| 0-9 |
| 10 Base-T | Basic Ethernet at 10 Mbit/sec |
| 100 Base-T | Ethernet running at 100 Mbit/sec |
| 1000 Base-T | Ethernet running at 1,000 Mbit/sec |
| 128QAM | QAM with 7 bits per symbol. |
| 16QAM | QAM with 4 bits per symbol. |
| 1G | First Generation. Refers to analog cellular systems |
| 1x | A cdma2000 notation that indicates that one carrier is being used. Compare with 3x |
| 1xEVDO | See EvDO |
| 1xEVDV | See EVDV |
| 1XRTT | cdma2000 operating mode at basic chip rate (1.2288 Mcps). The theoretical top speed is 153 kbps |
| 2G | Second Generation. Refers to digital cellular and PCS wireless systems oriented to voice and low speed data services |
| 2R | Receive, Reshape (an optical signal). See 3R |
| 32QAM | QAM with 5 bits per symbol. |
| 3G | Third Generation. Refers to the next generation of wireless systems - digital with high speed data. Being standardized by 3GPP and 3GPP2 |
| 3GiA | 3G Internet Appliance |
| 3GPP | 3rd Generation Partnership Project for W-CDMA (GSM) |
| 3GPP2 | 3rd Generation Partnership Project for cdma2000 |
| 3GSP | 3G Service Provider |
| 3R | Reshaping, Retiming, Reamplifying (an optical signal). See 2R |
| 3WC | Three Way Call |
| 3x | A cdma2000 notation that indicates that three carriers are being used. Compare with 1x. Not widely implemented. Although this allows higher maximum speeds, the average speed per user will not change significantly |
| 3XRTT | cdma2000 operating mode at 3 times the basic chip rate of 1.2288 Mcps |
| 64QAM | QAM with 6 bits per symbol. |
| 802.11 | An IEEE committee that standardizes a wireless Ethernet replacement technology in the ISM band. 802.11b is most commonly implemented and runs at approximately 10 Mbps in the 2.4GHz band. 802.11a runs at 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band. 802.11g provides 24 Mbps in the same band as 802.11b. |
| 802.11a | A WiFi WLAN variant that is higher speed (54 Mbps) than 802.11b. Because it also operates in a different frequency band it has proven less popular than 802.11g which offers higher speed in the same band as 802.11b thus providing a simpler migration strategy. The range of this protocol is also lower and the LOS requirements more stringent. See ADRC |
| 802.11b | IEEE Wireless LAN system providing throughput of about 11 Mbps but see ADRC |
| 802.11c | An IEEE standard for network interoperability between WLAN protocols |
| 802.11d | An IEEE standard for operation of their WLAN protocols outside the normal frequency bands (e.g. due to the unavailability of those bands in some countries) |
| 802.11e | An IEEE standard for QoS in their WLAN protocols 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n |
| 802.11f | An IEEE standard for interconnection between wireless APs |
| 802.11g | A second generation version of WiFi providing 54 Mbps raw throughput (typically a user data rate of about half that) in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as 802.11b. This gave it an advantage over 802.11a which had similar performance but operated in a different frequency band. |
| 802.11h | An IEEE standard for spectrum and transmit power management for their WLAN protocols |
| 802.11i | Enhanced security for IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11j | An adaptation of 802.11 WLAN protocols to the Japanese 4.9-5 GHz frequency band |
| 802.11k | A proposed IEEE standard for RRM |
| 802.11m | A group for editorial maintenance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN standards |
| 802.11n | A future IEEE WLAN protocol that promises raw data rates of 540 Mbps in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band and thus will likely eventually replace 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The protocol is scheduled for completion in 2009. See EWC |
| 802.11p | A proposed IEEE standard for ITS. Also known as WAVE |
| 802.11r | A proposed IEEE standard for handoff between APs |
| 802.11s | A proposed IEEE standard for mesh networking |
| 802.11t | A proposed test specification for IEEE WLAN standards |
| 802.11u | A proposed standard for authorization of users on IEEE WLANs |
| 802.11v | A proposed wireless network management standard for IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11w | A proposed standard for the protection of system management information in IEEE WLAN protocols |
| 802.11y | A proposed standard for operation of IEEE WLAN protocols in the 3.65-3.7 GHz frequency band |
| 802.15 | See Bluetooth |
| 802.16 | IEEE WiMax radio interface. |
| 802.3 | IEEE standard for Ethernet |
| 8PSK | PSK with 8 states, allowing the coding of 8 bit combinations. It is used in EDGE. |
| 8QAM | QAM with 3 bits per symbol. |
| 911 | The ES service code in many parts of the United States, Canada and a few other countries. |
| A |
| A(2) | An IP host address |
| A-bis | Interface between BTS and BSC |
| A-GPS | Assisted GPS. Network provides information to mobile device to acquire satellite signals and may assist with processing of received data |
| A-interface | Interface between the MSC and BS |
| A-Key | The primary CAVE authentication key, used to generate SSD |
| A/D | Analog/Digital. Usually used in the context of conversion from analog to digital (or vice-versa) |
| A3 | GSM authentication algorithm |
| A5 | GSM data encryption algorithm |
| A5/3 | An encryption algorithm for GSM and EDGE |
| A8 | GSM voice encryption algorithm. Used to generate Kc |
| AAA | Authentication, Authorization and Accounting entity. See RADIUS and Diameter |
| AAL | AAL Adaptation Layer |
| ABNF | Augmented BNF. Defined in RFC 2234 |
| ABR | Average bit rate |
| ABS | Alternate Billing Service |
| AC | Authentication Centre. Stores information for authenticating mobiles, and encrypting their voice and data transmissions |
| ACC | Analog Control Channel. See FSK |
