Specifications

University of Hertfordshire
1
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives the basic information of this project, such as Internet, TCP/IP
and client/server architecture. In addition, the aim and objectives of the project
are also introduced.
1.1 Background
The Internet has enjoyed fabulous development in recent 20 years, people showed tremendous
interest on it, and lots of engineers are trying to make the Internet more convenient. The Internet is
computer-based global information system, composed of many interconnected computer networks.
Each network may link tens, hundreds, or even thousands of computers, enabling them to share
information with one another and to share computational resources such as powerful
supercomputers and databases of information. The Internet has made it possible for people all over
the world to communicate with one another effectively and inexpensively.
The Internet has brought new opportunities to government, business and education. Governments
use the Internet for internal communication, distribution of information and so on. For businesses,
the most of companies offer goods and services to customers on the Internet. Many individuals use
the Internet for communicating through electronic mail, for news and search information, shopping,
online banking, etc. Educational institutions use the Internet for researching, to interact with other
institutions and to offer online courses. For this project, a remotely controlled RF Spectrum
Analyser will helps those who have no such expensive equipment to analyse any spectrum they
want and they can receive results on their own computer by Web Browser.
The exchange of data on the Internet is done by different type of protocols. A protocol is an
agreement that specifies a common language two computers use to exchange messages. Nowadays,
the entire computer on the Internet is connected with TCP/IP. IP (Internet Protocol) provides the
flexibility needed to accommodate a wide range of underlying network hardware. TCP is Transport
Layer Protocol, which handles communication problems and provides applications with reliable
communication. In addition, TCP/IP can include other protocols, applications, and even the network
medium. Samples of these protocols are: UDP, ARP, and ICMP.