Taylor, L.W.; et. al. “Communications and Information Systems”
Mechanical Engineering Handbook
Ed. Frank Kreith
Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 1999
c©1999 by CRC Press LLC
Communications and
Information Systems
18.1 Introduction ....................................................................18-1
18.2 Network Components and Systems...............................18-2
Electrical and Optical Communications • Wireless Networks •
Satellite Communications • Computer Communications
18.3 Communications and Information Theory...................18-23
Communication Theory • Information Theory
18.4 Applications..................................................................18-41
Accessing the Internet • Data Acquisition
18.1 Introduction
This chapter provides a broad introduction to and reference resource for the field of communications
and information systems.
The first section covers the areas of computer networks and their underlying technologies. These
technologies include electrical, optical, wireless, and satellite communications channels, as well as the
protocols (such as TCP/IP) used to transfer information over these channels. The purpose of this section
is to provide a high-level understanding of the infrastructure which underlies all modern electronic
communications.
The second section introduces Communications and Information Theory. This section provides the
mathematical background necessary to better understand the technologies used in electronic communi-
cations. Issues such as noise, compression, and error correction are explained. Of necessity, this section
is somewhat more theoretical than the others.
The third section concludes the chapter with information on two applications of computers and
networking. The first, Accessing the Internet, introduces the Internet, provides a summary of the software
tools used to access information on the Internet, and discusses methods of finding information using a
World Wide Web browser. The second application, Data Acquisition, descr