Wireless Acronyms / Abbreviations

This document has been composed to provide an authoritative reference on acronyms and abbreviations used in Powertec documentation. The definitions have been compiled with reference to IEEE and ETSI documents, where applicable.

Acronyms & Abbreviations

Abbreviation Term Notes
6LOWPAN IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks IoT concept
8PSK Eight Phase Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
16PSK 16 Phase Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
16QAM 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Digital modulation technique
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project See: http://www.3gpp.org/
64QAM 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Digital modulation technique
256QAM 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Digital modulation technique
AAS Adaptive Antenna System  
ac alternating current Must be written lowercase. Can be combined with other units, e.g. Vac. 
ACIR Adjacent Channel Interference Ratio  Signal measurement
ACLR Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio  Signal measurement
ACS Adjacent Channel Selectivity Signal measurement
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line Copper broadband access technology, speeds up to 12 Mbps
ADSL2+ Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line 2+ Copper broadband access technology, speeds up to 24 Mbps
AGC Automatic Gain Control Wireless communication technology
AIPN All-IP Network  
AM Amplitude Modulation Digital modulation technique
AMC Adaptive Modulation and Coding Wireless communication technology
AP Access Point  
APC Automatic Power Control Can also refer to Adaptive Power Control (Synonymous)
API Application Programming Interface  
APN Access Point Name Used in E-/UTRA data communications as an identifier
ARFCN Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number  
ARPU Average Revenue Per User Total revenue divided by total users, typically on a monthly basis
ARQ Automatic Repeat and reQuest Wireless communication technology
ASCI American Standards Compliance Institute  
ASK Amplitude Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
assoc. association  
ATPC Automatic Transmit Power Control  Wireless communication technology
avg. average  
AWG American Wire Gauge  
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel E-/UTRA logical channel
BCH Broadcast Channel E-/UTRA transport Channel
BDC binary coded decimal  
Bd baud  
BER Bit Error Rate Signal measurement
BLE Bluetooth Low Energy WPAN technology
BLER Block Error Rate Signal measurement
BPF Band-Pass Filter Electronic filter
bps bits per second Data rate, abbreviation of b/s or bit/s
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
BSO Broadband Service Obligation  
BTS Base Transceiver Station  
CA Carrier Aggregation See: http://www.3gpp.org/Carrier-Aggregation-explained
CCCH Common Control Channel E-/UTRA logical channel
CCH Control Channel  
CCI Co-Channel Interference  
CDF Cumulative Distribution Function  
CDM Code Division Multiplexing Radio multiplexing technique
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access Radio channel access method
CDN Content Delivery Network Distributed servers that host content, accessible via the internet.
ChS Channel Separation  
CIP Common Industrial Protocol Industrial networking messaging protocol
CNAS China National Accrediation Service Certification body. See: https://www.cnas.org.cn
CO Connected Object  
CoAP Constrained Application Protocol IoT transfer protocol
CPE Customer Premises Equipment  
CPICH Common Pilot Channel UTRA downlink pilot channel
CSS Chirp Spread Spectrum Spread spectrum technique
dc direct current Must be written lowercase. Can be combined with other units, e.g. Vdc.
DC-HSPA+ Dual Carrier High Speed Packet Access Evolution 3G data service providing up to 42 Mbps DL data rates
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel E-/UTRA logical channel
deg. degree  
DL-SCH Downink Shared Channel E-/UTRA transport channel
DPCH(DL) Dedicated Physical Channel in the Downlink UTRA physical channel
DPCH(UL) Dedicated Physical Channel in the Uplink UTRA physical channel
DRX Discontinuous Reception Power conservation technique
DS-CDMA Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access Radio multiple access method
DSSS Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Digital modulation technique
DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel E-/UTRA logical channel
EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol Method of authentication
Eb/No Bit Energy-to-Noise Density  
Ec/Io Chip Energy-to-Noise Density plus Interference  
ECC Envelope Correlation Coefficient Antenna characteristic
EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution See: http://www.3gpp.org/GPRS-EDGE
eDRX Extended Discontinuous Reception Power conservation technique
EHF Extremely High Frequency Frequency band
EIA Electronic Industry Association  
EIRP Effective Isotropically Radiated Power   
ELF Extremely Low Frequency Frequency band
EMI Electromagnetic Interference  
eNodeB Evolved Node B E-UTRA access node
EPC Evolved Packet Core Core of the EPS network.
EPS Evolved Packet System Comprises of EPC and E-UTRAN.
ERP Effective Radiated Power  
etc. Et cetera  
ETSI European Telecommunications Standard Institute  See: http://www.etsi.org/
E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Also known as LTE or 4G
E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network  
EV-DO Evolution Data Only 3G cellular technology. Also known as 1xEV-DO
FACH Forward Access Channel UTRA transport channel
FDD Frequency Division Duplex  
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing Radio multiplexing technique
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access Radio multiple access method
FEC Forward Error Correction  
FER Frame Erasure Rate  
FH-CDMA Frequency Hopping-Code Division Multiple Access Radio multiple access method
FM Frequency Modulation Digital modulation technique
FSK Frequency Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
FTTC Fiber To The Cabinet Termination to cabinet near customer premises
FTTP Fiber To The Premise Termination at the customer premises
FW Firmware  
GEO Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite orbital period equal to the Earth's rotational period
GIS Geographic Information System  
GLONASS Global Navigation System Russian technology similar to GPS
GPS Global Positioning System  
GPRS

