The Data Transmission Interactive is an adjustable-size file that displays nicely on smart phones, on tablets such as the iPad, on Chromebooks, and on laptops and desktops. The size of the Interactive can be scaled to fit the device that it is displayed on. The compatibility with smart phones, iPads, other tablets, and Chromebooks make it a perfect tool for use in a 1:1 classroom. When the app starts up, it will request permission from the user to utilize their device microphone. This is a standard security measure for all devices whenever an app (such as your browser) needs to utilize a device resource that is not otherwise permitted by the app. The Physics Classroom is requesting use of the microphone in order to send signals and receive signals.

 

Admittedly, this is not a common topic for most Physics classrooms. But with the advent of the Next Generation Sciene Standards, the topic of data transmission and reception is considerably more common in the curriculum. Unfortunately there are not a lot of resources that allow students to explore this topic. We hope that our Data Transmission Interactive provides a useful tool for Physics classrooms that are addressing HS-PS4-2 and HS-PS4-5 performance expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards. And we hope that the tool permits students to engage in the topic in an interactive manner. Because computers and phones are naturally equipped to send and receive sound signals, we have built this data transmission interactive to rely upon sound signals for the transmission and reception of information. 

Use of this Interactive requires two devices that are placed relatively near to one another. Those devices could be two phones, two computers, or a computer and a phone. One device can send the data. The other device will receive the data. Since the signals are sent via sound waves, it helps if the surroundings are relatively quiet. Ambient sounds will add noise to the transmitted signal and make it less discernible by the receiving device. Because keyboards make sound and contribute to the noise, it would help to use a touch screen device (phone, tablet, etc.) as the device that transmits the signal.

Another tool from our Interactives section that will serve as a complement to Data Transmission is our Sound Spectrum Viewer Interactive. Sound Spectrum Viewer is a tool that will record sounds from the surroundings and display the spectrogram or voiceprint of that sound. Signals from Data Transmission on one device can be sent to a second device that is using Sound Spectrum Viewer. The sounds will be captured and visually displayed as a spectrogram. Students can analyze the spectrogram of a message transmitted using the Single Frequency mode and compare it to the same message being transmitted using the 16-bit mode. 

 

Related Resources

• Communicating with Waves
  This NGSS-inspired task includes three parts that focus on the sending, encoding, and storage of information by means of electromagnetic waves.
  
   

• Digitizing Data
  This NGSS-inspired task addresses the manner in which data (such as graphic images) can be digitized and the issues associated with the transmitting, receiving, and storage of digital data.

 

Credits