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Cellular Networking Perspectives Ltd. | ||||
Wireless, Telecom and Computer Glossary
Are there wireless telecommunications (or network or security) terms or acronyms that you keep hearing, but that whose meanings are unclear to you? Your prayers have been answered. Check this alphabetic list of 2051 wireless telecom terms, including many data networking and security terms as well. If the term you are looking for is not listed, please suggest it to us. We will define it for you, and add it to this list for the benefit of other readers, also.
For tongue-in-cheek, humorous definitions of many of these terms, check out our alternative acronyms page.
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[ 0-9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ]
0-9  | |
|---|---|
| 10 Base-T | Basic Ethernet at 10 Mbit/sec |
| 100 Base-T | Ethernet running at 100 Mbit/sec |
| 1000 Base-T | Ethernet running at 1,000 Mbit/sec |
| 128QAM | QAM with 7 bits per symbol. |
| 16QAM | QAM with 4 bits per symbol. |
| 1G | First Generation. Refers to analog cellular systems |
| 1x | A cdma2000 notation that indicates that one carrier is being used. Compare with 3x |
| 1xEVDO | See EvDO |
| 1xEVDV | See EVDV |
| 1XRTT | cdma2000 operating mode at basic chip rate (1.2288 Mcps). The theoretical top speed is 153 kbps |
| 2G | Second Generation. Refers to digital cellular and PCS wireless systems oriented to voice and low speed data services |
| 2R | Receive, Reshape (an optical signal). See 3R |
| 32QAM | QAM with 5 bits per symbol. |
| 3G | Third Generation. Refers to the next generation of wireless systems - digital with high speed data. Being standardized by 3GPP and 3GPP2 |
| 3GiA | 3G Internet Appliance |
| 3GPP | 3rd Generation Partnership Project for W-CDMA (GSM) |
| 3GPP2 | 3rd Generation Partnership Project for cdma2000 |
| 3GSP | 3G Service Provider |
| 3R | Reshaping, Retiming, Reamplifying (an optical signal). See 2R |
| 3WC | Three Way Call |
| 3x | A cdma2000 notation that indicates that three carriers are being used. Compare with 1x. Not widely implemented. Although this allows higher maximum speeds, the average speed per user will not change significantly |
| 3XRTT | cdma2000 operating mode at 3 times the basic chip rate of 1.2288 Mcps |
| 64QAM | QAM with 6 bits per symbol. |
| 802.11 | An IEEE committee that standardizes a wireless Ethernet replacement technology in the ISM band. 802.11b is most commonly implemented and runs at approximately 10 Mbps in the 2.4GHz band. 802.11a runs at 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band. 802.11g provides 24 Mbps in the same band as 802.11b. |
| 802.11a | A WiFi WLAN variant that is higher speed (54 Mbps) than 802.11b. Because it also operates in a different frequency band it has proven less popular than 802.11g which offers higher speed in the same band as 802.11b thus providing a simpler migration strategy. The range of this protocol is also lower and the LOS requirements more stringent. See ADRC |
| 802.11b | IEEE Wireless LAN system providing throughput of about 11 Mbps but see ADRC |
| 802.11c | An IEEE standard for network interoperability between WLAN protocols |
| 802.11d | An IEEE standard for operation of their WLAN protocols outside the normal frequency bands (e.g. due to the unavailability of those bands in some countries) |
| 802.11e | An IEEE standard for QoS in their WLAN protocols 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n |
| 802.11f | An IEEE standard for interconnection between wireless APs |
| 802.11g | A second generation version of WiFi providing 54 Mbps raw throughput (typically a user data rate of about half that) in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as 802.11b. This gave it an advantage over 802.11a which had similar performance but operated in a different frequency band. |
| 802.11h | An IEEE standard for spectrum and transmit power management for their WLAN protocols |
| 802.11i | Enhanced security for IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11j | An adaptation of 802.11 WLAN protocols to the Japanese 4.9–5 GHz frequency band |
| 802.11k | A proposed IEEE standard for RRM |
| 802.11m | A group for editorial maintenance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN standards |
| 802.11n | A future IEEE WLAN protocol that promises raw data rates of 540 Mbps in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band and thus will likely eventually replace 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The protocol is scheduled for completion in 2009. See EWC |
| 802.11p | A proposed IEEE standard for ITS. Also known as WAVE |
| 802.11r | A proposed IEEE standard for handoff between APs |
| 802.11s | A proposed IEEE standard for mesh networking |
| 802.11t | A proposed test specification for IEEE WLAN standards |
| 802.11u | A proposed standard for authorization of users on IEEE WLANs |
| 802.11v | A proposed wireless network management standard for IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11w | A proposed standard for the protection of system management information in IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11y | A proposed standard for operation of IEEE WLAN protocols in the 3.65-3.7 GHz frequency band |
