Daily updates 29 august 2019

National News

1. Prime Minister launches Fit India Movement
i. On the occasion of National Sports Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Fit India Movement at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi. During the event, PM appealed to the nation to join this fitness movement and make a ‘Fitter & Better India’.
ii. The nation-wide Fit India Movement aims to motivate every Indian to incorporate simple, easy ways of staying fit in their everyday life.

2. India Launches World’s First-Ever Facial BSID
i. India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID), capturing the facial biometric data of seafarers.
ii. The new facial biometric technology is a marked improvement over the two-finger or iris-based bio-metric data, with modern security features. It will make the identification of the SID holder more reliable and efficient while protecting their dignity and privacy. BSID project has been taken up in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping: Mansukh L. Mandaviya.

Economy

3. Ind-Ra cuts GDP growth forecast in FY20 to 6.7%
i. India Ratings and Research has revised its projection of India’s GDP growth in the financial year 2019-20 to 6.7%. It has reduced the GDP growth rate from 7.3% to 6.7%. It expects GDP growth to recover to 7.4% in the second half of the financial year 2019-20.

Agreement

4. MoU between Indian Navy and IMD
i. India Meteorological Department (IMD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Navy to hand over Cyclone Detection Radar (CDR) building to naval forces for meteorological purposes.
ii. The building is set to be utilised by Indian Naval Meteorological Analysis Centre (INMAC). It is an operational unit set up in 2013 with the mandate to provide daily meteorological information/ forecasts to users across the Navy such as IN ships and establishments. The CDR building was constructed during the period 1983-86 inside the Naval Base, having an S-band Cyclone Detection Radar installed by M/s Bharat Electronics Limited.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Chief of the Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh. 

Appointment

5. Pavan Kapoor appointed as India's Ambassador to UAE
i. Senior diplomat Pavan Kapoor has been appointed as India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates by the Ministry of External Affairs. Kapoor, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer. He will replace Navdeep Suri as India's Ambassador to the UAE.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Union Minister of External Affairs: Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

6. Pramod Agarwal to succeed Coal India chairman AK Jha
i. Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has selected Pramod Agarwal as the next chairman of Coal India. He is a 1991 batch IAS from Madhya Pradesh cadre. He will take over after the present chairman A K Jha retires in January 2020.
ii. Agarwal is currently principal secretary for urban development and housing department in Madhya Pradesh.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Headquarter of Coal India: Kolkata, West Bengal.

7. Lionel Aingimea becomes the new President of Nauru
i. Former human rights lawyer Lionel Aingimea won the presidential election of the pacific nation Nauru by defeating his rival David Adeang by 12-6 votes. He is now the 15th President of Nauru succeeding the outgoing President Baron Waqa.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Capital of Nauru: Yaren; Currency of Nauru: Australian dollar.

8. GoI extends tenure of CBDT Chairman P C Mody
i. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister has approved the extension of the tenure of CBDT Chairman Pramod Chander Mody. The tenure of the CBDT chairman has been extended by one year.
ii. Pramod Chander Mody was appointed as the chairman of CBDT in Feb 2019, when Sushil Chandra, the then CBDT chief, was appointed as an Election Commissioner.

Summit and Conference

9. 12th India Security Summit held in New Delhi
i. The 12th India Security Summit was held in New Delhi. The theme of the summit was “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy”.
ii. Protection of critical national infrastructure, emerging cyber threats: incidents, challenges and response, are some of the issues which were discussed during the conference.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Clerk Mains:

• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology: Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Obituaries

10. Punjab (MLA) Rajnish Kumar Babbi passes away
i. Congress (MLA) from the Mukerian assembly seat in Punjab, Rajnish Kumar Babbi passed away. He was first elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the 2012 assembly polls as an Independent from Mukerian. In 2017 assembly elections, as a Congress candidate, he had defeated (BJP) nominee Arunesh Kumar.

11. Socialist leader and former Palghar MLA Navnitbhai Shah passes away
i. Socialist leader and former MLA of Palghar Navnitbhai Shah passed away. He took part in the freedom struggle in 1942 at the Gowalia Tank maidan in Mumbai. He was an active member of the Rashtra Seva Dal in Mumbai between 1943-49. He was elected as the first Sarpanch of Palghar (Maharashtra) in 1952 and as MLA in 1957 and 1962.

