TELECOMMUNICATION

science and practice of transmitting information by electromagnetic means. A wide variety of information can be transferred through a telecommunications system, including voice and music, still-frame and full-motion pictures, computer files and applications, and telegraphic data. For details on the telephone and the development of telephony, see telephone. For similar information on telegraphy, see telegraph. For the development of radio and television transmission, see radio and television. Transmission over electric wire, radio wave, and optical fibre is discussed in telecommunications media. For an overview of the types of networks used in information transmission, see telecommunications network. For full-length discussions of the scientific principles underlying telecommunication, see the articles magnetism, electromagnetic radiation, and integrated circuit. Additional reading John R. Pierce and A. Michael Noll, Signals: The Science of Telecommunications (1990), is a popular general treatment. Highly regarded upper-level undergraduate texts on fundamental communication theory include A. Michael Noll, Introduction to Telecommunication Electronics , 2nd ed. (1995); R.E. Ziemer and W.H. Tranter, Principles of Communications: Systems, Modulation, and Noise, 4th ed. (1995); Simon Haykin, Communication Systems, 3rd ed. (1994); Mischa Schwartz, Information Transmission, Modulation, and Noise, 4th ed. (1990), probably the best-known and best-respected undergraduate text; and A. Bruce Carlson, Communication Systems: An Introduction to Signals and Noise in Electrical Communication, 3rd ed. (1986).Digital communications are treated in David R. Smith, Digital Transmission Systems, 2nd ed., expanded and updated (1993), a complete treatment with practical applications; John Bellamy, Digital Telephony, 2nd ed. (1991); and Bernard Sklar, Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications (1988). Roger L. Peterson, R.E. Ziemer, and David E. Borth, Introduction to Spread-Spectrum Communications (1995), is also of interest.IEEE Communications Magazine (monthly) includes survey and tutorial articles on many aspects of telecommunication. IEEE Personal Communications (quarterly) focuses more closely on mobile and wireless communications systems. The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica