HISTORY OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

1. HISTORY OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
AJAL.A.J
Assistant Professor –Dept of ECE,
Federal Institute of Science And Technology (FISAT) TM
MAIL: ec2reach@gmail.com

2. @ 150 BC
• The use of smoke signals for communication
( mentionedd by polybius – Greece)

3. @ 206 BC – 24 AD
• Han Dynasty in Ancient China .
( light was used for signalling messages along a
line of signal towers towards the capitol
Chang’an – { Xi’an} )

4. Note
• Using light and flags for wireless
communication remained important for the
navy until radio transmission was introduced.
Importance
Even today a sailor has to know some codes
represented by flags if all other means of
wireless communication fail

5. @ 1974
Claude chappe
• It was not until the end of the 18 th centuary,
when Claude chappe invented –
Optical Telegraph
• that long- distance wireless communication
was possible with technical means.
• Optical Telegraph lines were built almost until
the end of the following centuary.

6. @1843
• Wired communication started with the first
commercial telegraph line
between
Washington Baltimore
•Alexander Graham Bells invention & marketing of telephone in 1876
•Others tried before but didn’t succeed
Example – Philips Reis , (1834- 1874) – who discovered the telephone principle

7. @1881
• In Berlin, a public telephone service was available
in 1881

8. @ 1936
• The first regular public
voice
& multimedia
video service
Was available in 1936
between Leipzig
Berlin

9. Note
• At that time , it was not possible to focus light
as efficiently as can be done today by means
of a laser,
wireless communication did not really take off
until the discovery of EM waves
&
The development of the equipment to modulate
them

10. @ 1831
• It all started with michael Faraday ( and about
the same time Joseph Henry )
• Demonstrating EM induction in 1831
&
• James C Maxwell ( 1831- 1879) laying the
theoretical foundation for EM fields with his
famous equations @ 1864

11. @ 1857- 1894
• Heinrich Hertz was the first to demonstrate
the wave character of electrical transmission
through space (1886) thus providing Maxwells
equations.
Note
Today the unit Hz reminds us of this discovery.

12. @ 1856 - 1943
• Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943 ) soon increased the
distance of EM transmission

13. @ 1874 - 1937
• The name , which is most closely connected
with the success of wireless communication ,
is certainly that of
Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937)
• He gave the 1 st demonstration of wireless
telegraphy in 1895 using long wave
transmission with , very high transmission
power ( > 200 K w )

14. @ 1901
• The first transatlantic transmission followed in
1901

15. @ 1906
• WARC – World Administration Radio
Conference took place , cordinating world
wide use of radio frequencies
• The 1 st radio broadcast tookplace in 1906
when Reginald A Fessenden transmitted
voice and music for christmas

16. @ 1906 contd …..
• The invention of electronic vaccum tube in
1906 by
Lee De Forest ( 1873- 1961) &
Robert Von Lieben ( 1878 – 1913 )
Helped to reduce the size of
sender and receiver

17. @1907
• Only 6 years later in 1907 , 1 st commercial
transatlantic connections were setup .
• Huge Base Stations using upto thirty 100 m
high antennas where needed on both sides of
the atlantic ocean

18. @ 1911
• One of the 1 st mobile transmitter was on
board at Zeppelin in 1911

19. @ 1915
• In 1915 , the first wireless voice transmission
was set up
between
New York San Francisco

20. @ 1920
• The 1 st commercial radio station started in
1920 [ KDKA – from pittsburgh ]
Note
Sender & Receiver still needed huge antennas
&
High transmission power.

21. @ 1920 contd…
• This changed fundamentally with the
discovery of – short waves again by Marconi in
1920
( in connection with wireless communication ,
short waves have the advantage of being
reflected at the ionosphere)

22. @ 1926
• As early as 1926, the first telephone in a train
was available on the
Berlin – Hamburg line
Note
Wireless parallel to the railroad track worked as antenna

23. @ 1927
• The first car radio was commercially available
in 1927
( philco Transitone )
• NOTE
George Frost an 18 year old from Chicago had
integrated a radio into a Ford Mode T as early as
1922

24. @ 1928
• 1928 was the year of many field trials for TV
broadcasting.
• John L Baird ( 1888 – 1946 ) transmitted TV
across Atlantic and demonstrated colour TV

25. @ 1932
• The first tele teaching started in 1932 from
the CBS station .
• Uptil then , all wireless communication used
AM which offered relatively poor quality due
to interference

26. @ 1933
• One big step forward in this respect was the
invention of FM in 1933 by
• Edwin H Armstrong [ 1890 - 1954 ] both the
fundamental modulation schemes are still
used for todays radio broadcasting with FM
having much better quality

27. @ 1958
• After II nd world war , the first network in
Germany was the analog A- Netz from 1958,
using a carrier frequency of 160 Mhz.
• Connection setup was only possible from the
mobile station and no handover ie: changing
the base station was possible

28. @ 1982
• In acordance with the general idea of
European Union , European countries decided
to develop a pan – European mobile phone
standard in 1982 ant their aim was :-
1. Use a new spectrum at 900 MHz
2. Allow roaming throughout Europe
3. Be fully digital
4. Offer voice & data service
It was GSM

29. @ 1986
• The northern European countries of
 Denmark
 Finland Cradle of modern mobile communication
 Norway
 Sweden
Agreed upon the NMT { Nordic Mobile Telephone } system .
•The analog NMT uses 450 Mhz carrier

30. GSM
Groupe Speciale Mobile

31. @ 1983
• In 1983 the US system AMPS
[ Advanced Mobile Phone System ] Started .
• AMPS is analog & working at 850Mhz

32. @1990
• The early 1990s marked the beginning of fully
digital systems.
• In 1991, ETSI adopted the standard –
DECT [ Digital European Cordless Telephone ]
• DECT works at a spectrum of (1880-1900) Mhz.

33. Roaming
• Roaming means a seamless handover oa a
telephone call
From  one N/W provider
To  another
While crossing national boundaries