Fiber Optic Center Glossary

Standard for Brown & Sharpe Gauge. The wire diameter standard is same as AWG.

The wireline cellular carrier, usually the local telephone company, which operates on the frequencies of 869 to 894 MHz.

A 30-MHz personal-communications services carrier serving a major trading area in the 1870-to-1885 MHz frequency range paired with the 1954-to-1965-MHz range.

An intermediate stage in the reaction of certain thermosetting resins in which the material softens when heated and swells when in contact with certain liquids, but may not entirely fuse or dissolve. The resin in an uncured thermosetting adhesive is usually in this stage.

When a connector is mounted from the inside of a panel or box with its mounting flange inside the equipment.

Light reflected from the cleaved or polished end of a fiber caused by the difference of the refractive indices of air andglass. Back Reflectance is typically 4% of the incident light. It is expressed in dB relative to incident power.

A measure of the percentage of power reflected back by a discontinuity in a fiber optic line. It is expressed in dB.

Light reflected from the cleaved or polished end of a fiber caused by the difference of refractive indices of air and glass. Typically 4% of the incident light. Expressed in dB relative to incident power.

A connector mounted from the inside of a panel or box with its mounting flange inside the equipment.

Used to support a boom or mast: or that section of a main cable, as on a suspension bridge, cable-way, etc., leading from the tower to the anchorage

The cabling used to connect entrance facilities, crossconnects, telecommunications closets, and equipment rooms. The backbone may consist of either interbuilding and/or intrabuilding cabling.

A local area network that connects computers’ input/output systems to shared storage devices. They may also be used for high data rate inter-computer data transfer.

An interconnection panel into which PC cards or other panels can be plugged. These panels come in a variety of designs ranging from a PC motherboard to individual connectors mounted in a metal frame. Panels lend themselves to automated wiring.

The loosely-used term covers optical return loss (ORL) for spans, reflectance for components, and Fresnel reflectance.

The ratio of the optical pulse power (not energy) at the OTDR output to the backscatter power at the near end of the fiber (z=0). This ratio is inversely proportional to the pulse width, because the optical pulse power is independent. It is expressed in dB.

The scattering of light in a fiber back toward the source, used to make OTDR measurements. Bandwidth: The range of signal frequencies or bit rate within which a fiber optic component, link or network will operate.

Any device added to the rear (wiring side) of a connector to enhance the connector's operational characteristics.

A mold used to form a covering over the backshell of a connector after it is connected to a cable.

A method of molding or bonding involving the application of fluid pressure, usually by means of air, steam, water, or vacuum, to a flexible cover which, sometimes in conjunction with the rigid die, completely encloses the material to be bonded.

A polymer produced by the condensation of phenol and formaldehyde.

Balance is the ratio of the differential signal output at either end of any pair to a common mode

A circuit so arranged that the impressed voltages on each conductor of the pair are equal in magnitude but opposite in polarity with respect to ground.

A cable having two identical conductors which carry voltages opposite in polarity and equal in magnitude with respect to ground.

A cable consisting of one or more metallic symmetrical cable elements (twisted pairs or quads).

A device for matching impedance between a balanced to unbalanced line, usually twisted-pair and coaxial cable.

A range of optical spectrum allocated based on optical amplifiers. Six bands are specified by the ITU: O (original), E (enhanced), S (short), C (conventional), L (long), and U (ultra). These cover the optical spectrum from 1260 nm to 1675 nm.

A continuous circumferential band applied to a conductor at regular intervals for identification.

Two or more cables banded together by stainless steel strapping.

A circumferential color band applied to an insulated conductor at regular intervals for identification.

A characterization of the information caring capacity of a multimode optical fiber. It is expressed in terms of frequency and is often normalized to a unit length (e.g., MHz-km). The frequency range over which the connector or device can operate without degradation of performance. Also the information carrying capacity of digital systems.

An insulated wire used for the interconnection of selector switches in automatic telephone exchanges.

A conductor having no covering. A conductor with no coating or cladding on the copper.

Bevel at the end of the conductor barrel for easier entry of the conductor. (MIL-STD)

The section of the terminal, splice or contact that accommodates the stripped conductor. (MIL-STD)

The section of the terminal, splice or contact that accommodates the conductor insulation. (MIL-STD)

Method of coiling into a fiber drum for shipment.

A partition of electrically non conductive material which increases the electrical path between adjacent electrical circuits or an electrical circuit from ground.

