Computer Technology and Design

Computer Technology and Design

In the early period there are big rooms that serve as Computer Centers where many Computers are installed for data processing. With hte invent of digital convergence, it has grown towards computer networks with large number of separate interconnected computers at single/multip-le locatyions that are used for sharing resources such as data, programs and equipment with anyone on the same network, irrespective of the physical location of the user and resources.

Generations of Computers

FIRST GENERATION (1945 – 1960)

The first generation of computers were those computers which

1. Uses vacuum tubes
2. Were big & clumsy
3. Had high electricity consumption
4. Uses programming in mechanical language
5. Requires larger ACs
6. Shows a lot of electricity failure

SECOND GENERATION (1960 – 1965)

The second generation of computers were those computers which

1. Uses transistors
2. Developing Core Memory
3. Were faster than the First Generation computers
4. Developed the first Operating System
5. Uses programming in Machine Language & Assembly Language
6. Uses Magnetic tapes & discs
7. Smaller in size than the First Generation computers
8. Consume less heat & electricity

THIRD GENERATION (1965 – 1975)

The third generation of computers were those computers which

1. Uses Integrated circuits
2. Uses less power consumption
3. Uses SSI & MSI Technology
4. Uses High level language

FOURTH GENERATION (1975 till Present)

The Fourth generation of computers were those computers which

1. uses LSI & VLSI Technology
2. were protable
3. sues RAID Technolgy of data storage
4. are used in virtual reality , multimedia, simulation
5. comes in use for Data Communication
6. uses different types of memories with very high accessing speed & storage capacity

FIFTH GENERATION

The Fifth generation of computers were those computers which

1. are used in parallel processing
2. are used in superconductors
3. are used in speech recognition
4. are used in intelligent robots
5. are used in artificial intelligence

Remember

Types of Computers

BASED ON THE USAGE

Computers can be classified according to their uses. There are three types of computers:

1. Analog Computers
2. Digital Computers
3. Hybrid Computers

Analog Computers
Analog computers treats data in terms of continuous physical quantity, such type of computers are used in solving mathematical equations. The figure shows the first analog computer.

Computer Technology and Design

Analog computers do not have the ability to store large amounts of data, nor do they have complete logical facilities.
Analog computer uses analog singa;s which are represented by a continuous set of voltages. They are used in scientific research centers, hospitals and airports.
These computers are unique in terms of operationg as it utilizes continuous variables for the puropose of mathematicfal compulation.

Digital Computers

A digital computer stores data in terms of discrete numbers and proceeds in different steps from one state to the next. The states of a digital computer typically involve binary digits, which may take the form of the presence or absence of magnetic markers in a storage medium.

Digital Computer (Computer Technology and Design)

1. Stores Data as Numbers
2. Have States
3. Programmable Device
4. Manipulates Symbols

A digital computer is a programmable device that processes information by manipulating symbols according to logical rules. Digital computers come in a wide variety of types, ranging from tiny, special-purpose devices used in cars and desktop computer.

Digital computers operate on electrical input htat can attain two input states: ON = 1 and OFF = 0. With digital type of computers data is represented by binary digit 0 and 1 or off state and on state. Digital computers recognize data by counting discrete signals of 0 or 1. They have high speed and are programmable. They compute values and store results.

Hybrid Computers

Hybrid computers use both analog and digital features and operations. This type of computer is a combination of both analog and digital computers.
Hybrid computers convert digital to analog signals in order to perfrom Robotics and Process control.
Hybrid computers operate by using digital to analog converters and analog to digital converters.

Computer Technology and Design

Based on Functions

According to the functions, computers can be categorized into the following categories

Workstations

Workstations are intended to serve one user and may contain special hardware enhancements not found on a personal computer.

Server

A server is a computer that stores all the information for other computers which are called as workstations.Such workstations are connected to ther server using various means as shown in the figure below.

This means that they could be connected using cable, wireless connection, etc. Only computers that maintain a type of connection with the server can get the information that is stored in the server.

Server Computer

1. Contains more information
2. Very Costly
3. Bigger in Size
4. Heavier
5. Stores Data for Workstations

Any type of computer, including a desktop, a laptop, a CD or DVD machine, etc can be connected to a server. The person who sets up a server also defines the types of connections it is made for.

Embedded Computers

Embedded computers are a part of a machine or device. They generally execute a program that is stored in non-volatile memory and is only intended to operate a specific machine or device. These are automobile, which may contain a number of embedded computers; a washing machine; a DVD player; and many other devices. They may be slower and cheaper than CPUs found in a perosnal computer.

Based on Size

Computers can also be categorised according to their size as shown :

Microcomputers

These are the most common type of computers used by people today. Some of the main types of micro-computers are as follows :

The Desktop

A computer is called a \’\’Desktop computer\’\’ if it is small enough to be kept on top of a table. The desktop computer consist of Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse and CPU. These types of computers are used in the office or at home. A desktop computer is made of different parts that are connected with cables.

