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Telecommunications Question Paper
Telecommunications
Course:Bachelor Of Science In Information Technology
Institution: Kca University question papers
Exam Year:2009
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2008/2009
THIRD YEAR EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 4302: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
DATE: AUGUST 2009 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
QUESTION ONE
a) Two fundamental questions arise in telecommunication technology:
(i) How much of the communications channel capacity is allocated to a single communication
session?
(ii) Is the allocated channel dedicated to a communication session for the whole period of that
particular session or just when the parties are active?
Briefly explain how each question has been addressed. [4 Marks]
b) The purpose of a telecommunications network is to carry data (voice, fax, video, text, etc) and
performance management is principally traffic management. It is also often necessary that the data
be secure.
(i) State and define FOUR parameters that can provide insight into the performance of a
telecommunications network. [4 Marks]
(ii) State and define TWO security services that such a telecommunications network must
provide, and how they can be provided. [4 Marks]
c) Optical fiber and Satellite bandwidth are two competing alternatives for providing connectivity for
Kenya’s international Internet traffic.
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(i) Explain TWO benefits that Kenyans will experience upon full-scale arrival and utilization
of optical fiber for international connectivity. [4 Marks]
(ii) Explain circumstances where wireless bandwidth will still remain critical. [3 Marks]
d) State the organization responsible for telecommunications standards in the world and give TWO
areas it has have provided direction/guidance. [3 Marks]
e) The Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications standard uses both frequency division
multiple access (FDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA). Explain. [4 Marks]
f) The PSTN is circuit-switched whereas the Internet is packet-switched. Justify these design choices.
[4 Marks]
QUESTION TWO
The GSM architecture is shown in Fig. Q2.
BTS
BTS
BTS
MS
BSC MSC
HLR
VLR
EIR
AUG
Gateway
BSS PSTN, ISDN
Fig. Q2. GSM Architecture
a) Give the functions of the elements: MS, BTS, BSC, MSC, HLR, VLR, EIR, and AUG.
[8 Marks]
b) Explain the concept of “frequency re-use” as used in mobile cellular systems and why the concept
has led to very rapid deployment of wireless phone systems in a few years. [4 Marks]
c) In a given mobile phone system, the calling rate averages 20 calls per minute and the average
holding time is 3 minutes. It is expected that a cell with a capacity of 120 channels is about halfutilized
at any given time. Determine the traffic intensity. [2 Marks]
3
d) Define the term handoff and explain how it is achieved in cellular systems. [4 Marks]
e) A user in a cellular system is transmitting on channel 890.2 MHz. Determine the channel on which
the user is receiving the conversation. [2 Marks]
QUESTION THREE
Engineers from the telecommunications and networking departments, when designing and
implementing WANs (Wide Area Networks), often must use business goals to determine the technical
goals that the network must meet.
(i) Identify any FOUR business goals that may form the basis for deriving the technical goals.
[4 Marks]
(ii) Identify any FOUR technical goals and justify why each goal is important in achieving a
network that realizes the objectives of an organization. [8 Marks]
(iii)A telecommunications network is to be there for use 99.98% of the time and its MTTR is 1
hour. Find the MTBF for this network. [2 Marks]
(iv) Identify and justify the key steps that need to be followed in the design of a WAN.
[6 Marks]
QUESTION FOUR
a) Give your understand of the terms “broadband, ISDN and ADSL” [6 Marks]
b) Digital Subscriber Line, especially the asymmetric type, is a new and popular high-speed
(broadband) data service to homes and small offices. Using suitable diagram(s), describe the
operation of this service. Clearly explain its bandwidth allocation. [8 Marks]
c) (i). State FOUR benefits of bringing digital connectivity through ISDN to the local site.
[4 Marks]
(ii). State TWO disadvantages of ISDN as a WAN design solution. [2 Marks]
QUESTION FIVE
(a) Packet-switched networks are often implemented using two techniques. Highlight these techniques
and give the advantages of each technique. [8 Marks]
(b) Give an explanation for each of the points below:
(i) In circuit switching, there is call setup delay and no transmission delay.
(ii) In circuit switching, there are no overhead bits after call setup.
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(iii)In packet switching, there is usually speed conversion
(iv) In packet switching, packets are stored.
[8 Marks]
(c) In Fig. Q5, each input channel has a data rate of 1 byte per 125 x 10-6 seconds. Determine the
output channel data rate in kbps.
Byte A2 Byte A1
Byte B2 Byte B1
Byte C2 Byte C1
C2 B2 A2 C1 B1 A1
Output
on a single circuit
Input
Channel A
Channel B
Channel C
Input – three channels, each of 64 kbps
Fig. Q5. Time Division Multiplexing
Time slot
TDM Equipment
[4 Marks]
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