Introduction to Telecommunications

Focusing on all aspects of telecommunications, “Introduction to Telecommunications” provides a comprehensive overview of how information, including voice and data, travels throughout the world. Examples and analogies are used throughout the text to help simplify technical concepts and improve the reader’s assimilation of the topic. Instead of providing straight content, this text presents entire scenarios that form a total picture of the subject matter being presented. Important attributes of the book include the following:

• A wonderfully descriptive foreword describes the history of telecommunications, starting in 1845 and concluding in 2000.
• The book is divided into several sections, each containing three to five chapters. “Part I: High Level Overview” contains the first three chapters: “The Basics-Sound, Electrical Signal, Electromagnetic Spectrum” (Chapter 1), “The Telephone and the Telephone Line” (Chapter 2), and “Connecting the Dots-Transporting Information Across the Super Highway” (Chapter 3). Other sections describe “Telecommunications Fundamentals, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), Telecommunications Applications,” and “Emerging Technologies.”
• Objectives and a chapter outline at the beginning of every chapter help to focus readers on the most important topics to be presented.
• Historical photos on each part opener illustrate how far the telecommunications industry has come.
• A useful case study is divided among the chapters. This helps to bolster the students’ understanding of telecommunications by requiring that they apply what they have learned by building a telecommunications network for a small town that lackstelephone and data services.

An Instructor’s Manual (ISBN 0-13-032339-X) is also available with the text to help instructors work through and present the chapters and case study sections.