Applications of ICT - 3.3.4

1. Applications of ICT - 3.3.4 telecommunications and information technology

2. This presentation aims to: • Allow you to describe the use of telecommunication and information technology in: • Telephone Systems • Banking • Production Control • Global Positioning Systems • Navigation • Weather Forecasting

3. Introduction • This particular topic only asks you to be able to describe the different technologies. • As you have already been given the identifiers all you need to focus on when revising is: • Amplification • (extending your understanding of the identifier) • Exemplification • (given an example of how the identifier is used)

4. Navigation Mouse click has been disabled on certain slides to allow you to work through the menu system. To override this just press space bar to continue the presentation in a serial order. Production Control Telephone Systems Banking Weather Forecasting Global Positioning System Navigation

5. Telephone Systems • This section will cover: • Voice mail • Menus • Ringback • Videophone • Caller display • Conference call

6. Voice Mail • Before voice mail existed, people used to record messages on answering machines. • They used small tapes to record messages. • Because messages were saved serially (one after the other) removing messages involved taping over the old message.

7. Voice Mail • Voice mail systems are very sophisticated in comparison. • They allow you to: • Delete/Store multiple messages • Forward messages to another voice mail inbox • Have different messages be read out to the caller depending on your status (away, on holiday etc) • Retrieve messages from another phone • Use voice recognition to forward messages as a text message or email

8. Voice Mail • These systems can be used by one person or by a company. • The school has a voice mail service for parents who call into school. • If they leave a message the message can be forwarded to the voice mail inbox of the appropriate member of staff.

9. Menus • With the introduction of tone dialling phones (digital), telephone menu systems were created. • Now, a lot of companies use menu systems to filter customers towards the correct departments.

10. Example

11. Ring Back • If try calling a friend but their phone is either engaged or has no signal, you can request a ringback. • When your friend’s phone is no longer busy or has a strong enough signal to receive a call, your phone will ring. • When you answer your phone your friends phone will start ringing.

12. Video Phone • 3G phones make use of high bandwidth connections allowing for video calls to be made. • The idea has been around for a while but still isn’t all that popular compared to normal calling. • If you have ever watched Thunderbirds you’ll know that when there is a problem the characters will talk via video calls.

13. Caller Display • Mobile phones have caller displays and many new house phones have the same feature. • When a call is placed the telephone number is displayed on a screen. • If the number is stored in the address book the name of the contact will be displayed. • Many companies withheld their telephone numbers because they want to make sure that people always call their menu driven service.

14. Conference call • Most telephone calls are placed between two people. • But what if a third person should be part of the call? • It is possible to invite someone else into the conversation by dialling their telephone number during the call. • (This feature often costs more and has to be set up through your telephone service provider)

15. Activity • Copy and complete this table: Return to Navigation

16. Banking • This section will cover: • ATM (Automatic Teller Machines) • Credit/Debit Card • Cheques • Internet Banking

17. ATMs • Also known as a cash machine… • ATMs allow people to withdraw money without the need for any other human interaction. • They also allow you to check your balance, change your pin, request a new cheque book and some even let your top up your mobile phone! • There are different kinds of ATMs too. Some are used for cash withdrawal, others for cash and cheque deposits and some are used only to check and print off full statements.

18. ATMs • When you put in your card into an ATM it will read your sort code and account number from the magnetic strip or the chip device. • It will then ask the user to enter the PIN number and will request the details of the account using the details on the card. • These details might include: • Has the card been lost or stolen and is it activated? • The account’s PIN number (used to verify inputted PIN) • The account’s current balance • The account’s overdraft agreement

19. Credit/Debit Cards • The most popular way for people to pay for goods and services these days is to pay using a credit or debit card. • The introduction of Chip and Pin systems have made buyer goods and services even faster and more secure.

20. Difference in card types • Credit Card: • The bank provides a person with a temporary loan. When a person uses a credit card the bank pays for the goods or service. They then ask for the money at the end of the month. There are then two ways of paying at the end of the month, either by paying off the interest or by paying off the loan in one go. • Debit Card: • When a person pays for a goods or service the money is automatically taken from their account.

21. Why so popular? • It is far safer to carry a credit/debit card around because if your purse or wallet is lost or stolen no one can use your money (unless they know your pin). • You can also cancel cards which prevents them from being used. As the cards are checked every time they are used it is difficult to use the card. • Also, paying for goods/services online using a credit card (like Master Card) provides the customer with insurance, meaning they can claim their money back through the credit card company if there is a problem.

22. Theft of cards • The only real way to make use of someone else’s card is to use it online or over the telephone. • If you don’t know the person’s PIN number you can’t use it in a shop. • If you have a copy of the top of the card (done easily by swiping them over carbon copy paper) you can’t use it because most websites ask for the security number on the back.

23. Theft of cards • If a thief had your whole card they would still need your billing address…but if your driver’s licence was in your wallet when it was stolen then they would have that. • This is why it is important to keep your bank’s lost and stolen number handy…because the quicker you can cancel your cards the better! • But…rest assured…more websites are now asking for additional security details when you make a purchase. They ask for a secondary PIN or Password which ‘should’ only be known to you!