The seal preventing the passage of moisture or gases through the insulator and the gap between insulator and center conductor or outer conductor of a connector or adapter.

The metal from which the connector, contact, or other piece part accessory is made and on which one or more metals or coatings may be deposited.

The metal from which the connector, contact or other metal accessory is made and on which one or more metals or coatings may be deposited.

Metal from which the connector components are made and on which one or more metals or coatings may be deposited. Also called Basic Metal.

The fixed transmitter/receiver device that a mobile radio transceiver establishes a communication link with in order to gain access to the public-switched telephone network.

A network in which the entire bandwidth of the transmission medium is used as a single digital signal. Unlike broadband, no modulation techniques are used.

Transmission of a digital or analog signal at its original frequencies, i.e., a signal in its original form, not changed by modulation.

An application that defines transmission characteristics up to 862 MHz.

The limiting conductor-load per unit length assumed for the purposes of design.

A testing configuration that appeared in older editions of the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A Standard. It has been replaced by Permanent Link test configuration in the 568-B Standard that replaced 568-A. See PERMANENT LINK.

The simplest form of network access available on the ISDN (integrated services digital network). The BRI comprises 2B + D channels for carriage of signaling and user information.

A service area designed by Rand McNally and adopted by the Federal Communications Commission to promote the rapid deployment and ubiquitous coverage of personal communications services. BTA’s generally cover a city and its surrounding area. They are a component of a major trading area. There are 493 BTA’s in the US.

Metal from which the connector components are made and on which one or more metals or coatings may be deposited.

The manufactured unit or blend of two or more units of the same formulation and processing.

A single conductor cable, insulated or uninsulated, used for carrying current from batteries to the point power is needed.

The most basic unit of data transmission speed, one baud represents one signal state change per second. It is often confused with bits per second (bps) because they were at one time very similar. By using current data compression and modulation techniques, many times the baud rate in bits per second can be achieved.

A locking prong and slot interconnect device. The mechanical latching mechanism for the ST-type connector.

A quick coupling device for plug and receptacle connectors, accomplished by rotation of a cam operating device designed to bring the connector halves together.

The formal name for the ST connector, a specific slotted twistlock connector with 2.5-mm ferrule.

Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem Code

A model simulating the hydrodynamic properties of a chain macromolecule consisting of a sequence of beads, each of which offers hydrodynamic resistance to the flow of the surrounding medium and is connected to the next bead by a rigid rod which does not. The mutual orientation of the rods is random. (IUPAC)

A model simulating the hydrodynamic properties of a chain macromolecule consisting of a sequence of beads, each of which offers hydrodynamic resistance to the flow of the surrounding medium and is connected to the next bead by a spring which does not contribute to the frictional interaction but which is responsible for the elastic and deformational properties of the chain. The mutual orientation of the springs is random. (IUPAC)

Coaxial cable with a dielectric consisting of beads made of various materials.

A passive device that uses optical lenses with reflective coatings to control the split ratio and divide an optical beam into two or more beams.

A layer of material applied to a cable immediately below the armoring.

Insulated copper wire for making doorbell and thermostat connections in homes.

The flared or wide entrance of a terminal splice or contact barrel to permit easier insertion of the conductor.

The raised portion at the front and/or back of the wire barrel crimp that provides a gradual entrance and exit for the wire strands without causing damage.

Number of layers of insulation on a conductor, or number of layers of jacket on a cable.

Multiple conductor cable having a layer of insulation over the assembled insulated conductors.

Single-mode fibers that have been modified to demonstrate reduced bend radius characteristics without attenuation changes. Specified in the ITU-T G.657 standard.

Increased attenuation due to macrobends (curvature of fiber) or microbends (small distortions in the fiber) coupling light energy from the fiber core to the cladding.

Radius of curvature that a fiber optic or metallic cable can bend without any adverse effects.

Loss in fiber caused by stress on the fiber bent around a restrictive radius. Bit-error rate (BER): The fraction of data bits transmitted that are received in error.

Stress imposed on wires of a wire rope by bending

A relatively expensive contact material with properties superior to brass or phosphor bronze. It is used for contact applications requiring repeated extraction and reinsertion because of its resistance to fatigue at high operating temperatures.

A video recording format generally used in home recording.

The steady current applied to a laser diode to overcome its threshold current.

A phenolic-bodied, threaded, spring-loaded, non-keyed connector with a cone-shaped alignment area.

A broadband dipole antenna used to measure and produce electric fields from approximately 30 MHz to 300 MHz.