General Packet Radio Service

See: http://www.3gpp.org/GPRS-EDGE
GSM Global System for Mobile communications Also known as 2G
GUI Graphical User Interface  
HF High Frequency Frequency band
HPBW Half Power BeamWidth Antenna characteristic
HPF High Pass Filter Electronic filter
HSPA High Speed Packet Access 3G data service comprising HSDPA and Enhanced Uplink technologies
HSPA+ High Speed Packet Access Evolution 3G data service providing up to 21 Mbps DL data rates
HTML HyperText Markup Language  
HW Hardware  
ID Inner Diameter  
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission Standards body. See: http://www.iec.ch/
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Professional body. See: http://www.ieee.org/ 
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force Standards body. See: https://www.ietf.org
IF Intermediate Frequency  
IIoT Industrial Internet of Things  
IM InterModulation  
IMD InterModulation Distortion Performance characteristic
IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity  
IMS IP Multimedia core network Subsystem Architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity  
IoT Internet of Things  
IP Internet Protocol Networking protocol
IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 Networking protocol
IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 Networking protocol
IPSO Internet Protocol for Smart Objects  
IR InfraRed  
ISO International Organization for Standardization Standards body. See: www.iso.org
ISP Internet Service Provider  
L1 Layer-1 Physical layer of OSI model
L2 Layer-2 Data-Link layer of OSI model
L3 Layer-3 Network layer of OSI model
L4 Layer-4 Transport layer of OSI model
LF Low Frequency Frequency band
ln logarithm, natural Mathematical operation
LNA Low Noise Amplifier Component of RF transmitter
LO Local Oscillator Component of RF transmitter
log Logarithm Mathematical operation
LoRaWAN Long Range Wide Area Network Type of wireless telecommunication network
LPF Low Pass Filter Electronic filter
LPDA Log Periodic Dipole Array Type of antenna design
LPWAN Low Power Wide Area Network Type of wireless telecommunication network
LTE Long Term Evolution Also known as E-UTRA. See: http://www.3gpp.org/LTE
LTE-A Long Term Evolution - Advanced Extension of E-UTRA. See: http://www.3gpp.org/LTE-Advanced
LTE-M Long Term Evolution - Machine Abbreviation of LTE-MTC
LTE-MTC Long Term Evolution - Machine-Type Communication Type of wireless telecommunication network
LWM2M Light Weight Machine-to-Machine IoT device management protocol
M2M Machine-to-Machine  
MAC Media Access Control (OSI layer 2 sublayer) As defined in: IEEE Std 802-2001
MCH Multicast Channel LTE transport channel
MCCH Multicast Control Channel LTE logical channel
MME Mobility Management Entity Control-node for LTE access network
MNO Mobile Network Operator  
MQTT MQ Telemetry Transport ISO Standard messaging protocol
MVNO Mobile Virtual Network Operator  
MTBF Mean Time Between Failure Mechanical performance metric
MTCH Multicast Traffic Channel LTE logical channel
NAT Network Address Translation  
NB-Fi Narrowband Fidelity LPWAN IoT technology
NB-LTE-M Narrow Band Long Term Evolution Machine LTE-based IoT technology
NB-IoT Narrow Band Internet of Things DSSS-based IoT technology
NFC Near Field Communication  
OD Outer Diameter  
ODM Original Equipment Manufacturer  
OEM Original Design Manufacturer  
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Radio multiplexing technique
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Radio channel access method
OMA Open Mobile Alliance Standards developer. See: http://openmobilealliance.org/ 
OSI Open Systems Interconnect Communications model
OTA Over The Air  
OVSF Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor Used in spread spectrum technologies
PAM Puse-Amplitude Modulation Analog modulation technique
PAN Personal Area Network  
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel LTE physical data channel
P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel UTRA physical channel
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel LTE physical control channel
PCH Paging Channel E-/UTRA transport channel
PCCH Paging Control Channel E-/UTRA logical channel
PCM Pulse Code Modulation Analog-over-digital modulation technique
PCPICH Primary Common Pilot Channel UTRA downlink pilot channel
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel LTE physical control channel
PDN Packet Data Network  
