Telecom Fundamentals

TelcoSec Academy

Telecom Foundations

GEN-101

SignalsdB and dBmTransmission mediaPCMModulationOFDMMultiplexingE1Error controlSwitchingOSI modelSDHOTNSynchronisationInterconnectionSpectrumNumbering

Overview

Telecom Fundamentals is the first course of the Telecom Foundations path and assumes no telecom background. It follows a signal from its physical form through digitisation, modulation, multiplexing, error control and switching to the transport networks and organisations that connect operators worldwide. Every later Foundations course builds on the principles taught here.

Learning Objectives

Explain how telecommunications evolved from the telegraph to all-IP networks and what ITU, ETSI, 3GPP and IETF do

Describe signals in terms of frequency, bandwidth, power in dB and dBm, noise and signal-to-noise ratio

Compare copper, coaxial cable, optical fibre and radio as transmission media

Explain how speech becomes a 64 kbit/s PCM channel using sampling, quantising and A-law or µ-law companding

Describe how modulation, multiplexing and multiple access let many users share one medium

Explain how parity, CRC, FEC and ARQ/HARQ detect and correct errors

Contrast circuit and packet switching and place protocols in the OSI and TCP/IP models

Describe how transport networks, interconnection, spectrum and numbering tie operators together

Prerequisites

None. The course assumes no telecom background.

Curriculum

10 modules

01 LESSONFrom telegraph to telephone20 min 02 LESSONGoing digital20 min 03 LESSONMobile, internet and the standards bodies20 min 04 QUIZModule 1 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONSignals and frequency20 min 02 LESSONDecibels and power levels20 min 03 LESSONNoise, SNR and channel capacity20 min 04 QUIZModule 2 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONCopper: twisted pair and coaxial cable20 min 02 LESSONOptical fibre20 min 03 LESSONRadio and free-space propagation20 min 04 QUIZModule 3 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONSampling20 min 02 LESSONQuantisation and companding20 min 03 LESSONPCM and speech codecs20 min 04 QUIZModule 4 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONLine coding for baseband transmission20 min 02 LESSONCarrier modulation: ASK, FSK and PSK20 min 03 LESSONQAM and OFDM20 min 04 QUIZModule 5 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONFrequency and time division20 min 02 LESSONThe digital hierarchy and WDM20 min 03 LESSONMultiple access for radio20 min 04 QUIZModule 6 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONDetecting errors20 min 02 LESSONCorrecting errors with forward error correction20 min 03 LESSONRetransmission: ARQ and HARQ20 min 04 QUIZModule 7 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONCircuit switching20 min 02 LESSONPacket switching20 min 03 LESSONLayered models20 min 04 QUIZModule 8 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONSDH: the synchronous digital hierarchy20 min 02 LESSONOTN and packet transport20 min 03 LESSONMicrowave, satellite and synchronisation20 min 04 QUIZModule 9 Quiz10 min

01 LESSONOperators and how networks interconnect20 min 02 LESSONRegulating spectrum and numbering20 min 03 LESSONThe European regulatory framework and the path forward20 min 04 LESSONA voice sample from microphone to fibre and back20 min 05 QUIZModule 10 Quiz10 min 06 EXAMFinal Exam90 min

Career Outcomes

01Read link budgets, noise figures and capacity limits expressed in dB, dBm and bit/s

02Trace a voice call from microphone to digital trunk and back, naming each conversion and multiplexing stage

03Follow the transport, switching and interconnection terms used by operator engineering, NOC and planning teams

04Start the PSTN, ADSL, GSM and SIM Cards courses of the Telecom Foundations path with the shared vocabulary they assume

Telecom Fundamentals Badge

Completion Badge

Course Achievement

Telecom Fundamentals Badge

Passing the final exam earns the Telecom Foundations Engineer achievement and counts as the first of the five exams for the TelcoSec Telecom Foundations certification. It shows you can explain how signals are described, digitised, modulated, multiplexed, protected against errors, switched and carried across operator networks.

RequiredThe achievement is awarded for passing the Telecom Fundamentals final exam: 75 questions drawn from a bank of 150, with 70% needed to pass. Attempts are unlimited, with a 7-day wait between attempts. The module quizzes are practice and do not award the achievement on their own.

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