Information Technology: Digital Landscape, 5G to Cybersecurity, IoT to Quantum Computing

Information Technology: Basics Of Cellular Network

• Mobile communication involves transmitting voice or data using wireless radio transmission.
• Mobile generations refer to change like mobile wireless communication network speed, technology, data capacity, frequency, latency etc.

 Information Technology: 5G

• 5G is the next-generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra-low latency.
• Latency is a measure of delay. In a network, latency measures the time it takes for some data to get to its destination across the network.

 Information Technology: 4G

• 4G mobile technology provides wireless mobile broadband internet access in addition to voice and other services of 3G.
• Applications include improved web access, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, Video Conferencing, Cloud Computing, Gaming Services, High-Definition Mobile TV etc.
• 4G uses LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, which allows voice & data-communication simultaneously.

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Information Technology: WI-FI (Wireless Fidelity) 6

• Wi-Fi 6 is the sixth generation of WIFI, working on the same principal as other wireless devices- It uses radio frequencies to send signals between devices.
• Wi-Fi is just a type of WLAN.

 Wi-Fi 6 caters the need of improved network connection and speed which is required for the Internet of Things (IoT).

 Information Technology: Inflight WIFI

• Recently the Indian government approved to provide inflight Wi-Fi service.
• It works based on any one of the following two methods:

1. Air-to-ground Wi-Fi System: Similar to cell phone connectivity.
2. Satellite-based Wi-Fi System

 Information Technology: Bluetooth

• It is a wireless technology standard used to exchange data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances using Radio waves.
• Bluetooth 2 is the latest version.

Information Technology: Hotspot

• A hotspot is a physical location where people can access the Internet, via a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a router connected to an Internet service provider.

Information Technology: Wearable Technology 

• These are smart electronic devices designed to be worn on the user’s body.
• Ex: Smart jewelry, Wristbands, watches etc.
• These devices detect, analyze, and transmit information.
• Wearable technology is evolving into an important category of the Internet of things, with life-changing applications in medicine and other fields.

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Information Technology: Near-Field Communication (NFC) 

• NFC is a short-range contactless communication technology based on a Radio Frequency (RF) field using a base frequency of 13.56 MHz
• NFC-enabled devices must be either physically touching or within a few centimeters of each other for data transfer to occur.

 Information Technology: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

• RFID technology uses radio waves to passively identify a tagged object.
• An RFID tag consists of a tiny radio transponder; a radio receiver and transmitter.
• Unlike a barcode, the tag doesn’t need to be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object.

Information Technology: Internet Of Things (IoT)

• IoT is the interlinking of digital devices, people, machines, appliances, & other objects with one another through wireless networks.
• It allows machines & people to be connected and communicate as well.
• IoT Applications are many including works of daily life, Industry, Agriculture, Healthcare, Transportation, Governance etc.

Information Technology: IoT and India 

• IoT is part of Digital India mission.
• The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 to aid its development.
• 100% FDI is allowed in the Telecom sector.
• The government has set a target of USD 15 billion for the IoT market by the year 2020. This would be 5 to 6% of the global IoT industry.

Information Technology: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
• AI is a self, adaptive learning
• Applications: Industrial automation, Space science, self-driven cars, Healthcare sector, weather forecasting etc.

Information Technology: Supercomputers

• These are large systems that are specifically designed to solve complex scientific & industrial challenges.
• The performance of a supercomputer is measured in Floating-Point Operations per Second (FLOPS).
• The top five Supercomputers in the world:

1. 1. Fugaku (Japan)
   2. Summit (USA)
   3. Sierra (USA)
   4. Sunway Taihu Light (China)
   5. Tianhe-2 (China)

• India has 4 supercomputers in the list of world’s top 500 supercomputers with Pratyush & Mihir being the fastest super-computers in India.
• Application areas: Climate Modeling, Computational Biology, Atomic Energy Simulations, National Defence, Disaster management etc.

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Information Technology: National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) 

• Launched in 2015
• NSM is jointly steered by the MeitY and Department of S&T (DST) &
• Implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune & the IISc, Bengaluru.
• Objective: to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a grid of over 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• These will be networked on the ‘National Supercomputing Grid’ over the National Knowledge Network (NKN).

Information Technology: Quantum Computing

• Quantum computersare machines that use the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform computations.
• A classical computer performs operations using classical bits, which can be either 0 or 1.
• Quantum computer uses quantum bits or Qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time.
• Major advantages: Faster, Accurate, & Energy efficient.

