Unit 1 (Online World) - Cables and Wireless

Question 1

UTP

Answer 1

This stands for Unshielded Twisted Pair. This is a ubiquitous type of copper cabling used in telephone wiring and local area networks (LANs)

Unshielded pairs aren’t protected, so are prone to interference.

Question 2

What does STP stand for? What is it?

Answer 2

This stands for Shielded Twisted Pair. This is a ubiquitous type of copper cabling used in telephone wiring and local area networks (LANs)

Shielded pairs are protected, so aren’t as prone of interference.

Question 3

Coaxial Cables

Answer 3

Coaxial cable is made up of a solid centre wire surrounded by insulation and then a grounded copper braided outer cable. It is less susceptible to interference than twisted pair cables but is only useful over short distances and can be difficult to work with due to the thickness of the cable. It is commonly used to connect your TV to an aerial or satellite dish.

Question 4

Fibre Optic

Answer 4

Fibre optic cable transmits data as light that travels down glass or plastic fibres, bouncing repeatedly off the walls to reach its destination. It works over long distances and is extremely fast. However it is a lot more expensive than other types of cable. It is commonly used to connect a cable or telephone company to the local exchange.

Question 5

Infrared

Answer 5

Infrared uses infrared light to carry data between devices. It is a reliable wireless method but only works over very short distances. It is commonly used in remote controls.

Question 6

Microwave transmission

Answer 6

Microwave transmission uses small wavelength, high frequency radio signals to transmit data. This works over long distances but can suffer from interference from weather conditions. It is used for Earth to satellite communication and in Bluetooth.

Question 7

What is Satellite transmission?

Answer 7

Satellite transmission uses satellites in space to transmit data between different points on Earth. It has an extremely high data transfer rate and maximum range but is extremely expensive to set up. It is used for global communication systems.

Question 8

VOIP

Answer 8

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP for short is a network technology that allows us to send voice and video communication over the internet.

Question 9

CODECs

Answer 9

short for compressor/decompressor, this is a program or device that will compress data for quicker transmission and then decompress it once it has been received.