| A | |
| AMPS(Advanced Mobile Phone Service)
| An analog cellular phone service standard used in the US and other countries. |
| AMPLIFICATION |
Process
of increasing the strength of a signal, current, voltage or
power |
| ANALOG |
refers
to A method of modulating radio signals so that they can carry information such as voice or data..
|
| ANTENNA |
Device
which radiates and/or receives radio signals. |
| APC(Adaptive Power Control) |
A feature of some wireless handsets that helps reduce power consumption to increase battery charge life. |
| ASCII
| american
standard code for information interchange.- acode that represents letters,
numerals, punctuation marks and control signals as seven bit
groups. It is used as a standard code by the transmission of
data. The values range from hex value 00 to hex value 7F. |
| B |
|
| BAND
| Range
of radio frequencies between two defined limits which are used
for a specific purpose. |
| BANDWITH
| Portion
of the frequency spectrum required to transmit desired information.
Each radio channel has a center frequency and additional frequencies
above and below this carrier frequency which is used to carry
the transmitted information. The range of frequencies from the
lowest to the highest used is called the bandwidth.
|
| BASEBAND |
Transmission
of a digital or analog signal signaling at its original frequencies.
The signal is in its original form, not changed by modulation.
|
| BAUD
RATE | The number of discrete signal events per second
that occur on a communications channel. |
| BINARY |
Refers to the base-two number system. The system contains
only two numbers, 0 and 1. In computer-like circuits, the presence
of a voltage, current or other such signal indicates a "1" whereas
the absence of the same signal indicates "0". |
| BIT |
Contraction of binary digit. It is the smallest unit of information
in a binary system. |
| BITS
PER SECOND(bps) | Rate at which bits of information
are transmitted. |
| BLUETOOTH
| A short range wireless protocol meant to allow mobile devices to share information and applications without the worry of cables or interface incompatibilities. The name refers to a Viking King who unified Denmark. |
| BREW(Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless)
| A QUALCOMM programming platform designed to facilitate the development and use of data applications that can function on any CDMA-based wireless device. Common applications include games and software for corporate functions |
| C |
|
| CAP
CODE | Every functioning pager within a
paging system is assigned a unique cap code. A pager identifies
which messages are intended for it by it's unique cap code. |
| CARRIER |
Continuous frequency capable of being modulated or impressed
with a second signal. |
| CARRIER
FREQUENCY | Radio wave, current or voltage used for
transmitting intelligence, usually the frequency of a radio
channel
|
| CCITT |
International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
- A standards body based in Geneva that publishes "recommendations"
on standards used throughout the world communication industry.
Note: the acronym is not "ITTCC" because the abbreviation is
from the French version of the name. |
| CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access) | A digital communication technology used by some carriers to provide PCS service. For more information, please check out the technology page |
| CELL |
The area surrounding a cell site. The area in which calls are handled by a particular cell site. |
| CELL SITE |
The transmission and reception equipment, including the base station antenna, that connects a cellular phone to the network. |
| CELLULAR |
The type of wireless communication that is most familiar to mobile phones users. Called 'cellular' because the system uses many base stations to divide a service area into multiple 'cells'. Cellular calls are transferred from base station to base station as a user travels from cell to cell |
| CODEWORD |
A contiguous set of bits that together form a piece of information.
The codewords used in digital paging codes include redundant
bits that allow a receiver to reconstruct the information if
some of the bits were received incorrectly. |
| COVERAGE
| Refers to the region within which a paging receiver
can receive reliably the transmission of the paging signals. |
| D |
|
| DIGITAL |
A digital signal is composed only of electrical pulses representing
either zero or one. Because digital signals are made up only
of binary streams, less information is needed to transmit a
message. Digital encoding therefore increases the capacity of
a given radio frequency. Furthermore, only digitized information
can be transported through a noisy channel without degradation.