| ACCM | Asynchronous Control Character Map |
| ACCOLC | Access Overload Class |
| ACCT | CDMA Access Control by Call Type |
| ACD | Automatic Call Distributor. Distributes incoming calls to one of a number of people equally able to handle them (e.g. for customer service) |
| ACELP(1) | Adaptive CELP |
| ACELP(2) | Algebraic CELP |
| ACF | Authentication Control Function |
| ACG | Automatic Code Gapping. A method of shedding load in telecommunications systems |
| ACH | Access Channel |
| ACK | Acknowledgement signal |
| ACLR | Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio. The ratio of the on-channel transmit power to the power measured in one of the adjacent channels. An important W-CDMA parameter. |
| ACM | SS7 ISUP Address Complete message. Response to IAM |
| ACP | Adjacent Channel Power |
| ACRE | Authorization & Call Routing Equipment. Used for routing calls to cellular phones with a 'cordless' mode |
| AD(1) | Abbreviated Dialing |
| AD(2) | Architecture Document |
| ADA | Advertising Agent. Provides information to a MS on the services provided by a 3G network |
| ADDS | Application Data Delivery Service. See SMS |
| Adjacent Channel Interference | Interference from signals at slightly different frequencies |
| ADN | Abbreviated Dialing Numbers |
| ADPCM | Adaptive Differential PCM |
| ADRC | Aggregate Data Rate Caveat. A warning that most wireless data rates are aggregate, meaning that all users share the bandwidth, and often they are raw rates higher than the actual user throughput could ever be even on an unloaded system. It is probably good to start by dividing the raw rate by a factor of two to obtain the total user throughput rate and then further divide by the average number of simultaneous users (not connected users, but the number who are likely to be simultaneously transmitting) |
| ADS | Asynchronous Data Service |
| ADSL | Asymmetric DSL. Bit rates are higher from the network than from the client |
| AdSpec | IETF Advertisement Specification |
| AEG | Asian Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| AES | Audio Engineering Society |
| AF | Application Function. |
| AFLT | Advanced Forward Link Trilateration. A geolocation technique that utilizes the mobile station's measured time of arrival of radio signals from the base stations (and, possibly, other terrestrial measurements) |
| AFRCN | GSM Absolute radio frequency channel number |
| AFSK | Audio FSK. Communication by changing frequencies in the audio band rather than RF. Used by MF, DTMF |
| AGCH | GSM Access Grant Channel. The traffic channel assignment information is sent to the mobile on this channel. |
| AGPS | Network Assisted GPS. Land station assists mobile in acquiring its position |
| AGW | Access Gateway |
| AH(1) | Authentication Header |
| AH(2) | Answer Hold. Service that allows an incoming call to be placed on hold without answering it first. Closely related to USCF |
| AHAG | TIA TR-45 ad hoc Authentication Group |
| AI | Air Interface |
| AICH | Acquisition Indicator Channel |
| AIN | Advanced Intelligent Network. Telcordia version of IN |
| Air Interface | Synonym for Radio Interface. |
| AK | Anonymity Key. In AKA it is derived from RAND using f5. |
| AKA | Authentication and Key Agreement. New generation of security being developed for 3GPP2 CDMA systems and 3GPP UMTS systems. Parts may also be applied to GSM |
| Alert | A command to a mobile to notify the user of an incoming call or message |
| ALI | Automatic Location Information. A database that contains information about the location of emergency callers |
| AM | Amplitude Modulation. See FM |
| AMA | Automatic Message Accounting. See CDR |
| AMF | AKA Authentication Management Field. May indicate the algorithm and key used by the current authentication system. |
| AMI | Alternate Mark Inversion |
| AMPS | Advanced Mobile Phone Service. TIA analog cellular, and all standards that retain compatibility with it (NAMPS, D-AMPS, CDMA). Standardized in EIA/TIA-553 |
| AMR | Adaptive MultiRate Voice Coder. Proposed for use in GSM and UMTS. Bit rates vary between 12.2 and 4.75 kbps |
| AMR-WB | AMR wide (audio) band Voice Coder chosen for UMTS. Developed by Nokia and Voiceage. Has 9 different bitrates |
| AMTA | American Mobile Telecommunications Association |
| AN | Access Network |
| analog | Transmission of information through a continuously variable signal. Compare with digital |
| analogue | Alternate (British) spelling of analog |
| Anchor MSC | The first MSC involved in a wireless call |
| ANI(1) | Automatic Number Identification. Provision of charge number during a call to allow toll calls without operator intervention |
| ANI(2) | Access Network Identifier |
| ANI II | ANI Information Digits. Describes the type of phone being used to call (e.g. residential line or payphone). |
| ANM | SS7 ISUP Answer Message |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| ANSI-136 | ANSI version of the TDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-136. Correct name is TIA-136 |
| ANSI-41 | See TIA/EIA-41 |
| ANT | ADSL Network Termination |
| AOA | Angle of Arrival. A technique for locating a radio by estimating the angle of signal arrival at multiple points. Compare with TOA |
| AoC | Advice of Charge |
| AP(1) | Application Part (of a protocol) |
| AP(2) | Access Point. An 802.11 BS |
| APCO | Association of Public Safety Communications Officials |
| APDU | Application PDU |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| APLMN | Associated PLMN |
| APM | Application Transport |
| APMN | Associated PMN |
| APN | Access Point Name. In a GPRS network, the domain name referring to an external packet network |
| ARCH | Access Response Channel |
| ARIB | Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. Responsible for standardization of telecommunications protocols in Japan |
| ARM | ARQ Response Mode |
