1.4 Connectivity

Question 1

What is a fibre optic cable and its characteristics?

Answer 1

A fibre optic cable sends data as pulses of light through a glass tube.

Advantages
- fibre optic cables transfer data faster because of their higher bandwidth

Disadvantages
- more expensive
- less flexible

Question 2

What is a copper cable and it’s characteristics?

Answer 2

A copper cable uses copper wiring and data is transferred through electricity and is also a cheaper alternative for wired connection.

Advantages
- cheaper
- more malleable, easy to bend and less fragile

Disadvantages
- lower bandwidth, transfers less data at a time
- poor insulation can cause errors

Question 3

What is Bluetooth?

Answer 3

Bluetooth is a short range wireless connection between devices within an area normally around 10 metres.

Question 4

What is infrared?

Answer 4

Infrared connection uses light not visible to the human eye. It requires line of sight in order to connect to devices such as remote control to a TV

Question 5

What is laser?

Answer 5

Laser are like fibre optic cables but without the wire. It requires a line of sight for connection through the atmosphere.

Question 6

What is microwave connection?

Answer 6

Microwave connection uses radio waves between two points that have to be in line of sight (for distances of 2km) and can be affected by the weather.

Question 7

What is satellite connection?

Answer 7

Satellite connection uses point to multipoint connection to relay messages by using a satellite that is above the earths atmosphere.

Question 8

What is 5G /GSM?

Answer 8

Global system of mobile technology uses cellular networks to connect devices such as mobile phones to the internet for calls and messages.