Other / Glossary Items

Question 1

Capacitance

Answer 1

1. The ability of an electronic component to store electrical energy
2. The opposition to a change in voltage

Question 2

Capacitance Unbalance

Answer 2

Difference in capacitance between conductors of two pairs (or between the conductors and the ground) that are located in close proximity to each other within a cable that can result in the undesirable transferring of an undesired signal, commonly referred to as crosstalk.

Question 3

Capacitive Ractance

Answer 3

The portion of impedance that opposes a change in voltage due to electric field coupling

Question 4

Broadband

Answer 4

An analog design simultaneously using multiple communication channels separated by guard bands. Commonly used to describe a high-speed digital signal associated with backbone or multiplexed transmission.

Question 5

Multiplexing (muxing)

Answer 5

The combining of two or more communication channels into a common high-capacity channel from which the original signals may be individually recovered.

Question 6

Mesh Topology

Answer 6

A topology where each device or network is connected to all other devices or networks by multiple paths.

Question 7

Modal Dispersion

Answer 7

A characteristic of transmission in an optical fiber that results from different lengths of light paths taken by the many modes of light as they travel down the fiber from source to receiver. It may also be known as modal distortion

Question 8

Mode

Answer 8

A possible Light path followed by light rays, as in multimode or singlemode

Question 9

Multimode Optical Fiber

Answer 9

An optical waveguide that allows many bound modes to propagte. Typically used over short distances within buildings or on a campus.

Question 10

Modulation

Answer 10

Any of several techniques used to impress an information bearing signal onto a carrier signal. For example, a voice conversation is coded into binary bits, transmitted and the decoded at the receiving end.

Question 11

Singlemode Optical Fiber

Answer 11

An optical fiber with a relatively small core diameter of 8-9 microns and cladding diameter of 125um. Lightwave propagation is restricted to a single path or mode in a singlemode optical fiber.

Question 12

Sin Wave

Answer 12

A periodic wave, described by a trigonometric function, that varies from zero to a maximum value back through zero to a minimum value and back to zero.

Question 13

Simplex

Answer 13

A process during which signals are transmitted in only one direction at a time, on a single frequency. One station is the transmitter and the other is the receiver.

Question 14

Router

Answer 14

An internetworking device that operates at Layer 3 (Network Layer) of the Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model, used to direct datagrams from one network to another.

Question 15

Ribbon Cable

Answer 15

An assembly of several conductors or optical fibers laid side by side in a geometric plane and fastened together.

Question 16

Scattering

Answer 16

In fiber cabling, the deflection of light from the path it would follow if the refractive index were uniform or gradually graded. Caused primarily by mico-defects, impurities, and molecular structure in the fiber.

Question 17

Server

Answer 17

A network device that combines hardware and software to provide and manage shared services and resources on the network.

Question 18

Resistance

Answer 18

A measure of opposition a material offers to the flow of direct current expressed in ohms.

Question 19

Return Loss

Answer 19

A ratio of the power of the outgoing signal to the power of the reflected signal.

When the termination (load) impedance is not equal to the value of the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, some of the signal energy is reflected back toward the source and is not delivered to the load. This signal loss contributes to the insertion loss of the transmission path and is called return loss.

Question 20

Insertion Loss

Answer 20

The signal loss resulting from the insertion of a component, link or channel between a transmitter and receiver (often referred to as attenuation)