| ARP(1) | Authorized Receipt Point. The sole entity authorized to settle and exchange roamer charges and revenue for a carrier |
| ARP(2) | IETF Address Resolution Protocol. Binds the physical (MAC) address of a device to an IP address on a local network (e.g. ethernet subnet). |
| ARPU | Average Revenue Per User/Unit |
| ARQ | Automatic Repeat Request. A method of error correction where the receiver detects errors, and requests retransmission from the sender. |
| AS | Internet Application Server. Handles applications for a range of addresses (e.g. a telephone switch) |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The most commonly used method for encoding text in 8 bit characters. See UNICODE for more complex alphabets and the obsolete EBCDIC |
| ASE | Application Service Element |
| ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit. A computer chip that is customized for a special purpose application |
| ASN.1 | Abstract Syntax Notation 1. A formal, textual, representation of a protocol message set |
| ASP | AS Process |
| ASR | Automatic Speech Recognition |
| Assisted GPS(1) | A class of GPS receiver that uses information from another source to make positioning quicker. This is common in cellular phones, where the cellular BS transmits additional information to make the acquisition of satellites quicker and may offload some of the calculations. |
| Asynchronous | Data is transmitted only when needed. At least one bit is needed to indicate the start of transmission (known as a start bit). Compare with Synchronous |
| AT | Access Tandem. A switch that can be used to reach a variety of IXCs |
| ATI | Access Terminal Identifier |
| ATIS | Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. Parent organization for the T1 standards committees and many telecom industry groups, such as OBF |
| ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Transmits data as 53 byte units using a connection-oriented protocol at speeds up to 2.488 Gbps |
| ATP | Access Transport Parameter (also Adenosine Tri-Phosphate :) |
| ATS | Abstract Test Suite |
| AuC | GSM term for AC |
| AUTH | An OMT bit that turns mobile authentication on or off for all mobiles within a cell |
| AUTHBS | Authentication Response from the BS |
| Authentication | Proving the identity of an individual or application (e.g. MS) |
| Authentication Enhancements | Improvements to network based authentication (TIA/EIA-41) defined in IS-778 |
| Authentication Vector | See Quintet and Triplet |
| AUTHR | Authentication Response. The output of CAVE when RAND is used as a global challenge |
| AUTHU | Authentication Response to Unique Challenge |
| AUTN | AKA Network Authentication Token. Composed of SQN (concealed), AMF and MAC |
| AV | Authentication Vector |
| AVC | Analog Voice Channel |
| AVP | Attribute Value Pair. A method of encoding parameters that includes the length of the data, the attribute (parameter) type (usually fixed length) and the attribute value. cf TLV |
| AWGN | Additive White Gaussian Noise |
| AWI | Alert with Information; used to transmit data while alerting an MS |
| AWS | An FCC term for IMTS-2000 |
| B |
| B-SMS | Broadcast SMS |
| B/I | Busy/Idle bit |
| B8ZS | Bipolar with 8 Zero Substitution. Replaces an all-0 octet by one containing two BPV |
| Baby Bell | see RBOC |
| Backhaul | Routing trunks from a cellsite to an MSC before routing to the PSTN. |
| badput | A cute name for wasted bandwidth. Bandwidth = goodput(throughput) + badput + unused bandwidth |
| BAF | Billing Automatic Message Accounting Format. The CDR/AMA format used by most US wireline telecom carriers |
| BAIC | Barring of All Incoming Calls |
| BAOC | Barring of All Outgoing Calls |
| BARG | GSMA Billing, Accounting and Roaming Group |
| Barring | Refusal to allow certain types of calls |
| Baseband | The signal(s) used to modulate the radio channel in the transmitter, and which are recovered by the receiver by demodulating the received radio channel. |
| BATS | Broadcast Air-interface Transport Service used by TIA/EIA-136 |
| BBIT | Best Breakfast In Town. |
| BCCH | Broadcast Control Channel |
| BCD | Binary Coded Decimal. Digits 0-9 are encoded as 4 bit numbers (nibble), so two fit within a byte. See TBCD |
| BCE | Base Station Central Equipment. See BSC |
| BCH(1) | Broadcast Channel. A channel transmitted by one (e.g. BS) and received by many (e.g. MS) |
| BCH(2) | Bose, Chaudhuri, and Hocquengham error detection and correction methodology |
| BCH(3) | Basic Call Handling |
| BCM | Basic Call Manager. See WIN |
| BCMCS | Broadcast/Multicast Services for 3GPP2. Contrast with BMC |
| BCSM | Basic Call State Model. A n IN concept |
| BD | Billing Domain |
| BDN | Barred Dialing Number |
| Bearer capability | A capability of a transport protocol (e.g. a maximum bitrate or message latency). A Teleservice may be able to use any facility that can provide a specified bearer capability. |
| BEG | Billing Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| Beidou(1) | A Chinese GNSS. |
| BER(1) | See Bit Error Rate |
| BER(2) | Basic Encoding Rules. See ASN.1 |
| BGCF | Breakout Gateway Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources to IMS sessions in a serving system. Connected to the S-CSCF, MGCF and BGCF |
| BGP | Border Gateway Protocol of IETF RFC 1771. See EBGP. |
| BIB | Backward Indicator Bit. Indicates when a received MTP frame is out of sequence. See FIB |
| BIC-Roam | Barring of Incoming Calls while Roaming |
| BICC | Bearer Independent Call Control. ISUP adapted for use over IP-based transport. Compare with SIP |
| BID | A SID allocated for accounting purposes. BID's are allocated by Cibernet |
| BISDN | Broadband ISDN |
| bit | Fundamental unit of information, occupying two discrete states (e.g. 0 or 1) |
| Bit Error Rate | The fraction of binary bits that are received with the wrong value. |
