Acronyms & Definitions

4K resolution

8VSB – Is an 8-level Vestigial Sideband Modulation, off air digital modulation used in the US and other North American countries for Broadcast TV.

ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a type of digital subscriber line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ADSL differs from the less common symmetric digital subscriber line.

AACAdvanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate. AAC is used in H.264 encoders

API – An Application Programming Interface is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an API specification.

ASCII – abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices.

ASI – Asynchronous Serial Interface is a method of carrying an MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) over 75-ohm copper coaxial cable or optical fiber, it is popular in the television industry as a means of transporting compressed broadcast programs from the studio or in the headend to the final transmission equipment before it reaches viewers sitting at home.

ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a telecommunications standard defined by ANSI and ITU-T for digital transmission of multiple types of traffic, including telephony, data, and video signals in one network without the use of separate overlay networks.

ATSC – The Advanced Television Systems Committee is an international, nonprofit organization developing technical standard for digital terrestrial television and data broadcasting.

ATSC-3.0 is the latest standard from the Advanced Television Systems Committee and it specifies the new Broadcast standard for terrestrial broadcasters. ATSC 3.0 uses a physical layer that is based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation and the bit rate can vary from 1 Mbit/s to 57 Mbit/s, it supports MPEG2, 4 as well as HEVC with resolutions up to 4K

AVC – Advanced Video Coding, also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding.

BER – Bit Error Rate in digital transmission, the number of bit errors is the number of received bits of a data stream over a communication channel that have been altered due to noise, interference, distortion or bit synchronization errors. The bit error rate is the number of bit errors per unit time.

BW -, BandWidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. Bandwidth may be characterized as network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth.

CAS – Conditional Access System is the protection of content by requiring certain criteria to be met before granting access to the content. The term is commonly used in relation to digital television systems and to software.

CAT5 – Category 5 cable (Cat 5) is a twisted pair cable for computer networks. Since 2001, the variant commonly in use is the Category 5e specification.

CLI – Cumulative Leakage Index means the permitted index or range of radiation leakage computed in accordance with the rules of FCC and applicable to CATV systems.

CMTS – A Cable Modem Termination System is a piece of equipment, typically located in a cable company’s headend or hubsite, which is used to provide high speed data services, such as cable Internet or Voice over Internet Protocol, to cable subscribers.

CNR – In telecommunications, the Carrier-to-Noise Ratio, often written CNR or C/N, is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a modulated signal.

CPD – Common Path Distortion is a return path impairment that can have a severe effect on return path signal quality. Although it can take on many forms and degrees of severity, it has a very distinctive signature.

CWDM – Course Wave Division Multiplexing a variant of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), is an optical transmission technique used for shorter distances as compared to dense WDM (DWDM). CWDM transmits few channels and makes use of wider spacing in between the channels for distances of up to 60 km.

DFB – A Distributed-FeedBack laser (DFB laser) is a type of laser diodequantum cascade laser or optical fiber laser where the active region of the device contains a periodically structured element or diffraction grating.

DRM – Digital Rights Management is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works.

DSL – Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric digital subscriber line, the most commonly installed DSL technology, for Internet access.

DTH – The direct To Home technology enables a broadcasting company to directly beam the signal to your TV set through a receiver that is installed in the house.

DVI – Digital Visual Interface is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group. The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a computer monitor.

DWDM – In fiber-optic communications, Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light.

EAS – The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to coordinate and disseminate emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via terrestrial and satellite radio and television, including broadcast and multichannel television.

EDFAErbium Doped Fiber Amplifier is an optical amplifier used in the C-band and L-band, where loss of telecom optical fibers become lowest in the entire optical telecommunication wavelength bands.

EIRP – Effective Isotropic Radiated Power is a calculation used to estimate the radiated output power of satellite at a particular location on earth

EPON – Ethernet Passive Optical Networks are an emerging access network technology that provides a low-cost method of deploying optical access lines between a carrier’s central office and a customer site. EPON’s build on the international telecommunications union standard G.

EQAM – Edge QAM device is a dense, scalable solution that is vital to supporting additional advanced and next generation services over HFC hybrid fiber coaxial networks. It enables cable operators and MSOs to integrate new service offerings seamlessly to support their business initiatives.

ETTH – Ethernet To The Home is a high-speed technology that realizes high data rates over broadband cable networks.

EX-MOD – External Modulation rather than direct modulation of the diode is an often-used technique for maintaining the linewidth of the seed source, which can broaden in pulsed diodes.

