Monday, May 28, 2007



Public Safety Network

Public Safety Network


A Public Safety Network is a wireless communications network used by emergency services organizations, such as police, fire and emergency medical services, to prevent or respond to incidents that harm or endanger persons or property.
Many municipalities are turning to mobile computing and other networked applications to improve the efficiency of their workforce, including public safety personnel and first responders.

Consequently, public safety workers are increasingly being equipped with wireless laptops, handheld computers, and mobile video cameras to improve their efficiency, visibility, and ability to instantly collaborate with central command, coworkers and other agencies. Video surveillance cameras and unattended sensors are becoming important tools to extend the eyes and ears of public safety agencies.


The need to access and share this vital new flow of data and images is driving investments in a new kind of network: broadband wireless mesh networks using Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 4.9 GHz public safety radio frequencies.

These networks are metropolitan or regional in scope, can maintain connections with highly mobile workers, deliver large amounts of low-cost bandwidth with extremely high reliability, and support real-time video, voice and data.

Wireless Network

Wireless network


While the term wireless network may technically be used to refer to any type of network that is wireless, the term is most commonly used to refer to a telecommunications network whose interconnections between nodes is implemented without the use of wires, such as a computer network (which is a type of telecommunications network). Wireless telecommunications networks are generally implemented with some type of information transmission system that uses electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves, for the carrier and this implementation usually takes place at the physical level or "layer" of the network. (For example, see the Physical Layer of the OSI Model).


Types

Wireless LAN
One type of wireless network is a wireless LAN, or Local Area Network. Similar to other wireless devices, it uses radio instead of wires to transmit data back and forth between computers on the same network as was the case for ALOHANET.

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

The GSM network is divided into three major systems which are the switching system, the base station system, and the operation and support system (Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)). The cell phone connects to the base system station which then connects to the operation and support station; it then connects to the switching station where the call is transferred where it needs to go (Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)). This is used for cellular phones, is the most common standard and is used for a majority of cellular providers.
Personal Communications Service (PCS)

PCS is a radio band that can be used by mobile phones in North America. Sprint happened to be the first service to set up a PCS.

D-AMPS

D-AMPS, which stands for Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service, is an upgraded version of AMPS but it is being phased out due to advancement in technology. The newer GSM networks are replacing the older system.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a commonly used wireless network in computer systems which enable connection to the internet or other machines that have Wi-Fi functionalities. Wi-Fi networks broadcast radio waves that can be picked up by Wi-Fi receivers that are attached to different computers.

Fixed Wireless Data

Fixed wireless data is a type of wireless data network that can be used to connect two or more buildings together in order to extend or share the network bandwidth without physically wiring the buildings together.

Computer Networking

Computer networking is the engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems. Such communicating computer systems constitute a computer network and these networks generally involve at least two devices capable of being networked with at least one usually being a computer. The devices can be separated by a few meters (e.g. via Bluetooth) or nearly unlimited distances (e.g. via the Internet).

Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of telecommunications, and sometimes of computer science, information technology and computer engineering. Computer networks rely heavily upon the theoretical and practical application of these scientific and engineering disciplines.


A computer network is any set of computers or devices connected to each other. Examples of networks are the Internet, a wide area network that is the largest to ever exist, or a small home local area network (LAN) with two computers connected with standard networking cables connecting to a network interface card in each computer.

HISTORY

Before the advent of computer networks that were based upon some type of telecommunications system, communication between calculation machines and early computers was performed by human users by carrying instructions between them.


In September 1940 George Stibitz used a teletype machine to send instructions for a problem set from his Model K at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and received results back by the same means. Linking output systems like teletypes to computers was an interest at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) when, in 1962, J.C.R. Licklider was hired and developed a working group he called the "Intergalactic Network", a precursor to the ARPANet.


In 1964, researchers at Dartmouth developed the Dartmouth Time Sharing System for distributed users of large computer systems. The same year, at MIT, a research group supported by General Electric and Bell Labs used a computer (DEC's PDP-8) to route and manage telephone connections.


Throughout the 1960s Leonard Kleinrock, Paul Baran and Donald Davies independently conceptualized and developed network systems which used datagrams or packets that could be used in a packet switched network between computer systems.
In 1969 the University of California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah were connected as the beginning of the ARPANet network using 50 kbit/s circuits.


Computer networks, and the technologies needed to connect and communicate through and between them, continue to drive computer hardware, software, and peripherals industries. This expansion is mirrored by growth in the numbers and types of users of networks from the researcher to the home user.


Today, computer networks are the core of modern communication. The scope of communication has increased significantly in the past decade and this boom in communications would not have been possible without the progressively advancing computer network.


Networking Methods

Networking is a complex part of computing that makes up most of the IT Industry. Without networks, almost all communication in the world would cease to happen. It is because of networking that telephones, televisions, the internet, etc. work.
There are two (broad) types of networks in existence at the moment. These are:

Local Area Network (LAN)

A Local Area Network is a network that spans a relatively small space and provides services to a small amount of people. Depending on the amount of people that use a Local Area Network, a peer-to-peer or client-server method of networking may be used. A peer-to-peer network is where each client shares their resources with other workstations in the network. Examples of peer-to-peer networks are: Small office networks where resource use is minimal and a home network. A client-server network is where every client is connected to the server and each other. Client-server networks use servers in different capacities.