Operating in both directions over a single fiber.

A device that sends information in one direction and receives information from the opposite direction.

A winding made non-inductive by winding together (as one wire) two wires carrying current in opposite directions.

A flat spring contact with lengthwise slotting which is used in a printed circuit edge connector. (MIL-STD)

A quantity derived by multiplying the number of conductors in a cable by the amount of cable. Usually used to indicate plant capacity or an annual requirement.

A combination of biconical and log periodic antenna with an automatic crossover network with a frequency range from 26MHz to 2 GHz.

A wire formed of two different metals joined together (not alloyed). It can include wire with a steel core clad wire, or plated or coated wire.

Spirally served tape or thread used for holding assembled cable components in place.

In adhesive compounds , a component of an adhesive composition that is primarily responsible for its mechanical strength and adhesion.

A device for clamping or holding electrical conductors in a rigid position.

Measuring the DUT from both ends, must use Dual MTJ.

The refraction of light in two slightly different directions to form two rays; the phenomenon can be used to locate stress in a transparent material.

Binary Digit. The smallest unit of data (and most basic) for data communications. It can have a value of a one (mark) or a zero (space).

A measure of quality of a digital transmission line, either quoted as a percentage, or more usually as a ratio, typically 1 error in 10E8 or 10E9 bits carried. The lower the number or errors, the better quality the line.

Test equipment that measures the bit error rate (BER) of digital transmission systems.

A unit of measure for digital transmission speeds expressed in bit per second (b/s).

An elevation of the surface of a substrate, somewhat resembling in shape a blister on the human skin; its boundaries may be indefinitely outlined and it may have burst and become flattened.

1) A group of transmitted data, typically framed with control characters and having a fixed size, such as 256, 512, 4096, etc; 2) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many constitutional units, that has at least one feature which is not present in the adjacent portions. (IUPAC)

A copolymer that is a block polymer. In a block copolymer, adjacent blocks are constitutionally different, i.e., each of these blocks comprises constitutional units derived from different characteristic species of monomer or with different composition or sequence distribution of constitutional units. (IUPAC)

A macromolecule which is composed of blocks in linear sequence. (IUPAC)

A substance composed of block macromolecules. (IUPAC)

A curing or hardening agent temporarily rendered unreactive, which can be reactivated as desired by physical or chemical means.

Creating a physical barrier to keep moisture-repellent gel in loose tube cables from migrating or flowing out of the buffer tubes into splice trays; An undesired adhesion between touching layers of material such as occurs under moderate pressure during storage or use.

Short form for weblog

Outer cable covering applied by controlled inflation of the cured jacket tube then pulling the cable through it.

A detailed plan or design._

A technology that enables data connections between electronic devices such as desktop computers, wireless phones, electronic organizers and printers in the 2.4 GHz range.

Bayonet Siel-Concelmann Connector

Main, or largest, portion of a connector to which other portions are attached.

Interface of the adhesive and the substrate; The attachment between an adhesive and an adherend; To join adherends by means of an adhesive.

The part or surface of a building component which serves as a substrate for an adhesive.

Amount of adhesion between bonded surfaces; The unit load applied in tension, compression, flexure, peel, impact, cleavage, or shear, that is required to break an adhesive assembly with failure occurring in or near the plane of the bond.

An insulated wire treated to facilitate adherence to materials such as potting compounds. Also, magnet wires used in making coils when bonding the turns together is desired .

A connector assembly in which the components are bonded together using an electrically appropriate adhesive in a sandwich structure to provide sealing against moisture.

Cable consisting of pre-insulated conductors or multi-conductor components laid-in parallel and bonded into a flat cable.

An insulation construction in which the glass braid and nylon jacket are bonded together.

Flat cable consisting of individually insulated conductors lying parallel and bonded together: application in electronics, telecommunications or computers.

The permanent joining of metallic parts to form an electrically conductive path that will assure electrical continuity and the capacity to conduct safely any current likely to be imposed on it.

An insulated or uninsulated conductor forming part of the cable assembly which is used for the purpose of connecting non-current carrying parts of electrical equipment to a system grounding conductor.

The layer of adhesive which attaches two adherends.

A device inserted into a line or cable to increase the voltage.

(1) Protective covering over a cable, wire or connector in addition to the normal jacketing or insulation. (2) A form placed around wire termination of a multiple-contact connector to contain the liquid potting compound before it hardens.

