by Cecile Cinco
Did you know that it was in 1887 that radio waves was first detected by Heinrich Hertz using a Spark Gap Transmitter? When he was asked about the impact it could have to the future, he claimed it would be of no importance.
It was in 1893 when Nikola Tesla transmitted radio waves. In 1897 Gugleilmo Marconi was awarded patent for improving the transmission of electrical impulses. A year later, in 1898, Tesla awed the ignorant by demonstrating a remote-controled boat which, his audience thought, was moved by his mind.
Reginald Fessenden aired his voice through AM (amplitude modulation) which was heard over the North Atlantic in 1906. In 1913, Harold Arnold created the first amplifying vacuum tube which were used on long line transmission telephone lines.
1915 was when the first transatlantic transmission achieved by AT&T from Arlington to Paris and the Eiffel Tower in France used to hold the receiving antenna. Shortwave radio was developed in 1921 and 10 years later, FM (frequency modulation) which was the key to transmit digital information across RF (radio frequency).
1972, ethernet was created. 1982, GSM group was formed. For those who do not know, GSM stands for Groupe Special Mobile which decided to go digital on all its cellular systems. In 1989 GSM Technical details worked out and planned a narrowband time division multiple access (TDMA).
In 1990, L-band radio (digital radio) was demonstrated. The Global Positioning System (GPS) operates in the L-band. The first GSM specification was released.
The first GSM call was made in Finland, March 1991 on the Radiolinja Network which was given GSM license in 1990. In April 1992, the first non-European network was launched in Australia.
1997, IEEE 802.11 standard was created, also known as Wi-Fi.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed in September 1998 by IBM, Intel, Nokia, Ericsson and Toshiba. In 2000, the first consumer Bluetooth product was released by Ericsson.
December 2001, WiMax was created. In 2004, WiMAX much more scalable than Wi-Fi.
Today, 3.3 Billion subscriptions are connected worldwide with the GSM family of technologies—GSM, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/HSPA.
The market is here. Wireless communication is one of the top investment opportunities we can hold on to with a very bright future. Check the wireless blue book!
Popularity: 51% [?]
I think worldwide wireless communication will be much more popular once WiMax kicks in. That’s the next big thing in wireless communications. I guess it’s up to the telecom towers manufacturers now.