Sports

12. Ajantha Mendis announces retirement from Cricket
i. Ajantha Mendis, the mystery spinner from Sri Lanka, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Mendis played 19 Tests, 87 One-Day Internationals and 39 T20Is for Sri Lanka, taking 70 Test wickets, 152 ODI wickets and 66 T20I wickets.
ii. Mendis was renowned in the cricketing world for his ‘carrom ball’ and various other variations. He last played for Sri Lanka in 2015. He is best remembered for his 6/13 in the Asia Cup Final in 2008.

Important Days

13. International Day Against Nuclear Tests: 29 August
i. United Nations observes International Day Against Nuclear Tests on 29 August every year. It is observed to increase awareness and education about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.
2010 marked the inaugural commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Secretary General of the United Nations: Antonio Guterres.
• Headquarters: New York, USA; Founded: 24 October 1945.

Miscellaneous

14. Delhi government to launch "10 Hafte, 10 Baje 10 minute Har Ravivar, Dengue Par War"
i. Delhi government will launch mega 10-week campaign against dengue and chikungunya. The campaign has been titled as "10 Hafte, 10 Baje 10 minute Har Ravivar, Dengue Par War".
ii. As per the campaign, people of Delhi are requested to give 10 minutes every Sunday at 10 a.m. to check all sources of stagnant water at their homes as the dengue mosquitoes breed only in clean water.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Chief Minister of Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal; Lt. Governor: Anil Baijal.

Satellite communication

Introduction

In 1962, the American telecommunications giant AT&T launched the world's first true communications satellite, called Telstar. Since then, countless communications satellites have been placed into earth orbit, and the technology being applied to them is forever growing in sophistication.

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Basic Elements

Satellite communications are comprised of 2 main components:

• The Satellite

The satellite itself is also known as the space segment, and is composed of three separate units, namely the fuel system, the satellite and telemetry controls, and the transponder. The transponder includes the receiving antenna to pick-up signals from the ground station, a broad band receiver, an input multiplexer, and a frequency converter which is used to reroute the received signals through a high powered amplifier for downlink. The primary role of a satellite is to reflect electronic signals. In the case of a telecom satellite, the primary task is to receive signals from a ground station and send them down to another ground station located a considerable distance away from the first. This relay action can be two-way, as in the case of a long distance phone call. Another use of the satellite is when, as is the case with television broadcasts, the ground station's uplink is then downlinked over a wide region, so that it may be received by many different customers possessing compatible equipment. Still another use for satellites is observation, wherein the satellite is equipped with cameras or various sensors, and it merely downlinks any information it picks up from its vantagepoint.

• The Ground Station.

  This is the earth segment. The ground station's job is two-fold. In the case of an uplink, or transmitting station, terrestrial data in the form of baseband signals, is passed through a baseband processor, an up converter, a high powered amplifier, and through a parabolic dish antenna up to an orbiting satellite. In the case of a downlink, or receiving station, works in the reverse fashion as the uplink, ultimately converting signals received through the parabolic antenna to base band signal.

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Various Uses of Satellite Communications

• Traditional Telecommunications

Since the beginnings of the long distance telephone network, there has been a need to connect the telecommunications networks of one country to another. This has been accomplished in several ways. Submarine cables have been used most frequently. However, there are many occasions where a large long distance carrier will choose to establish a satellite based link to connect to transoceanic points, geographically remote areas or poor countries that have little communications infrastructure. Groups like the international satellite consortium Intelsat have fulfilled much of the world's need for this type of service.

• Cellular

Various schemes have been devised to allow satellites to increase the bandwidth available to ground based cellular networks. Every cell in a cellular network divides up a fixed range of channels which consist of either frequencies, as in the case of FDMA systems, or time slots, as in the case of TDMA. Since a particular cell can only operate within those channels allocated to it, overloading can occur. By using satellites which operate at a frequency outside those of the cell, we can provide extra satellite channels on demand to an overloaded cell. These extra channels can just as easily be, once free, used by any other overloaded cell in the network, and are not bound by bandwidth restrictions like those used by the cell. In other words, a satellite that provides service for a network of cells can allow its own bandwidth to be used by any cell that needs it without being bound by terrestrial bandwidth and location restrictions.

• Television Signals

Satellites have been used for since the 1960's to transmit broadcast television signals between the network hubs of television companies and their network affiliates. In some cases, an entire series of programming is transmitted at once and recorded at the affiliate, with each segment then being broadcast at appropriate times to the local viewing populace. In the 1970's, it became possible for private individuals to download the same signal that the networks and cable companies were transmitting, using c-band reception dishes. This free viewing of corporate content by individuals led to scrambling and subsequent resale of the descrambling codes to individual customers, which started the direct-to-home industry. The direct-to-home industry has gathered even greater momentum since the introduction of digital direct broadcast service.

• C-band

C-Band (3.7 - 4.2 GHz) - Satellites operating in this band can be spaced as close as two degrees apart in space, and normally carry 24 transponders operating at 10 to 17 watts each. Typical receive antennas are 6 to 7.5 feet in diameter. More than 250 channels of video and 75 audio services are available today from more than 20 C-Band satellites over North America. Virtually every cable programming service is delivered via C-Band.

• Ku-Band

• Fixed Satellite Service (FSS)

Ku Band (11.7 - 12.2 GHz) - Satellites operating in this band can be spaced as closely as two degrees apart in space, and carry from 12 to 24 transponders that operate at a wide range of powers from 20 to 120 watts each. Typical receive antennas are three to six feet in diameter. More than 20 FSS Ku-Band satellites are in operation over North America today, including several "hybrid" satellites which carry both C-Band and Ku-Band transponders. PrimeStar currently operates off Satcom K-2, an FSS or so-called "medium-power" Ku-Band satellite. AlphaStar also uses an FSS-Ku Band satellite, Telestar 402-R.

• Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS)

Ku-Band (12.2 - 12.7 GHz) - Satellites operating in this band are spaced nine degrees apart in space, and normally carry 16 transponders that operate at powers in excess of 100 watts. Typical receive antennas are 18 inches in diameter. The United States has been allocated eight BSS orbital positions, of which three (101, 110 and 119 degrees) are the so-called prime "CONUS" slots from which a DBS provider can service the entire 48 contiguous states with one satellite. A total of 32 DBS "channels" are available at each orbital position, which allows for delivery of some 250 video signals when digital compression technology is employed.

• DBS

DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) -The transmission of audio and video signals via satellite direct to the end user. More than four million households in the United States enjoy C-Band DBS. Medium-power Ku-Band DBS surfaced in the late 1990s with high power Ku-Band DBS launched in 1994.

• Marine Communications

In the maritime community, satellite communication systems such as Inmarsat provide good communication links to ships at sea. These links use a VSAT type device to connect to geosynchronous satellites, which in turn link the ship to a land based point of presence to the respective nations telecommunications system.

• Spacebourne Land Mobile

Along the same lines as the marine based service, there are VSAT devices which can be used to establish communication links even from the world's most remote regions. These devices can be hand-held, or fit into a briefcase. Digital data at 64K ISDN is available with some (Inmarsat).

• Satellite Messaging for Commercial Jets

Another service provided by geosyncronous satellites are the ability for a passenger on an airbourne aircraft to connect directly to a landbased telecom network.

• Global Positioning Services

Another VSAT oriented service, in which a small apparatus containing the ability to determine navigational coordinates by calculating a triangulating of the signals from multiple geosynchronous satellites.

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Technological Overview

Satellites for Data

• Characteristics

Incorporating satellites into terrestrial networks is often hindered by three characteristics possessed by satellite communication.

• Latency (propagation delay): Due to the high altitudes of satellite orbits, the time required for a transmission to navigate a satellite link (more than 2/10ths of a second from earth station to earth station) could cause a variety of problems on a high speed terrestrial network that is waiting for the packets.
• Poor Bandwidth: Due to radio spectrum limitations, there is a fixed amount of bandwidth allocable to satellite transmission.
• Noise:A radio signals strength is in proportion to the square of the distance traveled. Due to the distance between ground station and satellite, the signal ultimately gets very weak. This problem can be solved by using appropriate error correction techniques, however. 