Desktop Computers

1.Contains Mouse, Monitor, Keyboard and CPU
2. Cheaper

The Laptop

A laptop is a computer in which the CPU, monitor, keyboard and mouse are kept in a single unit. The laptop computer is so small and light that you can keep it in our bag. A laptop computer is also called a notebooj. In Laptop computer you can connect external devices such as mouse, keyboard , monitor or other peripheraks such as a printer, pen drive, hard disk or a projector. It is smaller in size than a desjtop and can do all operations same as desktop

Laptop Computer

1. Contains Mouse, Monitor, Keyboard and CPU
2. Expensive
3. Compact in Size
4. Less Heavier

Minicomputers and Midrange Computers (Computer Technology and Design)

A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle rnage of the computing spectrum., between the smallest multi-user systems (mainframe computers) and the largest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers). The higher-end SPARC, POWER and Itanium-based systems from Sun Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard are same examples of minicomputers.

The Mainframe

A mainframe is a computer, which is much bigger in size. It does all the jobs for other computers that are connected to it. The program that runs on the mainframe defines its role.

Supercomputers

The name itself suggests its functions. A supercomputer perfroms tasks which involve intense numerical calculations such as weather forecasting, fluid dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics and complex scientific computations. A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in floating point operations per second, or FLOPS.

Computer Technology and Design

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Content technology involves digital content in the form of multimedia which contrasts with media that uses basic computer displays like text only or nomral or hand printed material. The features of multimedia covers mixtures of text, audio, still and animated images, animation, video or interactive content.

Multimedia technology involves interactive computer-based applications that allow people to communicate ideas and information using digital and print elements. Professionals use computer software to develop and manage online graphics and content. The work that media technology specialists produce is used on various media, such as training programs, web pages and news sites.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

To view multimedia content from a remote computer or server, the information needs to pass through computer networks using certain communication technology. If the information is large, it needs to be compressed for lowering of communication delay.

Computer Technology and Design

Computers and infortmation (IT) has be3come pivotal to the process of economic development. Because of the tremendous strides that have been made in this discipline over the [past two decades or so, information technology now provides the most efficient and cost-effective ways of exchanging information.

Internet

The role of the internet has changed from its original use as a communication tool to provide easier and faster access to information mainly through a broadband connection. The television, radio and newspapers were the world\’s mediums for accessing news and entertainment; now, all three mediums have converged into one,and people all over the world can read and hear news and other information on the Internet. The convergence of the internet and conventional TV became popular in the 2010s through smart TVs, also sometimes referred to as \’\’Connected TV\’\’ or \’\’Hybrid TV\’\’.

Smart TV is used to descibe the current trend of integration of the internet and web 2.0 features into modern television sets and set-top boxes, as well as technological convergence between computers and these television Internet TV, over-the-top content, as well as on-demand streaming media, and less focus on traditional broadcast media like previous generations of television sets and set-top boxes.

Marketplace

Convergence is a dynamic global marketplace in which different companies and sectors are being brought together, both as competitors and collaborators, across traditional boundaries of industry and technology. In a world dominated by cinvergence, many tradtional products services and types of companies will become less relevant, but a stunning array of new ones is possible.

An array of technology developments acts as accelerators of convergence of many traditioanl including nobility, analytics, and cloud, digital and social networks. As a disruptive force, convergence is a threat ti the unprepared, but a tremendous growth opportunity for companies that can out-innovate and out-execute their ever-expanding list of competitors under dramatically new marketplace rules.

Computer Technology and Design

With convergence, the lines are blurred as companies diversify outside of their original markets. For instance, mobile services are increasingly an important part of the automobile;chemnicals companies work with agrobusiness;device manufacturers sell msuic, video and books; booksellers become consumer device companies; search and advertising companies become telcos; media companies act like telcos and vice versa; retailers act like financial services companies and vice versa; cosmetics companies work with pharmacetical campanies; and much, much more. Mobile Phone usage broadens dramatically, becoming the means to do previosuly inconceivable things form making payments to watching videos to operating an intelligent home.

Messaging (Computer Technology and Design)

Combination services include those that integrate SMS with voice, such as voice SMS. Providers include Bubble Motion, jott, Kis=rusa, and SpinVox. Several operators have launched services that combine SMS with mobile instant messaging and presence.

Text-to-landline services also exist, where subscribers can send text messages to any landline phone and are charged at standard rates. The service has been popular in America, where fixed and mobile numbers are similar.