FEC Forward Error Correction (FEC) is a method of obtaining error control in data transmission in which the source (transmitter) sends redundant data and the destination (receiver) recognizes only the portion of the data that contains no apparent errors.

FP – In gravitational wave detection, Fabry–Pérot cavity is used to store photons for almost a millisecond while they bounce up and down between mirrors. This increases the time a gravitational wave can interact with the light, which results in a better sensitivity at low frequencies. An Inexpensive Laser.

GaAs – Gallium Arsenide is a type III/V semiconductor with high electron mobility and a high saturated electron velocity compared to silicon, enabling transistors made of gallium arsenide to function at frequencies over 250 GHz. Gallium arsenide devices are not sensitive to heat because of their wide-bandgap.

G-PON – Gigabit Passive Optical Network is a fiber-optic telecommunications technology for delivering broadband network access to end-customer.

HEVC – High Efficiency Video Coding also known as H.265, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding H.264, or MPEG-4. In comparison to AVC, HEVC offers from 25% to 50% better data compression at the same level of video

HDCP – .High-Bandwidth Content Protection is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections.

HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source.

IF – In communications and electronic engineering, an Intermediate Frequency is a frequency to which a carrier wave is shifted as an intermediate step in transmission or reception.

IP – The Internet Protocol is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.

IPTV – Internet Protocol Television is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrialsatellite, and cable television formats.

ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network.

LAN – A local Area Network is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network not only covers a larger geographic distance, but also generally involves leased telecommunication circuits.

LNB – Low-Noise Block downconverter is the receiving device mounted on satellite dishes used for satellite TV reception, which collects the radio waves from the dish and converts them to a signal which is sent through a cable to the receiver inside the building.

LO – Local Origination means programming produced by the Grantee, the Commission, or the City staff regarding issues and events affecting the Member Municipalities.

MER – The Modulation Error Ratio or MER is a measure used to quantify the performance of a digital radio transmitter or receiver in a communications system using digital modulation.

MOCA – The Multimedia over Coax Alliance is an international standards consortium that publishes specifications for networking over coaxial cable.

MP3 – MPEG-2 Layer 3 Part 3 of the MPEG-2 standard (formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-3, also known as MPEG-2 Audio or MPEG-2 BC) defines audio coding: MPEG Multichannel – It enhances MPEG-1’s audio by allowing the coding of audio programs with more than two channels, up to 5.1 multichannel.

MPEGThe Moving Picture Experts Group is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics and genomic data, and transmission and file formats for various applications. The standards are often named after the acronym such as MPEG-2

MPEG-2 – Is the 2nd standard defined by MPEG for video compression and is widely used as the format of digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. It also specifies the format of movies and other programs that are distributed on DVD and similar discs.

MPEG 4 Is the 4th standard defined by MPEG for video compression and is widely used as the format of digital television signals that are broadcast by Cable and Satellite due to the lower bitrate of the compression. MPEG-4 is also called H.264

MPEG-TS – MPEG transport stream or simply transport stream is a standard digital container format for transmission and storage of audio, video, and Program and System Information Protocol data. It is used in broadcast systems such as DVB, ATSC and IPTV.

MPTS- Multiple Program Transport Stream a MPEG Transport Stream with more than one program

MUX – In electronics, a multiplexer, also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input to a single output line. The selection is directed by a separate set of digital inputs known as select lines.

NF – Noise Figure and noise factor are measures of degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio, caused by components in a signal chain. It is a number by which the performance of an amplifier or a radio receiver can be specified, with lower values indicating better performance.

OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a type of digital transmission and a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies.

OLT – An optical Line Termination, also called an optical line terminal, is a device which serves as the service provider endpoint of a passive optical network.

ONT– Optical Network Termination, also called ONU (Optical Network Unit), refer to the consumer end equipment in an optical fiber to home (FTTH) link.

OTDR – An Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer is an optoelectronic instrument used to characterize an optical fiber. An OTDR is the optical equivalent of an electronic time domain reflectometer. 

PCMCIA – Personal Computer Memory Card International Association was a group of computer hardware manufacturers, operating under that name from 1989 to 2009/2010, starting with the eponymous PCMCIA card in 1990, it created various standards for peripheral interfaces designed for laptop computers.

PEG – Public Educational Government channels are across channels available for use by the general public. Administered either by the cable operator or by a third party. Educational channels are used by the educational institutions for educational programming. Time on these channels is typically allocated among local school, colleges and universities by either the franchising authority or the cable operator. Governmental channels are used for programming by local governments. In most jurisdictions, local governments directly controls these channels.