| BLA | SS7 ISUP Blocking acknowledgement. See BLO |
| BLOB | Block of Bits |
| Bluetooth | A cable-replacement radio protocol for short distance (5-100 meter) networking at moderate speeds (1 Mbps raw bandwidth for version 1 and 3 Mbps for version 2). Developed by the Bluetooth Consortium and standardized by IEEE 802.15.1 |
| BLV | Busy Line Verification |
| BM-SC | Broadcast/Multicast Service Center |
| BMC | Broadcast Multicast Control. See 3GPP TS25.324. Contrast with BCMCS. |
| BMI | BS, MSC and Interworking function |
| BNF | Backus-Naur Form. A precursor to ASN.1 and other meta-language |
| BNS | Billed Number Screening |
| BOC | Bell Operating Company |
| BOIC | Barring of Outgoing International Calls |
| BOIC-exHC | BOIC except to HC |
| Border Router | An IP Router that connects to routers in other networks using the EBGP protocol. |
| BP | Bit Position |
| bps | Bits per second. A measure of the speed of a transmission link |
| BPSK | Biphase Shift Keying |
| BPV | Bi-Polar Violation. Transmission of two one-bits in a PCM channel (e.g. DS0) with the same polarity (e.g. both positive or both negative). May be deliberately used to indicate all-zero octets. See B8ZS and HDB3 |
| BR | Border Router. Connects a CN with peer networks |
| BREW | Binary Runtime for Wireless |
| BRI | Basic Rate Interface (64 kbps). See DS0 |
| Broadcast SMS | Short messages sent to multiple mobiles in multiple cells, requiring only one message per cell |
| BS | Base Station (includes BTS and BSC) |
| BSC | Base Station Controller. The 'brains' of a base station, controlling the radio equipment in the BTS |
| BSF | Bootstrapping Function |
| BSIC | BS Identity Code. Color code used by GSM systems to ensure that the source of a frequency transmission can be identified, in areas where multiple cells transmitting on the same frequency can be received |
| BSMC | Base Station Manufacturer Code |
| BSN(1) | Backward Sequence Number. The sequence number of the last correctly received MTP frame received. Contrast with FSN |
| BSN(2) | BCMCS Serving Node |
| BSS(1) | BS Subsystem |
| BSS(2) | Basic Service Set. An 802.11 network. |
| BSSMAP | GSM BSS MAP |
| BT | Burst Type |
| BTA | Basic Trading Area |
| BTS | Base Transceiver System (radio portion of BS) |
| BTTC | Broadcast SMS |
| BWIF | Broadband Wireless Internet Forum. A program of IEEE-ISTO |
| BXA | US DoC Bureau of Export Administration. Administers EAR |
| byte | An 8 bit unit of data storage. See octet |
| C |
| C-PDS | cdma2000 Packet Data Service |
| C/I | Carrier to Interference Ratio |
| C7 | See CCS7 |
| CA(1) | Certificate/Certification Authority |
| CA(2) | Collision Avoidance |
| CAC | Carrier Access Code. Identifies a long distance carrier. 101+CIC |
| CALEA | US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement law. Requires that telecommunications carriers provide for surveillance (aka wiretaps) at the switch site |
| CAMA | Centralized Automatic Message Accounting |
| CAMEL | Customized Applications for Mobile Networks Enhanced Logic based on CAP. IN capabilities for GSM. Compare with WIN |
| Candidate MSC | An MSC being considered as the Target MSC of a handoff |
| CANID | Current ANI |
| CAP(1) | CAMEL AP |
| CAP(2) | Carrierless Amplitude and Phase modulation |
| CAP(3) | Competitive Access Provider |
| CAPCS | Cellular Auxiliary Personal Communications Service |
| CAR | Committed Access Rate. An IP method to achieve higher QoS |
| CARE | Customer Account Record Exchange. Sent from a LEC to an IXC to establish a long distance account for a customer |
| Care-of Address | The address that a Home Agent forwards packets to for handling by the Foreign Agent in MIP |
| Carnivore | US FBI ISP wiretapping box, including a processor and removable hard drive to capture internet sessions (email, web access etc.). |
| CAS | Call Associated Signaling. See ISUP. Contrast with NCAS |
| CAT | Smart Card Application Toolkit |
| CATPT | CDMA UIM Card Application Toolkit Protocol Teleservice |
| CATR(1) | China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MII. A government owned research institute that participates in the development of standards. Formerly RITT. |
| CAVE | TIA Cellular Authentication and Voice Encryption Algorithm |
| CB | Cell Broadcast |
| CBC | CB Center |
| CBMI | CB Message Identifier |
| CBR | Constant Bit Rate |
| CBS | GSM/W-CDMA Cell Broadcast SMS |
| CC(1) | E.164 Country Code |
| CC(2) | GSM Call Control protocol |
| CC(3) | Content of Communications (for LAES) |
| CCA | Common Cryptographic Algorithm |
| CCAT | CDMA Card Application Toolkit. Specifies communications between a CDMA R-UIM and the ME |
| CCB | US FCC Common Carrier Bureau |
| CCBS | Call Completion to Busy Subscriber |
| CCCH | GSM Common Control Channels - PCH, RACH, AGCH |
| CCF(1) | Call Control Function (IN term) |
| CCF(2) | Charging Collection Function (3GPP) |
| CCH | Control Channel |
| CCITT | International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee. Precursor to ITU. See ITU-T and ITU-R |
| CCNR | Call Completion on No Reply. See CFNA |
| CCP | Compression Control Protocol |
| CCPD | Common Channel Packet Data |
| CCPN | Call Completion to a Ported Number. See LNP |
| CCR(1) | SS7 ISUP Continuity check request |
| CCR(2) | Class Conformance Requirement |
| CCS | Common Channel Signaling |
| CCS7 | ITU-T version of SS7 |
| CCSA | China Communications Standards Association. Successor to CWTS. |
| CCSC | Cellular Carrier Specific Code (e.g. #123) |
| CCSH | CDMA Code Combining Soft Handoff |
| CCSS | Call Completion Service Setup |
| CCT | Circuit |
| CCV | Credit Card Validation |
| CCW | Cancel Call Waiting |
| CD | Collision Detection |
| CDATA | Character Data, such as a quoted text string. Used in XML and derivative protocols such as WML |
