as we evolved, writing at the dawn of civilization, were major advances which have laid the foundation of an ever advancing civilization in which we live today. Such information may be communicated in person, or through means and devices that carry information to remo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Technology, Business and Policy
• 3 Voice Communications
• 4 Information Theory
• 5 From Analogue to Digital
• 6 Error Control Coding
• 7 Digital Modulation
• 8 Packetised Data Communications
• 9 Fixed Broadband Communications Systems
• 10 Terrestrial Broadband Wireless Telecommunications
• 11 Satellite Communications
• 12 Personal WirelessCommunications Systems
• 13 Network Topologies, Design and Convergence
• 14 Content Delivery and Net Neutrality
• Acknowledgements
• Case Study Index
• Index
• End User License Agreement