24. Cheques • Cheques are still a popular way of transferring money from one place to another. • They are often used by people who pay by post (ebay is keeping cheques alive!) • Companies often also give refunds via cheques to make it seem more official!

25. Cheques • Cheque books are important things to keep safe…but there are checks in place to ensure that your cheque isn’t being fraudulently used! • The bank will keep a record of your signature which they compare with the signature on the cheque. • They also check to make sure the same pen has been used on the cheque to ensure no one has tempered with it after it was written. • They can also look to see if any ink eraser fluid has been used to modify the details on the cheque!

26. Cheques and technology • Because of the nature of cheques, different technology is used to ‘read’ them. • OCR (Optical Character Recognition) • Used to read amount written on the cheque) • MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) • Used to read the account number, sort code and cheque number • Sorting cheques • Done using the sort code so they can be processed by banks • Recoding transactions • A record of each transaction is made which then appears on bank statements.

27. Internet Banking • Used by more and more people, it has grown in popularity as more and more people connect to the internet. • People now transfer money from one account to another, check balances and pay bills using internet banking… • If you make use of online banking take a closer look at what you can do with it. If you haven’t got online banking go to a bank’s website and look at the demos they have!

28. Activity • Copy and complete this table: Return to Navigation

29. Production Control • The manufacturing sector now makes heavy use of CAM (Computer Aided Manufacture). • This essentially means that robots carry out the manufacturing of goods. • There are, of course, some benefits and negatives to this.

30. Positives of CAM • Robots don’t get tired meaning they can work 24/7. • Initial costs are high but running costs are low. • They make very few mistakes (usually only if there is a fault or a bug in the system). • They are incredibly fast – Cadbury’s makes use of a system called Flow Wrap which allows them to wrap 800 bars of chocolate per minute! • (do you think they would let me use their machine to wrap my Christmas presents?)

31. Negatives of CAM • Replace human workers meaning higher unemployment. • Not very flexible – they tend to be suited to make certain types of products. Humans can be retrained to make lots of products.

32. The control part… • Sensors are used extensively to ensure that products are being made correctly. • For example, when a machine fills up a bottle of tomato sauce, it checks the weight of the bottle to ensure it was filled correctly. • If it wasn’t then it is either discarded or topped up. • Some machines learn from mistakes and adjusts it’s operations automatically so that it doesn’t make the same mistake again.

33. Activity • Describe what Production Control Means. Given an example of where and how it is used. Return to Navigation

34. Global Positioning Systems • We have already covered GPS in the previous unit of work…but that was looking at how it worked. • Now you need to understand how it is used.

35. Global Positioning System • People use GPS navigation devices (Sat Navs) in the following ways: • Finding the shortest route between two points. • Avoiding certain types of roads. • Travel to Points of Interest (POIs). • Provides driver with estimated travel time and time of arrival. • Some systems provide drivers with current, average and maximum speeds achieved.

36. Sat Navs • In order for the system to work it must know the following things: • Start/Current Location • Finish location • The system then checks previous position and current position to determine what direction you are travelling. • It makes adjustments for positioning errors by placing you on the road that it believes you are on based on direction of travel, and distance from the road’s location.

37. Activity • Complete the following table: Return to Navigation

38. Navigation • Some people don’t like using Sat Nav systems (they can be a little annoying at times!) • Instead they prefer to use route finders such as the ones on Multimap and The AA websites.

39. Navigation • In order for them to work, they need to know your starting location and the ending location. • The user can include ‘via’ points if they wish. • A route is then calculated based on the user’s preferences: • Avoid toll roads and motorways • Fastest route • Shortest route

40. Navigation • What these navigation systems can’t do is provide you with a new route if you miss a turn! • This type of system is fantastic providing you never make a mistake! 

41. Activity • Describe how online route finders can be used by people planning a trip. Return to Navigation

42. Weather Forecasting • Weather forecasting consists of: • Measuring and recording data • Calculating a forecast • Producing forecast information

43. Measuring and Recording • This can be carried out in the following ways: • Satellite images • Temperatures • Moisture in the atmosphere • Humidity • Rainfall • Wind speed • Wind direction • Cloud cover • Atmospheric pressure • Sunshine

44. Measuring and Recording • Data is collected from a variety of sources and from a variety of locations including: • Satellites • Bouys on the ocean • Sensors on the ground • In order for forecasts to be accurate, data must be collected at regular time intervals. • The more data collected the more accurate the forecast can be.

45. Modelling a forecast • In order to make a forecast you need to know what the weather has been doing! • The data that was collected is fed into a very powerful computer where complex calculations are carried out. • Often, various models are produced with predictability values attached to them. • The weather forecaster must then decide which forecast they believe will be the most likely to occur.

46. Producing a forecast • The output of all the number crunching is usually displayed to the user with these variables: • Temperatures • Wind speeds • Wind direction • Visibility • Cloud cover • Rain (snow) fall • Possibility of thunder and lightning • Pollution levels • UV index levels

47. Producing a forecast • Computers are much better at predicting weather patterns now. • You can now find forecasts for up to 15 days away! • This is really useful for people who are planning events or for the military who are planning missions.

48. Activity • Describe each process of weather forecasting: • Collecting and recording data • Calculating the forecast • Producing the forecast report Return to Navigation