Even if corruption occurs, as long as the one zero pattern is
recognizable, the original information content can be perfectly
replicated at the receiving end. |
| DIGITAL
PAGING | see Numeric Paging |
| DECRYPTION
| Process of "unscrambling" an encrypted or coded message. |
|
DIGITAL |
Data in the form of pulses
|
| DIGITAL
SIGNAL | Transmission signal that carries information
in a discontinuous stream of on/off pulses. |
| DUAL MODE | A feature on some wireless phones that allows the handset to operate on both analog and digital networks. |
| E |
|
| EDGE(Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) |
A further development of the GSM protocol designed to handle data at speeds up to 384 Kbps. Considered to be 3G wireless technology. |
| ENCODER |
Converter used to create a specific addressed message. |
| ESN(Electronic Serial Number) |
The unique serial number of a cellular phone that identifies it to the cellular system for the purpose and placing and receiving calls. |
| F | |
| FCC |
Federal Communications Commission - The FCC has the authority
to regulate all interstate communications originating in the
United States. |
| FEC |
Forward Error Correction - A method of increasing the
reliability of data communication. In one-way communication
channels, a receiver does not have the option to request a re-transmission
if an error was detected. Forward Error Correction is a method
of sending redundant information with the data in order to allow
the receiver to reconstruct the data if there was an error in
transmission. |
| FLEX |
Motorola's flexible high-speed paging coding scheme |
| FREQUENCY |
Assigned channel space within the radio wave spectrum. |
| G |
|
| GHz |
GigaHertz - One GigaHertz is equal to on billion hertz. |
| GSM(Global System for Mobile) |
A digital communication technology used by some carriers to provide PCS service. For more information on this, please check out the technology page |
| GPRS(General Packet Radio Service) |
An emerging technology standard for high speed data transmission over GSM networks |
| H |
|
| HERTZ |
A measurement of frequency in cycles per second. One Hertz
is one cycle per second. |
| I | |
| INTERFACE
| Method or piece of equipment for interconnecting units
or systems which may not be directly compatible. |
| INTERFERENCE |
Effects that occur when undesired signals inhibits or degrades
the reception of a desired signal. |
| ISO |
International Standards Organization - A body that sets standards
and promotes their use throughout several industries around
the world. Sometimes the ISO and CCITT standards overlap, as
in the case of some networking protocols. In this case, protocols
will often have two names, one under ISO and the other under
CCITT |
| J |
|
| K |
|
| KHz |
KiloHertz - One kHz is equal to 1,000 Hertz. |
| L | |
| LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) |
A flat panel screen used to display numbers and/or characters. Often found on a wireless handset. |
| LED (Light Emitting Diode) |
A light on a handset to alert the user of various conditions. |
| M |
|
| MCD |
Mobile Computing Device - The ultimate recipient of the
data entered from the MED. |
| MED |
Message Entry Device - A device which sends information
into a paging network using TDP. This may be any type of device
from a hand-held type of unit to a host computer |
| MHS |
Message Handling System - This is a general-purpose system
used for receiving, storing, and sending messages with a consistent
set of protocols to connect to external devices |
| MHz |
Megahertz - One MHz is equal to one million Hertz.
|
| MODEM |
Interface device usually connected between a computer and
telephone lines or a radio system. |
| MODULATE |
Vary the amplitude, frequency or phase of a radio signal in
order to transmit intelligence. |
| MODULATION
| Information on a carrier signal by varying one or more of
the signal's basic characteristics - frequency, amplitude and
phase. Different modulation carries the information as the change
from the immediately preceding state rather than the absolute
state. |
| MMS(Multimedia Messaging Services) |
Similar to SMS, but in addition to plain text, MMS messages may include multimedia elements such as pictures, video and audio. These multimedia elements are included in the message, not as attachments as with email.
|
| Monophonic Ringtones
| Ringtones made up of a series of sequential beeps at different frequencies. These sound like the beeping of a computer, and the the tunes are simple because the phone can only produce one sound (beep) at a time. |
| MTA |
Message Transfer Agent - This is the portion of an MHS
that deals with moving messages within the MHS
|
| N | |
| NATIONWIDE
PAGING | Method of national or regional paging in which
a single frequency is used throughout the nation (region) for
sending messages to a paging system subscriber.
