Telecommunications problem areas

In addition to the man-made environmental problems that have affected the Caspian adversely, the sea has exhibited a curious natural variation in its water level that has created additional problems and has wrought havoc on coastal infrastmcture. Since 1978, the sea level has risen almost 7.5 feet. Flooding in coastal zones has inundated residential areas, transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructure, chemical and petrochemical industries, croplands and hatcheries, forcing thousands of residents to be evacuated from flooded homes. In Turkmenistan, the town of Dervish, which is detached from the western part of the mainland, is turning into an island due to the rise in sea level, and Cheleken and Karakul are sinking into the water as well. 

A factor that has often shaped the way a program evolves is the relative ease with which support for research can be secured. While this does not tend to be a big problem in an area such as energy or the environment, in other areas, such as telecommunication policy, there is very little government or private foundation support. Firms in an area such as telecommunications tend to be reluctant to provide support for policy-related work (for example on spectrum policy) unless they can be assured in advance that conclusions and policy recommendations reached will support their positions. In such a case, where there are only a few sources of interested-funding it is hard to put together a balanced portfolio of support. 

Today, graduates at the doctoral level from programs in technology and policy, who want to enter academic careers, face similar problems. The difficulties of finding hospitable academic homes in traditional academic departments are not serious in fields such as energy or environment. However, in other areas such as telecommunications or information policy, graduates with outstanding technical credentials still cannot find jobs in EE departments. They do, however, find positions in schools of information systems, in business schools, or in schools of public policy. 

Single mode glass fiber is widely used in the trunk area of the telecommunication system and the optical fiber system is expected to extend to the subscriber area and the network in building, offices, and homes. However, use of the single mode glass fiber system in short distance network is not necessarily suitable because it requires the precise handling and connection due to the small core size (5-10 [im) and thus it would be expensive in broadband residential area network, ATM-LAN, interconnection, etc. In contrast, polymer optical fiber (POP) which has more than 500 jim of core is promising candidate to solve such problems. 

Another important area of application is the use of small power units as backup power in situations of sudden loss of grid power because of natural or technical problems. Such backup units are extremely important to those consumers who cannot tolerate power interruptions. This is the case for various stationary telecommunications installations (for instance, receivers, transmitters, relay stations, signal amplifiers). Ofher users who can use unifs of fhis fype are surgery wards in hospitals, computer units in traffic control, financial insfifufions, and emergency lighting systems in public... 

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