These can be classified into two types: Single-service servers, where the server performs one task such as file server, print server, etc.; while other servers can not only perform in the capacity of file servers and print servers, but they also conduct calculations and use these to provide information to clients (Web/Intranet Server).

Computers are linked via Ethernet Cable, can be joined either directly (one computer to another), or via a network hub that allows multiple connections.


Wide Area Network (WAN)

A Wide Area Network is a network where a wide variety of resources are deployed across a large domestic area or internationally. An example of this is a multinational business that uses a WAN to interconnect their offices in different countries. The largest and best example of a WAN is the Internet, which is the largest network in the world.


Wireless Networks (WLAN, WWAN)

A wireless network is basically the same as a LAN or a WAN but there are no wires between hosts and servers. The data is transfered over sets of radio trancievers. These types of networks are beneficial when it is to costly or inconvenient to run the necessary cables. For more information, see Wireless LAN and Wireless wide area network
In order for communication to take place between computers, mediums must be used. These mediums include Protocols, Physical Routers and Ethernet, etc. This is covered by Open Systems Interconnection which comprises all the processes that make information transport

Node ( Networking )

Node (networking)


A node is a device that is connected as part of a computer network. Every node must have a MAC address or Data Link Control address[1] if it is at least an OSI model layer 2 device. Nodes can be computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, or various other network appliances, such as routers, switches and hubs. Nodes that actively route data for the other networked devices as well as themselves are called supernodes.


In general terms, a node is a specific location in a telecommunication network. In Cable TV systems (CATV), this term has assumed a broader context and is generally associated with a Fiber Optic Node. A fiber optic node is those homes or businesses within a specific geographic area that are served from a common fiber optic receiver.

A fiber optic node is generally described in terms of the number of Homes Passed that are served by that specific fiber node.

Network node (NN):

A grouping of one or more network elements (at one or more sites) which provides network related functions, and is administered as a single entity. A single site may contain more than one network node. For the purpose of this glossary, a network node is considered synonymous with a network element, and is usually at a single site.

This restriction simplifies the definition of the network node interface (NNI) and INI, which would not apply between network elements.

Computer Networking Device

Computer networking device


Computer networking devices are units that mediate data in a computer network. Computer networking devices are also called network equipment, Intermediate Systems (IS) or InterWorking Unit (IWU). Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data terminal equipment.


List of computer networking devices

Common basic network devices:

Gateway: device sitting at a network node for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols. Works on OSI layers 4 to 7.

Router: a specialized network device that determines the next network point to which to forward a data packet toward its destination. Unlike a gateway, it cannot interface different protocols. Works on OSI layer 3.

Bridge: a device that connects multiple network segments along the data link layer. Works on OSI layer 2.

Switch: a device that allocates traffic from one network segment to certain lines (intended destination(s)) which connect the segment to another network segment. So unlike a hub a switch splits the network traffic and sends it to different destinations rather than to all systems on the network. Works on OSI layer 2.

Hub: connects multiple Ethernet segments together making them act as a single segment. When using a hub, every attached device shares the same broadcast domain and the same collision domain. Therefore, only one computer connected to the hub is able to transmit at a time. Depending on the network topology, the hub provides a basic level 1 OSI model connection among the network objects (workstations, servers, etc). It provides bandwidth which is shared among all the objects, compared to switches, which provide a dedicated connection between individual nodes. Works on OSI layer 1.

Repeater: device to amplify or regenerate digital signals received while setting them from one part of a network into another. Works on OSI layer 1.


Some hybrid network devices:

Multilayer Switch: a switch which, in addition to switching on OSI layer 2, provides functionality at higher protocol layers.

Protocol Converter: a hardware device that converts between two different types of transmissions, such as asynchronous and synchronous transmissions.

Brouter: Combine router and bridge functionality and are therefore working on OSI layers 2 and 3.

Digital media receiver: Connects a computer network to a home theatre
Hardware or software components that typically sit on the connection point of different
networks, e.g. between an internal network and an external network:

Proxy: computer network service which allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services

Firewall: a piece of hardware or software put on the network to prevent some communications forbidden by the network policy

Network Address Translator: network service provide as hardware or software that converts internal to external network addresses and vice versa


Other hardware for establishing networks or dial-up connections:

Multiplexer: device that combines several electrical signals into a single signal

Network Card: a piece of computer hardware to allow the attached computer to communicate by network

Modem: device that modulates an analog "carrier" signal (such as sound), to encode digital information, and that also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information, as a computer communicating with another computer over the telephone network
ISDN terminal adapter (TA): a specialized gateway for ISDN

Line Driver: a device to increase transmission distance by amplifying the signal. Base-band networks only.