Fiber Optic Center Glossary

Defined by ITU-T G.692 as “extended” for wavelengths between 1360 and 1460 nm. This band includes the high OH peak in single-mode fibers. G.652D fiber is designed for transmission within the extended band. In FTTx systems, the term can be confused with the enhancement band, which the ITU-T G.983 and G.984 PON FTTx standards define as the wavelengths between 1550 and 1560 nm for RF overlay transmission of video signals.

A 10-MHz personal-communications-services carrier serving a basic trading area in the 1885-to-1890-MHz frequency range paired with 1965-to-1970-MHz

Electronic Business

German name for GMS 1800 network

Short for “electronic retailing”

Originally “Ear” and “Mouth,” now ‘recEive” and “TransMit.”

E2000 connector looks like a miniature SC connector. The connector is easy to install, with a push-pull latching mechanism which clicks when fully inserted. It features a spring-loaded shutter which fully protects the ferrule from dust and scratches.

British terminology for zero reference ground.

The electronic ground equipment used with a parabolic-shaped antenna or "dish" to process RF signals to and from a satellite.

Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code. An 8-bit code developed by IBM for data transfer between their computers.

European Backbone

A measure of the center of a conductor's location with respect to the circular cross-section of the insulation surrounding it, expressed as a percentage of center displacement of one circle within the other.

An electric current induced in a conductor by a varying magnetic field.

The peeling back or lifting of the outer edge of a tape after application. (See cupping)

A diode that emits lights from the edge of the semiconductor chip, producing higher power and narrower spectral width.

Percentage ratio of measured breaking strength of a wire rope to the aggregate strength of all individual wires tested separately

A moldable, high temperature polymer.

Limit of stress above which a permanent deformation takes place within the material

The ability of a crosslinked polymer to be deformed to some predetermined shape, hold that shape for a period, and then return to its original shape upon application of heat.

The ability of a material to return to its original shape after removal of a load.

Type of polymer. A material which at room temperature stretches under low stress to at least twice its length and snaps back to original length upon release of stress.

The maximum potential gradient that a material can withstand without rupture.

That length of a cable assembly expressed as degrees of a cycle or fraction of a wave length for the signal transmitted. In the case of a cable assembly, the electrical length equals the physical length times the square root of the dielectric constant.

A measurement of the resistance from circuit to circuit through the interfacial connection, designed to insure a satisfactory connection.

Electrolytic process of tinning wire using pure tin.

A conductor through which a current enters or leaves a nonmetallic conductor. The device in a fusion splicer that discharges the electric energy, fusing two or more fibers together.

Conductors, usually strips or plates used to carry the radio frequency power to the surfaces of the material to be heated.

The production of chemical changes by passage of current through an electrolyte.

A measure of the tape's corrosive effect on a copper conductor. This is particularly important in the selection of tapes for use as electrical insulation.

A term describing the method of raw copper preparation to ensure a good physical and electrical grade copper finished product containing less than 1/10 of 1% impurities. (ASTM B5.)

Pertaining to the combined electric and magnetic fields associated with movements of electrons through conductors. Describes a devices ability to function properly in athe customer's environment without causig electomagnetic interference to other equipment, or itself being susceptible to external interference.

The capability of equipment or systems to be used in their intended environment within designed efficiency levels without causing or receiving degradation due to unintentional EMI.

The transfer of energy by means of a varying magnetic field. Inductive Coupling.

A rapidly moving electric field and its associated moving magnetic field.

Electric and magnetic fields (commonly referred to as emissions) generated by equipment or system.

The production of a voltage in a coil due to a change in the number of magnetic lines of force (flux linkages) passing through the coil.

A natural or man-made electrical or electromagnetic event conducted or radiated and resulting in unintentional and undesirable responses. Referred to as EMI

A burst of electromagnetic radiation that results from an explosion (usually from the detonation of a nuclear weapon) and/or a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field.

Pressure or voltage. The force which causes current to flow in a circuit.

A measure of the energy gained by an electron falling through an electric field produced by one volt.

Former body for test and measurement methods and procedure standards. Ceased operations in 2011.

A length of conductive or semiconductive material used in an electronic application.

A method of electrically depositing metals of very precise compositions and thickness onto a base metal.

Pertaining to static electricity or electricity at rest. A constant intensity electric charge

The transfer of energy by means of a varying electrostatic field. Capacitive coupling.

A copper or laminated aluminum/mylar tape wrap around a signal or instrumentation circuit (pair, triad, etc.) to protect from the electric field radiated by a voltage source. The grounded shield intercepts static interference and carries it off to ground.

The fractional increase in length of a material stressed in tension.

