<p>The responsibilities of Federal civil telecommunications are distributed by Congress among the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Department of Commerce. GSA provides a centralized organization and coordinated process for acquisition and oversight of equipment and services for an Integrated Federal Telecommunications System (IFTS) to meet federal telecommunication requirements.</p> <p> The IFTS currently consists of heterogeneous, largely independent networks and telecommunication acquisition programs which are being coordinated through GSA. Under GSA's direct control within the IFTS are the two Federal Telecommunications System 2000 (FfS2000) voice and data networks (Network A-services acquired from AT&T and Network B-services acquired from US Sprint). Presently, the FTS2000 does not provide telecommunication services outside the United States (U.S.), Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. There are, however, federal agency requirements for telecommunication services to international locations. International locations are by definition any locations outside the U.S., excluding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Agencies requiring international telecommunication services are currently subscribing individually to interlata carriers authorized to provide international telecommunication services and may not be benefiting from economies of aggregating their international telecommunication traffic with other agencies.</p> <p>The objective of this project is to support GSA in procuring technically-effective and cost-efficient end-to-end international telecommunication services. This will be achieved by aggregating international bound traffic of several agencies, reducing the number of access points to the international carrier's network, establishing a government-wide standard on performance and features of the network, consolidating the billing, and obtaining better discounts due to higher traffic volume. Every agency participating in this program will benefit from better service and lower costs.</p> / Master of Engineering

Telecommunications capabilities have increased dramatically in recent years. Especially significant is the introduction and tremendous growth of mobile telephone communications. Given the limitations of current mobile phone communications and the need for truly global person-to- person capabilities, an enhanced satellite-based system is presented as a feasible means to link portable telephones throughout the world. <p>Using systems engineering and the systems approach, the choice of using a satellite system vice other methods is made from a feasibility analysis. Following this choice, operational requirements are established. Based upon these requirements, two different satellite constellations are presented for consideration: a three-satellite geosynchronous constellation and a multi-satellite low earth orbiting (LEO) constellatIon. The advantages and disadvantages of each configuration are explored and the LEO constellation is chosen. Throughout the paper, systems engineering and its methodologies are used to illustrate how such a system might be developed using the systems approach. / Master of Engineering

This thesis describes a design for a multi-computer communication system using a shared memory. The design is implemented using the Motorola EXORset 30/DS35 development systems. The primary use for the shared memory is to act as a message center similar to a mailbox, where each computer can leave messages for other computers and also pick up messages from other computers. Status word residing in shared memory, called semaphore, are used to indicate the condition of the mailbox. Each computer polls unique semaphores associated with unique message transfers when requesting to send a message or to receive a message.

Compounded codes are used for representing voice data in digital communication systems. This thesis addresses the use of the Mu-law companding algorithm in a system optimized for conferencing. A procedure for determining the degree of compression for a variable number of conferees and design equations for implementing a table-lookup scheme using read-only-memories are presented.

Thesis (M.Eng.(Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [92]-95).

M.Ing. (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) / This thesis investigates the problems associated with providing end to end in-service performance monitoring on leased line data networks. These problems are of both practical and theoretical nature. A solution to this problem is presented and is based on linear block coding using some overhead bandwidth available within the channel. The coding scheme relies on the characteristics of shortened cyclic codes. A method is given to obtain the undetected error probability for an arbitrary code generation polynomial with a specified degree of shortening. References to the literature explain why this type of calculation is not straightforward. This method is used to compare various candidate codes. A method is discussed which facilitates rapid isolation of groups of favourable candidate codes for further study. Software is developed to aid in the code selection process and optimum codes are selected for leased line application. It is shown that in most cases improvements in undetected error probability are achievable, when comparison is made to previously published codes, proposed for error detection. This is because code generators optimum at their published or natural coding rate are seldom optimum at the rate which results from shortening the code.

