A to Z of electronics glossary
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In every industry there is a huge amount of jargon thrown around. Acronyms make life easier when you’re working within the industry all the time, but can make it tough for you, particularly if you’re not an electronics engineer. If we do start spouting jargon at you, please accept our apologies and you have our permission to pull us up on it. As you’re reading through this website, we hope that this page will provide you with the definitions you need to fully understand what we are going on about! If you have a question about electronics design or anything else send us a question, we’ll always be happy to hear from you. If you want more resources try our blog full of free top electronics tips
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A-Z of electronics table
Your A to Z of electronics glossary
Acronym or Abbreviation | What is stands for | What it means |
---|---|---|
A | Ampere | a unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulomb per second. |
AC | Alternating Current | an electric current that reverses its direction many times a second at regular intervals, typically used in power supplies. |
ADC | Analogue to Digital Converter | a system that that converts an analogue signal, such as sound from a microphone, into a digital signal to be processed by a microprocessor |
AM | Amplitude Modulation | the modulation of a wave by varying its amplitude, used especially as a means of broadcasting an audio signal by combining it with a radio carrier wave. |
ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange | 7-bit character set containing 128 characters. It contains the numbers from 0-9, the upper and lower case English letters from A to Z, and some special characters |
BASIC | Beginners all-purpose symbolic instruction code | a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use |
BCD | Binary Coded Decimal | binary codings of decimal numbers. Each decimal digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four or eight |
BER | Bit Error Rate | the rate at which errors occur in the transmission of digital data, |
BGA | Ball Grid Array | a type of surface-mount packaging (a chip carrier) used for integrated circuits. BGA packages are used to permanently mount devices such as microprocessors, instead of using pins for connections BGAs use a grid of solder balls |
BIOS | Basic Input Output System | non-volatile firmware used to perform hardware initialization during startup and to run the operating system |
BIT | Smallest unit of storage | stores a '0' or '1' in memory using electric charge or other state change |
BJT | Bipolar junction transistor | a type of transistor that uses both electron and hole charge carriers. In contrast, unipolar transistors, such as field-effect transistors, only use one kind of charge carrier. |
BLE | Bluetooth Low Energy | a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainment industries. |
BNC | Bayonet NeillConcelman | Miniature quick connect radio frequency connector for coaxial cable |
BYTE | Collection of Eight Bits | A group of eight bits |
C | The C Programming Language | C is a programming language used for developing firmware or portable applications. C was developed at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie for the Unix Operating System in the early 1970s. |
CAD | Computer Aided Design | the use of computer systems (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design |
CAN | Controller Area Network | a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other in applications without a host computer |
CCD | Charge Coupled Device | device for the movement of electrical charge between capacitative bins |
CDMA | Code Division Multiple Access | a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies |
CMOS | Complimentary Metal on Silicon | a technology for constructing integrated circuits. |
CODEC | COde DECode | a codec is a device or computer program for encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. |
DAC | Digital to Analogue Converter | a digital-to-analog converter is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal |
dBm | dB (decibel) referenced to 1 milliwatt | used in radio, microwave and optical communications dBm is an absolute unit |
DC | Direct Current | electric current flowing in a constant direction, distinguishing it from alternating current (AC) |
DDR | Double data rate (memory) | in computing, a computer bus operating with double data rate (DDR) transfers data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal. This is also known asdouble pumped, dual-pumped, and double transition. The term toggle mode is used in the context of NAND flash memory |
DVM | Digital Volt-meter | a digital voltmeter (DVM) measures an unknown input voltage by converting the voltage to a digital value |
ECN | Engineering Change Notice | a document authorizing and recording design changes throughout the prototyping and life-cycle phases of a product. ECN documentation contains the justification for changes made to a component or system once the initial design is complete |
EEPROM | Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory | user-modifiable read-only memory (ROM) that can be erased and reprogrammed (written to) repeatedly through the application of higher than normal electrical voltage. Unlike EPROM chips, EEPROMs do not need to be removed from the computer to be modified. |
