Index
	Agriculture and Industry
	Animals and Nature
	Architecture and Buildings
	Arts
	Business and Law
	Earth and Environment
	Economy and Finance
	Education
	Electronics and Engineering
	Film and Animation
	Food and Drink
	General
	General technical and industrial
	Government and organisations
	Health and Medicine
	History and Culture
	Hobbies and Crafts
	Language and Literature
	Legal
	Management
	Mathematics and statistics
	Meteorology and astronomy
	Military and Defence
	Music and Sound
	People and society
	Sciences
	Sport and Leisure
	Technical and IT
	Travel and Transportation

The original wordlist seems to be offline

The wordlist containing your word and definition doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

Page 0 1

Reveal - Cable, Network Acronyms, Glossary and Terms Category: Electronics and Engineering More specific: Cable and network County & Date: UK, 19012008 Words: 200

Absorption
One cause of attenuation where light signal is absorbed into the glass during transmission.

Access Method
A software/hardware method of transferring data between host-resident application programs and remote device.

ACK or Acknowledge
A character or sequence of characters sent by a receiver to notify a sender that the last message was received correctly, ACK is also sent by a remote device as a 'go ahead' response to a selection sequence.

Acoustic Coupler
A type of modem that permits use of a telephone handset as a connection to the public telephone network for data transmission by means of sound transducers.

Adaptive differential pulse code modulation
One of the methods of pulse code modulation utilised in digitising an analogue signal.

Adaptive equalisation
A modem feature allowing it to automatically compensate for distortion on the line.

Algorithm
A prescribed set of well defined rules or processes for arriving at a solution to a problem. A mathematical process.

Alphanumeric
made up of letters (alphabetic) and numbers (numeric)

Alternative route
A secondary communication path used to reach a destination if the primary path is unavailable.

Ambient noise
Signal interference that is present on a communication line at all times (background noise)

American Wire Gauge, AWG
A US standard set of non-ferrous wire conductor sizes. Typical data wiring is AWG number 24, 26 or 28. The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the wire.

Amplifier
A device that increases the power or amplitude of a signal.

Amplitude modulation
Transmission of information on a communication line by varying voltage level or amplitude.

Amplitude variation (ripple)
unwanted variation of signal voltage at different frequencies on a communication line.

Analogue signal
A signal that changes in a non-discrete manner (smooth transmission to a different levels).

Answer back
A transmission from a receiving data processing device in response to a request from a transmitting data processing device that it is ready to accept or has received data.

ARQ, Automatic re-transission request
A generic description of a protocol mechanism that involves retransmission of message blocks received in error. There are several type of ARQ operation.

Asynchronous
A data transmission which does not require a separate clock signal for the reception of data. In code sets, character codes containing start and stop bits.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode, ATM
A very high speed network utilising SONET optical transmission methods through the public telecommunications system.

Asynchronous transmission (start - stop transmission)
Provides transmission of one character at a time with a start bit and one or more stop bits appended on each one. Any amount of time can elapse before the next character can be sent.

Attenuation, Insertion Loss
Loss of power. Attenuation is usually measured in dB loss per length of cable (ex. 31.0 dB/100Ft.). Attenuation increases as frequency increases.

Audio frequencies
Frequencies that can be heard by the average human ear, usually 15 to 20,000 Hz.

Automatic dialler
A device that will automatically dial telephone numbers on the network. Operation of the dialler may be manual or automatic

Background channel, also called reverse channel
A channel used for sending data in the opposite direction of the primary (forward) channel. The backward channel is usually used for sending data at low speeds for control purposes.

Backshell, Hood
A mechanical backing that is sometimes put onto a connector. The device protects the conductors and can be assembled or injection moulded. Commonly used with D-Sub connectors.

Balanced circuit
A circuit terminated by a network whose impedance balances the impedance of the line so that the return losses are negligible.

BALUN
An acronym for BALanced/UNbalanced. A device commonly used to change one cabling media to another (ex. coaxial to twisted pair balun).

Bandwidth
The information carrying capability of a communication channel or line.