Information Technology: Quantum Computing And India

• There are no quantum computers in India yet.
• In 2018, the Department of Science & Technology unveiled a programme called Quantum-Enabled Science & Technology (QuST) to accelerate research on Quantum computing.
• SYCAMORE: is Google’s Quantum Computer, which recently claimed Quantum Supremacy.
• It reportedly did a task in 200 seconds that would have taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.
• Quantum Supremacy: refers to quantum computers being able to solve a problem that a classical computer cannot.

Information Technology: Open API

• API: is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries.
• Open API is a publicly available Application Programming Interface (API) that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service. Example: Aarogya Setu
• Swagger is one of the tools to implement Open API specification.

Information Technology: Deep Web And Darknet

• The Deep Web is that part of the Internet which cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google or Yahoo.
• It is used to provide access to a specific group of people.
• The Dark Net is a part of the Deep web in which, content is kept in an encrypted form or deliberately hidden.
• This content is accessible only by special software like TOR (The Onion Ring) or I2P (Invisible Internet Project).

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Information Technology: Optical Fibre Communication (OFC)

• It is a method of transmitting data/information in the form of light.
• OFC works based on Total Internal Reflection (TIR) of light.
• Examples of TIR: Diamond, Mirage.
• Total Internal Reflection (TIR) occurs when the light rays travel from a more optically denser medium to a less optically denser medium.

Information Technology: Conditions for TIR to occur

• The angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle.
• The light ray moves from a denser medium to less dense medium.

Information Technology: News

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands connected with submarine OFC (from mainland Chennai) recently.
• Submarine optical fiber cable to 11 islands of Lakshadweep with Kochi by 2023.
• Dark Fiber: It is an unused optical fiber that has been laid but currently not used for communication.

Information Technology: DTH vs OTT

Information Technology: IN NEWS

• In November 2020, the government has brought “Over the Top” (OTT) platforms under the ambit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• Currently, no law or autonomous body is governing digital content.
• Self-regulatory code: Drafted in January 2019 by 8 OTT service providers to self-regulate content on their platforms.

Information Technology: Bandwidth Throttling 

• It is Intentionally slowing or lowering speed of an internet service by an internet service provider (ISP).
• It is a reactive measure in communication networks to regulate network traffic and minimize bandwidth congestion.

Information Technology: Net Neutrality

• It keeps the internet free & open.
• Also, enables anyone to share and access information of their choosing without interference.
• India is committed to the principles of Net Neutrality.
• It firmly rejected Facebook’s ‘org’ or ‘Free basics’, Barthi Airtel’s ‘Airtel Zero’ etc., in India.
• ‘Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations’, 2016 by Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) prohibit ‘Telecom Service Providers’ from charging different tariffs from consumers for accessing different services

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Information Technology: Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of the different services through the internet. These resources include tools and applications like data storage, servers, databases, networking and software.

Information Technology: Edge Computing

• Edge computing is a distributed information technology architecture in which client data is processed at the periphery of the network
• Data is analyzed locally.

 Information Technology: Big Data & Data Mining

• Big Data constitute a large volume of structured or unstructured data.
• Big data are so huge that the traditional data processing system is inadequate to process.
• Data mining is a process used to extract usable data from a larger set of any raw data
• By analyzing this data, a useful decision can be made in various cases such as:

1. Tracking Customer Spending Habit, Shopping Behavior
2. Smart Traffic System
3. Auto Driving Car
4. Virtual Personal Assistants
5. Internet of Things etc.

Information Technology: Blockchain Technology

• Blockchain technology is a structure that stores transactional records (also known as block), of the public in several databases, known as the “chain”, in a network connected through Peer-to-peer(P2P) nodes.
• This storage is referred as ‘digital ledger’.
• Every transaction in this ledger(storage) is authorized by digital signature of owner, which authenticates the transaction and save it from any tampering.
• Blockchain Key characteristic features include decentralization, persistency, and anonymity.
• Blockchain technology discards the need for any third-party or central authority for peer-to-peer

Information Technology: Related Information

• National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) intended to develop AI, IoT, Blockchain technologies in India.

Information Technology: Cryptocurrency

• A cryptocurrency is a digital/virtual currency created and stored using Blockchain technology.
• Examples: Bitcoin, Libra (by Facebook), Ethereum etc.,
• In many countries, cryptocurrency is unregulated & they are not a legal tender payment system.