PON – Passive Optical Network is a fiber-optic telecommunications technology for delivering broadband network access to end-customers.

POP3 – In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. POP version 3 is the version in common use.

PSIP – Program and System Information Protocol is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a television station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch by title and description. 

QAM – Quadrature Amplitude Modulation is the name of a family of digital modulation methods and a related family of analog modulation methods widely used in modern telecommunications to transmit information, Cable Modulation.

QPSK – Quadrature Phase Shift Keying is a form of Phase Shift Keying in which two bits are modulated at once, selecting one of four possible carrier phase shifts (0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees). QPSK allows the signal to carry twice as much information as ordinary PSK using the same bandwidth, Satellite Modulation Format.

RJ – A Registered Jack is a standardized telecommunication network interface for connecting voice and data equipment to a service provided by a local exchange carrier or long distance carrier.

RJ – 45  A Registered Jack with 8 conductors and 8 contacts typically used in Ethernet systems

RTSP – Real Time Streaming Protocol is an application-level network protocol designed for multiplexing and packetizing multimedia transport streams over a suitable transport protocol. RTSP is used in entertainment and communications systems to control streaming media servers.

S/N – Signal-to-Noise ratio is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in decibels. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise.

SAP – Second Audio Program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, provides audio tracks in languages other than the native language that was recorded in a program. This feature is only available on the TV if you use an antenna or cable without a set-top box.

SAW – Surface Acoustic wave is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are confined to a depth of about one wavelength.

SAW Filter – Surface Acoustic Wave filter are compact, low-cost RF filters that can be used in a wide range of applications up to 3 GHz. SAW filters operate by converting electrical energy into acoustic or mechanical energy on a piezoelectric material

SDI – Secure Digital Interface/ secure digital input output, a type of secure digital card interface. It can be used as an interface for input or output devices.

SFP – Small form-factor pluggable is a compact, hot-pluggable network interface module used for both telecommunication and data communications applications. An SFP interface on networking hardware is a modular slot for a media-specific transceiver in order to connect a fiber-optic cable or sometimes a copper cable.

SPTS – Single Program Transport Stream an SPTS stream carries a signal program. Multicast networks always use SPTS. VOD (Video on Demand), on the subscriber side, uses SPTS. Source feeds that deliver content from the VHO to the distribution offices are typically MPTS streams.

TTL – Time To Live refers to the amount of time or hops that a packet is set to exist inside a network before being discarded by a router. The # of devices such as network switches that the packet will pass through

UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply or uninterruptible power source is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source mains power fails.

USB – Universal Serial Bus is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply between computers, peripherals and other computers.

UTP – Unshielded Twisted Pair is a ubiquitous type of copper cabling used in telephone wiring and local area networks. There are many types of UTP cables – identified with the preflix CA, as in category – each supporting a different amount of bandwidth, CAT-3, CAT-5, CAT-5e, CAT-6,     CAT-6A & CAT-7

VBR – Variable BitRate is a term used in telecommunications and computing that relates to the bitrate used in sound or video encoding. As opposed to constant bitrate (CBR), VBR files vary the amount of output data per time segment.

VOIP – Voice over Internet Protocol, also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over internet Protocol networks, such as the internet.

VPN – A virtual Private Network extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network.

VSAT – Very-Small-Aperture Terminal is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 kbit/s up to 16 Mbit/s.

VSB – Vestigial Sideband Modulation or VSB Modulation is the process where a part of the signal called as vestige is modulated, along with one sideband. A VSB signal can be plotted as shown in the following figure. Along with the upper sideband, a part of the lower sideband is also being transmitted in this technique.

WAN – Wide Area Network is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.

WatermarkA digital watermark is a kind of marker covertly embedded in a noise-tolerant signal such as audio, video or image data. It is typically used to identify ownership of the copyright of such signal

WDM – Wavelength-Division Multiplexing is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light.

WIFI – Wireless fidelity allows for the creation of a wireless local area network. Much like other wireless technologies, wireless fidelity works by sending signals between devices with the help of certain frequencies of radio signals. Wi-Fi operations on the bandwidth of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

XFP – 10 Gigabit small form-factor pluggable is a standard for transceivers for high-speed computer network and telecommunication links that use optical fiber. It was defined by an industry group in 2002, along with its interface to other electrical components, which is called XFI.

XMOD – Cross MODulation an effect in which amplitude modulation (AM) from a strong undesired signal is transferred to a weaker desired signal.