borrowed neutral
A wiring practice where the neutral conductor from one circuit is improperly shared or borrowed by another separate circuit, common in older wiring.
Electrical engineering
651 entries in this trade.
BORSCHT
Acronym of battery feed, overvoltage protection, ringing, signalling, coding, hybrid, test (“the set of functions performed by a subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) in the line card of a telecommunication system providing plain old telephone service”).
botherance
Distracting chatter on a radio link shared by emergency services, relating to ongoing situations other than what one is dealing with.
break up
Of a conversation, to cease to be understandable because of a bad connection; of a signal, to deteriorate.
broadband
A wideband of electromagnetic frequencies.
broadcast radiation
The accumulation of broadcast and multicast traffic on a computer network.
broadcast storm
Extreme amounts of broadcast traffic over a computer network, typically caused by a loop in the network topology.
BUD
Initialism of big ugly dish.
busy signal
An audible signal to the calling party that indicates failure to complete the requested connection; an engaged tone.
C-bander
A person who uses a C-band television receive-only (TVRO) system for viewing television.
cableco
A company that offers cable services (television, Internet, etc.).
call center
A communications facility where phone calls are handled; especially, a commercial one for customer service, sales and telemarketing.
call delay
The delay that occurs when a call arrives at an automatic switching device and no channel or facility is immediately available to process the call.
call forwarding
A telephony feature which redirects a telephone call to another destination.
call history
An itemised list of the telephone numbers called from a particular account.
call tree
A hierarchical communication structure used to rapidly notify a group of people during emergencies or critical events.
callback
A return telephone or radio call; especially one made automatically to authenticate a logon to a computer network.
callee
The person who is called by the caller (on the telephone).
caller
The person who makes a telephone call.
camera roll
The collection of images and videos taken on a smartphone.
catapult effect
The phenomenon where a loose current-carrying wire is catapulted horizontally away in the presence of a magnetic field.
cathode
An electrode, of a cell or other electrically polarized device, through which a positive current of electricity flows outwards (and thus, electrons flow inwards). It can have either a negative or a positive voltage with respect to anode of the same polarized device (depending on whether the device is a load or a source, respectively).
cathode ray
A ray consisting of a stream of electrons in a vacuum tube that are emitted by the cathode and accelerated towards the anode by an electric field.
CBDC
Abbreviation of central bank digital currency.
CCI
Initialism of co-channel interference.
CDAA
Initialism of circularly disposed antenna array.
CDD
Initialism of cyclic delay diversity.
CDDA
Initialism of circularly disposed dipole array.
CDMA
Initialism of Code Division Multiple Access.
CDR
Initialism of current divider rule or current division rule.
celerity
The speed of symbol transmission, now called baud rate.
cellular
adjectiveElectrical engineering
Using cells (local groups of devices sharing a transceiver).
charged particle
Any particle, especially a subatomic particle, that carries an electric charge.
circuit diagram
A schematic representation of electrical connections.
civision
The use of encryption when broadcasting television signals.
clean feed
The setup of a mixing console or matrix mixer such that the output contains everything except a designated input; often used to prevent echoes or feedback.
clearing
A sequence of events used to disconnect a call, and return to the ready state.
CLEC
Initialism of competitive local exchange carrier.
CLI
Initialism of calling line identity or caller line identity.
clock out
To transmit individual bits of data under the control of a clock.
closed
adjectiveElectrical engineering
In a position allowing electricity to flow.
cloud
A telecom network (from their representation in engineering drawings).
CLR
Initialism of current-limiting resistor.
CLV
Initialism of constant linear velocity, a qualifier for the rated speed of an optical drive.
CMS
Initialism of call management system.
CNA
Initialism of cloud native architecture.
COCOT
Initialism of Customer-Owned Coin-Operated Telephone.
combinational logic
A form of digital circuit logic where the current outputs are entirely a function of the current inputs, without having a memory of previous inputs or states.
common carrier
A company providing public telecommunications facilities.
commonality
A quality that applies to materiel or systems: (a) possessing like and interchangeable parts or characteristics enabling each to be utilized, or operated and maintained in common; (b) having interchangeable repair parts and/or components; (c) applying to consumable items interchangeably equivalent without adjustment.
communications satellite
An artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals by means of a transponder.
compatibility
the capability of two or more items or components of equipment or material to exist or function in the same system or environment without mutual interference.
compressor
A device that reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal.
conducted interference
Interference resulting from noise or unwanted signals entering a device by conductive coupling, i.e., by direct coupling.
connect up
To join to a network or supply.
connectivity
The ability to make a connection between two or more points in a network.
constructive interference
When two or more waves overlap, and their crests or troughs align, adding together to create a single, larger wave with a greater amplitude (intensity and height) than the original waves.
contention
Competition by parts of a system or its users for a limited resource.
contraplex
adjectiveElectrical engineering
Of message signals, passing in opposite directions at the same time.
CORDIC
Acronym of coordinate rotation digital computer.