M.Comm. / In today's society everyone is dependent on information for decision making, and a big part of the information is provided via telecommunication lines. Telecommunication is the unseen and unsung hero when it comes to information transfer. It is no wonder that telecommunication service providers are striving to give better and faster service almost daily. Furthermore because of the competitive nature of the telecommunications arena, service providers are striving to get the best performance from their telecommunications links. It has thus become more important to provide excellent service and guaranteed performance above anything else. The purpose of this study is to determine what kind of information is needed by the management of a telecommunications service provider to make business or strategic decisions. Questionnaires and interviews were used in this study to determine what kind of information is needed by the managers and the decision makers in the management of the telecommunication network. The basis of the study was provided through the examination of what a telecommunication network consists of, and the information that is needed to run such a network. An additional feature was that there is already a network monitoring system working practically. This system was used to measure the success of telecommunication network management and to determine what other factors should be catered for when a total telecommunication management network is evaluated.

Information system requirements determination is a key area in management information systems research that includes the problems of requirements specification, requirements elicitation, and user involvement. The combination of these three problems is a research area which we call the group approach to information system requirements determination. The main contribution of this research is a model to be used for the problem of fitting existing computer aids to this research area and a set of methods for solving the usability and configuration problems when using such computer aids. The usability problem is that of determining whether a set of computer aids can be used effectively in accomplishing the task of requirements determination. The configuration problem is that of selecting a minimum collection of funtionalities necessary for economically supporting all aspects of requirements determination. Electronic meeting systems are the general category of computer aids that we are interested in applying to the task. In particular, the GroupSystems electronic meeting system developed at The University of Arizona is used as a case in this research. Characteristics of the requirements determination task and profiles of GroupSystems tools are combined into our model for fitting computer aids to a given task. We then derive the answers regarding the usability and configuration of GroupSystems in the group approach to information system requirements determination. We also compare the derived configurations to the GroupSystems tools used in an authentic case. The main points of this research include: (1) proposal of the concept of fitting computer aids to, instead of developing new computer aids for, a task area; (2) proposal of a model for fitting computer aids via a classification of information types; (3) analysis of the natures of the fitting model and the usability and configuration problems; (4) proposal of approximation methods for solving the configuration problem; (5) analysis of the task area--the group approach to information system requirements determination; (6) analysis of the use of GroupSystems in the task area by applying the proposed fitting model and approximation methods; and (7) demonstration of the usefulness of the fitting model and approximation methods by analyzing an authentic case of using GroupSystems tools.

In the two years 1989-1991 the environment of Poland's telecommunications was fundamentally transformed. This dissertation is an exploratory case study addressing four principal aspects of that country's changing telecommunications: (1) telecommunication regime or the structure of rules in which telecommunication systems function; (2) telecommunication services, defined as the means and methods of communicating from a distance by processing and relaying an electro-magnetic signal (categorized into telephone, mobile, data-messaging, information, data-carrier, and entertainment); (3) telecommunication equipment, or markets for switching, transmission and terminal equipment; and (4) telecommunication subscribers, or principal characteristics of the customer-base in the residential, professional, rural and urban market segments. Each aspect is examined for the purpose of capturing the on-going change. The dissertation identifies the principal agents of change and maps the new conditions onto the models developed by Cowhey and Aronson. Institutional pluralism, market competition, shortage alleviation and market restructuring have transformed Poland's telecommunication environment from the scarcity model to a version of the boutique model.

The objective of this research is to design, and determine the feasibility of, a telecommunication system for the city of Erdenet, Mongolia. The Mongolian Telecommunication Company, Telecommunication Company of Erdenet city, and the National Statistical Office of Mongolia provided the data required for telecommunication forecasting of Erdenet. The literature review and analysis of the telecommunication forecasting indicate the need for a model of a new Telecommunication system in Erdenet, Mongolia. The model, as indicated, should become a useful example for planning and updating the telecommunication system in Mongolia. The design of a proposed telecommunication network involves the following considerations: analyzing and forecasting telephone traffic, calculating the required number of channels, determining exchange locations, traffic matrix, and establishing a basic hierarchical structure.