• Error Correction

Due to the high noise present on a satellite link, numerous error correction techniques have been tested in on such links. They fall into the two categories of forward-error-correction (FEC) and automatic-repeat-request (ARQ):

• Forward-error-correction (FEC)

In this method a certain number of information symbols are mapped to new information symbols, but in such a way as to get more symbols than were original had. When these new symbols are checked on the receiving end, the redundant symbols are used to decipher the original symbols, as well as to check for data integrity. The more redundant symbols that are included in the mapping, the better the reliability of the error correction. However it should be noted that the more redundant symbols that are used to achieve better integrity, the more bandwidth that is wasted. Since this method uses relatively a large amount redundant data, it may not be the most efficient choice on a clear channel. However when noise levels are high, FEC can more reliably ensure the integrity of the data.

• Automatic-repeat-request (ARR)

In this method, data is broken into packets. Within each packet is included an error checking key. This key is often of the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) sort. If the error code reflects a loss of integrity in a packet, the receiver can request the sender to resend that packet. ARR is not very good in a channel with high noise, since many retransmissions will be required, and the noise levels that corrupted the initial packet will be likely to cause corruption in subsequent packets. ARR is more suitable to relatively noise free channels.

• Stop and Wait (SW)

With this form of ARR, the sender must wait for an acknowledgement of each packet before it can send a new one. This can take upwards of 4/10ths of a second per packet since it takes 2/10ths seconds for the receiver to get the packet an another 2/10th seconds for the sender to receive the acknowledgement.

• Go-back-N (GBN)

This method of ARR is an improvement over stop and wait in that it allows the sender to keep sending packets until it gets a request for a resend. When the sender gets such a request, it sends packets starting at the requested packet over again. It can again send packets until it receives another retransmit request, and so on.

• Selective-repeat (SR)

This ARR protocol is an improvement over GBN in that it allows the receiver to request a retransmit of only that packet that it needs, instead of that packet and all that follows it. The receiver, after receiving a bad packet and requesting a retransmit, can continue to accept any good packets that are coming. This method is the most efficient method for satellite transmissions of the three ARR methods discussed.

ARR methods can be demonstrated to provide a usable error correction scheme, but it is also the most expensive, in terms of hardware. This is in part due to the buffering memory that is required, but more importantly to the cost of the receiver, which needs to be able to transmit re-requests. Systems such as the Digital Broadcast Satellites used for television signal distribution would become inordinately expensive if they had to make use of ARR, since the home based receiver would now need to be a transmitter, and the 18 inch dish would be inadequate for the requirements of transmitting back to a satellite.

• Hybrid Networks

In today's global networking landscape, there are many ways to transmit data from one place to another. It is desirable to be able to incorporate any type of data transmission media into a network, especially in networks that encompass large areas. A hybrid network is one that allows data to flow across a network, using many types of media, either satellite, wireless or terrestrial, transparently. Since each type of media will have different characteristics, it is necessary to implement a standard transmission protocol. One that is normally used in hybrid networks is TCP/IP. In addition, much work is being done to use TCP/IP over ATM for the satellite segments of hybrid networks, about which more will be discussed later.

One way to get around the need in ARR for the receiver to have to request retransmit via an expensive and slow satellite link is to use a form of hybrid network. In one form of hybrid network, the reciever transmits its requests back to the sender via a terrestrial link. Terrestrial link allows for quicker, more economical and less error prone transmission from the reciever, and the costs associated with the receivers hardware are greatly reduced when compared to the costs involved if it had to transmit back over the satellite link. There are products on the market today that allow a home user to get intenet access at around 400MB via digital satellite, while its retransmit signals are sent via an inexpensive modem or ISDN line.