The tensile strain in a test piece stretched to breaking point, the conditions being such that the stress is substantially uniform over the cross - section.

A marker identification by means of thermal indentation leaving raised lettering on the sheath material of cable.

A secondary traffic management center for emergency situations when the main traffic management center is unavailable or where additional monitoring or control is required.

Load which occurs when larger than normal currents are carried through a cable or wire over a certain period of time.

A kit consisting of a length of optical cable, two closures, splice products, tools, and fixtures to assist in temporary or permanent restoration of cable repairs.

Electromotive force (voltage).

Electromagnetic Interference. Any electrical or electromagnetic interference that causes undesirable response, degradation, or failure in electronic equipment. Optical fibers neither emit nor receive EMI.

A circuit or device containing series-inductive and parallel-capacitive components that provide a low impedance path for high-frequency noise around a protected circuit.

The reduction in strength of electromagnetic fields and noise that can interfere with and alter a valid transmitted signal traveling in/on a metallic wire. This is typically accomplished by shielding; it can also include use of ferrites or toroids and/or capacitive couplers.

A dispersion of fine particles in water. A heterogeneous system in which an immiscible liquid is distributed in fine drops in another liquid.

A conductor with a baked-on enamel film insulation. In addition to magnet wire, enameled insulation is used on thermocouple type wires and other wires.

An adhesive in which the particles or droplets of one of the relative components are enclosed in a protective film (microcapsules) to prevent cure until the film is destroyed by suitable means.

Covering and sealing

Defined by IEC 14763, TIA 455-203, and IEEE 802.3ae, EF is the most accurate test for determining optical attenuation for multimode fibers. Most often used in factory environments due to its complexity and equipment costs.

A device that converts discrete component signals into a composite signal.

The conversion of plain text into an unintelligible form from which the original meaning can be recovered.

An accessory similar to a cable clamp that attaches to the back of a plug or receptacle. It serves as an adaptor for the rear of connectors.

An insulated splice in which two or more wires overlap and enter the splice from the same end of the barrel.

The quality of the end surface of a fiber prepared for splicing or terminated in a connector.

Functional group at the end of a chain in polymers, e.g. carboxylic group.

The optical power loss caused by distance between the end of a fiber and a source, detector, or another fiber.

An accessory similar to a cable clamp or strain relief which attaches to the back of a connector. It serves as an adapter for the rear of a connector.

The surface area of the fiber optic ferrule where the optical fiber is centered and polished.

Rope whose two ends are spliced together

The number of wires or threads on a braider carrier.

The procedure by which aircraft cable is tested for longevity in applications requiring cycles over a pulley or other device. This test differs from a pull test by simulating real world applications and environments

To apply rated voltage to a circuit or device in order to activate.

Loss of energy from a system due to the conversion of work energy into an undesirable form, usually heat. Dissipation of electrical energy occurs when current flows through a resistance.

The amount of force needed to engage and/or separate contact elements in mating connectors. See "Contact Pressure."

The next generation of SMR, ESMR takes advantage of digital technology combined with cellular system architecture to provide greater capacity than existing SMR systems.

A communication system that adds wireless capability to an in-building or campus communications network.

A proprietary IBM data communications system consisting of duplex fiber transmission of up to 1.2 Gb/s.

The entrance to a building for communications and power. It provides the transition between the outside plant and the premises. The entrance facility can connect to telecom, utility, or communication rooms or closets.

An entrance to a building for both public and private network service cables (including antennae) including the entrance point at the building wall and continuing to the entrance room or space.

The point of emergence of telecommunications conductors through an exterior wall, a concrete floor slab, or from a rigid metal conduit or intermediate metal conduit.

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.

Aggregate of all conditions which externally influence a connector's performance.

A connector provided with gaskets, seals, potting, or other devices to keep out moisture, dirt, air, or dust which might lower its performance.

An adhesive used in the connector termination process.

Plastic materials that become hard, infusible solids upon the addition of a hardening agent. Epoxy resins have excellent adhesive action, high chemical, solvent, and thermal resistance, and low shrinkage on curing.

A connector that requires no epoxy to hold the optical fiber to the connector.

Is the same as FEXT, except that the coupled signal at the remote end is relative to the attenuated signal at the remote end on the pair the signal was applied to at the local end.

A measure of the unwanted signal coupling from a transmitter at the near-end into a neighboring pair measured at the far-end relative to the received signal level measured on that same pair.

An even distribution of current between the parallel cables in a power circuit.

A device to vary frequency response to compensate for differences is a system.

Special type of fitting used as a component part of some wire rope slings

More than one layer of helically laid wires with the direction of lay reversed for successive layers, but with the length of lay the same for each layer.