Base group
Twelve communications paths capable of carrying the human voice on a telephone set. A unit of frequency-division multiple systems bandwidth allocation.

Baseband Transmission
A transmission method where direct current signals are placed directly onto the transmission medium (cable). Ethernet is a baseband network type, hence, the 'Base' in 10Base-T, etc.

Bassband
The frequency band occupied by individual information bearing signals before they are combined with a carrier in the modulation process. In LANs, one transmitting device at a time on the circuit.

Baud
Data communications rate unit taken from the name Baudot. Defined as the number of signal level changes per second regardless of the information of the information content of those signals.

Baud Rate
A measure of signal changes per second. Commonly used to rate the speed of a modem.

Baudot
A five level code set named for the early French telegrapher who invented it. International Telegraph Alphabet (ITA) Number 2 is the formal name.

Bias
Communications signal distortion with respect to bit timing.

Bit
Binary digital contraction. The smallest unit of data communication information, used top develop code representations of characters.

Bit rate
The rate at which those bits (binary digits) are transmitted over a communications path. Normally expressed in bits per second (BPS). The bit rate is not to be confused with the data signalling rate (baud) which measures the rate of signal changes being transmitted.

Bit stream
Refers to a continuous series of bits being transmitted on a transmission line.

Bit-orientated protocol
Refers to those data communications protocols that move bits across a data link without regard to the meaning of those bits. Nearly all bit-orientated protocols follow the international HDLC recommendations.

Blank
A condition of 'no information' in a data recording medium or storage location, which can be represented by all spaces or all zeros, depending on the medium.

Block
Some set of contiguous bits, bytes or both that make up a definable quantity of information.

Block asynchronous-synchronous transmission
A proprietary software package for sending asynchronous and synchronous information used primarily by personal interfaces.

Block check character
A single character appended to the end of a data block for error checking purposes. The BCC is usually LRC but could also be checksum results.

Block error rate testing
Testing a data line with groups of information arranged into transmission blocks for error checking.

Block multiplexer channel
a computer peripheral multiplexer channel that interleaves blocks of data. See also byte multiplexer channel. Contrast with selector channel.

Blocking
A condition in a switching system or PABX in which no paths or circuits are available to complete a call and no dial tone is returned to the calling party. In this situation there is no alternative but to hang up and try the call again. Also referred to as a denial or busy condition.

Break
A signal to 'break in' when the opposite party or unit is sending. A feature of dial point-to-point teletypewriter systems operating in half duplex.

Breakout box
A test device utilised for monitoring and inserting signals in the RS-2332 interface. Bridge equipment techniques used to connect circuits and equipment to each other ensuring minimum transmission impairment. Bridging is normally required on multipoint data channels where the drop for the local loop is separated from the circuit that continues on t …

Bridge
A networking component that links two or more network segments. Bridges are used to split busy networks into separate, less congested segments.

Broadband
Refers to transmission facilities whose bandwidth (range of frequencies that will handle) is greater than that available on voice grade facilities; sometimes called wideband. Also used to describe a particular kind of local area network configuration where multiple different users can share the same cable facility in different channels.

Broadband Transmission
A transmission method where multiple channels are modulated onto separate carrier frequencies. The result is multiple communications channels that occupy specific frequency ranges.

Broadcast
The ability to send messages or communicate with many or all points in a circuit simultaneously.

Burst
A series of events occurring as a group.

Burst error
A series of consecutive errors in data transmission. Refers to the phenomenon on communications lines where errors are highly prone to occurring in groups or clusters.

Bus
Also called a 'Daisy Chain'. A network topology where each node is connected to one another in line. A major disadvantage is that when there is a break in the bus the entire network goes down.

Byte
Some set of contiguous bits that make up a discrete item of information. Bytes are usually 8 bits long.

Byte multiplexor channel
Multiplexer channel that interleaves bytes of data from different sources. Contrasts with selector channel

Cable
A set of insulated wires or conductors within an extruded jacket. Many types of cable utilise shielding around the wires and under the cable jacket.

Cable Assembly
A cable that has been terminated with one or more connectors.

