Telecommunications

Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. Today this process almost always involves the sending of electromagnetic waves by electronic transmitters. Telecommunication is widespread and devices that assist the process such as the television, radio and telephone are common in many parts of the world. There is also a vast array of networks that connect these devices.

The Office of Energy (OE) is responsible for the permit process for Telecommunication Distribution methods.

The basic elements of a telecommunication system are:

• a transmitter that takes information and converts it to a signal for tranmission
• a transmission medium over which the signal is transmitted
• a receiver that receives and converts the signal back into usable information

For example, consider listening to your favorite radio station. In this case, the station's broadcast tower is the transmitter, your radio is the receiver and the transmission medium is free space. However in some cases, like for telephone lines, the transmission medium are cables.

Sometimes telecommunication systems are two-way and devices act as both a tranmitter and receiver or transceiver, like a cellular phone. Telecommunication over phone line is called point-to-point communication because there is a line between one transmitter and one receiver. TV and Radio telecommunication is called broadcast communication because it is between one powerful transmitter and numerous receivers.^[1]

¹Haykin, Simon (2001). Communication Systems, 4th edition, pp 1—3, John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-17869-1

For more information on DNR's Office of Energy please contact Dave Siebert (608) 264-6048