communication networks
Data transmission systems
Communication networks are systems that enable information exchange between people, devices, or locations.
The term spans physical infrastructure like telephone lines and fiber optics to wireless systems and the internet.
In organizational contexts, communication networks describe how information flows through a company or community—who talks to whom, through what channels.
The hospital upgraded its communication networks to improve emergency response.
- routersPacket-forwarding network hardware
- switchesCircuit opening devices
- fiber opticsLight-carrying cable technology
- telecommunication companiesFirms transmitting voice and data
- mesh networkInterconnected node communication system
virtual communities · protocols · cellular towers · satellites · information highway · digital divide · signal processing · grassroots movements · modems · information theory · cloud computing · collaborative tools · telecommunications · connectivity · bridges · smart grid · servers · streaming
- resourcesresources, money, natural resources, human resources, financial resources
- infrastructurehighways, road construction, railway expansion, power grid, roads
- resistanceresistance, defiance, resistance fighters, civil resistance, resist
- civil defenseair raid shelters, civil defense, fallout shelters, air raid sirens, bomb shelters
- critical infrastructurepower grid, air traffic control, healthcare systems, financial systems, emergency response
- matrix managementdotted line, solid line, project manager, project managers, shared resources
communication networksstandalone systems
Self-sufficient computing arrangements
communication networkscommunication blackout
Total loss of contact
signal jamming · communication barriers · transmission failure · dead zones · radio silence
communication networksisolation
Complete separation from others
disconnection · insularity · solitary confinement · incommunicado · alienation