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Information Technology: Cryptocurrency & India

• Yet they are not legal in India.
• In 2017-18 Dinesh Sharma Committee & Subhash Chandra Garg committee suggested the Government to ban it.
• In 2018 RBI circular directed all Banks, Financial service providers to stop any relation with Cryptocurrency.

Information Technology: Banning of Cryptocurrency& Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019

• The draft Bill seeks to prohibit mining, holding, selling, trade, issuance, disposal or use of cryptocurrency in the country.
• In 2020, the Supreme Court has set aside RBI’s 2018 circular banning regulated financial institutions from trading in cryptocurrency.

Information Technology: Digital India Mission

• Aimed to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy.
• It was launched in 2015 | under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY)
• Focus Areas:

1. 1. To provide digital infrastructure as a source of utility to every citizen.
   2. Governance and services on demand.
   3. Digital empowerment of every citizen.

Information Technology: National Broadband Mission (NBM)

• Launched in 2019
• Objective: to provide universal & equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas by 2022.
• To increase tower density from 0.42 to 1.0 tower per thousand of the population by 2024.
• To develop ‘Broadband Readiness Index (BRI)’.
• Funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

 Broadband Readiness Index (BRI): measures the availability of digital communications infrastructure &conducive policy ecosystem within a State/UT.

Information Technology: Bharatnet Project

• It was launched as the ‘National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN)’in 2011 and renamed as Bharat Net Project in 2015.
• Implemented by the Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL) a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Communications.
• Objective: to connect all Gram Panchayats with high-speed broadband connectivity to deliver online services.

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Information Technology: Cybersecurity

• Cyberspace is the online world of computer networks, especially the Internet.
• Cyber Security protects the cyberspace from the following:

1. Cyber Attacks
2. Damage to Cyberspace
3. Misuse of Cyberspace
4. Economic Espionage

• Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user.

Information Technology: Cybersecurity & India

National Cybersecurity Policy, 2013: To build secure and resilient cyberspace for citizen, businesses and Government.

Information Technology: National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC)

• Established under Information Technology Act, 2000 to secure India’s critical information infrastructure.
• NCIIPC has broadly identified the following as ‘Critical Sectors’:

1. Power & Energy
2. Banking,
3. Financial Services & Insurance
4. Telecom
5. Transport
6. Government Strategic & Public Enterprises

Information Technology: Data Security Council Of India

• It is a not-for-profit premier industry body on data protection in India.
• It has been setup by NASSCOM.

Information Technology: The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)

• NASSCOM is a trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies.
• Established in 1988, as a non-profit org
• Focused on building the architecture integral to the development of the IT, BPO sector through policy advocacy.
• This initiated a program called ‘10,000 Startups‘ in 2013

Information Technology: Data Localization

• Data localization is a concept that the personal data of a country’s residents should be processed & stored in that country.
• It may restrict flow entirely or allow for conditional data sharing or data mirroring (in which only a copy has to be stored in the country).

Information Technology: Related Information

• In 2018 RBI directed payment system providers to store entire payments data in a system only in India.
• CLOUD (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data) Act of US seeks to de-monopolize control over data from US authorities & allows tech companies to share it with foreign governments.

General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) of the European Union allows cross-border movement of data but requires the destination country to have stringent cyber-security rules.

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Information Technology: Data Protection & India

• Currently, India does not have a dedicated legal data protection framework.
• But, some provisions under different acts protect data in general. These include the Copy Right Act 1957, IT Act 2000, & the Consume protection Act 2015 etc.,
• In 2018, N. Srikrishna committee constituted to look after data protection provisions in India.
• The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 which was introduced in Lok Sabha on this regard is yet to become an Act.

Information Technology: Digital Signature Certificates (DSC)

• DSC are the digital equivalent (that is electronic format) of physical or paper certificates.
• Certificates serve as a proof of identity of an individual.
• DSCs can be presented electronically to prove identity, to access information or services on the Internet or to sign certain documents digitally.

Information Technology: Digital Quality of Life Index 2020

• Prepared by Surfshark, a virtual private network (VPN) provider based in the British Virgin Islands
• It seeks to rank countries on internet affordability & quality, electronic infrastructure, security and government.
• Top 3 countries: Denmark à Sweden à Canada
• India ranked 57 out of 85 countries.

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