| 802.15 | See Bluetooth |
| 802.16 | IEEE WiMax radio interface. |
| 802.3 | IEEE standard for Ethernet |
| 8PSK | PSK with 8 states, allowing the coding of 8 bit combinations. It is used in EDGE. |
| 8QAM | QAM with 3 bits per symbol. |
| 911 | The ES service code in many parts of the United States, Canada and a few other countries. |
| A | |
| A(2) | An IP host address |
| A-bis | Interface between BTS and BSC |
| A-GPS | Assisted GPS. Network provides information to mobile device to acquire satellite signals and may assist with processing of received data |
| A-interface | Interface between the MSC and BS |
| A-Key | The primary CAVE authentication key, used to generate SSD |
| A/D | Analog/Digital. Usually used in the context of conversion from analog to digital (or vice-versa) |
| A3 | GSM authentication algorithm |
| A5 | GSM data encryption algorithm |
| A5/3 | An encryption algorithm for GSM and EDGE |
| A8 | GSM voice encryption algorithm. Used to generate Kc |
| AAA | Authentication, Authorization and Accounting entity. See RADIUS and Diameter |
| AAL | AAL Adaptation Layer |
| ABNF | Augmented BNF. Defined in RFC 2234 |
| ABR | Average bit rate |
| ABS | Alternate Billing Service |
| AC | Authentication Centre. Stores information for authenticating mobiles, and encrypting their voice and data transmissions |
| ACC | Analog Control Channel. See FSK |
| ACCM | Asynchronous Control Character Map |
| ACCOLC | Access Overload Class |
| ACCT | CDMA Access Control by Call Type |
| ACD | Automatic Call Distributor. Distributes incoming calls to one of a number of people equally able to handle them (e.g. for customer service) |
| ACELP(1) | Adaptive CELP |
| ACELP(2) | Algebraic CELP |
| ACF | Authentication Control Function |
| ACG | Automatic Code Gapping. A method of shedding load in telecommunications systems |
| ACH | Access Channel |
| ACK | Acknowledgement signal |
| ACLR | Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio. The ratio of the on-channel transmit power to the power measured in one of the adjacent channels. An important W-CDMA parameter. |
| ACM | SS7 ISUP Address Complete message. Response to IAM |
| ACP | Adjacent Channel Power |
| ACRE | Authorization & Call Routing Equipment. Used for routing calls to cellular phones with a ‘cordless’ mode |
| AD(1) | Abbreviated Dialing |
| AD(2) | Architecture Document |
| ADA | Advertising Agent. Provides information to a MS on the services provided by a 3G network |
| ADDS | Application Data Delivery Service. See SMS |
| Adjacent Channel Interference | Interference from signals at slightly different frequencies |
| ADN | Abbreviated Dialing Numbers |
| ADPCM | Adaptive Differential PCM |
| ADRC | Aggregate Data Rate Caveat. A warning that most wireless data rates are aggregate, meaning that all users share the bandwidth, and often they are raw rates higher than the actual user throughput could ever be even on an unloaded system. It is probably good to start by dividing the raw rate by a factor of two to obtain the total user throughput rate and then further divide by the average number of simultaneous users (not connected users, but the number who are likely to be simultaneously transmitting) |
| ADS | Asynchronous Data Service |
| ADSL | Asymmetric DSL. Bit rates are higher from the network than from the client |
| AdSpec | IETF Advertisement Specification |
| AEG | Asian Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| AES | Audio Engineering Society |
| AF | Application Function. |
| AFLT | Advanced Forward Link Trilateration. A geolocation technique that utilizes the mobile station’s measured time of arrival of radio signals from the base stations (and, possibly, other terrestrial measurements) |
| AFRCN | GSM Absolute radio frequency channel number |
| AFSK | Audio FSK. Communication by changing frequencies in the audio band rather than RF. Used by MF, DTMF |
| AGCH | GSM Access Grant Channel. The traffic channel assignment information is sent to the mobile on this channel. |
| AGPS | Network Assisted GPS. Land station assists mobile in acquiring its position |
| AGW | Access Gateway |
| AH(1) | Authentication Header |
| AH(2) | Answer Hold. Service that allows an incoming call to be placed on hold without answering it first. Closely related to USCF |
| AHAG | TIA TR-45 ad hoc Authentication Group |
| AI | Air Interface |
| AICH | Acquisition Indicator Channel |
| AIN | Advanced Intelligent Network. Telcordia version of IN |
| Air Interface | Synonym for Radio Interface. |
| AK | Anonymity Key. In AKA it is derived from RAND using f5. |
| AKA | Authentication and Key Agreement. New generation of security being developed for 3GPP2 CDMA systems and 3GPP UMTS systems. Parts may also be applied to GSM |
| Alert | A command to a mobile to notify the user of an incoming call or message |
| ALI | Automatic Location Information. A database that contains information about the location of emergency callers |
| AM | Amplitude Modulation. See FM |
| AMA | Automatic Message Accounting. See CDR |
| AMF | AKA Authentication Management Field. May indicate the algorithm and key used by the current authentication system. |
| AMI | Alternate Mark Inversion |