To add Borax to a starch adhesive to improve adhesive tack and viscosity.

Battery Feed, Over Voltage (protection from lightning and accidental power line contact), Ringing, Supervision, Codec (A/D interconversion, also low pass audio filtering), Hybrid (directional coupler, 2-wire to 4-wire inter-conversation), Testing

1)A fibrous or metallic group of filaments interwoven in cylindrical form to form a covering over one or more wires. __2)Flexible conductor made of a woven or braided assembly of fine wires. (MIL-STD)__3)A woven protective outer covering over a conductor or cable. It may be composed of any filamentary materials such as cotton, glass, nylon, tinned copper, silver, or asbestos fibers.

1)The smaller of the two angles formed by the shielding strand and the axis of the cable being shielded.__2)The angle between the axis of the cable and the axis of any one member or strand of the braid. (Also known as the angle of advance)

A spool or bobbin on a braider that holds one group of strands or filaments consisting of a specific number of ends. The carrier revolves during braiding operations.

A calculated percentage which defines the completeness with which a braid or shield covers the surface of the underlying component.

The number of strainds used to make up one carrier. The strands are wound side by side on the carrier bobboin and lie parallet in the finished braid.

Machine used to apply braids to wire and cable and to produce braided sleeving and braids for tying or lacing purposes. Braiding machines are identified by the number of carriers.

Wire used in mobile-home, travel and truck trailers to supply current to the electrical braking system.

Polymer having smaller chains attached to the polymer backbone.

A low cost connector material which is an excellent electric conductor. Brass reaches its yield point at low deflection force, thus it deforms easily and fatigues slowly. Used in connector bodies and male contacts.

The joining of ends of two wires, rods or groups of wires with a nonferrous filler metal at temperatures above 800oF (427oC).

Measure of force needed to initiate movement of an unseated fastener in a loosening direction.

A disruptive discharge through insulation.

Failure of an insulation resulting in a flow of current through the insulation. It may be caused by the application of too high voltage or by defects or decay.

The voltage at which the insulation between two conductors will break down or arc over.

The sum of the breaking strength in tension of all the wires of a wire rope when the wires are tested individually

The measured load required to break a wire rope in tension

1)The point at which a conductor or group of conductors is separated from a multiconductor cable to complete circuits at various points along the main cable.__2)A breakout is the common name given to the exit point of a conductor or number of conductors from a cable of which they are a part. This point is usually harnessed or sealed with some synthetic rubber compound.

Multi-fiber cable constructed in the tight buffered design with individually jacketed fibers. Designed for ease of connectorization and rugged applications for intra- or inter-building requirements.

A kit that provides a breakout cable structure for non-breakout structures (with one fiber per tube).

In the LAN arena, it is a device used to connect two physically separate networks.

The multiple appearances of the same cable pair at several distribution points.

A high impedance parallel connection.

A two-part wire rope sling attached to a single part line. The legs of the sling are spread to divide and equalize the load

Wire rope made of wires that are not coated with zinc, tin, or any other protective metal

In stimulated Brillouin backscattering (SBS), the laser signal creates periodic regions of altered refractive index; that is, a periodic grating that travels as an acoustic wave away from the signal. This effect can result in a noisy and unstable forward-propagating signal, since much of the optical energy is backscattered.

A modification of the Birmingham Wire Gauge and the legal standard of Great Britain for all wires. Also known as Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), New British Standard (NBS), English Legal Standard and Imperial Wire Guide.

The temperature below which a material becomes brittle, often measured by a cold impact test.

A transmission facility that has a bandwidth (capacity) capable of carrying numerous voice, video and data channels simultaneously. Each channel operates on a different frequency. Cable TV is a broadband transmission.

Personal-communications-services systems offered in 30-MHz blocks at 1.9-GHz; voice-capable versus narrowband personal communications services, which is paging oriented.

The first FTTx standard issued as ITU-T G.983, the B-PON standard was designed for the bidirectional transmission of ATM cells over G.652 single-mode fiber at a distance of 20 kilometers using wavelength independent couplers (splitters) with split rates of up to 1:32. Originally defined by the FSAN S652 document.

To send a message to two or more receiving devices at the same time.

Message transmission which may be read by a large number of destinations rather than just one. Satellite is an example.

Wire rope made of bronze wires

A combination bridge and router, performing the functions of both in a single device.

An air bubble in a splice that can cause high loss.

A protective coating over an optical fiber. A soft material extruded tightly over the fiber coating, mechanically isolates individual fiber.

