Target audience:
This course is designed for those who require an introduction to the fundamental technical concepts that underpin digital communications. The course is suitable for those joining the ICT or telecommunications industry in a technical role especially those in an apprenticeship.
Course prerequisites:
An understanding of the basic properties of digital signals. It is recommended that the PTT course "Analogue and digital signals" is studied before attempting this course.
Course objectives:
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- describe the concept and role of binary and hexadecimal numbers in digital computing and communications and convert between them.
- describe the role and operation of the various components of a digital link.
- describe the role of an interface between communications sub-systems in terms of the transfer of control signals and data.
- describe and compare the characteristics of serial and parallel interfaces.
- compare the operation of synchronous and asynchronous links.
- compare the basic properties of simplex, duplex and half duplex communication links.
- describe the principles and advantages of packet switching with particular reference to the connectionless operation of the Internet.
- describe the concepts and causes of congestion and congestion collapse and methods of avoiding congestion.
- describe the role and facilities of data protocols and their categorisation with reference to the OSI reference model and to the Internet suite of protocols.
- describe the role and basic structure of local and wide area networks, and the role of the functional components of these networks.
- explain the need for address resolution at the interface between an Ethernet LAN and a WAN.
Approximate study time: 5 hours
Delivery platform requirements:
To access the course, a computer/tablet running a browser such as Chrome, Safari, Edge etc. is required. The device should have an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024x768.