| AMPS | Advanced Mobile Phone Service. TIA analog cellular, and all standards that retain compatibility with it (NAMPS, D-AMPS, CDMA). Standardized in EIA/TIA-553 |
| AMR | Adaptive MultiRate Voice Coder. Proposed for use in GSM and UMTS. Bit rates vary between 12.2 and 4.75 kbps |
| AMR-WB | AMR wide (audio) band Voice Coder chosen for UMTS. Developed by Nokia and Voiceage. Has 9 different bitrates |
| AMTA | American Mobile Telecommunications Association |
| AN | Access Network |
| analog | Transmission of information through a continuously variable signal. Compare with digital |
| analogue | Alternate (British) spelling of analog |
| Anchor MSC | The first MSC involved in a wireless call |
| ANI(1) | Automatic Number Identification. Provision of charge number during a call to allow toll calls without operator intervention |
| ANI(2) | Access Network Identifier |
| ANI II | ANI Information Digits. Describes the type of phone being used to call (e.g. residential line or payphone). |
| ANM | SS7 ISUP Answer Message |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| ANSI-136 | ANSI version of the TDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-136. Correct name is TIA-136 |
| ANSI-41 | See TIA/EIA-41 |
| ANT | ADSL Network Termination |
| AOA | Angle of Arrival. A technique for locating a radio by estimating the angle of signal arrival at multiple points. Compare with TOA |
| AoC | Advice of Charge |
| AP(1) | Application Part (of a protocol) |
| AP(2) | Access Point. An 802.11 BS |
| APCO | Association of Public Safety Communications Officials |
| APDU | Application PDU |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| APLMN | Associated PLMN |
| APM | Application Transport |
| APMN | Associated PMN |
| APN | Access Point Name. In a GPRS network, the domain name referring to an external packet network |
| ARCH | Access Response Channel |
| ARIB | Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. Responsible for standardization of telecommunications protocols in Japan |
| ARM | ARQ Response Mode |
| ARP(1) | Authorized Receipt Point. The sole entity authorized to settle and exchange roamer charges and revenue for a carrier |
| ARP(2) | IETF Address Resolution Protocol. Binds the physical (MAC) address of a device to an IP address on a local network (e.g. ethernet subnet). |
| ARPU | Average Revenue Per User/Unit |
| ARQ | Automatic Repeat Request. A method of error correction where the receiver detects errors, and requests retransmission from the sender. |
| AS | Internet Application Server. Handles applications for a range of addresses (e.g. a telephone switch) |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The most commonly used method for encoding text in 8 bit characters. See UNICODE for more complex alphabets and the obsolete EBCDIC |
| ASE | Application Service Element |
| ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit. A computer chip that is customized for a special purpose application |
| ASN.1 | Abstract Syntax Notation 1. A formal, textual, representation of a protocol message set |
| ASP | AS Process |
| ASR | Automatic Speech Recognition |
| Assisted GPS(1) | A class of GPS receiver that uses information from another source to make positioning quicker. This is common in cellular phones, where the cellular BS transmits additional information to make the acquisition of satellites quicker and may offload some of the calculations. |
| Asynchronous | Data is transmitted only when needed. At least one bit is needed to indicate the start of transmission (known as a start bit). Compare with Synchronous |
| AT | Access Tandem. A switch that can be used to reach a variety of IXCs |
| ATI | Access Terminal Identifier |
| ATIS | Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. Parent organization for the T1 standards committees and many telecom industry groups, such as OBF |
| ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Transmits data as 53 byte units using a connection-oriented protocol at speeds up to 2.488 Gbps |
| ATP | Access Transport Parameter (also Adenosine Tri-Phosphate :) |
| ATS | Abstract Test Suite |
| AuC | GSM term for AC |
| AUTH | An OMT bit that turns mobile authentication on or off for all mobiles within a cell |
| AUTHBS | Authentication Response from the BS |
| Authentication | Proving the identity of an individual or application (e.g. MS) |
| Authentication Enhancements | Improvements to network based authentication (TIA/EIA-41) defined in IS-778 |
| Authentication Vector | See Quintet and Triplet |
| AUTHR | Authentication Response. The output of CAVE when RAND is used as a global challenge |
| AUTHU | Authentication Response to Unique Challenge |
| AUTN | AKA Network Authentication Token. Composed of SQN (concealed), AMF and MAC |
| AV | Authentication Vector |
| AVC | Analog Voice Channel |
| AVP | Attribute Value Pair. A method of encoding parameters that includes the length of the data, the attribute (parameter) type (usually fixed length) and the attribute value. cf TLV |
| AWGN | Additive White Gaussian Noise |
| AWI | Alert with Information; used to transmit data while alerting an MS |
| AWS | An FCC term for IMTS-2000 |
| B | |
| B-SMS | Broadcast SMS |
| B/I | Busy/Idle bit |
| B8ZS | Bipolar with 8 Zero Substitution. Replaces an all-0 octet by one containing two BPV |
| Baby Bell | see RBOC |
