Analogue and Digital

From founding communications, such as the fire beacon, to being able to communicate with space, there is no denying that developments in communication have advanced at a rapid speed. This topic presents students with communications of the past, present and future, helping them to understand the principles that form the basis for these developments. This activity examines the differences between analogue and digital communications methods. The effect of random wave interference was one reason that many communication systems have adopted digital encoding, even though this is more expensive and requires more hardware.

From founding communications, such as the fire beacon, to being able to communicate with space, there is no denying that developments in communication have advanced at a rapid speed. This topic presents students with communications of the past, present and future, helping them to understand the principles that form the basis for these developments. This activity examines the differences between analogue and digital communications methods. The effect of random wave interference was one reason that many communication systems have adopted digital encoding, even though this is more expensive and requires more hardware.

Key Stage

THREE

Age

11-14

Learning

science, telecommunications signals, curiosity

Time

15 mins

Difficulty

MEDIUM

Materials

Scissors and paper for analogue interference activity

Teacher Pack

YES