| CDCP | Call Detail Collection Point. See TIA/EIA-124 |
| CDG | CDMA Development Group |
| CDGP | Call Detail Generation Point |
| CDIS | Call Detail Information Source. An MSC or other entity that produces proprietary CDR's |
| CDMA | Code Division Multiple Access. Implemented in AMPS-compatible systems by IS-95. Also see W-CDMA |
| CDMA-PAMR | A CDMA-based PAMR system. |
| cdma2000 | Trade name for CDMA air interface standards aimed at 3G requirements, including IS-2000. It operates in 1.25 MHz carriers at 1.2288 Mcps. There is some debate about whether the "CDMA" should be upper or lower case :) |
| cdmaOne | Trade name for first generations of CDMA air interface standards, including TIA/EIA-95. Operates in pairs of 1.25 MHz channels |
| CdPA | Called Party Address |
| CDPD | Cellular Digital Packet Data. A protocol that uses 30 khz AMPS channels to transmit packets of data. Standardized in TIA/EIA/IS-732 |
| CdPN | Called Party Number. The DN of the party receiving a call |
| CDR | Charging Data Record or Call Detail Record |
| CDRP | Call Detail Rating Point |
| CDVCC | Coded Digital Verification Color Code |
| CEASA | Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association. Promotes the use of emergency alerts over cell phones. |
| CEG | Carrier Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| cell | The coverage area of a single radio cellsite or sector in a cellular or PCS system |
| cellular | A radio concept that allows the multiplication of capacity by using many low-power cell to cover an area, reusing frequencies as much as possible |
| CELP | Code Excited Linear Prediction |
| CENELEC | European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization |
| CEP | Cell Equipment Processor |
| CEPT | Conference des administrations Europeannes des Postes et Telecommunications |
| CEWS | Cell Work Station. Software running here supports termination of the LAPD links to the BTS. A minimal OA&M application is included to support maintenance of the A-bis interface processes and to route OA&M messages to/from the BTS. Call Handling software derives directly from the CEP and PPP of the BCE. |
| CF | Collection function. LEA that collects J-STD-025 data |
| CFB | Call Forwarding when subscribing telephone is busy |
| CFNA | Call forward on no-answer (and, usually, also on no page response). See CFNRc and CFNRy |
| CFNRc | Call forward when mobile not reachable. See CFNA |
| CFNRy | Call forward when mobile is not answered. See CFNA |
| CFU | Call Forwarding Unconditional (i.e. every incoming call will be forwarded) |
| CG | Charging Gateway |
| CGB | SS7 ISUP Circuit group blocking |
| CGBA | SS7 ISUP CGB acknowledgement |
| CGI(1) | Common Gateway Interface |
| CGI(2) | GSM Cell Global Identification. Composed of LAI + CI |
| CGL | Calling Geodetic Location. The position of a mobile phone, as transmitted through various signaling protocols. See GAD |
| CGLP | SS7 ISUP Calling Geodetic Location Parameter (i.e. Latitude and Longitude) |
| CgPN | Calling Party Number. The DN of the party initiating a call |
| CGSA | Cellular Geographic Serving Area. MSA or RSA |
| CGU | SS7 ISUP Circuit group unblocking |
| CGUA | SS7 ISUP CGU acknowledgement |
| CGVoP | Carrier Grade Voice over Packet. See VoIP |
| CHAP | PPP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. Use of RADIUS to authenticate a terminal without sending security data in the clear. Compare with PAP |
| cHTML | Compact HTML. Use by iMode. See also WML and XHTML |
| Churn | The rate at which subscribers leave one wireless carrier to go to another. A major expense for carriers |
| CI | GSM Cell Identity. A 16 bit number identifying a cell within an LAI |
| CIBER | Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Record. Format used for exchange of wireless billing records. Maintained by Cibernet Corp |
| Cibernet | A subsidiary of the CTIA responsible for facilitating billing aspects of roaming |
| CIC | Carrier Identification Code. See CAC |
| Ciphertext | Encrypted data. Compare with Plaintext |
| CIR(1) | Synonym for C/I |
| CIR(2) | Committed Information Rate. Bandwidth associated with a frame relay PVC |
| Circuit-switched data | Data transmitted over a dedicated (although usually virtual) channel. The destinatioin address is implicitly defined by the (virtual) circuit that is selected |
| CISC | CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee |
| CITEL | Commission InterAmericanna de Telecommunications Association. A Latin American telecommunications association |
| CK | Cipher Key. In AKA, it is derived from RAND using f3 and applied to traffic using f8 |
| CKSN | CK Sequence Number |
| CLASS | Custom Local Area Signaling Services. A package of features offered by wireline carriers |
| Clearinghouse | A central point for the gathering and redistribution of records, such as billing records |
| CLEC | Competitive LEC. A new entrant in a market previously limited to one carrier. Some wireless carriers may qualify for this designation |
| CLI | Calling Line Identity. See CgPN |
| CLIP | Calling Line Identification Presentation. See CNIP |
| CLIR | Calling Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR |
| CLLI | Common Language Location Identifier. An ASCII identifier of a telephone switch or calling area. |
| CLNP | Connectionless Network Protocol |
| CLNS | Connectionless Network Service |
| CM | GSM Connection Management |
| CMAC | Control Mobile Attenuation Code |
| CMC | Cellular Mobile Carrier. A generic term used to classify carrier class cellular systems |
| CMEA | Cellular MEA. Based on CAVE |
| CMIP | Common Management Information Protocol |
| CMRS | Commercial Mobile Radio Service |
| CMSP | Indian GSM licence. Replaced by UASL. |
| CMT | Cellular messaging teleservice. A service based on SMS that is similar to that provided by alphanumeric pagers |