| Backhaul | Routing trunks from a cellsite to an MSC before routing to the PSTN. |
| badput | A cute name for wasted bandwidth. Bandwidth = goodput(throughput) + badput + unused bandwidth |
| BAF | Billing Automatic Message Accounting Format. The CDR/AMA format used by most US wireline telecom carriers |
| BAIC | Barring of All Incoming Calls |
| BAOC | Barring of All Outgoing Calls |
| BARG | GSMA Billing, Accounting and Roaming Group |
| Barring | Refusal to allow certain types of calls |
| Baseband | The signal(s) used to modulate the radio channel in the transmitter, and which are recovered by the receiver by demodulating the received radio channel. |
| BATS | Broadcast Air-interface Transport Service used by TIA/EIA-136 |
| BBIT | Best Breakfast In Town. |
| BCCH | Broadcast Control Channel |
| BCD | Binary Coded Decimal. Digits 0-9 are encoded as 4 bit numbers (nibble), so two fit within a byte. See TBCD |
| BCE | Base Station Central Equipment. See BSC |
| BCH(1) | Broadcast Channel. A channel transmitted by one (e.g. BS) and received by many (e.g. MS) |
| BCH(2) | Bose, Chaudhuri, and Hocquengham error detection and correction methodology |
| BCH(3) | Basic Call Handling |
| BCM | Basic Call Manager. See WIN |
| BCMCS | Broadcast/Multicast Services for 3GPP2. Contrast with BMC |
| BCSM | Basic Call State Model. A n IN concept |
| BD | Billing Domain |
| BDN | Barred Dialing Number |
| Bearer capability | A capability of a transport protocol (e.g. a maximum bitrate or message latency). A Teleservice may be able to use any facility that can provide a specified bearer capability. |
| BEG | Billing Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| Beidou(1) | A Chinese GNSS. |
| BER(1) | See Bit Error Rate |
| BER(2) | Basic Encoding Rules. See ASN.1 |
| BGCF | Breakout Gateway Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources to IMS sessions in a serving system. Connected to the S-CSCF, MGCF and BGCF |
| BGP | Border Gateway Protocol of IETF RFC 1771. See EBGP. |
| BIB | Backward Indicator Bit. Indicates when a received MTP frame is out of sequence. See FIB |
| BIC-Roam | Barring of Incoming Calls while Roaming |
| BICC | Bearer Independent Call Control. ISUP adapted for use over IP-based transport. Compare with SIP |
| BID | A SID allocated for accounting purposes. BID's are allocated by Cibernet |
| BISDN | Broadband ISDN |
| bit | Fundamental unit of information, occupying two discrete states (e.g. 0 or 1) |
| Bit Error Rate | The fraction of binary bits that are received with the wrong value. |
| BLA | SS7 ISUP Blocking acknowledgement. See BLO |
| BLOB | Block of Bits |
| Bluetooth | A cable-replacement radio protocol for short distance (5-100 meter) networking at moderate speeds (1 Mbps raw bandwidth for version 1 and 3 Mbps for version 2). Developed by the Bluetooth Consortium and standardized by IEEE 802.15.1 |
| BLV | Busy Line Verification |
| BM-SC | Broadcast/Multicast Service Center |
| BMC | Broadcast Multicast Control. See 3GPP TS25.324. Contrast with BCMCS. |
| BMI | BS, MSC and Interworking function |
| BNF | Backus-Naur Form. A precursor to ASN.1 and other meta-language |
| BNS | Billed Number Screening |
| BOC | Bell Operating Company |
| BOIC | Barring of Outgoing International Calls |
| BOIC-exHC | BOIC except to HC |
| Border Router | An IP Router that connects to routers in other networks using the EBGP protocol. |
| BP | Bit Position |
| bps | Bits per second. A measure of the speed of a transmission link |
| BPSK | Biphase Shift Keying |
| BPV | Bi-Polar Violation. Transmission of two one-bits in a PCM channel (e.g. DS0) with the same polarity (e.g. both positive or both negative). May be deliberately used to indicate all-zero octets. See B8ZS and HDB3 |
| BR | Border Router. Connects a CN with peer networks |
| BREW | Binary Runtime for Wireless |
| BRI | Basic Rate Interface (64 kbps). See DS0 |
| Broadcast SMS | Short messages sent to multiple mobiles in multiple cells, requiring only one message per cell |
| BS | Base Station (includes BTS and BSC) |
| BSC | Base Station Controller. The 'brains' of a base station, controlling the radio equipment in the BTS |
| BSF | Bootstrapping Function |
| BSIC | BS Identity Code. Color code used by GSM systems to ensure that the source of a frequency transmission can be identified, in areas where multiple cells transmitting on the same frequency can be received |
| BSMC | Base Station Manufacturer Code |
| BSN(1) | Backward Sequence Number. The sequence number of the last correctly received MTP frame received. Contrast with FSN |
| BSN(2) | BCMCS Serving Node |
| BSS(1) | BS Subsystem |
| BSS(2) | Basic Service Set. An 802.11 network. |
| BSSMAP | GSM BSS MAP |
| BT | Burst Type |
| BTA | Basic Trading Area |
| BTS | Base Transceiver System (radio portion of BS) |
| BTTC | Broadcast SMS |
| BWIF | Broadband Wireless Internet Forum. A program of IEEE-ISTO |
| BXA | US DoC Bureau of Export Administration. Administers EAR |
| byte | An 8 bit unit of data storage. See octet |
| C | |
| C-PDS | cdma2000 Packet Data Service |
| C/I | Carrier to Interference Ratio |
| C7 | See CCS7 |
| CA(1) | Certificate/Certification Authority |
| CA(2) | Collision Avoidance |
| CAC | Carrier Access Code. Identifies a long distance carrier. 101+CIC |