|
| NUMERIC |
The character set used by "numeric pagers". This character
set includes the numbers '0' to '9', punctuation such as a
space(' '), hyphen('-'), and sometimes other symbols, such
as "$."
|
| NUMERIC
PAGING | Numeric Paging is the most widely used
type of paging. The caller simply calls your pager phone number
and enters the number where you can reach them. (see also digital)
|
| O | |
| OSI |
Open Systems Interconnect - An industry wide protocol
standard consisting of seven well defined layers. TDP is modeled
after this standard. A sub group of the ISO that defines
communication protocols for inter-computer networking.
|
| P | |
| PAGING |
To deliver a message to someone when their location is
unknown through a wireless device usually known as a pager.
|
| PARITY
| A simple error detection scheme. The
method usually involves counting the '1' bits in a codeword
and then setting an additional bit to either '1' or '0' depending
on whether the original number of '1' bits was even or odd. |
| PCMCIA |
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association -
A standardized technology used to develop a expansion for portable
devices (i.e.. notebooks) In paging these credit card sized
devices support wireless connectivity. |
| PCS |
Narrowband Personal Communications Services - A new generation
of digital, two-way, low powered wireless services in the 800
to 900 MHz bands that will support a wide range of services
including confirmed delivery of message, full two-way data transfer,
voice messaging and connectivity via the internet.
|
| PER |
Packed Encoding Rules - A set of rules that specifies
how ASN.1 defined information is encoded when transmitted, and
how it is decoded when received. PER is a successor to the Basic
Encoding Rules (BER). It is more efficient in terms of the number
of bytes transmitted and the size of the generated encoder and
decoder. |
| PMP |
Paging Message Processor - A Radio Paging Terminal or
equivalent message processing system. |
| POCSAG |
Post Office Code Standard Advisory Group - This was a group
formed by the British Post Office to design a non-proprietary
digital paging code. The code that they designed is now implemented
by most pager manufacturers and is the most widely used code
to date. The POCSAG code, also known as RPC1 (a CCIR standard
taken directly from POCSAG) can be operated at three speeds,
512, 1200, and 2400 bits per second. POCSAG is gradually being
replaced by FLEX. |
| Polyphonic Ringtones |
Phones that play polyphonic ringtones have the ability to produce 16 separate sounds at once. This makes for music that is much richer and the tunes sound more like the music you know. |
| PROPAGATION |
Radiation of electromagnetic waves.
|
| PROTOCOL |
The rules of order by which a communications network is
operated.
|
| PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) |
A formal name for the world-wide telephone network.
|
| Q |
|
| R |
|
| RECEIVER |
Device on the transmission line that converts a signal to
whatever type of signal is needed to complete the transmission |
| ReFLEX |
New two-way paging protocols developed by Motorola for enhanced
paging services. ReFLEX 25 supports outbound transfer rates
of up to 6,400 bits per second in a 25 kHz channel and 12,800
bits per second in a 50 kHz channel. |
| Ringtone |
A sound from your phone used to signal an incoming call or message. On most newer phones additional sounds can be downloaded from the wireless system or by data cable. These sounds can take the form of anything you want, the most popular sounds are music. |
| RF(Radio Frequency) |
A radio signal |
| RRD |
RF Receiving Device - The radio receiving device which
receives over the air data and forwards it to the mobile computer |
| S | |
| SIGNAL |
Form of a radio wave in relation to the frequency serving
to convey intelligence in communication. |
| SILENT
ALERT | Non-audible signal in a beeper. That discretely
notifies individuals of incoming pages, typically by vibration. |
| SIMULCAST |
Broadcasting a message over multiple transmitters throughout
a geographical region at precisely the same time. |
| SMS(Short Messaging Service) |
A feature of PCS phones(primarily GSM) that allows users to receive and sometimes transmit short text messages using their wireless phone. |
| SUB
NETWORK | A way of denoting a group of network layers
that appears as one to a higher protocol layer.
