Wireless Communication Worksheet
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NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection Volume 2: How Do We Explore? Additional Technology Activities Telepresence/Wireless Communication Thanks to telepresence, the experience of discovery is not confined to a few scientists aboard the Okeanos Explorer. Video from the underwater robot is transmitted to a satellite orbiting in a fixed position above Earth, then relayed to the University of Rhode Island’s Inner Space Center. From there, video and audio from the ship are sent to Exploration Command Centers (ECCs) in places such as Seattle, New Okeanos Explorer’s prominent VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) dome enables satellite communications between Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, and Indonesia. Observers in these ECCs are able explorers ashore and at sea and provides multiple high- to communicate with the Okeanos Explorer’s Control Room via the Internet. During definition video streams for widespread dissemination. Image the ship’s maiden voyage to Indonesia in 2010, only computers connected to the credit: NOAA. advanced academic network called Internet2 were able to view the video, Satellite Communications “…but as the excitement built up around the Okeanos Explorer and the INDEX- The most prominent piece of communications SATAL Expedition, participants began using increasingly creative solutions for equipment aboard Okeanos Explorer is the developing ad-hoc viewing stations and in some cases mini-ECCs utilizing the 4.2 m diameter dome that houses the ship’s 3.7 standard Internet. These solutions extended telepresence capabilities to smaller meter Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) dish academic institutions, public venues, hotel rooms, the cafeteria at the U.S. antenna. This antenna is the critical link between Embassy in Jakarta, and even at one scientist’s private residence.” the Okeanos Explorer and the satellites that relay This quotation is from “Implementing Telepresence: Technology Knows No Bounds,” information between the ship and shore-based INDEX-SATAL 2010 daily log for July 9, 2010 by Webb Pinner and Kelley Elliott; http:// Exploration Command Centers, as well as NOAA’s oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/10index/logs/july09/july09.html. Network Operations Center. Computers and hardware included in the These activities provide an introduction to some of the fundamental concepts of antenna system make constant adjustments that wireless communication technology that support telepresence aboard the Okeanos compensate for the ship’s heave, roll and pitch to keep the antenna pointed toward the appropriate Explorer. communications satellite. Radio transmitters and Wireless Communication Worksheet .........................................Page 2 receivers connected to the VSAT antenna operate Wireless Communication Answer Sheet .............................Page 4 in the global C-band, using frequencies between Making a Simple Radio (Hands-on) ..............................................Page 6 3.7 to 4.2 GHz for downlinks, and frequencies Light Modulation (Hands-on) ........................................................Page 12 between 5.925 GHz to 6.425 GHz for uplinks Electricity and Electromagnetic Waves Worksheet .............Page 20 (signals received from a satellite are downlinks; Electricity and Electromagnetic Waves Answer Sheet .Page 21 signals sent to a satellite are uplinks). These Wave Propagation Student Research Guide ...........................Page 22 frequencies are in the microwave region of the Wave Propagation Research Guide Answer Sheet ........Page 23 electromagnetic spectrum. Ohms Law Theory Review Worksheet ......................................Page 24 The satellites used by the Okeanos Explorer’s Ohms Law Theory Review Answer Sheet ..........................Page 25 telepresence system are 22,753.2 statute miles Experimental Verification of Ohm’s Law (Hands-on) ............Page 26 (“normal” miles, not nautical miles) above Earth’s surface. At this altitude, the satellites’ Experimental Verification Discussion Answer Sheet ..Page 30 rotational speed matches the speed of Earth’s Components of Radio Communication ...................................Page 31 rotation so they appear to remain in a fixed Other Resources ...............................................................................Page 33 position when viewed from Earth’s surface. For For additional information see the Telepresence section of The Okeanos Explorer this reason, these satellites are called “geo- Education Materials Collection, Volume 2: How Do We Explore? starting on page synchronous” or “geo-stationary.” 33 (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/edu/collection/media/hdwe-TPbkgnd.pdf). 1 The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection oceanexplorer.noaa.gov The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection ~ Volume 2: How Do We Explore? Additional Technology Activities oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Telepresence/Wireless Communication Wireless Communication Worksheet Learning Procedure process; simple and effective, but often 1. Ask students why telepresence is important unused in human communications. Air traffic to ocean exploration. In addition to making controllers, on the other hand, are required to it possible for more people to interact in real use a feedback mechanism called a readback/ time with events aboard the Okeanos Explorer, hearback loop to verify that information has students should realize that communication been accurately communicated. is essential to the scientific process, which is based on the idea of testing hypotheses, then Briefly discuss other factors that can influence reporting the results to others who can verify the effectiveness of human communication. those results or find additional information that These factors include distractions, moods, builds on them. For this reason, it is critical for prejudice, experience, physical well-being, scientific communications to convey accurate and many others. A major influence is that information. humans communicate in multiple ways at the same time. In fact, it is almost impossible NOT Show students the well-known statement: to communicate, whether we want to or not; “I know you believe you understood what gestures, appearance, tone of voice, and even you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize absence can all send signals to others that may that what you heard is not what I meant to conflict with our conscious efforts to directly say.” This statement is often used to highlight communicate ideas. The importance of “body the difficulties of human communication. language” is often mentioned in this context, Ask students to describe the basic process and may be much more significant than verbal of human communication, beginning with communication in determining the message an idea that one person wishes to convey to that is actually received. In many cases, it another. Students should recognize that the seems that we listen best through our eyes. person with the idea (the sender) translates the idea into words, symbols, pictures, or Return to the question of how telepresence some other form outside the sender’s brain; contributes to scientific communication. then the sender gives this translation to the Students should recognize that: person intended to receive the idea; and finally • Telepresence makes visual communication the receiver translates the words, symbols, or possible, which greatly enhances the transfer of other information received back into an idea. information and ideas; If all goes well, the idea that ends up in the • Telepresence provides the opportunity for receiver’s brain is the same as the idea that feedback, to verify the accuracy of information originated in the sender’s brain; but there are received; and many things that can go wrong. • Telepresence greatly shortens the time required for the “scientific feedback” process to occur An obvious possible problem is that the sender by allowing more people to interact with and receiver may not attach exactly the same exploration activities in real time. meaning to the symbols used to convey the idea. The potential for this problem increases 2. Tell students that their assignment is to when different languages are involved. investigate the basic technology that makes Ask students what could be done to find telepresence possible. Provide each student out whether the idea has been successfully or student group with a copy of the Wireless communicated. An obvious solution is to Communications Worksheet. When students have the receiver repeat the idea back to the have finished answering Worksheet questions, sender, who can then compare the receiver’s lead a discussion of their results using the version with the original. This is a feedback answer sheet on page 4. 2 Additional Technology Activities The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection ~ Volume 2: How Do We Explore? Telepresence/Wireless Communication oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Student Worksheet: Wireless Communication 1. What is wireless communication? 2. What did the following people contribute to the development of wireless communication technology? • Hans Christian Ørsted • Michael Faraday • James Clerk Maxwell • Heinrich Rudolf Hertz • Nikola Tesla • Guglielmo Marconi • Reginald Fessenden 3. List at least five wireless communication devices that you have used within the past month. 4. In 1858, the first transatlantic cable was completed. An editorial in the Times of London commented: “Tomorrow the hearts of the civilized world will beat in a single pulse, and