| CALEA | US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement law. Requires that telecommunications carriers provide for surveillance (aka wiretaps) at the switch site |
| CAMA | Centralized Automatic Message Accounting |
| CAMEL | Customized Applications for Mobile Networks Enhanced Logic based on CAP. IN capabilities for GSM. Compare with WIN |
| Candidate MSC | An MSC being considered as the Target MSC of a handoff |
| CANID | Current ANI |
| CAP(1) | CAMEL AP |
| CAP(2) | Carrierless Amplitude and Phase modulation |
| CAP(3) | Competitive Access Provider |
| CAPCS | Cellular Auxiliary Personal Communications Service |
| CAR | Committed Access Rate. An IP method to achieve higher QoS |
| CARE | Customer Account Record Exchange. Sent from a LEC to an IXC to establish a long distance account for a customer |
| Care-of Address | The address that a Home Agent forwards packets to for handling by the Foreign Agent in MIP |
| Carnivore | US FBI ISP wiretapping box, including a processor and removable hard drive to capture internet sessions (email, web access etc.). |
| CAS | Call Associated Signaling. See ISUP. Contrast with NCAS |
| CAT | Smart Card Application Toolkit |
| CATPT | CDMA UIM Card Application Toolkit Protocol Teleservice |
| CATR(1) | China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MII. A government owned research institute that participates in the development of standards. Formerly RITT. |
| CAVE | TIA Cellular Authentication and Voice Encryption Algorithm |
| CB | Cell Broadcast |
| CBC | CB Center |
| CBMI | CB Message Identifier |
| CBR | Constant Bit Rate |
| CBS | GSM/W-CDMA Cell Broadcast SMS |
| CC(1) | E.164 Country Code |
| CC(2) | GSM Call Control protocol |
| CC(3) | Content of Communications (for LAES) |
| CCA | Common Cryptographic Algorithm |
| CCAT | CDMA Card Application Toolkit. Specifies communications between a CDMA R-UIM and the ME |
| CCB | US FCC Common Carrier Bureau |
| CCBS | Call Completion to Busy Subscriber |
| CCCH | GSM Common Control Channels – PCH, RACH, AGCH |
| CCF(1) | Call Control Function (IN term) |
| CCF(2) | Charging Collection Function (3GPP) |
| CCH | Control Channel |
| CCITT | International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee. Precursor to ITU. See ITU-T and ITU-R |
| CCNR | Call Completion on No Reply. See CFNA |
| CCP | Compression Control Protocol |
| CCPD | Common Channel Packet Data |
| CCPN | Call Completion to a Ported Number. See LNP |
| CCR(1) | SS7 ISUP Continuity check request |
| CCR(2) | Class Conformance Requirement |
| CCS | Common Channel Signaling |
| CCS7 | ITU-T version of SS7 |
| CCSA | China Communications Standards Association. Successor to CWTS. |
| CCSC | Cellular Carrier Specific Code (e.g. #123) |
| CCSH | CDMA Code Combining Soft Handoff |
| CCSS | Call Completion Service Setup |
| CCT | Circuit |
| CCV | Credit Card Validation |
| CCW | Cancel Call Waiting |
| CD | Collision Detection |
| CDATA | Character Data, such as a quoted text string. Used in XML and derivative protocols such as WML |
| CDCP | Call Detail Collection Point. See TIA/EIA-124 |
| CDG | CDMA Development Group |
| CDGP | Call Detail Generation Point |
| CDIS | Call Detail Information Source. An MSC or other entity that produces proprietary CDR’s |
| CDMA | Code Division Multiple Access. Implemented in AMPS-compatible systems by IS-95. Also see W-CDMA |
| CDMA-PAMR | A CDMA-based PAMR system. |
| cdma2000 | Trade name for CDMA air interface standards aimed at 3G requirements, including IS-2000. It operates in 1.25 MHz carriers at 1.2288 Mcps. There is some debate about whether the "CDMA" should be upper or lower case :) |
| cdmaOne | Trade name for first generations of CDMA air interface standards, including TIA/EIA-95. Operates in pairs of 1.25 MHz channels |
| CdPA | Called Party Address |
| CDPD | Cellular Digital Packet Data. A protocol that uses 30 khz AMPS channels to transmit packets of data. Standardized in TIA/EIA/IS-732 |
| CdPN | Called Party Number. The DN of the party receiving a call |
| CDR | Charging Data Record or Call Detail Record |
| CDRP | Call Detail Rating Point |
| CDVCC | Coded Digital Verification Color Code |
| CEASA | Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association. Promotes the use of emergency alerts over cell phones. |
| CEG | Carrier Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| cell | The coverage area of a single radio cellsite or sector in a cellular or PCS system |
| cellular | A radio concept that allows the multiplication of capacity by using many low-power cell to cover an area, reusing frequencies as much as possible |
| CELP | Code Excited Linear Prediction |
| CENELEC | European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization |
| CEP | Cell Equipment Processor |
| CEPT | Conference des administrations Europeannes des Postes et Telecommunications |
| CEWS | Cell Work Station. Software running here supports termination of the LAPD links to the BTS. A minimal OA&M application is included to support maintenance of the A-bis interface processes and to route OA&M messages to/from the BTS. Call Handling software derives directly from the CEP and PPP of the BCE. |
| CF | Collection function. LEA that collects J-STD-025 data |
| CFB | Call Forwarding when subscribing telephone is busy |
