THE CONCEPT OF MODERN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

THE CONCEPT OF MODERN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

INTRODUCTION

The electronic transmission of information over distances called telecommunications has become virtually inseparable from computers. Computers and telecommunications create value together.

Telecommunications are the means of electronic transmission of information over distances. The information maybe in the form of voice telephone, calls, data, text, images or video. Today, telecommunications are used to organize more or less remote computers systems into telecommunications networks. From the very beginning man has constantly searched for means of passing information beyond the normal range of human vision and hearing. Everyone is familiar with such methods as Indian smoke signals, beacon fires, and semaphore flag signaling. It is worth pointing out here that “Tele” is derived from an Ancient Greek for “at a distance” “phone” means sound or speech “graph” means writing or drawing. A telecommunications network includes the following components:

·        Terminates for accessing the networks

·        Computers that process information and are inter connected by the networks

·        Telecommunication links that form a channel through which information is transmitted from a sending device to a receiving device.

·        Telecommunication equipment that facilitates the transmission of information.

·        Telecommunication software that controls message transmission over the network.

A system architecture or system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure behaviour and view of the system. An architecture description is a formal description and representation of a system organized in a way that support reasoning about the structure or the system.

A system architecture can comprise system components, the externally visible properties of those components, the relationship (e.g. the behaviour) between them. It can provide a plan from which product can be procured and system developed that will work together to implement the overall system.

There is no universal agreed definitions of what aspect constitutes a system are lecture and different organization defines it in different ways including:

·        The fundamental organization of a system, embodied in its components, their relationship to each other and to the environment and the principles governing design and evolution.

·        A representation of a system including a mapping of functionality on to hardware and software component, a mapping of the software architecture and human interaction with these components.

·        A description of the design and content of a computer system. If documented, it may be includes information such as a detailed inventory of current hardware, software and networking capabilities: a description of long range plans and priorities for future purchases and a plan for upgrading / or replacing dated equipment and software.

·        A formal description of a system or detail plan of the system at component level to guide its implementation.

Based on the overview above, a system architecture can be said to be a set of representations of an existing (or future) system. It conveys the informational content of the element comprising a system, the relationship among those elements and rules governing those relationship of which may consists of hardware, software, documentation, facilities, manual procedure or roles played.

A system architecture primarily concentrate on the internal interface among the system component or sub system and on the interface between the system and its external environment especially the user.

One can contrast the system architecture with the system architecture engineering (SAE) the method and discipline for effectively implementing the architecture of a system.

Brief history

It is important to keep in mind that the modern system architecture did not appear out of no where. Systems architecture depends heavily on practices and techniques which were developed over thousand of year in many fields, and perhaps  the most important being civil architecture.

Prior to the advent of digital computers, the electronics and other engineering discipline used the term “system” a it is commonly used today.

However, with the arrival of digital computers and development of software engineering as a separate discipline, it becomes imperative to often necessary to distinguish among engineered hardware artifact, software artifact and the combined artifacts.

By analyzing, a system architecture make use of element of both software and hardware and is used to enable design of such a composite system. A good architecture may be viewed as partitioning scheme, or algorithm which portioning all the system present and foreseeable requirement into a workable set of cleanly boundial sub system with nothing left over. That is, it is a portioning scheme which is exclusive, inclusive and exhaustive.   

TYPES

Several types of system architectures principle have been identified as follows:

·        Hardware architecture

·        Software architecture

·        Enterprise

·        Collaborative system architecture (such as the internet, intelligent transportation systems and joint air defense systems)

·        Manufacturing system architecture

·        Strategic system architecture

ANALOG AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Most of the lines in the telephone systems of the world at present are analog. Signals are transmitted as continuous waves. This is satisfactory way of transmitting or to transmit voice, but digital data sent by computers (sequences of pulses representing Os and 1s) must be converted into an analog signal to transmission over an analog line. The analog data must then be converted back into before entering into the memory of the recievig computer. The conversion of data from digital form into analog for transmission and then back into digital at the receiving end is done by a pair of interface devices called modems (modulator-demodulator).

Modem-based telecommunications have created a significant bottleneck in an environment where computer and peripheral speeds have increased dramatically. The solution is end-to end digital communications, in which signals are sent as streams of on/off pulses. Digital lines are capable of much faster communication and digital circuitry is now cheaper than analog. All new equipment now installed in telephone networks is indeed digital.

MODERN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Modern communication systems include:

Satellite, fiber optic, mobile cellular phone, micro wave systems, internet communications, as well as cable TV, AM & FM radio, VHF, HDTV, software, fiber, police, telephone, fax, voice, TV, local government, and computer networking systems.

REFERENCES

Hannu, J (2011) Architecture-driven modeling methodologies in proceedings of the 2011 conference on information modeling and knowledge base.

Paul, C (1996) A survey of architecture description languages in proceedings of the 8^th international workshop on software specification and design.

Boris, G (2008) The Art of system architecture

Muller, G (2012) Systems architecture business perspective

Boris, G (2002) The fundamental principles of system architecture

Brad, D (1998) Choosing a strategic system architecture

Richard, N (2002) A classification and architecture description and engineering.