I know enough about electronics that I
can usually understand at least some aspects of the newer
technologies...how they operate, the basic electronics behind the
technologies, etc. I can usually read articles about some of the
electronic technologies and make some sense of what they articles are
trying to say.
I had electronics training way back in
the 1960's, and held an FCC First Class Radiotelephone license for a
number of years. My training included basic electronics, vacuum
tubes as well as solid state devices, rudimentary computers and
flip-flops, and commercial broadcast technology.
I say that to say that even though I
know something of the technology behind things like cell phones,
HDTV, modern computers, automobile computer systems, and
communications, I have to say that I am regularly blown away by the
advances in technology that I am seeing. Stuff that was not on
anyone's radar “back when,” or even just a few years ago are now
supporting relatively common-place technologies. Things no one could
even have imagined some years ago are now everywhere. And I'm not
just speaking of the explosion in cellular and computing systems,
although that is part of it.
Back in the 1970''s, for example, I
would have given my right arm for a mobile telephone. Working
primarily from my car in Western Kansas, knowing where the public
phones were was a necessity, and kept me from being as efficient as I
would liked to have been. Now, everyone...EVERYONE...has a cell
phone and can call anywhere in the world.
Another example is the advent of smart
vehicles...automobiles that can sense where the vehicle is, other
vehicles that are nearby, and where on the road a vehicle is. Such
technologies send out a radio signal that reflects off of objects and
comes back to the vehicle. The computer systems in the auto then use
that information to make a decision on whether to steer, brake, warn,
or whatever. Such signals are in frequency bands as high as 77gHz.
That is 77 billion hertz, or cycles per second.
Not that many years ago, 10 gHz was
about as high of a frequency as could be generated and used in any
meaningful way. The radio frequency spectrum has been expanding
upward by leaps and bounds in recent years, and I cannot fathom that
progress in any meaningful sense.
There are other advances in electronics
technology that just boggle my mind. We take for granted, for
example, that we can email to the other side of the earth in a matter
of seconds and receive a response in just a few more seconds. We
have no comprehension of the incredible technologies and the equally
incredible infrastructure behind those incredible technologies which
make that possible.
Just regular cellular service involves
an intricate and incredibly advanced technology that was not even
comprehendable 40 or so years ago. Then look at the explosion of
video, remote control, connectivity, entertainment systems, and all
of the other, and an old electronics dinosaur like me just salivates
and marvels, seeing things not even dreamed of en my earlier years.
Enjoy this time. Appreciate this time.