| CFNA | Call forward on no-answer (and, usually, also on no page response). See CFNRc and CFNRy |
| CFNRc | Call forward when mobile not reachable. See CFNA |
| CFNRy | Call forward when mobile is not answered. See CFNA |
| CFU | Call Forwarding Unconditional (i.e. every incoming call will be forwarded) |
| CG | Charging Gateway |
| CGB | SS7 ISUP Circuit group blocking |
| CGBA | SS7 ISUP CGB acknowledgement |
| CGI(1) | Common Gateway Interface |
| CGI(2) | GSM Cell Global Identification. Composed of LAI + CI |
| CGL | Calling Geodetic Location. The position of a mobile phone, as transmitted through various signaling protocols. See GAD |
| CGLP | SS7 ISUP Calling Geodetic Location Parameter (i.e. Latitude and Longitude) |
| CgPN | Calling Party Number. The DN of the party initiating a call |
| CGSA | Cellular Geographic Serving Area. MSA or RSA |
| CGU | SS7 ISUP Circuit group unblocking |
| CGUA | SS7 ISUP CGU acknowledgement |
| CGVoP | Carrier Grade Voice over Packet. See VoIP |
| CHAP | PPP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. Use of RADIUS to authenticate a terminal without sending security data in the clear. Compare with PAP |
| cHTML | Compact HTML. Use by iMode. See also WML and XHTML |
| Churn | The rate at which subscribers leave one wireless carrier to go to another. A major expense for carriers |
| CI | GSM Cell Identity. A 16 bit number identifying a cell within an LAI |
| CIBER | Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Record. Format used for exchange of wireless billing records. Maintained by Cibernet Corp |
| Cibernet | A subsidiary of the CTIA responsible for facilitating billing aspects of roaming |
| CIC | Carrier Identification Code. See CAC |
| Ciphertext | Encrypted data. Compare with Plaintext |
| CIR(1) | Synonym for C/I |
| CIR(2) | Committed Information Rate. Bandwidth associated with a frame relay PVC |
| Circuit-switched data | Data transmitted over a dedicated (although usually virtual) channel. The destinatioin address is implicitly defined by the (virtual) circuit that is selected |
| CISC | CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee |
| CITEL | Commission InterAmericanna de Telecommunications Association. A Latin American telecommunications association |
| CK | Cipher Key. In AKA, it is derived from RAND using f3 and applied to traffic using f8 |
| CKSN | CK Sequence Number |
| CLASS | Custom Local Area Signaling Services. A package of features offered by wireline carriers |
| Clearinghouse | A central point for the gathering and redistribution of records, such as billing records |
| CLEC | Competitive LEC. A new entrant in a market previously limited to one carrier. Some wireless carriers may qualify for this designation |
| CLI | Calling Line Identity. See CgPN |
| CLIP | Calling Line Identification Presentation. See CNIP |
| CLIR | Calling Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR |
| CLLI | Common Language Location Identifier. An ASCII identifier of a telephone switch or calling area. |
| CLNP | Connectionless Network Protocol |
| CLNS | Connectionless Network Service |
| CM | GSM Connection Management |
| CMAC | Control Mobile Attenuation Code |
| CMC | Cellular Mobile Carrier. A generic term used to classify carrier class cellular systems |
| CMEA | Cellular MEA. Based on CAVE |
| CMIP | Common Management Information Protocol |
| CMRS | Commercial Mobile Radio Service |
| CMSP | Indian GSM licence. Replaced by UASL. |
| CMT | Cellular messaging teleservice. A service based on SMS that is similar to that provided by alphanumeric pagers |
| CMWN | Cancel Message Waiting Notification |
| CN | Core Network. Protocols for this include GSM MAP and ANSI-41 |
| CNA | Canadian Number Administrator. Administers telecom numbering resources in Canada, under the oversight of the CRTC. |
| CNAME | Canonical Name. A basic Domain name that may be pointed to by multiple aliases |
| CNAP | Calling NAme Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNAR |
| CNAR | Calling NAme Restriction. An originating party feature |
| CNDB | Calling Name Database |
| CNIP | Calling Number Identification Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNIR |
| CNIR | Calling Number Identification Restriction. An originating party feature |
| CO | Central Office |
| Co-channel Interference | Interference from other signals using the same radio channel |
| COA | Care-Of Address |
| codec | Voice coder and decoder. See vocoder and Voice Coder |
| COFDM | Code OFDMA |
| COFETEL | Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones de Mexico |
| COLP | Connected Line Identification Presentation. See COLR, CNIP |
| COLR | Connected Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR, COLP |
| COMET | IETF SIP Preconditions Met message |
| Confidentiality | Keeping information private (e.g. by encryption) |
| CONS | Connection-Oriented Network Service |
| Control Channel | A cellular or PCS channel that broadcasts information about a cell to mobiles that are not currently in a call |
| CORBA | Common Object Request Broker Architecture |
| CORD | Cellular Operations Record Distribution |
| CoS | Class of Service. Method of managing traffic by grouping similar types (e.g. voice, video, email) |
