What Is Communications?
In the broadest context, communications is the study of techniques to allow for the reliable transmission of information. The information we are dealing with can take many different forms. It may be the conversation you are having on your cell phone, the web page you have just downloaded, the data stored on your hard-disk, or the latest motion picture released on digital media. All these types of information have in common the requirement that they be transferred from one place (or time) to another. The purpose of our group is to study efficient ways of achieving this task. In order to design a communications system, techniques must be developed which allow for the reliable, secure, and speedy delivery of the data. Mathematics is a central tool used to perform the design and analysis of these techniques. The communications system designer often creates a mathematical model of the system along with the requirements. Techniques are then developed to satisfy the requirements while minimizing the cost. Computer simulation and experimental test beds may be developed to generate additional insights. They are often used to validate and optimize the design before its deployment. Some of the principal questions that the discipline of communications aims to answer are:
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YEAR | MILESTONE |
| 1838 | Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrates the telegraph |
| 1864 | James C. Maxwell predicts electromagnetic radiation |
| 1876 | Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone |
| 1894 | Wireless communications over short distance demonstrated by Oliver Lodge |
| 1901 | Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates radio telegraphy |
| 1915 | Bell System completes a transcontinental telephone line |
| 1918 | B. H. Armstrong perfects the superheterodyne radio receiver |
| 1933 | Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrates Frequency Modulation (the beginnings of FM radio) |
| 1938 | Television broadcasting begins |
| WWII | Radar and microwave systems are developed |
| 1948 | The transistor is invented |
| 1948 | Claude Shannon establishes theoretical foundations of digital communications |
| 1956 | First transoceanic telephone cable is implemented |
| 1960 | Maiman demonstrates the laser |
| 1962 | Telstar I, the first communication satellite is launched |
| 1960s | Colour television is introduced |
| 1970s | Intercontinental computer communication networks established |
| 1980s | Mobile, cellular telephone systems are established |
| 1980s | Cryptography on a chip developed |
| 1980s | Compact disk (CD) audio players and high definition television are introduced |
| 1990s | The Internet community forms |
| 2001+ | Youtube, Wikipedia. iPhone ... |
A brief look back at the communications developments of Edward S. Rogers Sr., after whom our Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is named, can be found here.