Tutorial 4: Microwaves/Fixed Wireless

Microwaves are radio waves that provide high-speed signal transmission. Another name for microwave transmission is "fixed wireless". This is the process of sending signals from one microwave station to another. Microwaves are good for transmitting information from one place to another because microwave energy is able to penetrate through smoke, light rain, haze, snow, and other elements that normally would inhibit transmission. Microwaves can also transmit data at rates thousands of times fatser than a basic dial up modem.

In order for microwave communications to take place, microwave stations must be in place. Microwave stations are land based refelctive dishes that consist of transceivers, antennas, and other equipment necessary for transmission to occur. The placement and location of microwave stations is vital. Microwaves use line of sight transmission. In order to avoid physical obstacles such as mountains or buildings, microwave stations are usually located on the tops of mountains, buildings, or towers.

Microwaves can be used to transmit power over long distances. However, in order for transmission to be successful, microwave stations must be installed in areas where line of sight transmission is possible. For instance microwave trasnmission is usually used in enviroments where physical transmission is nearly impossible. Wide open areas such as deserts or lakes are good locations where microwaves can thrive. Microwave transmission is also effective in order to communicate with a satellite. Today many organizations such as hospitals, universities, cable providers, and phone companies all use microwave transmission in order to transmit and receive data. Bluetooth technology also employs the use of microwave transmission. Microwaves have been a part of the communication industry since the late 1950s. Over time micorwaves and the technology associated with them have increased and expanded aiding and providing a variety of different uses especially in the world of information technology.  



 Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave#Communication
               http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/micro.html
               Discovering Computers 2010 "Living in a Digital Age" pg.496

Images: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=microwave#ai:MC900071164|mt:0|
Screen shots of free images from microsoft.com. I own a copy of microsoft office. All three of these  images are "free images". All three of these screenshots were taken by me personally in order to illustrate and help paint a mental picture of microwaves and microwave stations.

Secure Email Project Post

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/07/071031/tampa-company-using-biometrics-secure-computer-sys/

The article above is about a company in Tampa, Florida, Realtime North America, that is using biometric technology to help businesses and governement agencies tighten up their coumputer security. The compnay developed a biometric based system named "biolock" that recognizes each individual users' fingerprints. The benefits of this system is that a computer administartor has the capabilities of assigning by terminal who has access to certain information. Also it allows the administrator to know when data was accessed, how long it was accessed for, and for what purpose.

Realtime North America has also developed a special mouse and keyboard that scans fingerprints to obtain a match. These systems also keep track of users' activities as well as restrict the logons or the level of security clearance for various users. The chief operations offcier of Realtime North America believes that high profile corporate fraud cases such as Enron, Paine Webber, and NASA could have been prevented through the use of biometric fingerprint technology. The crimes that were committed in these cases exposed a weakness in the traditional use of passwords to protect information.

Realtime North America believes that that biometric technology is the final frontier in protecting vital data. The system they provide can save millions in fraud losses. The next big hurdle for Realtime North America will be to persuade lawamakers to back the technology with government funding.