CCS6
SCCS system 6, first out of band signalling system in North America (CCIS)

CD
Carrier Detect, digital output from modem when it receives analogue signal

CD
Count Down, a counter that holds the number of cells queued ahead of the local message segment (802.6)

CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access, spread spectrum; broadcast frequency changes rapidly in pattern know to receiver

CELP
Code-Excited Linear Predictive coding, a voice compression algorithm used at 8 kbit/s

Centre Conductor
The solid or stranded wire in the middle of the coaxial cable. The conductor diameter is measured by the American Wire Gauge, AWG.

CEPT
Conference on European Posts & Telecommunications, a body that sets policy for services and interfaces in 26 countries.

CFA
Carrier Failure Alarm, detection of red, local or yellow, remote alarm on a T1 link.

CIT
Computer integrated telephony

Client Server
A network architecture where multiple user workstations (Clients) communicate with backend servers through a network. Clients are fully operating systems that are capable of processing data.

CLLM
Consolidated Link Layer Management (820)

CLN
Connectionless network, packet address is unique and network routes all traffic

CLNP
Connectionless mode Network (layer) Protocol (SONET).

CLTS
Connectionless Transport Service, OSI datagram protocol

CMA
Communications Managers Association

CMDR
Command Reject similar to FRMR (HDLC)

CMI
Coded Mark Inversion, line signal for STS-3

CMIS
Common (network) Management Information Service, runs on CMIP (OSI)

CMISE
CMIS Element

CMOS
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, low power method (lower than NMOS) to make ICs.

CMOT
CMIP over TCP/IP

CMT
Connection Management, part of SMT that establishes physical link between adjacent stations (FDDI)

CO
Central Office, of a phone company, where the switch is located; the other end of the local loop opposite CP.

CO-LAN
Central Office Local Area Network, a data switching service based on a PBX in a carriers CO.

Coaxial Adapter
A device used to change one connector type to another or one gender to another (ex. BNC to SMA Adapter).

Coaxial Cable
A two conductor cylindrical transmission line typically comprised of a centre conductor, an insulating dielectric material and an outer conductor (shielding). Coaxial cable can be flexible (typical to the assemblies found in this catalogue), semi-rigid or rigid in nature.

Coaxial Connector
The interconnection device found at each end of a coaxial cable assembly. There are many common types of coaxial connectors such as: BNC, SMA, SMB, F, etc.

COC
Central Office Connection, separately tariff part of T-1 circuit within a CO

COCF
Connection Oriented Convergence Function, MAC layer entity

CODEC
An acronym for COder/DECoder. A device used for converting analogue signals to digital signals.

COFA
Change of frame Alignment, movement of SPE within STS frame

Conductor
A metal path (usually copper) that passes electricity. When discussing data cabling, 'wire' and 'conductor' are synonymous.

Connector
An electromechanical coupling device that provides an electrical interface that can be mated and unmated.

CONP
Connection Mode Network layer Protocol

Contact
The specific points of contact within a connector. Contacts can be male (pins) or female (sockets.).

Contact Resistance
First, resistance is basically the opposition to electron flow in an electrical circuit and connector manufacturers strive to attain the lowest amount of resistance possible for each contact. Contact resistance is the cumulative resistance value for mated contacts.

Converter
A device used to convert from one transmission media to another (Ex. Fibre/Copper Media Converter). Converters are usually externally powered as they physically 'repeat' or regenerate the signal.

COS
Class of Service

COT
Central Office terminal, equipment at CO end of digital loop or line.

CP
Central Processor, CPU

CP
Customer Premises, as opposed to CO.

CPE
Customer Premises Equipment, hardware in users office.

CPI
Computer-PBX interface, a data interface between NT1 and DEC.

CPN
Customers premises Node, CPE.

CPU
Central Processor Unit, the computer

CR
Carriage Return, often combined with a line feed when sending to a printer etc.

CRC
Cyclic Redundancy Check, an error detection scheme used with ARQ.

Crimping
A means of securing an electrical contact to a wire using tools that compress the metal contact around the wire.

Crosstalk
When unwanted electromagnetic fields from conductors are transferred into adjacent conductors. Crosstalk is controlled by twisting conductors into a pair or separating/shielding conductors.

