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How do we get our signal transmissions to their destinations without distortion or diminishment?
Before we get into the technical basics of data communications, we should review some definitions. Telecom is
short for telecommunicationsthe transmission of telephone signals from place to place. Datacom is short for
data communicationsthe transmission of data (computer) signals from place to place. We can usually
interchange these terms. There is a good reason for this: Telephone systems are changing into data systems.
Right now, Internet traffic over telephone lines is almost equal to voice traffic. Industry experts predict Internet
traffic over the phone system will exceed voice traffic in 2000 or 2001. So, with the telephone system becoming a
voice/data system, its difficult to say whether anything attached to a phone line is telecom or datacom.
Electronic communication systems operate under the same laws that govern power wiring. Ohms law, Watts
law, Kirchoffs theorems, and circuit calculations are all the same. The applications may be different, but what
you learned in apprenticeship school still holds true.
Signal transmission. Our concern is to get signals to their destination without distortion or diminishment.
Special types of conductors, cables, and hardware help us accomplish this task efficiently.
In general, there are two primary choices for signal transmission:
Sending electrical signals over copper conductors.
Sending pulses of light through optical cables.
There are, of course, a few other options, such as radio signals and microwave signals, but these are used
primarily in special circumstances. For now, we will focus on copper and fiber transmission only.
Copper transmission. Most of you are familiar with the basics of copper-based data transmission: Electrical
pulses pass through copper conductors from one location to another. In most cases, these signals are binary
code (the presence of voltage corresponding to the digital designation on or 1, and the absence of the voltage
as off or 0). The coding of these signals is what makes transmission of information possible.
We often classify data transmissions as simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex in terms of their method of
transmission. Simplex and half-duplex systems use only one pair of conductors to communicate, and are less
expensive to build. The simplex method transmits in one direction, while the half-duplex system can send
signals in both directions, but not at the same time. The full-duplex system uses two pairs to communicate. This
way, one pair always transmits from point A to point B while the other pair is transmitting from B to A.
The main problem we have with power wiring is a loss of power, which we call voltage drop. We have the same
problem with data signals, when we attempt to send them through conductors with too much resistance (usually
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