| COTP(1) | Connection-Oriented Transport Protocol. Specified by ISO 8073. An alternative to TCP that is packet-based rather than stream-based, meaning that the transport protocol, rather than the application protocol, keeps packets of data separate. Despite this, most systems use TCP with the ITOT protocol on top if necessary. Port 102 is reserved for use by this protocol. |
| COUNT | Call History Count. An internal mobile counter that can be used to detect the presence of clones |
| COWS | Common Work Station. Software running in the Common Work Station element supports termination of the SS7 links to the MSC as well as the X.25 links to the OMC (including the OSI stack) and any PSDN services. The majority of the OA&M software is found here. |
| CPDE | Centralized PDE |
| CPE | Customer Premises Equipment. A standard telephone is an example of telecommunications equipment that is usually located at the customer’s site. |
| CPG | SS7 ISUP Call ProGress Message |
| CPGA | Cost per Gross Addition. The cost to a carrier of adding one subscriber |
| CPL | IETF Call Processing Language. An XML-based language for describing internet telecommunications services. |
| CPN | See CgPN |
| CPP | Calling Party Pays. The calling party pays for calls to mobile, not the mobile receiving the call. cf TPP |
| CQM(1) | Channel Quality Measurement |
| CQM(2) | Core Quality of Service Manager. Obsolete. See PDF |
| CR | Change Request. A description of a problem in a standard (error, limitation, ambiguity or restriction) and a description of how it should be fixed |
| CR-LDP | Constraint-based Routing LDP. See MPLS |
| CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Code (or check). Included in many digital protocols to check for errors in transmitted messages |
| CRDB | Coordinate Routing DataBase. Proposed for E911 systems to convert a location into routing information |
| CRL | Certificate Revocation List |
| CRM(1) | Customer Resource Management |
| CRM(2) | Channel Request Message |
| CRTC | Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission |
| CRTP | Compressed Real-Time Transport Protocol. Provides compression (and decompression) of RTP, UDP and IP headers. |
| Cryptosync | Externally-provided synchronizing information for cryptoalgorithms (ciphers) that allows an encryptor at one end to uniquely encrypt each block of content into ciphertext, and yet allows a decryptor at the other end to properly decrypt the ciphertext to yield the original plaintext. Cryptosync often takes the form of the output of a binary counter |
| CS(1) | IN Capability Set |
| CS(2) | Circuit switched. Contrast with PS |
| CS-1 | IN CS 1 |
| CS-2 | IN Capability Set 2 |
| CS-ACELP | Conjugate Structure ACELP |
| CSA | Canadian Standards Association |
| CSC | Customer Service Center |
| CSCF | Call Session Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources from the home system. See I-CSCF, P-CSCF and S-CSCF |
| CSCN | Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering. A working group of the CRTC CISC |
| CSD | Circuit switched data. Data travels between two devices using a fixed amount of bandwidth allocated for the duration of the data call. Compare with Packet data that uses shared bandwidth to service multiple users. Packet data can be more efficient (except when the overhead of identifying and routing packets is greater than the savings) but the performance is less predictable. |
| CSFP | Coded Superframe Phase |
| CSI | CAMEL Subscription Information |
| CSMA | Carrier Sense Multiple Access |
| CSMA/CA | See CSMA/CD |
| CSMA/CD | CSMA with CD (also known as CA). Ethernet devices use this to minimize collisions by checking the line before sending |
| CSRC | Contributing Source |
| CSS | Cascading Style Sheets. See HTML |
| CSU | Channel Service Unit. Unit that interfaces between the telephone company and a private network |
| CT | Call Transfer |
| CTCP | Compressed TCP. Provides compression (and decompression) of TCP and IP headers. |
| CTIA | Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association |
| CUG | Closed User Group. Calls are restricted to within the group |
| CW | Calling Waiting |
| CWTA | Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association |
| CWTS | Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standards. Replaced by CCSA |
| D | |
| D Digit | The fourth digit of an NANP phone number. Currently restricted to the values 2-9 to allow 7 digit dialing |
| D-AMPS | Digital AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136 TDMA) |
| D-H | Diffie-Hellman |
| D/L | Downlink (e.g. from base station to mobile). Compare with U/L. |
| DACS | See DCS |
| DAP | X.500 Directory Access protocol |
| DataTAC | Data TAC. A Motorola wireless data system. Formerly known as Ardis. |
| dB | Decibel. 10 times the logarithm of the value in base 10 |
| dBi | Decibels relative to isotropic radiator. A measurement of the gain of an antenna. |
| dBm | Decibels referenced to one milliwatt |
| DCC | Digital Color Code. A number assigned to a control channel used to limit erroneous accesses |
| DCCH | Digital Control Channel. The control channel used by IS-136 and TIA/EIA-136 D-AMPS systems |
| DCE | Data Communications Equipment (i.e. a computer) |
| DCF | DRM Content Format |
| DCH | Dedicated Channel |