Inbound SMS has been converging to enable reception of different formats (SMS, voice, MMS, etc). Companies in consumer goods and media giants will soon be able to allow consumers to contact them through voice, SMS, MMS, IVR or video using helpline numbers.Such convergence is mainly helpful for media companies, broadcasters, enterprises, call centers and hel desks whi need to develop a consistent contact strategy with consumers. As SMS is very popular today, it became relevant to include text messaging as a contact possibility for consumers. To avoid having multiple numbers, a simple way is to merge the reception of both formats under one number.

Data Processing

Data is defined as a representation of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner that should be suitable for communication, interpretation or processing by human or electronic machine. Data is represented using characters like alphabets (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) or speical characters (+,-,/,*,<,>,= etc)

Computer Technology and Design

Data is/are facts that can be perceived with our senses, and then the brain can process this. Computers is a device that transroms data into meaningful information. The function of the computers is to receive the information, process it and gives the outut.

Data processing is re-structuring or re-ordering of data by people or machines to increase their usefulness & add values for a particular purpose. Data processing consists of the basic steps of input, processing and output. These three steps constitute the data processing cycle.

Data Processing Cycle (Computer Technology and Design)

Input – Processing – Output

To process the information, the computer follows Input-Process-Output-Storage processes which are explained as:

a. INPUT stage invloves putting infomration into the system.
b. PROCESS stage invloves doing soemthing with hte information
c. OUTPUT stage involves displaying results.
d. STORAGE stage keeping data when the computer is switched off.

INPUT – PROCESS – OUTPUT (Computer Technology and Design)

something going in, something happening to it, something coming out

Computers work in the same way:

INPUT – PROCESS – OUTPUT

press keys on keyboard make into words words on screen or printer

or

INPUT – PROCESS – OUTPUT

Pressing keys on game pad works out movement character moves on the screen.

Computer system has four main stages:

Input-Process-Output

Storage (Computer Technology and Design)

Input devices are used to put information into the computer. The CPU or Processor inside the computer is used to do all the work such as calculations, searches, comparisons.

Computer Technology and Design

INPUT DEVICE – COMPUTER (CPU) – OUTPUT DEVICE

1.keyboard BACKING STORAGE DEVICE 1. Moitor

2.Mouse 1 Disk Drive 2. Printer

Output devices are used to display the results. Storage devices used to keep infomration when the computer is swtiched off. The components which are used for Input and Output of information comprises of:

1.The input operation receives input from the keyboard or mouse.

2.The processing operationg calculates data according to the instructions.

3.The output operation sends the output to the monitor or printer.

The storage operation keeps track of files. Storage devices include floppy disks and hard disks

Flow of Data (Computer Technology and Design)

1. The arrows show how the data flows in the computer system.
2. Some devices such as Mouse or Keyboard are used for input data in to the processor.
3. Some devices such as monitor or printer are used for output, so information flows out of the processor
4. Some devices such as Floppy Disks and Hard Disks are used for backing storage.
5. Information flows out of the processor for saving sand flows in to the processer when loading.

Communication Devices

Data can be communicated from one location to another using a pathway or medium known as communication channels. Communication channel is a media which is of two types:

1. Cable (twisted-pair wire, cable, and fiberoptic cable ) or WIred
2. Broadcast (microwave, satellite, radio, and infrared) ir Wireless

Cable or wired media use physical wires to transmit data and information. Twisted-pair wire and coaxial cables are made of copper, and fiber-optic cables are made of glass. Communication devices store and recover data obtained by data acquisition systems.Such devices help in accessibility, analysis, sharing and reporting of data.

1.Needs cables to connect to each and every computer in a netwrok.

2.Thw cost of wired technology is less as compared to wireless technology.

3.Wired technology offers better performance as comapred to wireless technology by offering 100Mpbs bandwidth using Fast Ethernet technology.

4.It uses Ethernet cables, switches etc.

5.The security considerations for wired technology connected to the internet invloves firewalles

Wireless Technology

1. Wireless technology can be configured in two ways: ad-hoc or infrastructure mode.
2. Wireless devices need WLAN cards and access points for communication.
3. Wireless technology requires equipment like Wireless Adapters and access points
4. 4.Cost of wireless technology is high
5. Here, the maximum bandwidth provided will be around 11Mbps.
6. The reliability of wireless technology is less as compared to wired technology.
7. WLANS use wired equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption to protect the data.
8. Laptops and other computing devices can be moved freely in a wireless network due to better mobility.

Computer Network and Internet Technology

Computer netwrok is a telecommunications network that allows computers to exchange data. The physical connection between networked computing devices is established using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known computer network is the Internet. Network devices that origiante, route and terminate data are called network nodes. Nodes can include hosts such as servers and personal computers, as well as networking hardware. Two devices are said to be networked when a process in one device is able to exchange information with a process in another device.