A protective material with no optical function that covers and protects a fiber. A secondary plastic coating adhered around the coating of the optical fiber to provide additional protection against damage. Normally 250 or 900 microns.

Part of a loose tube cable structure, buffer tubes accommodate 250-micron coated fibers in a loose configuration. The buffer tubes can be filled with gel, powder, or tapes to resist moisture intrusion.

A motorized device for removing flat cable insulation by means of buffing wheels that melt the insulation and brush it away from the conductors. Also called Abrasion Stripper.

A cable that connects the building distributor to a floor distributor. Building backbone cables may also connect floor distributors in the same building.

A distributor in which the building backbone cable(s) terminate(s) and at which connections to the campus backbone cable(s) may be made.

A space in which the joining of inter- or intra-building telecommunications backbone facilities takes place. An entrance room may also serve as an equipment room.

A facility that provides all necessary mechanical and electrical services, that complies with all relevant regulations, for the entry of telecommunications cables into a building.

A network service provider that contracts with real estate, property owners, and building managers to provide broadband services within multiple tenant units or multiple dwelling units.

Insulated wires used in building for light and power, 600 volts or less, usually not exposed to outdoor environment.

Slight overfeed results in bulging at the splice point. Bulging is not always lossy. Splice strength requires a solid fusion joint; monitor splice strength if you are reducing feed to eliminate bulging. Also known as a fat splice.

As related to interphase, the adherend, unaltered by the adhesive.

As related to interphase, the adhesive, unaltered by the adherend.

Any sealant or caulk that has no defined shape and is stored in a container.

A term used to define a mounting style of connectors. Bulkhead connectors are designed to be inserted into a panel cutout from the rear (component side) or front side of the panel.

Conductors twisted together with the same lay and direction without regard to geometric pattern.

All strands having a random position within the conductor. No distinct layers are formed.

A group of strands twisted together in a random manner and the same direction without regard to geometric arrangement of specific strands.

A machine that twists wires together in random arrangement.

Several individual fibers contain within a single jacket or buffer tube. Also a group of buffered fibers distinguished in some fashion from another group in the same cable core.

An assembly or two or more cables continuously bound together to form a single unit.

Cable placed by trenching, direct burial, plowing, boring, or installation into underground ducts.

A cable installed directly in the earth without use of underground round conduit. Also called Direct Burial Cable.

Telephone wires which are designed to provide buried service extensions from distribution cables to the subscriber's protector.

The ability of a tape to resist damage when force is evenly applied perpendicularly to the surface of the tape.

Wire used to connect two terminals insode of an electrical unit. Consists of a common transmission path with a number of nodes attached to it. Sometimes referred to as linear network topology; An electrical connection tying two or more points together. A bus can be serial or parallel and can carry both dynamic signals or DC voltage.

The data-circuit terminating equipment which provides access to a LAN. It may also provide packet assembly/disassembly functions. May be an add-on card or a separate box.

A topology based on all communicating devices being attached to a common medium. Various access methods are used including CSMA/CD and Token Passing. Typically bus networks carry data in the millions of bits per second data rate.

A local area network (LAN) topology in which endpoints connect to a single wire or fiber, or set of wires or fibers, at any point. The Ethernet LAN is one example.

Uninsulated tinned copper wire used as a common lead.

A mechanical device used as a lining for an opening to prevent abrasion to wire and cable.

A communication system that adds wireless capability to an in-building or campus communications network. Also known as Wireless PBX or Enterprise PCS.

The joining of two or more circuits. (MIL-STD)

Joining of two conductors end-to-end, with no overlap and with the axes in line.

Closure with cable ports located at one end of the closure.

A splice where two wires from opposite ends butt against each other, or against a stop, in the center of a splice.

Tape wrapped around an object or conductor in an edge-to-edge condition.

The contact achieved when two conductors come together end-to-end, but do not overlap, with their axis in line.

Crimping dies so designed that the nest and indentor touch at the end of the crimping cycle. Also called "Bottoming Dies" (MIL-STD)

Wire ropes to which buttons or discs are attached at regular intervals to move material in a trough

A synthetic rubber with good insulating properties.

Federal legislation governing the requirements for domestically manufactured products used in federally funded procurement contracts

A high-speed switch that transfers an optical signal to an alternate fiber.

A binary string operated as a unit. The byte is usually shorter than a computer word and often is used to represent a character. Byte is used colloquially to refer to eight bits or binary digits.