In fact, a product currently being marketed by Direct PC called Turbo Internet uses a form of hybrid network. The system uses two network interfaces; one connects via a special ISA bus PC adapter to a receive-only Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), while the other is a modem attached to a serial port. Inbound traffic comes down to the VSAT, while outbound traffic goes through the modem link. The two interfaces are combined to appear as a single virtual interface to upper layer TCP/IP protocol stacks by a special NDIS compliant driver. The Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) is used to connect the modem-based link with an internet service provider. Packets, which are encapsulated by the terminal such that the desired ip address of the destination host is embedded underneath the IP address of the Direct PC Gateway, to which all packets leaving the terminal must go. Once at the gateway, the outer packet is stripped, and the gateway contacts the destination address within. Upon the gateway's receiving the request from the host, it then prepares the packet for satellite transmission, which is then used to send the packet back to the terminal.

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• ATM Over Satellite

Two qualitites of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) made it highly desirable for the implementation of satellite links within hybrid networks. The first is the ATM's asynchrony and the second is its ability to use variable transfer rates. In addition, ATM fits well into existing networks with its wide range of upper-layer services and its ability to operate in a wide range of environments.

There are problems, however. ATM's relatively large propagation delays can significantly increase the latency of feedback mechanisms essential for congestion control. acquisition time, cell in-synch time and cell discard probability.Solutions to these issues are still being explored.

The group that is currently working to develop interoperability specifications that facilitate ATM access and ATM network interconnect in both fixed and mobile satellite networks is known as The TIA/SCD/CIS - WATM group. As of March, 1997 they have proposed the following standards:

• SATATM Type 1 - Fixed ATM Direct Access


Fixed network access via satellite that is characterized by a large number of small inexpensive user terminals and a small number of gateway earth stations. Provides for a radio interface of 64 kbit/s - NxE1 and a service interface of 2.4 kbit/s - NxE1 while providing no mobility support


• SATATM Type 2 - Fixed ATM Network Interconnect


High speed interconnections using PNNI, B-ICI, or Public UNI between earth stations and fixed ATM networks. 
Allows for a radio interface of T1 - 1.2 Gbit/s but provides no mobility support.
• SATATM Type 3 - Mobile ATM Direct Access 
  ATM network access by mobile terminals. The radio interface provides for 64 kbit/s - E1 for moving, 64 kbit/s - NxE1 for portable terminals and the rervice interfaceallows for 75 bit/s - E1 for moving, 75 bits/s - NxE1 for portable terminals.

• SATATM Type 4 - Mobile ATM Network Interconnect 
  High speed interconnections between mobile and fixed networks or between two mobile networks providing fast moving land-mobile data rates < NxE1 and slow-moving airborne data rates of < 622 Mbit/s.

The group also has established requirements for dealing with the physical layer, the media access control layer and the data link control layer.

• SATIN - Satellite Integrated Terrestrial Network:

The goal of SATIN is to create a fully integrated hybrid network in which the method of communication, which can incorporate networks of local, metropolitan and wide area scope, Broadband ISDN, Integrated Network Management, AIN (Advanced Intelligent Networks) and PCS (Personal Communications Services), in addition to ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) over satellite, is totally transparent to the user. The difficulties inherent in this are obvious. Differences in latency, noise, bandwidth and reliability must be equalized in all the media that will encompass the network.

• VSAT Networks

VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal. Although this acronym has been used amongst telecom groups for some time now to describe small earth stations, the concepts of VSAT are being applied to modern hand held satellite communications units, such as GPS (Global Positioning System), portable Inmarsat phones and other types of portable satellite communication devices.

• Orbits

• GEO

GEO stands for Geostationary Earth Orbit. This refers to satellites that are placed in orbit such that they remain stationary relative to a fixed spot on earth. If a satellite is placed at 35,900 km above the earth, its angular velocity is equal to that of the earth, thereby causing it to appear to be over the same point on earth. This allows for them to provide constant coverage of the area and eliminate blackout periods of ordinary orbiting satellites, which is good for providing television broadcasting. However their high altitude causes a long delay, so two way communications, which would need to be uploaded and then downloaded over a distance of 72,000 km, are not often used with this type of orbit.

