astronomy

NEARnet

NEARnet is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NEARnet rather than just read about it. In short: NEARnet (New England Academic and Research Network) was an innovative high-speed regional network for education, research and development, established in 1988 by a consortium led by Boston University, Harvard University, and MIT. It was a precursor to the commercial internet, formed after DARPA announced plans to dismantle the ARPANET.

Key takeaways

NEARnet belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NEARnet to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NEARnet from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NEARnet (New England Academic and Research Network) was an innovative high-speed regional network for education, research and development, established in 1988 by a consortium led by Boston University, Harvard University, and MIT. It was a precursor to the commercial internet, formed after DARPA announced plans to dismantle the ARPANET. ARPANET then accounted for 71 of the consortium's 258 host connections. Special services and facilities, such as the Connection Machine, the Massachusetts Microelectronics Center, and library catalogs, were made available over NEARnet. By 1990, NEARnet had 40 members.

Technology NEARnet was linked to NSFNet via the John von Neumann Center supercomputer center and extended its backbone using the world's first fixed wireless internet technology, then referred to as, "LAN extension over microwave". The tech was developed and provided by wireless pioneer and Cambridge neighbor, Microwave Bypass. The microwave was a core technology, which met the highest internet speed of 10 Mbps and helped to fund the network by eliminating recurring transmission charges. It consisted of an analog 23GHz, licensed, point-to-point microwave link, modified for a 10MHz baseband carrier and mated to an 802.3 Ethernet transceiver/microwave interface ("EtherWave Transceiver"). The EtherWave then connected network segments and backbones through Cisco routers. Smaller, more remote NEARnet members joined the network through T1 leased lines. On July 1, 1993, NEARnet operations were assumed by BBN Systems and Technologies under contract to MIT. BBN's Internet operations were eventually merged with GTE.

References

Further reading James Bruce; Kent England; Laura Breeden; David S. Theodore (June 1990). "NEARnet Profile". ConneXions, "The Interoperability Report": 2–5. "MIT News". MIT Tech Talk. 38 (1). July 14, 1993. G. Kessler; S. Shepard (December 1994). "A Primer On Internet and TCP/IP Tools". The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF®). Section 2.4: Hill Associates, Inc. Retrieved 30 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NEARnet

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NEARnet claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NEARnet before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NEARnet ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NEARnet

In research: NEARnet appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NEARnet in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NEARnet is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Boston University, History of the Internet, Internet in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NEARnet outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NEARnet in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NEARnet means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NEARnet out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NEARnet in simple terms?

Why does NEARnet matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NEARnet?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NEARnet.