Outline of telecommunication

Telecommunication portal

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to telecommunication:

Telecommunication – the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process almost always involves the use of electromagnetic waves by transmitters and receivers, but in earlier years it also involved the use of drums and visual signals such as smoke, fire, beacons, semaphore lines and other optical communications.

Essence of telecommunication

Main article: Telecommunication

Types of telecommunication networks

Main article: Telecommunications network

• Computer networks
  • ARPANET
  • Ethernet
  • Internet
  • Wireless networks
• Public switched telephone networks (PSTN)
• Packet switched networks
• Radio networks
• Television networks

Aspects of telecommunication transmission

Main article: Telecommunication

• Analog
• Digital
• Optics

Telecommunication technology

• Modulation
  • Amplitude modulation
  • Frequency modulation
  • Quadrature amplitude modulation
• Nyquist rate
• Nyquist ISI criterion
• Pulse shaping
• Intersymbol interference

Communications media types

• Physical media for Telecommunication
  • Twisted pair
  • Coaxial cable
  • Optical fiber
• Telecommunication through Free Space
  • Broadcast radio frequency including television and radio
  • Line-of-sight
    • Communications satellite
    • Terrestrial Microwave
    • Wireless LAN

Relationship between media and transmitters

• Physical access to media
  • Simplex
  • Duplex (telecommunications)
• Logical relationships
  • Return channel
  • Two-way alternating
  • Two-way simultaneous

Multiple access to media

• Multiplexing
  • Analog
  • Digital
    • Time-division multiplexing
    • Statistical multiplexing and Packet switching
  • Media Access Control
    • Contention
    • Token-based
      • Centralized token control
      • Distributed token control

History of telecommunication

Main article: History of telecommunication

• History of telegraphy
• History of the telephone

• Invention of the telephone
• Timeline of the telephone

• History of radio
• History of television
• History of videophones
• History of mobile phones
• History of computing hardware
• History of the Internet

Basic telecommunication concepts

• E-mail
• Instant messaging
• Radio
• Telephone
• VoIP
• Videoconferencing
• Television

Major telecommunications equipment manufacturers

• Ericsson
• Alcatel-Lucent
• Avaya
• Aricent
• NEC
• Nortel
• ZTE
• Cisco Systems
• Huawei
• Ciena
• Fujitsu
• Nokia-Siemens Networks
• HCL Technologies

Major telecommunications service providers

Main article: List of mobile network operators