• LEO

LEO stands for Low Earth Orbit, and it refers to satellites in orbit at less that 22300 miles above the earth. This type of an orbit reduces transmission times as compared to GEO. A LEO orbit can also be used to cover a polar region, which the GEO cannot accomplish. Since it does not appear stationary to earth stations, however, earth stations need an antenna assembly that will track the motion of the satellite.

• Constellations

The idea behind a constellation is to use to acheive global simultaneous satellite coverage by placing enough satellites into orbit so that (nearly) every point on earth is covered. There are currently two main types of service being planned at the moment, global voice and global data.
• Global Voice Communications 
  There are currently several consortiums that are working on global voice via satellite. One of the most prominant is the IRIDIUM constellation, which will consist of 66 interconnected satellites orbiting 420 nautical miles above the earth. The satellites will use a LEO orbit so that very small handheld terminals can be used by ground-based cutomers. The system will use intersatellite crosslink transmissions that will take place in the Ka frequency band between 23.18 and 23.38 GHz. The IRIDIUM system will use a combination of Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal multiplexing to make the most efficient. The L-Band (1616-1626.5 MHz), is used to link the satellite and IRIDIUM the subscribers equipment. The Ka-Band (19.4-19.6 GHz for downlinks and 29.1-29.3 GHz for uplinks) links the satellite and the gateways and earth terminals.

• Global Broadband Networks 

  There are basically two types of networks being proposed here, namely LEO based and GEO based ones.

  • LEO 

    LEO networks use low orbits, which allows for much less latency that do GEO based networks. One problem that these satellites have is that since the are not geostationary (they are contsantly orbiting around the earth) they cannot talk continuously to that same ground station. The way this is overcome is by using intesatellite communications, so that the sattellites function together as a blanket of coverage. A major player in this are is Teledesic.

    The Teledesic Network uses a constellation of 840 operational interlinked low-Earth orbit satellites. The system is planned to provide "on-demand" channel rates from 16 Kbps up to 2.048 Mbps ("E1"), and for special applications up to 1.24416 Gbps ("OC-24"). The network uses fast packet switching technology based on the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) using fixed-length (512) bit packets.. Each satellite in the constellation is a node in the fast packet switch network, and has intersatellite communication links with eight adjacent satellites. Each satellite is normally linked with four satellites within the same plane (two in front and two behind) and with one in each of the two adjacent planes on both sides. Each satellite keeps the same position relative to other satellites in its orbital plane. The Teledesic Network uses a combination of multiple access methods to ensure efficient use of the spectrum. Each cell within a supercell is assigned to one of nine equal time slots. All communication takes place between the satellite and the terminals in that cell during its assigned time slot . Within each cell’s time slot, the full frequency allocation is available to support communication channels. The cells are scanned in a regular cycle by the satellite’s transmit and receive beams, resulting in time division multiple access (TDMA) among the cells in a supercell. Since propagation delay varies with path length, satellite transmissions are timed to ensure that cell N (N=1, 2, 3,...9) of all supercells receive transmissions at the same time. Terminal transmissions to a satellite are also timed to ensure that transmissions from the same numbered cell in all supercells in its coverage area reach that satellite at the same time. Physical separation (space division multiple access (SDMA) and a checkerboard pattern of left and right circular polarization eliminate interference between cells scanned at the same time in adjacent supercells. Guard time intervals eliminate overlap between signals received from time-consecutive cells.

    

    
    

    Within each cell’s time slot, terminals use Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) on the uplink and Asynchronous Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) on the downlink. On the uplink, each active terminal is assigned one or more frequency slots for the call’s duration and can send one packet per slot each scan period (23.111 msec). The number of slots assigned to a terminal determines its maximum available transmission rate. One slot corresponds to a standard terminal’s 16 Kbps basic channel with its associated 2 Kbps signaling and control channel. A total of 1800 slots per cell scan interval are available for standard terminals. The terminal downlink uses the packet’s header rather than a fixed assignment of time slots to address terminals.TELEDESIC

    

    Photo by TELEDESIC

  • GEO 

    GEO's high points are that it's satellites are geostationary, which means that the difficulties of intersatellite communications are avoided. The problem arises due to the latency delays caused by the high orbit. Applications which rely on steady bandwidth, like multimedia, will definately be affected.