EMC | Electromagnetic Compatibility | the branch of electrical engineering concerned with the unintentional generation, propagation and reception ofelectromagnetic energy which may cause unwanted effects such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) or even physical damage in operational equipment. |
ESD | Electrostatic Discharge | sudden flow of electricity between two charged objects caused by contact, an electrical short, or dielectric breakdown |
ESR | Equivalent Series Resistance | In a non-electrolytic capacitor and electrolytic capacitors with solid electrolyte the metallic resistance of the leads and electrodes and losses in the dielectric cause the ESR. Typically quoted values of ESR for ceramic capacitors are between 0.01 and 0.1 ohms. |
ETSI | European Telecommunications Standards Institute | A European Standards Organization developing World Class Standards in Europe for global use. |
F | Farad (units of capacitance) | The farad (symbol: F) is the SI derived unit of electrical capacitance, the ability of a body to store an electrical charge. It is named after the English physicist Michael Faraday. |
FCC | Federal Communications Commission | an independent agency of the United States government created by statute (47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154) to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. |
FDMA | Frequency Division Multiple Access | a communications technique where a frequency band is divided into multiple slots |
FEC | Forward Error Correction | a technique used for controlling errors in data transmission over unreliable or noisy communication channels. |
FET | Field Effect Transistor | an electronic device that uses an electric field applied between the gate and source connections to control the flow of current |
FM | Frequency Modulation | the modulation of a radio or other wave by variation of its frequency, especially to carry an audio signal. |
FMEA | Failure Mode Effects Analysis | a step-by-step approach for identifying all possiblefailures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service |
FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array | an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturing hence "field-programmable". |
FR-4 | Flame Resistant 4 (PCB substrate) | a NEMA grade designation for glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material. FR-4 ... FR-4 is a common material for printed circuit boards (PCBs). |
FSK | Frequency Shift Keying | a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. |
FTP | Foiled Twisted Pair | cableing with foil shielding around the twisted cable pairs |
GaN | Gallium Nitride | a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. |
GbE | Gigabit Ethernet | a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second (1,000,000,000 bits per second), as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. |
GFSK | Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying | a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. |
GPRS | General Package Radio Service | a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). |
GSM | Global system for mobile communication | a digital mobile telephony system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. |
H | Henrys (unit of inductance) | the SI unit of inductance. It is named after Joseph Henry (17971878), the American scientist who discoveredelectromagnetic induction |
HALT | Highly Accelerated Lifetime Testing | a stress testing methodology for enhancing product reliability |
HMI | Human Machine Interface | in its simplest terms, includes any device or software that allows you to interact with a machine. |
HTML | HyperText Markup Language | the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications. |
I2C | Inter IC | a synchronous, multi-master, multi-slave, packet switched, single-ended, serial computer bus invented in 1982 by Philips Semiconductor |
IC | Integrated Circuit | a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon |
ICE | In-Circuit Emulation | the use of a hardware device or in-circuit emulator used to debug the software of an embedded system. |
IDE | Integrated Development Environment | a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger |
IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission | an international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies |
IP | Internet Protocol | the main communications protocol for relaying data across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. |
JEDEC | Joint Electron Device Engineering Council | an independent semiconductor engineering trade organization and standardization body. JEDEC has over 300 members, including some of the world's largest computer companies |
JTAG | Joint Test Action Group | an industry standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. JTAG implements standards for on-chip instrumentation in electronic design automation as a complementary tool to digital simulation |
KBPS | Kilobits per second | a unit of data transfer rate equal to: 1,000 kilobits per second. 1,000,000 bits per second. 125,000 bytes per second. |
KWH | Kilowatt Hours | a unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules. If energy is transmitted or used at a constant rate over a period of time, the total energy in kilowatt hours is equal to the power in kilowatts multiplied by the time in hours. |
LAN | Local Area Network | a computer network that links devices within a building or group of adjacent buildings, especially one with a radius of less than 1 km. |
LASER | Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation | a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". |
