Telecommunications The Early Years
Throughout time the main forms of communication required that one person be within visual sight of the other in order to be able to successfully communicate. Either that or be within visual or audible range of the means of communication, as in semaphore (physically signalling between ships), or smoke, or drum signals. Then during the 1830s and 1840s telecommunications was born in the form of the telegraph.
The definition of telecommunication, is the means of communicating over great distances, which means that semaphore, drum and smoke signals do not come under the heading of telecommunication, but Telegraphy, telephony and electronic mail do come under the telecommunications heading.
Telegraphy and telephony requires the use of metal wires in order to transmit messages between sender and recipient. During the 19th century, thanks to the invention of the telegraph, these metal cables were laid along the ocean beds, connecting the continents of the world and thus allowing international telecommunications (first one completed on the 27th of July, 1876 linking the USA with Great Britain).
Wireless telecommunications – The 20th century brought the advent of long distance communication without the need for physical connectivity. The first versions were created by Guglielmo Marconi, and manifested themselves in the form of the wireless radio, for which Marconi won a Nobel prize. This was achieved back in 1909.
Other intrepid contributors – Besides Marconi, there were a number of others making headway in the field of wireless communications, they include, Alexander Graham Bell, Samuel Morse, Lee de Forest, Joseph Henry, Nikola Tesla, Edwin Armstrong, and John Logie Baird.
Earliest form of telecommunications – A Frenchman by the name of Claude Chappe back in 1792, came up with a communication system that allowed rapid (rapid for the time) transmission of a message by setting up a series of towers that were about 6 miles apart. From these towers operators could receive messages from one tower then transmit those messages to the next tower. The transmission of messages was done by semaphore. Semaphore is achieved by the use of moving arms that dependent on the position of the arms would have different meanings. Chappe’s communication system lasted up until 1880, when it was forced out of existence by the far superior telegraph system.
The telegraph – In 1839 one Sir William Fothergil Cooke and one Sir Charles Wheatstone built the first commercial electrical wire based telegraph system. This was actually an improvement on the existing electromagnetic telegraph system.
Morse steps on to the scene – Not only were communication system to use Samuel Morse’s means of coding messages, but Morse himself, in 1837, created a much simpler telegraph system to that already in existence, that which was created by Wheatstone and Cooke (see above).
International telephone link took a long time coming – Although there was a cable connection Great Britain with the United States of America laid back in middle part of the 19th century, it was not good enough to be used for transmitting telephone signals. It had been originally set-up for communications via telegraphy between the then President of the USA, James Buchanan, and Great Britain’s Queen Victoria. The original cable failed fairly quickly and had to be replaced, but was of no use for the telephone system. It was not until 1956 before telephone telecommunications was successfully set-up between the USA and Britain.
Booming Career In The Telecom Sector
A degree in engineering is one of the most respected and the demanded degrees, not only in India, but across the globe. The students are very much firm about choosing their career option and leading it in a positive direction. The number of engineering colleges has been growing in India and therefore the students get more opportunities to opt for their courses of their choice. Engineering sector has been grooming very fast and there are few industries, which have developed a lot and are expanding its wings for more of the new talents to give their inputs in their expansion. One of such sector is telecom industry. The industry has a large number of opportunities, and a student can find a safe and a secure future in this sector. Telecommunication has become an important part of the lives of human beings, therefore giving way to a large number of new opportunities to come up. Advancements in the telecom and IT industry, has made the life so easy and hence each and every development made in this sector, is welcomed with open arms by the common, resulting to the success and growth of the telecom industry.
The advancements in the telecom and IT industry have lead to the increase in demand of courses and colleges, teaching these developments and making the students capable of progressing in the respective industry. The Indian telecom industry is the second largest in its category in the globe, and therefore has abundant opportunities for the students taking education in the telecom sector. The students opting courses in telecom field, need to have a science background and must have strong basics in maths, computers and physics. Bachelor in Telecom Engineering is the basic four year graduation course, which the students opt for making career in this field. There are many other degree as well diploma courses in this field, doing after which a student can aim for a prospering future in the telecom industry. Few of the IT courses are:
Bachelor in Telecommunications Engineering
Diploma in Telecom Engineering
Bachelor in Computer Technology
Certificate courses in Computer Science
Bachelor course in Mobile Internet Communication Informatics
Bachelor in Information Technology
Other than the above mentioned courses, there are specialised management courses in the telecom sector, which are provided by a number of colleges in India. The telecom management courses are provided by the top management schools of India and have both the undergraduate as well as post graduate courses for the same. Following is the list of the colleges in India, providing courses in the field of telecommunications:
Academy for Aeronautics and Computer Science, Pune
International Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata
Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management, Pune
Sathyabama University, Chennai
Amity Institute of Telecom Technology and Management, UP
St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai
Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune
Indian Institute of Telecom Management, New Delhi
CIEM (Calcutta Institute of Engineering and Management)
Ansal Institute of Technology , New Delhi
Institute of Aeronautical Engineering and Information Technology, Bangalore
After completing these courses, a student can pursue his career in specialisation of his choice. There are courses available in these colleges as per specialisation choice of the student also, which can be wireless communication, signal processing, computer networking, satellite communication, speech and audio processing, networking security, etc. Attaining these specialisations, a student can lead his career in the direction he wants with a more refined manner. Telecom engineer, Telecom manager, Systems developer, Telecom analyst are few of the major job fields, where the students can apply for jobs after completing their education in the telecom sector. There is tremendous number of job opportunities available in the telecommunication sector of India, which consumes the students hailing from different specialised education fields.
[Top]