| CMWN | Cancel Message Waiting Notification |
| CN | Core Network. Protocols for this include GSM MAP and ANSI-41 |
| CNA | Canadian Number Administrator. Administers telecom numbering resources in Canada, under the oversight of the CRTC. |
| CNAME | Canonical Name. A basic Domain name that may be pointed to by multiple aliases |
| CNAP | Calling NAme Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNAR |
| CNAR | Calling NAme Restriction. An originating party feature |
| CNDB | Calling Name Database |
| CNIP | Calling Number Identification Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNIR |
| CNIR | Calling Number Identification Restriction. An originating party feature |
| CO | Central Office |
| Co-channel Interference | Interference from other signals using the same radio channel |
| COA | Care-Of Address |
| codec | Voice coder and decoder. See vocoder and Voice Coder |
| COFDM | Code OFDMA |
| COFETEL | Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones de Mexico |
| COLP | Connected Line Identification Presentation. See COLR, CNIP |
| COLR | Connected Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR, COLP |
| COMET | IETF SIP Preconditions Met message |
| Confidentiality | Keeping information private (e.g. by encryption) |
| CONS | Connection-Oriented Network Service |
| Control Channel | A cellular or PCS channel that broadcasts information about a cell to mobiles that are not currently in a call |
| CORBA | Common Object Request Broker Architecture |
| CORD | Cellular Operations Record Distribution |
| CoS | Class of Service. Method of managing traffic by grouping similar types (e.g. voice, video, email) |
| COTP(1) | Connection-Oriented Transport Protocol. Specified by ISO 8073. An alternative to TCP that is packet-based rather than stream-based, meaning that the transport protocol, rather than the application protocol, keeps packets of data separate. Despite this, most systems use TCP with the ITOT protocol on top if necessary. Port 102 is reserved for use by this protocol. |
| COUNT | Call History Count. An internal mobile counter that can be used to detect the presence of clones |
| COWS | Common Work Station. Software running in the Common Work Station element supports termination of the SS7 links to the MSC as well as the X.25 links to the OMC (including the OSI stack) and any PSDN services. The majority of the OA&M software is found here. |
| CPDE | Centralized PDE |
| CPE | Customer Premises Equipment. A standard telephone is an example of telecommunications equipment that is usually located at the customer's site. |
| CPG | SS7 ISUP Call ProGress Message |
| CPGA | Cost per Gross Addition. The cost to a carrier of adding one subscriber |
| CPL | IETF Call Processing Language. An XML-based language for describing internet telecommunications services. |
| CPN | See CgPN |
| CPP | Calling Party Pays. The calling party pays for calls to mobile, not the mobile receiving the call. cf TPP |
| CQM(1) | Channel Quality Measurement |
| CQM(2) | Core Quality of Service Manager. Obsolete. See PDF |
| CR | Change Request. A description of a problem in a standard (error, limitation, ambiguity or restriction) and a description of how it should be fixed |
| CR-LDP | Constraint-based Routing LDP. See MPLS |
| CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Code (or check). Included in many digital protocols to check for errors in transmitted messages |
| CRDB | Coordinate Routing DataBase. Proposed for E911 systems to convert a location into routing information |
| CRL | Certificate Revocation List |
| CRM(1) | Customer Resource Management |
| CRM(2) | Channel Request Message |
| CRTC | Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission |
| CRTP | Compressed Real-Time Transport Protocol. Provides compression (and decompression) of RTP, UDP and IP headers. |
| Cryptosync | Externally-provided synchronizing information for cryptoalgorithms (ciphers) that allows an encryptor at one end to uniquely encrypt each block of content into ciphertext, and yet allows a decryptor at the other end to properly decrypt the ciphertext to yield the original plaintext. Cryptosync often takes the form of the output of a binary counter |
| CS(1) | IN Capability Set |
| CS(2) | Circuit switched. Contrast with PS |
| CS-1 | IN CS 1 |
| CS-2 | IN Capability Set 2 |
| CS-ACELP | Conjugate Structure ACELP |
| CSA | Canadian Standards Association |
| CSC | Customer Service Center |
| CSCF | Call Session Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources from the home system. See I-CSCF, P-CSCF and S-CSCF |
| CSCN | Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering. A working group of the CRTC CISC |
| CSD | Circuit switched data. Data travels between two devices using a fixed amount of bandwidth allocated for the duration of the data call. Compare with Packet data that uses shared bandwidth to service multiple users. Packet data can be more efficient (except when the overhead of identifying and routing packets is greater than the savings) but the performance is less predictable. |
| CSFP | Coded Superframe Phase |
| CSI | CAMEL Subscription Information |
| CSMA | Carrier Sense Multiple Access |
| CSMA/CA | See CSMA/CD |
| CSMA/CD | CSMA with CD (also known as CA). Ethernet devices use this to minimize collisions by checking the line before sending |
| CSRC | Contributing Source |
| CSS | Cascading Style Sheets. See HTML |
| CSU | Channel Service Unit. Unit that interfaces between the telephone company and a private network |
| CT | Call Transfer |
| CTCP | Compressed TCP. Provides compression (and decompression) of TCP and IP headers. |
| CTIA | Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association |
| CUG | Closed User Group. Calls are restricted to within the group |
| CW | Calling Waiting |
| CWTA | Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association |