LDO | Low Drop Out Regulator | a DC linear voltage regulator that can regulate the output voltage even when the supply voltage is very close to the output voltage |
LED | Light Emitting Diode | a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a pn junction diode that emits light when activated. |
LTE | Long Term Evolution | 4G wireless broadband technology |
LoRa | Long Range (Radio Communication) | LoRa Technology offers an efficient, flexible and economical solution to real-world problems in rural and indoor use cases, where cellular and Wi-Fi/BLE based networks are ineffective. |
MAC | Medium Access Control | a sublayer of the data link layer (DLL) in the seven-layer OSI network reference model. MAC is responsible for the transmission of data packets to and from the network-interface card, and to and from another remotely shared channel. |
MCU | Microcontroller Unit | a small computer on a single integrated circuit. In modern terminology, it is similar to, but less sophisticated than, a system on a chip or SoC; an SoC may include a microcontroller as one of its components |
MDIO | Management Data Input/Output | also known as Serial Management Interface (SMI) or Media Independent Interface Management (MIIM), is a serial bus defined for the Ethernet family of IEEE 802.3 standards for the Media Independent Interface, or MII |
MPU | Microprocessor Unit | a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit on a singleintegrated circuit (IC), or at most a few integrated circuits. |
NC | Not Connected | a connection on an integrated circuit that is deliberately not connected. These may be used in production for test or may simply be not required |
NEP | Noise Equivalent Power | a measure of the sensitivity of a photodetector or detector system. It is defined as the signal power that gives a signal-to-noise ratio of one in a one hertz output bandwidth. An output bandwidth of one hertz is equivalent to half a second of integration time. |
NF | Noise Figure | measure of degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), caused by components in a signal chain. It is a number by which the performance of an amplifier or a radio receiver can be specified, with lower values indicating better performance. |
NFC | Near Field Communication | a set of communication protocols that enable two electronic devices, one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to establish communicationby bringing them within 4 cm (1.6 in) of each other. |
OC | Open Collector | a common type of output found on many integrated circuits (IC), which behaves like a switch that is either connected to ground or disconnected. |
OCXO | Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator | an electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a precise frequency |
OLED | Organic LED | a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organiccompound that emits light in response to an electric current. |
OS | Operating System | the low-level software that supports a computer's basic functions, such as scheduling tasks and controlling peripherals, examples include Linux, Android, and Windows |
PCI | Peripheral Component Interface | part of the PCI Local Bus standard. The PCI bus supports the functions found on a processor bus but in a standardized format that is independent of any particular processor's native bus. |
PCM | Pulse Code Modulation | a pulse modulation technique in which the amplitude of an analogue signal is converted to a binary value represented as a series of pulses. |
PFC | Power Factor Correction | power factor correction is a technique of increasing the power factor of a power supply. Switching power supplies without power factor correction draw current in short, high-magnitude pulses. These pulses can be smoothed out by using active or passive techniques. This reduces the input RMS current and apparent input power, thereby increasing the power factor. |
PSK | Phase Shift Keying | a digital modulation process which conveys data by changing (modulating) the phase of a constant frequency reference signal (the carrier wave). The modulation is accomplished by varying the sine and cosine inputs at a precise time. |
QFN | Quad Flat Non-leaded package | a surface mount integrated circuit package with "gull wing" leads extending from each of the four sides. |
QOS | Quality of Service | the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network or a cloud computing service, particularly the performanceseen by the users of the network. |
RAM | Random Access Memory | a form of computer data storage that stores data and machine code currently being used. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside thememory. |
RCD | Residual Current Detector | a device that instantly breaks an electric circuit to prevent serious harm from an ongoing electric shock. Injury may still occur in some cases, for example if a human falls after receiving a shock. |
RF | Radio Frequency | a frequency or band of frequencies in the range 100kHz to 10GHz or even 100GHz, suitable for use in telecommunications. |
ROM | Read Only Memory | memory read at high speed but not capable of being changed by program instructions. |
RTOS | Real Time Operating System | is a software component that rapidly switches between tasks, giving the impression that multiple programs are being executed at the same time on a single processing core |
SAR | Successive Approximation Register | a type of analog-to-digital converter that converts a continuous analog waveform into a discrete digital representation via a binary search through all possible quantization levels before finally converging upon a digital output for each conversion. |
