The concept of telecommunications is very present in the current context at any level, personal or global. Their relevance makes them convenient to start from a general definition.
Thus, by telecommunications is understood the set of transmissions, emissions or reception of signs that is carried out through cables, electricity or any electromagnetic system. Radio, television or mobile telephony are concrete examples of telecommunications systems.
Originating from the Greek term telos
The term telecommunications incorporates two fundamental aspects. The Greek prefix telos refers to distance and with the idea of communication we are indicating the need to share information. Thus, telecommunications are the set of technological supports that allow humans to have information through a transmission medium that enables us to overcome natural geographical distances.
The transmission medium
The transmission medium is the electrical or optical link between the transmitter and the receiver, being the point of connection between the source and the final destination. Among the transmission media there are guided and unguided media; In the former, the channel through which the signal information is transmitted is a physical medium (by means of a cable) and in the unguided, the signals travel through radio frequency, that is, air is the medium of transmission. Examples of guided media would be twisted pair, coaxial, and fiber optic cables. Examples of unguided media would be microwaves, satellites, radio waves, or infrared rays.
Telecommunications engineering
A telecommunications engineer is dedicated to designing, managing, and maintaining telecommunications links, whether voice, data, or video. This engineering is based on physics and mathematics as general knowledge related to very diverse specific fields: electronic circuits, energy systems, digital communication, electromagnetic fields, optical communications or telematics, among other fields.
These disciplines or areas are applicable to productive sectors such as television, radio, internet service companies, telephony or tasks related to military defense.
It must be taken into account that these sectors are in a process of continuous change and it is necessary to constantly adapt telecommunications to improve security systems, infrastructures, virtual reality or application development. The field of computer applications is one of those with a greater field of action (database, programming, production lines, etc.).