LAN, WAN and MAN

1. Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that will be confined to a local such as a building, home or college campus.
2. Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network that spans multiple geographic locations and can be comprised of many LAN\’s For example, an organidation has offices across several cities in India, while each office building in a city will be implementing a LAN, each of those LAN\’s will in turn be connected and will comprise a WAN for that organisation.
3. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is not used anymore as a term, but refers to a netwrok that sapns an entire city or metropolitan area.

CONTENT TECHNOLOGIES

Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve toward performing similar tasks. Convergence can be referring of previously separated technologies like voice ( telephony features), data ( productivity applications) and video which can share resources and interact with each other synergistically.

Rise of digital communication in late 20th century made it possible for media organizations or individuals for delivering text, audio and video material over wired, wireless or fiber-optic connections. At the same time, it inspired certain media,organizations to explore multimedia delivery of information. SUch type of digital convergence of news media, in particular, was called Mediamorphosis by researcher Roger Fidler. Today, we are surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where all modes of communication and information are continually reforming to adapt to the enduring deamnds of technologies, \’\’changing the way we create, consume, learn and interact with each other\’\’.

Convergence in this instance is interlinking of computing and other information technologies, media content, and communication networks that has arisen as a result of the evolution and popularization of the Internet as well as the activites.products and services that have emerged in the digital media space. Many experts view this as simply being the tip of the iceberg, as all aspects of institutional activity and social life such as business, government, art, journalism, health and education are increasingly being carried out in these digital media spaces across a growing netwrok of information of information and communication technology devices.

Convergence is the union of two or more items to create a new entity. In today\’s time, qith invent of mobile phones, the computing technology is simplified to mobile telephony supporting multiple features which includes:

Mobile telephony

1G (Computer Technology and Design)

1G is the first generation of mobile telephony that operates with analogue communications and portable devices whcich were quiet large. It is mainly applied for following standards:

1.AMPS(Advanced Mobile Phone System); It appeared in 1976 in United States and served as the first cellular network standard, having weak security mehcanisms which allowed hacking of telephone lines.

2.TACS(Total Access Communication System): It is the European version of Advancded Mobile Phone System model which uses 900MHz frequency band.

ETACS ( Extended Total Access Communication System): It is an improved version of the Total Access Communication System standard which was developed in United Kingdom with the help of many communication channels.

First generation cellular networks were made obsolete by the appearance of the completely digital second generation.

2G (Computer Technology and Design)

2G was the second generation of mobile networks which marked a break with the first generation of cellular telephones by switching from analogue to digital. The 2G mobile telephony standards include:

1.GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications): It is commonly used in Europe at the end of the 20th century which uses 900 MHz – 100MHz frequency bands. Portable telephones that are able to operate are known as tri-band.

2.CDMA ( Code Devision Multiple Access): It uses spread spectrum technique which allows a radio signal to broadcast oevr lage frequency range.

3.TDMA (Time Devision Multiple Access ): It uses time division of communication channels technique to increase the volume of data transmitted simultaneously.

In 2G networks, it is possible to transmit voice and low volume digital data, text messages (SMS, for Short Messages Service) or multimedia messages (MMS, for Multimedia Message Service).The GSM standard allows a maximum data rate of 9.6kbps. Extensions have been made to GSM standard allowing a Radio System) service that allows theoretical data rates of 384 Kbps, especially for catering to multimedia applications. The EDGE standard allows maximum theoretical data rates of 473 Kbit/s.

3G (Computer Technology and Design)

The IMT-2000 which is the International Mobile Telecommunications for year 2000 laid specifications from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which define the characteristics of 3G whcih is the third generation of mobile telephony. 3G telephony has the following characteristics features such as:

1. High transmission data rate:
2. 144 Kbps with total coverage for mobile use,
3. 384 Kbps with medium coverage for mobile use,
4. 2 Mbps with a reduced coverage area for stationary use.
5. world compatibility,
6. compatibility of 3rd generation mobile sevices with second generation netowkrs

3G telephony offers data rates of more than 144 Kbit/s, which is the achievement for multimedia applications like video transmission, video-conferencing or high-speed internet access. It uses different frequency bands such as 1885-2025 MHz and 2110-2200 MHz.

UMTS which is Universal Mobile telecommunications System is the main 3G standard used in Europe, which uses W-CDMA ( Wideband Code Devision Multiple Access ) encoding. The UMTS technology uses 5 MHz bands for transferring voice and data with data rates which ranges whcih ranges from 384 Kbps -2 Mbps. Futher, HSDPA whcih is High-Speed donwlink Packet Access is also a third generation mobile telephony protocol dubbed as 3.5G that reaches data rates on the order of 8-10 Mbps.

Factors contributing to convergence of technology include:

1. Digitisation
2. Technological advances in transmission techniques
3. great advancements in network speeds, compression techniques and storage capacity
4. growing availability of wireless devices and applications
5. Market liberalisation

Computer Technology and Design

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