| CWTS | Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standards. Replaced by CCSA |
| D |
| D Digit | The fourth digit of an NANP phone number. Currently restricted to the values 2-9 to allow 7 digit dialing |
| D-AMPS | Digital AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136 TDMA) |
| D-H | Diffie-Hellman |
| D/L | Downlink (e.g. from base station to mobile). Compare with U/L. |
| DACS | See DCS |
| DAP | X.500 Directory Access protocol |
| DataTAC | Data TAC. A Motorola wireless data system. Formerly known as Ardis. |
| dB | Decibel. 10 times the logarithm of the value in base 10 |
| dBi | Decibels relative to isotropic radiator. A measurement of the gain of an antenna. |
| dBm | Decibels referenced to one milliwatt |
| DCC | Digital Color Code. A number assigned to a control channel used to limit erroneous accesses |
| DCCH | Digital Control Channel. The control channel used by IS-136 and TIA/EIA-136 D-AMPS systems |
| DCE | Data Communications Equipment (i.e. a computer) |
| DCF | DRM Content Format |
| DCH | Dedicated Channel |
| DCN | Data Communications Network |
| DCS(1) | Data Coding Scheme |
| DCS(2) | Digital Cross-Connect System |
| DCS(3) | European PCS frequencies in the 1800 MHz range. |
| DDM | Data Description Method |
| DEA | US Drug Enforcement Agency |
| DECT | Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony |
| DES | Data Encryption Standard. A commonly used encryption method, usually used with 56 bit keys. See AES, TDES. |
| DF(1) | UIM Dedicated File. Compare with EF and MF |
| DF(2) | Delivery Function (for LAES) |
| DFCA | Dynamic Frequency and Channel Allocation. Dynamic assignment of radio channels to optimize capacity. Proposed for GSM, but not yet implemented. |
| DFP | Distributed Functional Plane NRM |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Control Protocol. Allows automatic assignment of IP addresses on a network |
| DHKE | Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange. A method of securely exchange encryption keys over an insecure interface |
| Diameter | An IETF AAA protocol designed to be twice as good as RADIUS. Unlike its predecessor it supports MIP and uses SCTP (or TCP) instead of UDP for more reliable transport. It uses IPSEC and TLS instead of a shared secret. |
| DID | Direct Inward Dialing. Directs all calls to a block of numbers to a PBX |
| Diffie-Hellman | A secure key exchange mechanism |
| Diffserv | Differentiated Services. Different QoS for different types of traffic (e.g. voice, video, email). See IETF RFCs 2474 and 2475 |
| digital | Transmission of information through a signal that can take on only certain discrete values (e.g. bits with values 0 or 1). Compare with analog |
| Disconnection | The end of a call. Not to be confused with Termination of a call or the Release of a trunk |
| DL | Downlink. Radio link from network 'down' to terminal. Compare with UL |
| DLC | Digital Loop Carrier. A single digital facility (e.g. T1 or T3) carrying multiple lines to a business or other large customer |
| DLCI | Data Link Connection/Circuit Identifier |
| DLP | Discrete Logarithm Problem. Used in some cryptography systems |
| DMAC | Digital Mobile Attenuation Code |
| DMH | Data Message Handler. An informal name for the TIA IS-124 standard |
| DMO | Direct Mode Operation. Group calling capabilities, e.g. PTT, of a PAMR system. Compare with TMO. |
| DMT | Discrete Multi-Tone line code being proposed for VDSL. Compare with QAM/CAP |
| DMU | Dynamic MIP Key Update. A secure and efficient mechanism for distributing and updating Mobile IP (MIP) cryptographic keys in cdma2000 networks (including High Rate Packet Data which is often referred to as 1xEV-DO). Because the Dynamic Mobile IP Key Update (DMU) procedure occurs at the IP layer directly between the MIP MN and RADIUS or Diameter AAA Server, it may be used to securely bootstrap the MN-AAA key (and other cryptographic keys) in MIP networks using any RAN technology. |
| DN(1) | Directory Number. The number dialed to terminate a call to a phone |
| DN(2) | Domain Name (e.g. cnp-wireless.com). |
| DNIC | Data network identification code |
| DNIS | Dialed Number Identification Service. Identifies the called (not calling) number. Only useful when multiple numbers terminate at the same location (e.g. a regular phone number, 1-800 and 1-900 number). Contrast with CNIP |
| DNS | Internet Domain Name Service/System. See RFC 1035 |
| DOA | Dead On Arrival |
| DoC | US Department of Commerce |
| DOI | Domain of Interpretation |
| DOJ | US Department of Justice |
| Domain | A portion of the internet (e.g. cnp-wireless.com) |
| Donor Switch | The switch from which a number has been ported. See LNP |
| Downlink | Path from base station to terminal |
| DP | WIN/CAMEL Detection Point |
| DPC(1) | Destination Point Code for an SS7 message |
| DPC(2) | Downlink Power Control |
| DPCCH | Dedicated Physical Control Channel |
| DPCH | Dedicated Physical Channel |
| DPDCH | Dedicated Physical Data Channel |
| DPSK | Differential PSK |
| DQPSK | Differential Quadrature PSK |
| DRAC | Dynamic Resource Allocation Control |
| DRM | Digital Rights Management |
| DRNC | Drift RNC |
| DRNS | Drift RNS |
| DS | Direct Spread. See CDMA |
| DS-CDMA | Direct Sequence CDMA |
| DS0 | Digital Signal Level 0. A 64 kbps digital link used to carry a single voice conversation or signaling traffic for multiple calls/trunks. In ANSI networks, 8 kbps is usually reserved for in-band signaling (on-hook/off-hook etc.), reducing the bandwidth to 56 kbps |
| DS1 | Digital Signal Level 1. A 1.544 Mbps signaling link carrying 24 DS0 channels |
| DS1C | Digital Signal Level 1C. A 3.152 Mbps signaling link carrying 48 DS0 channels |
| DS2 | Digital Service, Level 2. 6.312 Mbps. Carries 96 DS0 channels (4 DS1 channels) |