Daily updates 28 August 2019

National News

1. Govt Launched mobile app “Janaushadhi Sugam”
i. Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers launched a mobile application “Janaushadhi Sugam”. This app will enable people to search for Janaushadhi generic medicines and the stores at the tip of their fingers.
ii.  “Janaushadhi Sugam” mobile application would have user-friendly options like- to locate nearby Janaushadhikendra, direction guidance for the location of the Janaushadhikendra through Google Map, search Janaushadhi generic medicines, analyse product comparison of Generic vs Branded medicine in form of MRP & overall Savings, etc. The mobile application is available on both Android & iOS platforms.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers: D.V. Sadananda Gowda.

International

2. Johnson & Johnson asked to pay $572 mn for Opioid addiction crisis
i. Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $572 million for Opioid addiction crisis in the US. Oklahoma court has accused J&J of its role in fostering the state’s opioid addiction crisis. The money will be used to provide care for addicts, families and communities ravaged by the crisis.

State News

3. Lt. Governor launches 'QR Code Scheme' on Himmat Plus app
i. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal launched a 'QR Code Scheme' on the Himmat Plus app in Delhi. This mobile app launched by the Delhi Police to ensure the safety of women. This added feature is to ensure that only genuine and verified drivers ferry passenger to their destinations from airports and railway and metro stations.
ii. The aim of the scheme is to enhance the safety and security of women and other commuters travelling in the yellow or black taxis or auto-rickshaws from railway stations, airport and metro stations.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Chief Minister of Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal.

4. Tamil Nadu govt launches Education TV for school students
i. Tamil Nadu government launched its exclusive 24x7 education channel for school students. This TV channel, aimed at benefiting students of classes I to XII.  This is an initiative of the School Education Department. The name of the channel is 'Kalvi Tholaikkatchi' (Education TV). The channel's content will include shows aimed at school children, besides those on jobs and related issues.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• Tamil Nadu Capital: Chennai.
• Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu: Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
• Governor of Tamil Nadu:: Banwarilal Purohit.

Banking

5. Canara Bank introduced OTP facility for ATM withdrawal
i. Public sector Bank, Canara Bank has launched India’s first OTP facility for ATM withdrawals. This additional factor of authentication protects from unauthorized ATM cash withdrawals for cardholders. 
ii. Now Canara Bank ATMs get safer and more secured with OTP facility on cash withdrawals above ₹10,000 in a day.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Canara Bank Chairman: Shri. T.N. Manoharan, Headquarters: Bangalore.
• MD & CEO: R A Sankara Narayanan.

6. Indian Bank opens MSME Centralised Processing Centre
i. Indian Bank has opened MSME CPC (centralised processing centre) in Chennai. The centralised processing centre will give a boost to the bank's MSME portfolio and will lead to speedy disposal of micro, small and medium enterprises’ loans. 
ii. The bank has also deployed skilled manpower in the CPC to improve credit quality and shorten transaction processing time.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• MD and CEO of Indian Bank: Padmaja Chunduru.

Appointment

7. Paytm appoints Amit Nayyar as president of FSB
i. Digital payments company Paytm has appointed ex-Goldman executive Amit Nayyar as president in the financial services business of the company.
ii. Nayyar will be responsible for all the financial services business like lending, insurance, wealth management, stockbroking at the company. He will report directly to Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Paytm Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
• Parent Organization: One97 Communications.

Awards

8. Indian documentary 'I'm Jeeja' wins award at We Care Film Festival
i. Indian documentary film "I'm Jeeja" has won the award at the 14th edition of the 'We Care Film Festival on Disability Issues'. "I'm Jeeja" has won the award in the 'Under 30 minute' category. The documentary directed by Swati Chakraborty attempts to explore the lives and battles of people living with the disability. Another Indian film "Post Dark" received a jury mention in 'Under 5 minutes' category.

9. Eric Cantona to be honoured with UEFA President's Award
i. Former Manchester United forward player Eric Cantona will be honoured with the 2019 UEFA President’s Award. The award recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities of the player. Cantona won four Premier League titles in five years with United in the 1990s and scored 64 goals for the Old Trafford club in 143 appearances.