CRV
Coding Rule Violation, unique bit signal for F bit in frame 1 of CMI.

CS
Convergence Sublayer, where header and trailer are added before segmentation.#

CS-PDU
Convergence layer PDU, info plus new header and trailer to make packet that is generated into cells or SUs.

CSC
Circuit Switched Channel, connection.

CSMA
Carrier Sense Multiple Access

CSPDN
Circuit Switched Public Data Network.

CSU
Channel Service Unit, the interface to the T-1 line that terminates the local loop.

CTS
Clear To Send, lead on interface indicating DCE is ready to receive data.

CV
Coding Violation, transmission error in SONET section.

CVSD
Continuously Variable Slope Delta modulation, a voice encoding technique offering variable compression.

DA
Destination address, field in frame header, 802.

DARPA
Defence ARPA, formerly just ARPA.

DAS
Dual Attach, Access Station, device on a main dual FO rings, 4 fibres FDDI

DASS
Digital Access Signalling, protocol for ISDN D channel in the UK.

dB
Decibel, 1/10th of a bel; 10 log (x/y) where x/y is a ratio or like quantities, i.e. power.

DB25
Code for 25 pin connector specific for RS232 interface.

dBm
Decibel level referenced to 1mW at 1004 Hz into 600 ohms impedance.

dBm0
Power that would be at zero TLP reference level.

dBrn
dBrn through a C weighted audio filter, matches the ear's response.

dBrn
Power level relative to noise, dBm + 90

DCC
Data Communications Channel, overhead connection in D bytes for SONENT management.

DCE
Data Communications equipment

DCE
Digital circuit termination equipment

DCS
Digital Cross Connected, DACS

DDCMP
Digital data Communications message protocol.

DDD
Direct distance dialling, refer to PSTN

DDS
Digital data system, network that supports DATAPHONE digital services

DDSD
Delay Dial Start Dial, a start stop protocol for dialling into a CO switch

DES
Data Encryption Standard, moderately difficult to break

Dielectric
The insulating material that separates the centre conductor and the shielding.

DIP
Dual In-line Package, for silicon chips and switches

DIS
Draft International Standard, preliminary form of OSI standard

DISC
Disconnect, command frame sent between LLC entities, layer 2.

DLC
Data Link Connection, one logical bit stream in LAPD, layer 2.

DLC
Digtal Loop Carrier, mux system to gather analogue loops and carry them to CO.

DLCI
Data Link Connection Identifier, address in a frame, I.122

DLE
Data Link Escape, ESC.

DLL
Data Link Layer, Layer 2 OSI.

DM
Disconnected Mode, LLC frame to reject a connection request, layer 2.

DMC
Differential Manchester Code, pulse pattern that puts transition at centre of each bit time for clocking, transition at start of period for 0, 802.5

DMI
Digitally Multiplexed Interface, AT&T interface for 23 64 Kbits channel and a 24th for signalling.

Drawing
The mechanical process of making conductors smaller by forcing through dies.

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
Unwanted electrical or electromagnetic energy that causes unwanted responses in electronic equipment disrupting the electrical signals.

Ethernet
The most common of the network standards established in the early 1980s by the IEEE committee under standard 802.3. More on what is Ethernet is here.

Extrusion
The mechanical process of coating a wire or group of wires with insulating material

FDDI
Fibre Distribution Data Interface, 100 Mbit/s FO standard for a LAN or MAN

Fibre Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
A 100Mbps fibre optic cabling standard developed by ANSI. FDDI utilises a dual counter rotating ring topology for network redundancy.

Firewire
history of firewire

Frequency
The number of times a periodic action occurs in one second. Measured in Hertz.

FRMR
Frame Reject, LLC response to error that cannot be corrected by ARQ, may cause reset or disconnected (layer 2).

HDLC
High-level Data Link Control, layer 2 full duplex protocol

HDMI
HDMI Tutorial

Hub
A network device that receives a signal from one station and retransmits to all other connected stations.

IDC
Insulation Displacement Contact

IEEE 1284
: Also known as a 'parallel printer cable' or 'centronics' cable. It was developed to support higher transmission speeds between computers and parallel printers.

