Personal and public communication

Strand 3.5

Developments in technology have allowed an increasing number of mobile devices to be developed that enable people to communicate anytime, anyplace, anywhere. There is a wealth of information available to society that can be accessed on demand and has changed the way in which people behave.

Communications System• For successful communications you need:

– Sending device– Communications channels e.g. Cable TV lines,

power and telephone lines, underground lines, microwave stations & satellites.

– Receiving device– Sending and receiving devices like modems

• Computers and mobile devices are sending & receiving devices in a communications systems

Communications System

Communication devices/TechnologiesThe following are......:Mainframe computers• Servers• Desktop computers• Notebook computers• Smart phones• Internet-enabled portable media players• Handheld game consoles• GPS receivers Personal digital assistants (PDA’s)• Handheld digital devices• Cell/mobile phones• Digital radio and TV• Embedded systems

Uses of computer communications• Computer communications require Internet

access providers like Etisalat• Computer communications involve:

– wireless messaging services– Wireless Internet access points– Cyber cafes or Internet cafes– GPS– Collaboration

• groupware– Voice mail– Web services

Types of Communications• Blogs• Chat rooms• E-mail• Fax• FTP• Instant messaging• Internet• Newsgroups

• Telephony: voice over internet protocol (VoIP)

• Web• Web 2.0• Web Folders• Wikis e.g. Wikispaces

ITGSopedia• Video conferencing

Wireless Messaging Services• Users can send & receive wireless messages to

and from smart phones, cell phones, handheld games consoles and other mobile devices and computers using:1. Text messaging (see fig 9.3 on p. 463 of text handout)

2. Picture/video messaging (see fig 9.3 on p. 463 of text handout)

3. Wireless instant messaging (see fig 9.3 on p. 463 of text handout)

• Type of messaging used depends on the wireless Internet service provider (WISP)

How cell phone calls travel1. A tiny microphone in the handset converts the analogue

sounds of your voice into electrical signals.2. A microchip inside the phone turns these signals into strings

of numbers.3. The numbers are packed into radio wave’s and beamed out

from the phone’s antenna or aerial. 4. The radio wave races through the air at the speed of light

until it reaches the nearest cellphone mast often mounted on a hill or tall building.

5. The mast receives the signals and passes them on to an exchange building, from where they are routed onward.

6. Calls made from cell phone to cell phone on the same network travel to their destination by being routed to the mast nearest to the destination phone, and finally to that phone.

7. Calls made to a cell phone on a different network or a landline have to be routed into the main telephone network before they can reach their destination.

How cell phone cells handle calls

• phone in cell A calls the phone in cell B, the

call doesn’t pass directly between the phones,

but from the first phone to mast A , then

to mast B, and then to the second phone.

• Cellphones that are moving between cells are

sending signals to and from nearby masts so

that, at any given time, the cell phone network

always knows which mast is closest to which

phone. If a car passenger is making a call and

the car drives between cells C, D, and E, the

phone call is automatically "handed off“ so the

call is not interrupted

Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP)

• A company that provides wireless Internet access to desktop and notebook computers and mobile devices such as smart phones and portable media players, with built-in wireless capability such as Wi-Fi or to computers using wireless modems or wireless access devices

• An example is Etisalat offering free wireless Internet network access in Sharjah schools

Text Messaging

• Text messaging or SMS (short message service), allows people to send & receive short text messages on a mobile device or computer.

• SMS options allow to people the following options:

– Mobile to mobile– Mobile to email– Web to mobile– Mobile to provider

Picture/Video Messaging• Picture messaging – photo or other images along with sound

and text can be sent to and from a smart phone or other mobile devices. This allows users the option to go:

– Mobile to mobile– Mobile to E-mail

• Video messaging – where wireless messaging service that allows users to send short video clips, usually about 30 seconds in length, in addition to all picture messaging services. Users can do the following options:– Mobile to mobile– Mobile to personal computer– Web to mobile

Wireless Internet Access Points• A location where people can connect wirelessly to the

Internet using notebooks/laptops, smart phones, handheld game consoles or other portable devices.

• 2 types of wireless network are :1. Hot spot – a wireless network that provides internet connections

to mobile computers/phones & other portable devices that allows users to check e-mail, surf the web and access internet services. Hot spot technologies are:

1. Wi-Fi – can cover an entire city2. WiMAX – provides greater coverage than Wi-Fi3. and Bluetooth – are location based, e.g. Sending menus, coupons

2. Mobile wireless networks – provide high speed Internet access. Cover cities and airports.

Cybercafés

• Or Internet cafes• Is a restaurant or coffee shop with Internet

access for customers• Usually charge an hourly rate• They may use hot spots or wireless internet

connections to clients with laptops/notebooks

Global Positioning Systems

• Global Positioning Systems or GPS• A navigation system that consists of one or more earth-based

receivers that accept and analyse signals sent by satellites in order to determine the receiver’s geographic location.

• GPS receivers can be portable, mountable or embedded device that has an antenna, radio receiver and a processor.

• Many portable or mobile devices have GPS built into them like the Nokia Navigator mobile/cell phone model

• In transport, GPS are mounted receivers in cars, boats & aircraft

Applications of GPS

• To help people with location or positioning and construction or roads, bridges & over engineering projects

• Creating a map• Determining the optimum path to take when travelling

between 2 points• Finding a lost person, stolen artefact• Monitoring the movement of people or animals in scientific

studies e.g sea lions• Determine altitude or calculating speed and projectory when

flying aircraft

How GPS Works.

GPS Scenario• Look at the following scenario of “Tracking Your Teen With GPS While They Drive”

This is another news story covering the use of GPS, but this time it is in the context of tracking teens. It claims that is GPS tracking devices can pinpoint anyone in the world at anytime – but that statement just isn’t true.

GPS receivers need to be receiving a signal from a GPS satellite before it can even begin to get a fix on its location, which requires 3 satellites to get a strong signal. A GPS receiver being in a car, smart phone or some other mobile device determines its location on earth (Shelly & Vermaat, p. 467, 2010)

Groupware & Voice mail• Groupware is software that helps groups of people

to work together on projects and share information over a network.

• Most groupware software provides Personal Information Manager (PIM) functions like electronic calendar, address book, appointment bookings, etc...

• Voice mail is a service that functions like an answering machine, allowing a user to leave a voice message for one or more people. Is a storage location on a hard disk in the voice mail system

Collaboration• Collaborate means to work online with

other users while connected. These include email, collaborative software & document managing system

• Collaborative software allows users to share documents via online meetings and communicate with others while connected.

• Online meetings allow users to share documents with other users in real time

• Web conferences are online conferences such as video conferencing through while using tools like Yahoo messenger & Skype.

Collaborative Software• Examples of collaborative software are:

– Acrobat connect– GoToMeeting– Microsoft Groove– Microsoft Office Live Meeting– WebEx

• Document management systems (DMS) provides a storage & management of documents such as word processing docs, spreadsheets & presentation files.

• Google Docs is a web-based document management system with basic services available to subscribers free of charge. Google Docs allows multiple users to work on the same document as the same time, viewing and editing one another’s work online.

Web Services

• Web services are a set of software technologies that allows businesses to create products and B2B (business to business) interactions over the Internet. For example, vendors can use web services to communicate with their online retailer’s Web site to manage their inventory levels.

• Mashup is a web application that combines services from 2 or more sources, creating a new application. For example e-commerce business, might determine the address of its closest retail store from its Web site and combine or mash the location with an online map from a travel and mapping web site in order to give directions.