10. ONGC's CMD honoured with Distinguished Fellowship of IOD, 2019
i. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Shashi Shanker was honoured with the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors (IOD) 2019. He was honoured during the 29th Institute of Directors (IOD) Annual Day Ceremony.
ii. The prestigious Fellowship honour was conferred to Shanker in appreciation of his distinguished contribution to business and society. The theme of this year's IOD Annual Day Ceremony was 'Future Boards: Leading Strategy to Embrace Sustainability'.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Main 2019:

• Headquarters of ONGC: New Delhi. Established: 14 August 1956

Defence

11. Astra Rafael Communication System inaugurated in Hyderabad
i. An Indo-Israel joint venture's "Astra Rafael Communication System" was inaugurated in Hyderabad. The system will design, develop and manufacture tactical communication systems for Indian armed forces.
ii. The Joint Venture between Astra Microwave and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has become India’s first private sector firm to manufacture cutting-edge software-defined radios in multiple variants.

12. IAF’s Shalija Dhami becomes a first female flight commander
i. Indian Air Force's Wing Commander Shalija Dhami has become the first female officer in the country to become Flight Commander of a flying unit. Dhami took over as Flight Commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon airbase. Flight Commander is the second in command of the unit after the commanding officer.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Chief of the Indian Air Force: Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa.

Obituaries

13. Naval war hero Noel Kelman passes away
i. Naval war hero and Kirti Chakra awardee Commander Noel Kelman passed away. Commander Kelman was awarded the Kirti Chakra for valour during the liberation of Goa in 1961. He was involved in an operation to flush out the Portuguese from the Anjadip Island, Karnataka. Kelman had also been awarded the King's commendation in the Second World War for his role in sinking a Japanese submarine.

Sports

14. West Indies fast bowler Cecil Wright retires at 85
i. West Indies pacer Cecil Wright has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the ripe old age of 85. Wright made his first-class debut for Jamaica against a Barbados side which had legends Wes Hall and Sir Garfield Sobers.
ii. The 85-year-old claims to have played over two million games taking over 7,000 wickets in professional cricket. Wright’s longest purple patch span five seasons as he ended up taking as many as 538 wickets in five seasons.

15. Indian team won four medals in Worldskills Kazan competition in Russia
i. Indian team created history by winning one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the world's biggest international vocational skill competition, 45th WorldSkills Kazan 2019, Russia.
ii. S Aswatha Narayana won the gold medal in water technology, Pranav Nutalapati won a silver medal in web technologies, Sanjoy Pramanik and Shweta Ratanpura won one bronze medal each in Jewellery and graphic design technology.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• President of Russia: Vladimir Putin; Capital of Russia: Moscow.
• Currency of Russia: Russian ruble.
• PM of Russia: Dmitry Medvedev.

Miscellaneous

16. App launched to help Paralympians in Tokyo
i. A mobile app was launched to help para-athletes to look up accessible places in Tokyo during their visit to the city for the 2020 Paralympics Games. The application  "IndTokyo" which was launched by Arhan Bagati, Awareness and Impact Ambassador of Paralympic Committee of India, at the 'Countdown to Tokyo 2020'.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• President of Paralympic Committee of India: Gursharan Singh.

17. NOAPS-single window clearing system of NMA launched
i. The Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent Charge) has launched an integrated NOC online Application Processing System for National Monuments Authority in New Delhi. 
ii. This will help in the online processing of applications requesting NOC for construction-related work in the prohibited and regulated area of ASI protected monuments.
iii. 6 new states will be part of this Integrated Online Application Portal with Urban Local Bodies Count. The details of States and Urban Local Bodies are as follows:

• Madhya Pradesh (378)
• Andhra Pradesh (110)
• Haryana (15)
• Punjab (10)
• Jharkhand (3)
• Telangana (1)

Earlier this system was available only for five urban local bodies of Delhi and one urban local body of Mumbai.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Clerk Mains:

• Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent Charge): Prahlad Singh Patel.