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Historical Setting: The Pre-Electromagnetic Past

The document summarizes the history of communication systems from early physical message delivery through smoke signals and couriers, to the development of electromagnetic wireless communication technologies like the telegraph, telephone, and radio. It describes early experiments in the 1830s-1840s and discusses how wireless technologies developed throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including important innovations and standards like Marconi's wireless telegraph, AM radio, and cellular networks. The document concludes by noting that continued advances in microelectronics have enabled modern mobile and personal communication systems.

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Randy Owen Javier Cosme
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59 views

Historical Setting: The Pre-Electromagnetic Past

The document summarizes the history of communication systems from early physical message delivery through smoke signals and couriers, to the development of electromagnetic wireless communication technologies like the telegraph, telephone, and radio. It describes early experiments in the 1830s-1840s and discusses how wireless technologies developed throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including important innovations and standards like Marconi's wireless telegraph, AM radio, and cellular networks. The document concludes by noting that continued advances in microelectronics have enabled modern mobile and personal communication systems.

Uploaded by

Randy Owen Javier Cosme
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Historical Setting

The pre-electromagnetic past


Communication systems using electrical and electronic technology have a significant
impact on modern society. As the courier speeding from Marathon to Athens in 490
B.C. illustrates, in early history information could be exchanged only by physical
transport of messages. Only a few examples exist of non-electrical communication
techniques for transfer of information via other infrastructures than those for physical
transport: smoke signals, signal flags in maritime operations and the semaphore are
among them. Early attempts to communicate visual signals by means of the
semaphore, a pole with movable arms, were made in the 1830's in France. A similar
experimental system was used by the Dutch during the 'ten days campaign against the
Belgian revolt in 1831 / 1832. In 1837, the House of Representatives passed a
resolution requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to investigate the feasibility of
setting up such a system in the United States. The market interest in enhanced
communication systems was also clearly illustrated by the fact that in 1860 the Pony
Express started regular physical message services over land in the U.S. But at the
same time, electronic systems for communication had started to develop.

The wireless era


Telecommunication is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
as the transmission, emission or reception of any signs, signals or messages by
electromagnetic systems.
The demonstration of (electrical) telegraphy by
Joseph Henry and by Samuel F.B. Morse in 1832
followed shortly after the discovery of
electromagnetism by Hans Christian Oersted and
Andre-Marie Ampere early in the 1820's.In the
1840's, telegraph networks were built on the U.S.
East Coast and in California. Rapid extension of
their use followed; the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1858. In 1864, James Clerk
Maxwell postulated wireless propagation, which was verified and demonstrated by
Heinrich Hertz in 1880 and 1887, respectively. Marconi and Popov started
experiments with the radio-telegraphshortly thereafter, and Marconi patented a
complete wireless system in 1897.

For many years, wireless and radio were used to describe the same
thing, the difference being that radio was the American version of the
British wireless. The receiver was called a wireless because there were
no wires linking to the the transmitting station. It was called radio
because the transmitting station radiated electromagnetic waves. The
British Broadcasting Company was one of the first to use the term
wireless, around 1923 in their program guide
"The Radio Times".

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. The invention of the diode by
Fleming in 1904 and the triode by Lee de Forest in 1906 made possible rapid
development of long-distance (radio) telephony. The invention of the transistor by
Bardeen, Braittain and Shockley, which later led to the development of integrated
circuits, paved the way for miniaturisation of electronic systems.

Personal Communications
The continued advances in micro-electronic circuits have recently made the rapid
development of mobile and personal communication systems feasible. Such systems
would offer person-to-person communication, giving freedom of movement for the
users and, if desired, eliminating the ineffective calls experienced with the fixed
telephony service when the user is away from his or her terminal. Moreover, new

services, particularly services employing mobile data communication become


feasible, such as automatic vehicle location (AVL) for fleet management, electronic
mail, remote access to data bases, vehicle printers or automatic repetition of the
messages if the driver has been away from the vehicle. Further, data communication
makes encryption and data processing possible.
One of the earliest systems providing automatic radio
telephony, the Nordic Mobile Telephone
(NMT) cellular system, was based on a standard
developed in close cooperation between the five
different operators (PTT's) and competing
manufacturers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway
and Sweden. NMT demonstrated the joint drive in
European countries towards (inter) national cellular
networks. Initially, the divided and divesting US looked less able to develop and
follow a common policy for mobile networking, even though the Bell Laboratories
had played a leading role in the development of the novel cellular technology in the
early 1970's. The US eventually saw fit to agree a common standard, the
analog AMPS system, which subsequently captured about 2/3 of all mobile
subscribers worldwide.
In 1992, the new standard for Pan European digital cellular telephony known
as GSM saw its first operational successes. The name GSM originated early in the
1980's as the French acronym for Groupe Special Mobile, the international working
group tasked by most European PTT administrations to develop a common standard
for cellular networks. A joint standard allows international roaming across the many
European borders, until then only realized on a regional scale by the analog NMT
standard. The main advantages of a digital system are a larger user capacity per unit of
spectrum, ease of implementation of sophisticated encryption, authentication, and
other security features, and robustness against
radio channel imperfections.

Important Dates
1864: James Clerk Maxwell proved the
existence of electromagnetic waves.

1887: Heinrich Hertz sent and received wireless


waves, using a spark transmitter and a resonator
receiver.
1895: Guglielmo Marconi sent morese radio signals
over more than a mile.
1901: Marconi received the morse message "s" (...)
sent across the Atlantic.
1904: J.A. Fleming patented the diode.
1906: Lee DeForest patented the triode amplifier.
First speech wireless transmission, by Fessenden.
1907: Commercial Trans-Atlantic Wireless Service, using huge ground stations:
30 x 100m antenna masts
Beginning of the end for cable-based telegraphy.
WW I: Rapid development of communications intelligence, intercept
technology, cryptography.
1915: Wireless voice transmission NY to SF.
1920: Marconi discovers short wave radio, with wavelengths between 10 and
100 meters.
Long wave signals wavelength larger than 1,000 meter) follow the contour of
land, but require very high transmit power (typically above 200 kW, sometimes
even 2 MW, as for instance used by Radio Tele Luxembourg). As short wave
signals reflect against the ionosphere, transmit powers can be kept small.

1920: First commercial radio broadcast (in Pittsburgh)


1921: Police car dispatch radios, Detroit.
1930: BBC began television experiments.
1935: First telephone call around the world.
WW II: Rapid development of radio technology.

1968: Carterphone decision.


1974: FCC allocates 40 MHz for cellular telephony.
1982: European GSM and Inmarsat established.
1984: Breakup of AT&T.
1984: Initial deployment of AMPS cellular system.
The new services, that are nowadays still scattered over various different
systems, may in future be offered through one universal system for Personal
Communication.

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