SBC | Single Board Computer | a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. |
SCL | Serial Clock (I2C) | an interface bus commonly used to send data between microcontrollers and small peripherals such as shift registers, sensors, and SD cards on an I2C bus |
SDA | Serial Data (I2C) | the data sent with the serial clock (SCL) on an I2C bus |
SFTP | Shielded and Foiled Twisted Pair | High performance cable where data pairs are twisted together and shielded with foil, the overall cable made of a number of foiled pairs is then contained within an overall screen, often made from flexible braid |
SOM | System On Module | densely packaged computer system for use in small or specialized applications requiring low power consumption or small physical size for embedded systems |
SPI | Serial Peripheral Interface | The Serial Peripheral Interface is a synchronous serial communication interface specification used for short distance communication, primarily in embedded systems. |
STEP | STandard for the Exchange of Product model data | an ISO standard for the computer-interpretable representation and exchange of product manufacturing information. Its official title is: Automation systems and integration Product data representation and exchange. |
STP | Shielded Twisted Pair | a special kind of copper telephone wiring used in some business installations. An outer covering or shield is added to the ordinary twisted pair telephone wires; the shield functions as a ground. |
TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol | a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet. TCP/IP can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (an intranet or an extranet). |
TCXO | Temperature Controlled Crystal Oscillator | Temperature Controlled Crystal Oscillator or Analogue TemperatureCompensated Crystal Oscillator (ATCXO) uses analog sampling techniques to correct the temperature deficiencies of a crystal oscillator circuit, its package and its environment. |
TDM | Time Division Multiplexing | a method of transmitting and receiving independent signals over a common signal path by means of synchronized switches at each end of the transmission line so that each signal appears on the line only a fraction of time in an alternating pattern. |
UART | Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter | a computer hardware device for asynchronous serial communication in which the data format and transmission speeds are configurable. |
UDP | User Datagram Protocol | one of the core members of the Internet protocol suite. The protocol was designed by David P. Reed in 1980 and formally defined in RFC 768 |
UL | Underwriters Laboratory | a global independent safety science company with more than a century of expertise innovating safety solutions. |
USB | Universal Serial Bus | an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply between personal computers and their peripheral devices. |
UTP | Unshielded Twisted Pair | a ubiquitous type of copper cabling used in telephone wiring and local area networks (LANs) with pairs of cables twisted together to cancel common mode noise |
V | Voltage or Volt | The voltage between two points is equal to the work done per unit of charge against a static electric field to move a test charge between two points. This is measured in units of volts (a joule per coulomb); moving 1 coulomb of charge across 1 volt of electric potential requires 1 joule of work |
VCO | Voltage Controlled Oscillator | an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. |
VDU | Visual Display Unit | a device for displaying input signals as characters on a screen. |
VoIP | Voice over IP | transmission of voice and multimedia content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks |
VSWR | Voltage Standing Wave Ratio | a mathematical expression of the non-uniformity of an electromagnetic field (EM field) on a transmission line such as coaxial cable. Usually, SWR is defined as the ratio of the maximum radio-frequency (RF) voltage to the minimum RF voltage along the line. The ideal VSWR is therefore 1:1. |
WAN | Wide Area Network | a computer network in which the computers connected may be far apart, generally having a radius of more than 1 km. |
WDM | Wavelength Division Multiplexing | a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light. |
WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network | a wirelessdistribution method for two or more devices that use high-frequency radio waves and often include an access point to the Internet. A WLAN allows users to move around the coverage area, often a home or small office, while maintaining a network connection. |
WYSIWYG | What you see is what you get | It is generally supposed that the phrase 'what you see is what you get', the acronym 'wysiwyg' and the computer interface that they referred to emerged in close succession. |
XLR | eXternal Left Right (audio) | The XLR connector is a style of electrical connector, primarily found on professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. The connectors are circular in design and have between 3 and 7 pins |
XTAL | Crystal | an informal abbreviation for crystals. |
Y | Admittance | a measure of how easily a circuit or device will allow a current to flow. It is defined as the reciprocal of impedance |
ZIF | Zero Insertion Force | a type of IC socket or electrical connector that requires very little force forinsertion. |
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