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel E-/UTRA physical data channel
PF Paging Frame LTE frame
PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel LTE physical control channel
PHY PHYsical (OSI layer 1) As defined in: ISO/IEC 7498-1:1994
PMCH Physical Multicast Channel LTE physical data channel
PN Pseudo-random Noise Spread-spectrum encoding.
PNBSCH Physical Node B Synchronization Channel UTRA physical channel
PO Paging Occasion LTE subframe
POP Point Of Presence  
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol L2 protocol
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel E-/UTRA physical data channel
PSK Phase Shift Keying Digital modulation technique
PSK Pre-Shared Key Method of authentication
PSM Power Saving Mode LTE-M1 power conservation technique
PTMP Point-to-MultiPoint  
PTP Point-to-Point  
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel LTE physical control channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel LTE physical data channel
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Digital modulation technique
QoS Quality of Service  
RAN Radio Access Network  
RACH Random Access Channel E-/UTRA transport channel
rel. Release  
RF Radio Frequency  
RFID Radio Frequency IDentification  
RL Return Loss Antenna/ancillary electrical characteristic
RLAN Radio Local Area Network  
R-PDCCH Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel LTE physical control channel
RPE Radiation Pattern Envelope Antenna characteristic
RPMA Random Phase Multiple Access IoT channel access method
RS232 Recommended Standard 232 Refers to serial communication
RSCP Received Signal Code Power Signal measurement
RSL Receive Signal Level Signal measurement
RSRP Reference Signal Received Power Signal measurement
RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator Signal measurement
Rx Receive Inbound, to device
SAE System Architecture Evolution Core network architecture of LTE
SAF Store And Forward  
SAW Surface Acoustic Wave  
S-CCPCH Secondary Common Control Physical Channel UTRA physical channel
SHCCH Shared Control Channel UTRA logical channel
SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio Signal measurement
SIM Subscriber Identity Module  
SLA Service Level Agreement  
SLL Side Lobe Level Antenna parameter
SLR Side Lobe Ratio Antenna parameter
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio Signal measurement
TCM Trellis Coded Modulation Digital modulation technique
TCP Transmission Control Protocol Networking protocol
TDM Time Division Multiplexing Radio multiplexing technique
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access Radio channel access method
TIA Telecommunications Industry Association Standards body. See: www.tiaonline.org
Tx Transmit Outbound, from device
U-NII Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) Radio frequency band
UDP User Datagram Protocol Networking protocol
UE User Equipment  
UHF Ultra High Frequency Frequency band
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Also known as UTRA
UNB Ultra Narrow Band Modulation technology
UL-SCH Uplink Shared Channel LTE transport channel
USO Universal Service Obligation Mandated requirement to provide service to entire population
VHF Very High Frequency Frequency band
VM Virtual Machine  
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol Voice communications protocol
VPN Virtual Private Network Private over public network protocol
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal Compact satellite terminal
VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio  
WAN Wide Area Network  
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Fixed wireless access technology
WISP Wireless Internet Service Provider  
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network  
WSN Wireless Sensor Network  
XPD Cross-Polar Discrimination Antenna performance characteristic

 

References

  1. ETSI, TErms and Definitions Database Interactive (TEDDI), [Online], Available: http://webapp.etsi.org/Teddi/
  2. IEC TC 25, "IEC 60027-2:2005 Letter symbols to be used in electrical technology - Part 2: Telecommunications and electronics", Intl. Electr. Comm., Geneva, Switzerland, 25/298/FDIS, Aug. 2005.
  3. 3GPP SP-72, "Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications (Release 13)", 3GPP, Valbonne, France, 3GPP TR 21.905 V13.1.0, Jun. 2016.
  4. oneM2M Partners Type 1, "Technical Report - Protocol Analysis", oneM2M, TR-0009 v0.7.0, Jun. 2014.