|
| T |
|
| TAP |
Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol - The pre cursor to TDP, a
simple protocol dedicated to the forwarding of alphanumeric
pages. Although the features and capabilities of TAP are in
TDP, the TAP protocol may co-exist with TDP. The TAP protocol
may be utilized to forward binary data to RF linked computers
if input is formatted and processed. |
| TCP |
Telocator Conversion Processor - A front end processor which
executes the TFC process. |
| TDMA(Time Division Multiple Access |
A digital communication technology used by some carriers to provide PCS service. Mostly used in the Americas, this technology is being phased out in favor of GSM or CDMA technolgies. |
| TDP |
Telocator Data Protocol - A suite of protocols used for
sending messages from a computer, through a paging system, to
a mobile receiving computer. Together, these protocols define
the flow of messages from input devices through several processing
steps until the entire message is received by an RF linked computer.
The set is compromised of several protocols, including TME,
TRT, and TMC. |
| 3G(Third Generation Wireless) |
The next generation of wireless communications beyond today's digital PCS technologies. When available, 3G wireless technologies will allow for much higher transmission rates to wireless devices leading to more useful services and a better user experience. |
| TELECOMMUNICATIONS |
Communication process that allows the transmission of information
from a sender to a receiver by means of an electromagnetic or
light wave medium. |
| TERMINAL |
In paging, this is a computer controlled switching system
that accepts calls form the telephone network and controls the
base stations used to signal pagers. The software in the terminal
dictates many capabilities of the paging system. |
| TFC
| Telocator Format Conversion - Describes how binary
data messages may be forwarded to RF linked computers through
the use of TAP protocol. |
| TIPP |
Telocator Interswitch Paging Protocol - A TCP/IP based
inter-PMP protocol utilized to move information across a network
of PMP's |
| TMC |
Telocator Mobile Computer Protocol - The protocol that
operates between the RF receiver and the mobile computer, which
is the ultimated recipient of data sent from the MED. |
| TME |
Telocator Message Entry Protocol - That portion of the
protocol suite which defines the protocol operating between
the MED and PMP. |
| TNPP |
A protocol used for moving pages from one paging system to another
over the standard lines. |
| TRANSMISSION
FREQUENCY | 1.) The rate in hertz at which a radio transmitter
repeats a signal pattern. 2.) A code number that the wireless
service company assigns to represent a single frequency or set
of frequencies. |
| TRANSMITTER |
A device that generates radio waves and sends them to
the antenna |
| TRANSPARENCY |
A method for hiding "control" characters from a protocol
processor in order to allow their inclusion inside a data message
being carried by that protocol. |
| TRT |
Telocator Radio Transport protocol - The protocol that describes
the format of data which is forwarded to RF receivers. This
transport style protocol allows a receiver to collect several
separate message inside different pages and then piece them
together into one proper message. The manner in which this data
is inserted into any particular radio pager encoding format
is specific to the particular manufacturer's radio receiver. |
| TWO
- WAY | Communications that occur between communications
radio stations, each having a transmitter and receiver. The
stations may be in fixed locations, mobile or portable, in any
combination. |
| U |
|
| V | |
| VOLT |
Basic unit of electrical potential. One volt is the force
required to send one ampere of electrical current through a
resistance of one ohm |
| W | |
| WAP
| Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification
that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access
and interact with information and services instantly. |
| Wi-Fi
| A wireless data networking protocol generally used connect PCs and laptops to a network. Also know as 802.11b and WLAN(Wireless LAN), it is the most common means of wireless networking and operates at 2.4 GHz. |
| WATT |
Basic unit of power. Equal to the voltage multiplied by
the current. |
| WMF |
Wireless Message Format - A standard format for presenting
data received through a paging system to mobile computers. The
application at the MED uses this format to encode binary data
and control information to be sent to a remote device. This
information is received completely intact by the MCD. |
| X |
|
| Y |
|
| Z |
|