IEEE 1284 EPP
: specification cables giving 1.5Mb bi-directional data transfer at a rate of up to 50 times faster than on normal parallel ports when port is set to EPP mode.

Impedance
The opposition to the flow of alternating or varying current. Measured in Ohms.

Injection Moulding
The process used to inject molten polymer into a mould. Connector backshells are often injection moulded.

Insertion Loss
: See Attenuation

Insulation
A material with very high resistivity used to protect conductors. Insulation is usually extruded over the wire or conductor after the drawing process.

MAC
Medium, Media Access Control, the lower sublayer of the OSI data link layer

MMP
Modified Modular Plug is a proprietary variation of the 6 position plug which was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation, DEC.

MODEM
An acronym for MOdulate/DEModulate. Modems are data communications devices that convert digital signals to analogue signals for transmission over analogue public telephone networks.

Network Interface Card (NIC)
Network devices that are installed in computers so that they can be connected to a network. Ethernet NICs come in different speeds as well as with connections to different media types.

NMOS
N-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor, common IC type uses more power than CMOS

Node
A device or station connected to a network.

OSI
Open Systems Interconnection, a 7 layer model for protocols defined by the ISO.

PABX, PBX
Private Branch eXchange, small telephone switch inside a company, manual or automatic. By using the telephone, if you can place calls on hold, transfer or redirect then you are connected to and are using a PABX.

PDU
protocol Data Unit, information packet (ADDR, CTRL, INFO) passed as one level between protocol stacks, OSI

Peer to Peer
A network architecture where computers connect directly with other computers without the need for servers.

Plug
The male connector usually containing a centre pin.

Power Calculation
The following formula is used to calculate wattage (or VA). This formula is useful to determine if a required voltage and current combination will exceed the maximum capacity of a particular AC adapters case.

PSTN
Public switched telephone network, the telco owned dial up network.

RCA Connector
See phono

Redundancy
Utilising multiple access methods so that if one goes down the systems still operate.

Repeater
A network device that regenerates the signal to increase a cabling run.

RG-U
Symbols used to represent coaxial cable that is built to US government specifications (R=Radio Frequency, G=Government, U=Universal Specification

RG11-U Quad-Shield
is used for the same applications as RG6/U for either backbone cabling or for long distribution runs. It features a copper clad steel inner conductor.

RG59U
is available with either solid copper or copper clad steel centre conductor. It is suitable for basic analogue TV antenna feeds in residential applications and for basic CCTV systems over short cable runs. The copper clad steel type has high tensile strength and should be used when terminating the cable with F type connectors.

RG6-U Dual shield
is used for security systems, for analogue TV antenna cabling and for CCTV. It features a copper clad steel inner conductor. Tri-shield and quad-shield versions of RG6/U provide additional EMI shielding for digital applications.

Ring
A network topology where nodes are connected in a ring. Used in Token Ring and SONET networks.

Router
A network device that interconnects networks. Routers provide traffic control and filtering functions, they are commonly used to connect a LAN to the Internet.

Server
A computing device that provides a service to users on a network (clients). An example is a file server that stores and maintains documents for retrieval.

Shielding
A conductive foil or braid that covers insulated wires in a cable. The shield provides electrical grounding and protection from external electromagnetic interference (EMI). Shielding is also used to control internal electromagnetic radiation.

Signal
: The signal is the audio or vide information sent down the wire.

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
A peripheral interface that is used to connect devices to a computer.

SMT
Station management, NMS for FDDI

Soldering
A means of securing an electrical contact to a wire by heating a low alloy of tin and lead also known as 'solder'.

Solid Wire (or Conductor)
One strand of wire. Usually less flexible, lower in cost and lower in resistance than stranded wire of the same AWG. Solid wire is typically used in permanent installations where flexing does not occur.

SONET
Synchronous Optical Network

Star
The most common network topology where each node is connected to a central point. Advantageous because if one part of the star is lost the network remains intact.

Strain Relief
A method of protecting the wire to contact point from flexing or pulling.

Search

Typ a word and hit `Search`.