Steady-state modal distribution in multimode fiber, achieved some distance from the source, where the relative power in the modes becomes stable with increasing distance.

The moisture content eventually attained in wood exposed to a given level of relative humidity and temperature.

A cable connecting equipment to a distributor.

A cable or cable assembly used to connect telecommunications equipment to horizontal or backbone cabling.

The room in which voice and data common equipment (for example, a Definity switch) is housed, protected, and maintained, and where circuit administration is done using the trunk and distribution cross connects.

A centralized space for telecommunications equipment that serves the occupants of the building. An equipment room is considered distinct from a telecommunications closet because of the nature of complexity or the equipment.

The part of a premises distribution system that includes the cable and distribution components in an equipment room and that interconnects system-common equipment, other associated equipment, and cross connects.

An optical amplifier that uses active erbium-doped fiber and a pump source (laser) to boost or amplify the optical signal. Used in DWDM, CATV HFC, RF overlay and RFoG systems. Amplifies mostly in the C-band (1530 to 1565 nm).

ESCON (Enterprise Systems Connection) is a data connection created by IBM, and is commonly used to connect their mainframe computers to peripheral devices such as disk storage and tape drives. ESCON is an optical fiber, half-duplex, serial interface. … ESCON was introduced by IBM in the early 1990s.

A process, using either chemicals or plasma which roughens the surface of a wire to assist in bonding to or making the wire.

A process applied to fluoro plastic wire in which the wire is passed through a sodium bath to create a rough surface to allow epoxy resin to bond the fluoro plastic.

Ethernet Local Exchange Carrier

A data communications protocol for premises and local access networks (IEEE 802.3). Ethernet features variable length packets that allow data to be sent with less overhead.

Based on IEEE 802.3ah protocol for Ethernet, EPON is a network data transport using a variable length packet structure up to 1,518 bytes at data rates up to 1,000 Mb/s over single-mode fiber. The EPON format uses up to 1:32 optical splitters and can use either one fiber bi-directionally (BX) or two fibers (LX) in low medium or high power configurations.

An ozone resistant rubber consisting primarily of ethylene propylene copolymer (EPM) or ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EDPM).

ERMES is the public Pan-European lank-based paging system.

One of the European organizations responsible for establishing common industry-wide standards for telecommunications.

The most common solder alloy because of its low melting point (183oC/361oF). Can be any alloy that changes from a liquid to a solid state at a defined temperature.

A eutectic system is a mixture of chemical compounds or elements that has a single chemical composition that solidifies at a lower temperature than any other composition made up of the same ingredients. This composition is known as the eutectic composition and the temperature at which it solidifies is known as the eutectic temperature. On a phase diagram the intersection of the eutectic temperature and the eutectic composition gives the eutectic point. Non-eutectic mixtures will display solidification of one component of the mixture before the other. Not all binary alloys have a eutectic point; for example, in the silver-gold system the melt temperature and freeze temperature both increase monotonically as the mix changes from pure silver to pure gold

The rate at which a material will vaporize compared with a known substance.

The amount of light lost in a coupler, beyond that inherent in the splitting to multiple output fibers.

The angle between the output radiation vectors and the axis of the fiber or fiber bundle.

Exothermic materials give off heat when they cure. When large quantities cure all at one time, the amount of heat given off (the exotherm) can be high enough to melt plastic containers.

A chemical reaction which gives off heat.

Diameter of shrink tubing as supplied. When heated the tubing will shrink to its extruded diameter.

The specified minimum (as supplied) internal diameter of tubing.

See Cellular Polyethylene

An analog cellular system used mainly in Europe. It has also been implemented in some areas in Japan, the United Kingdom, China, and other regions of the world. The ETACS was developed from the US Advanced Mobile Phone Service technology.

Substance added to an adhesive to reduce the amount of the primary binder required per unit area.

The ability of a sealant to stretch under tensile load.

The effects of electrical waves or fields which cause spurious signals other than the desired intelligence, e.g. noise.

Electronic wiring which interconnects subsystems within the system.

A grade of galvanized or bright strand

See "Grades, Rope"

A device used for removing removable contacts from a connector. A device used for removing taper pins from taper pin receptacles. (MIL-STD)

Loss caused by imperfect alignment of fibers in a connector or splice such as lateral offset, angular misalignment, end separation, and end finish.

Cable with conductors which a re uniformly insulated and formed by applying a homogeneous insulation material in a continuous extrusion process.

A method of forcing thermoplastic, rubber or elastomer material under elevated temperature through a die to apply an insulation or a jacket to a cable.

Failure that occurs when a sealant is forced too far out of a joint by compression forces. The sealant may be abraded by dirt or folded over by traffic.

A loop with or without a thimble formed in the end of a wire rope