| DCN | Data Communications Network |
| DCS(1) | Data Coding Scheme |
| DCS(2) | Digital Cross-Connect System |
| DCS(3) | European PCS frequencies in the 1800 MHz range. |
| DDM | Data Description Method |
| DEA | US Drug Enforcement Agency |
| DECT | Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony |
| DES | Data Encryption Standard. A commonly used encryption method, usually used with 56 bit keys. See AES, TDES. |
| DF(1) | UIM Dedicated File. Compare with EF and MF |
| DF(2) | Delivery Function (for LAES) |
| DFCA | Dynamic Frequency and Channel Allocation. Dynamic assignment of radio channels to optimize capacity. Proposed for GSM, but not yet implemented. |
| DFP | Distributed Functional Plane NRM |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Control Protocol. Allows automatic assignment of IP addresses on a network |
| DHKE | Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange. A method of securely exchange encryption keys over an insecure interface |
| Diameter | An IETF AAA protocol designed to be twice as good as RADIUS. Unlike its predecessor it supports MIP and uses SCTP (or TCP) instead of UDP for more reliable transport. It uses IPSEC and TLS instead of a shared secret. |
| DID | Direct Inward Dialing. Directs all calls to a block of numbers to a PBX |
| Diffie-Hellman | A secure key exchange mechanism |
| Diffserv | Differentiated Services. Different QoS for different types of traffic (e.g. voice, video, email). See IETF RFCs 2474 and 2475 |
| digital | Transmission of information through a signal that can take on only certain discrete values (e.g. bits with values 0 or 1). Compare with analog |
| Disconnection | The end of a call. Not to be confused with Termination of a call or the Release of a trunk |
| DL | Downlink. Radio link from network ‘down’ to terminal. Compare with UL |
| DLC | Digital Loop Carrier. A single digital facility (e.g. T1 or T3) carrying multiple lines to a business or other large customer |
| DLCI | Data Link Connection/Circuit Identifier |
| DLP | Discrete Logarithm Problem. Used in some cryptography systems |
| DMAC | Digital Mobile Attenuation Code |
| DMH | Data Message Handler. An informal name for the TIA IS-124 standard |
| DMO | Direct Mode Operation. Group calling capabilities, e.g. PTT, of a PAMR system. Compare with TMO. |
| DMT | Discrete Multi-Tone line code being proposed for VDSL. Compare with QAM/CAP |
| DMU | Dynamic MIP Key Update. A secure and efficient mechanism for distributing and updating Mobile IP (MIP) cryptographic keys in cdma2000 networks (including High Rate Packet Data which is often referred to as 1xEV-DO). Because the Dynamic Mobile IP Key Update (DMU) procedure occurs at the IP layer directly between the MIP MN and RADIUS or Diameter AAA Server, it may be used to securely bootstrap the MN-AAA key (and other cryptographic keys) in MIP networks using any RAN technology. |
| DN(1) | Directory Number. The number dialed to terminate a call to a phone |
| DN(2) | Domain Name (e.g. cnp-wireless.com). |
| DNIC | Data network identification code |
| DNIS | Dialed Number Identification Service. Identifies the called (not calling) number. Only useful when multiple numbers terminate at the same location (e.g. a regular phone number, 1-800 and 1-900 number). Contrast with CNIP |
| DNS | Internet Domain Name Service/System. See RFC 1035 |
| DOA | Dead On Arrival |
| DoC | US Department of Commerce |
| DOI | Domain of Interpretation |
| DOJ | US Department of Justice |
| Domain | A portion of the internet (e.g. cnp-wireless.com) |
| Donor Switch | The switch from which a number has been ported. See LNP |
| Downlink | Path from base station to terminal |
| DP | WIN/CAMEL Detection Point |
| DPC(1) | Destination Point Code for an SS7 message |
| DPC(2) | Downlink Power Control |
| DPCCH | Dedicated Physical Control Channel |
| DPCH | Dedicated Physical Channel |
| DPDCH | Dedicated Physical Data Channel |
| DPSK | Differential PSK |
| DQPSK | Differential Quadrature PSK |
| DRAC | Dynamic Resource Allocation Control |
| DRM | Digital Rights Management |
| DRNC | Drift RNC |
| DRNS | Drift RNS |
| DS | Direct Spread. See CDMA |
| DS-CDMA | Direct Sequence CDMA |
| DS0 | Digital Signal Level 0. A 64 kbps digital link used to carry a single voice conversation or signaling traffic for multiple calls/trunks. In ANSI networks, 8 kbps is usually reserved for in-band signaling (on-hook/off-hook etc.), reducing the bandwidth to 56 kbps |
| DS1 | Digital Signal Level 1. A 1.544 Mbps signaling link carrying 24 DS0 channels |
| DS1C | Digital Signal Level 1C. A 3.152 Mbps signaling link carrying 48 DS0 channels |
| DS2 | Digital Service, Level 2. 6.312 Mbps. Carries 96 DS0 channels (4 DS1 channels) |
| DS3 | Digital Service, Level 3. 44.736 Mbps. Carries 672 DS0 channels (28 DS1 channels) |
| DSA | Digital Signature Algorithm |
| DSCH | Downlink Shared Channel |
| DSF | Dispersion Shifted Fiber |
| DSI | Digital Speech Interpolation |
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line. See SHDSL, ADSL, SDSL, VDSL |
| DSLAM | DSL Access Multiplexer |
| DSMA | Digital Sense Multiple Access. Access to a shared resource is controlled by sensing a digital signal before attempting an access. Used by CDPD |
| DSP | Digital Signal Processing/Processor |