A2 CCEA Digital Technology (Whole course)

NETWORKS

What is a LAN?

What is a WAN?

What is a MAN?

describe the purpose of a network
card

describe the purpose of a server

describe the purpose of a switched hub

describe the purpose of a repeater

• describe the purpose of a wireless access point

• describe the purpose of a
media converter

• describe the purpose of an IP address

• describe the purpose of a media access control
(MAC) address;

describe the features of a peer-to-peer (P2P)

describe the features of a
server-based network

evaluate the bus network topology

evaluate the star network topology

evaluate the ring network topology

PROTOCOLS

explain the need for communication protocols;

• describe the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network
organization model and each of its component layers

Describe the
Application, Presentation, Session, Transport Network, Data link and physical layers of an osi model

describe the communication protocol Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP);

describe the communication protocol
Ethernet;

describe the communication protocol Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
(CSMA/CD);

describe the communication protocol token passing;

describe the communication protocol Wi-Fi;

describe the communication protocol Bluetooth;

describe the communication protocol
voice over internet protocol (VoIP)

describe the communication protocol radio-frequency identification (RFID)

TRANSMISSION MEDIA

Define the term broadband

Define the term Bandwidth

Describe metal cable

Describe fibre optic

Describe Wireless

Evaluate these transmission media in terms of volume of
data transfer, bandwidth and security;

DATABASES

describe the main features of a relational database;

describe the difference between a logical data model and a
physical data model

Define the term attribute

Define the term Entity

Define the term Primary key

Define the term Composite key

Define the term Foreign key

Define the term Relationship

Define the term Referential integrity

Define the term Data duplication

Define the term Data inconsistency

describe the characteristics of
first normal form (1NF)

Describe the characteristics of second normal form (2NF)

Describe the characteristics of
third normal form (3NF)

describe the advantages and disadvantages of
normalisation

What is ER modelling?

describe the components of a data dictionary

evaluate Query By Example (QBE) as an alternative to SQL

ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION

Describe Parity Bits

Describe Check Sums

Describe Echo Checking

Describe CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

explain what is meant by artificial intelligence (AI);

explain the significance of the Turing test in defining what
is meant by AI;

Explain neural network modelling

EXPERT SYSTEMS

describe the structure of an expert system

• describe the purpose of the knowledge base in an expert system;

Describe the purpose of an inference engine

Describe the purpose of the user interface

• explain the term Shell in relation to expert systems

explain the term heuristics;

Explain the term fuzzy logic

Explain the term knowledge engineer;

evaluate the use of expert systems in medicine, car engine
fault diagnosis and life insurance

NATURAL LANGUAGE AND VOICE RECOGNITION

describe the technology required for natural language

describe the technology required for
voice recognition systems;

• evaluate the use of natural language systems;

• evaluate the use of voice recognition
systems;

ROBOTICS

describe the technology involved in the use of robotics;

evaluate the use of robotics in a range of commercial
situations