Key Telecom Standards & Technologies

Posted on Feb 11, 2025 in Electronics

Key International Telecommunication Organizations

  • ITU: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating international telecommunications among various administrations and operating companies.
  • IEEE: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a global professional technical association dedicated to standardization, among other things. For example, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi).
  • IETF: The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open international standards organization that aims to contribute to Internet engineering, working in diverse fields such as transport, routing, and security.
  • ANSI: The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a non-profit organization that oversees the development of standards for products, services, processes, and systems in the United States. ANSI is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
  • ETSI: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a standardization organization for the telecommunications industry (equipment manufacturers and network operators) in Europe, with worldwide reach. ETSI has been successful in standardizing the GSM mobile system.
  • SUBTEL: The Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (SUBTEL) aims to coordinate, promote, and foster telecommunications in Chile.
  • FCC: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates common transmission services, such as telephone and telegraph companies and providers of wireless telecommunications services. The FCC’s jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.

Signal Types

  • Sampled Signal: Periodic samples of an analog signal.
  • Digital Signal: Generated by some kind of electromagnetic phenomenon.
  • Carrier Signal: The signal that contains the information to be transmitted.
  • Discrete Signal: The intensity remains constant for a certain time, after which the signal switches to another value.
  • Video Signal: Consists of luminance and chrominance.

Telecommunication Technologies

  • PDH: (Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy) A technology traditionally used for mobile telecommunications that allows multiple voice channels to be sent over a single medium.
  • IEEE 802.11: The IEEE 802.11 standard, also known as Wi-Fi, defines the use of the two lowest levels of the OSI architecture (physical layer and data link layer), specifying its rules of operation in a WLAN.
  • SDH: (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) *Incorrectly states IEEE 802.11 definition*. SDH is a standard for high-speed synchronous data transmission over optical fiber.
  • WDM: (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) A technology that multiplexes several signals over a single optical fiber using optical carriers of different wavelengths, using light from a laser.
  • 802.16: A specification for fixed wireless broadband metropolitan access networks (not mobile). Often referred to as WiMAX.
  • MAN: (Metropolitan Area Network) A high-speed (broadband) network that provides coverage in a large geographic area, offering the capacity for integrating multiple services by transmitting data, voice, and video over transmission media such as fiber optics and twisted pair.

Networking and Communication Concepts

  • WLAN: (Wireless Local Area Network) A flexible wireless data communication system, widely used as an alternative to wired LANs.
  • FDM: (Frequency Division Multiplexing) A technique for multiplexing multiple protocols used in communications, both digital and analog, mainly in radio frequency, including mobile phones in GSM networks.
  • TDM: (Time Division Multiplexing) The most commonly used type of multiplexing today, especially in digital transmission systems. The total bandwidth of the transmission medium is allocated to each channel for a specific time slot.
  • BIT-RATE: *Definition should be clarified*. Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per unit of time.
  • BER: Bit Error Rate (BER), in telecommunications, is the number of bits or blocks incorrectly received compared to the total number of bits or blocks sent during a specified time interval.

Other Standards and Technologies

  • IEEE 802.3: Defines Ethernet standards, including 10 Mbit/s over thick coaxial cable, among other specifications.
  • HFC: (Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial) In telecommunications, a term that defines a network that incorporates both optical fiber and coaxial cable.
  • DTH: Direct To Home (satellite television).