| DS3 | Digital Service, Level 3. 44.736 Mbps. Carries 672 DS0 channels (28 DS1 channels) |
| DSA | Digital Signature Algorithm |
| DSCH | Downlink Shared Channel |
| DSF | Dispersion Shifted Fiber |
| DSI | Digital Speech Interpolation |
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line. See SHDSL, ADSL, SDSL, VDSL |
| DSLAM | DSL Access Multiplexer |
| DSMA | Digital Sense Multiple Access. Access to a shared resource is controlled by sensing a digital signal before attempting an access. Used by CDPD |
| DSP | Digital Signal Processing/Processor |
| DSR(1) | Distributed Speech Recognition |
| DSR(2) | Direct Signal Reporting |
| DSS-1 | Digital Subscriber Signaling System No. 1 |
| DSU(1) | Digital Service Unit. Interface between the terminal equipment (DTE) and the service provider's facilities |
| DTC | Digital Traffic Channel |
| DTCH | Dedicated Traffic Channel |
| DTD | Document Type Definition. An XML grammar specification |
| DTE | Data Terminal Equipment |
| DTM | Dual Transfer Mode. Simultaneous voice and data connections with GSM and EDGE, bringing some 3G services to a 2G system (without the wide pipe though!) |
| DTMF | Dual Tone Multifrequency. Tone signaling used by phones |
| DTN | Deflected-To Number |
| DTX | Discontinuous Transmission. A mobile only transmits when the user is talking. This saves battery life, but can introduce some choppiness into conversations |
| Dual-band | A mobile that can support two different frequency ranges. Compare with Dual-mode |
| Dual-mode | A mobile that can support two different technologies. Compare with Dual-band |
| DUP | SS7 Data User Part |
| DVCC | Digital Verification Color Code |
| DWDM | Dense Wave Division Multiplexing |
| E |
| E-GGSN | Enhanced GGSN |
| E-Mail(1) | Electronic Mail |
| E-OTD | Enhanced Observed Time Difference. A positioning technology based on software within wireless phones combined with their existing signal measurement capabilities. Compare with the purely network-based AOA, TOA and TDOA |
| E-SMR | Enhanced SMR. See iDEN |
| E.118 | The ITU-T recommendation for ICCID. |
| E.164 | ITU-T dialing plan standard. Numbers are composed of CC+NSN (NDC + NDC) |
| E.212 | ITU-T mobile identification number standard |
| E.214 | ITU-T standard that allows an E.212 IMSI number to be mapped onto an E.164 number to allow routing through SS7 networks. Unfortunately, this mapping does not work in North America |
| E1 | A digital link carry 32 DS0 channels, with two used for signaling purposes. Used mostly outside North America. Compare with T1 |
| E911 | Enhanced 9-1-1 service. Provides the identity and the approximate location of the calling phone |
| EA(1) | Economic Area. A geographical area used by the US FCC to license the AWS A band. |
| EA(2) | Equal Access |
| EACC | Emergency Area Congestion Control |
| EAP | IETF Extensible Authentication Protocol, RFC 4017 |
| EAP-TLS | EAP Transport Layer Security. Public key encryption for WiFi. |
| EAP-TTLS | EAP Tunneled Transport Layer Security. Provides mutual authentication of WiFi network and client through the use of network-side certificates. |
| EAR | Export Administration Regulations. Replace ITAR for control of export of encryption technologies |
| EAS | Emergency Alert System. A US government system that transmits audio or text information about emergencies (mostly weather) to radio and TV stations. There has been some talk about extending this to wireless phones via broadcast SMS |
| Eb | Energy of an information bit |
| EBCDIC | Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code. IBM's byte code for letters, numbers and special characters. Not as good as ASCII because, for example, letters are not all in a single group, making software more awkward |
| EBGP | External BGP. BGP between routers in two different networks. |
| EBNF | Extended BNF. Used to define XML, for example. |
| EBS | Emergency Broadcast System. See EAS |
| EC | Exchange Carrier |
| ECC | Elliptic Curve Cryptography |
| ECDLP | Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem. See ECC |
| ECMA | European Computer Manufacturer's Association |
| ECSA | Exchange Carrier's Standards Association. Renamed ATIS several years ago |
| ECT | Explicit Call Transfer |
| EDAC | CDMA Error Detection and Correction coding. See FEC |
| EDGE | Enhanced Data-rates for GSM (or Global) Evolution. Uses 8PSK modulation to increase data rates within the 200 kHz RF bandwidth to a theoretical limit of 384 kbps (474 kbps raw), although per-user rates will be significantly lower because few if any phones can use all 8 available timeslots. A higher speed successor to GPRS. See ADRC |
| EDI | Electronic Data Interchange. Used to transfer business-level data between companies (e.g. invoices, purchase orders). Nowadays, more attention is on XML for this purpose |
| EDR | Efficient Data Representation. Assigns one record to represent a block of 1,000 pooled numbers |
| EDS | Enhanced Dialed Service(s) |
| EESN | Expanded ESN. An idea for a 56-bit identifier to replace ESN that never took off. See MEID and EUIMID. |
| EF | UIM Elementary File. Compare with DF and MF |
| EFI | External Functionality Interface |
| EFR | Enhanced Full Rate. The standard GSM Voice Coder operating at 12.2 kbps |
| EGNOS(1) | European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System. A WAAS to augment GPS and GLONASS in Europe. |
| EGPRS-136 | GPRS adapted for use in TIA/EIA-136 networks |
| EHFC | Extended Hyperframe Counter |
| EIA | Electronics Industry Alliance |
| EIA/TIA-553 | Analog AMPS cellular standard. Formerly IS-3 |
| EIR | Equipment Identity Register. Stores information about wireless terminals as opposed to subscriptions. Compare with HLR |
| EIRP | Effective Isotropic Radiated Power |
| ELCA | Extended Local Calling Area. Allows toll-free calls to numbers outside the normal toll-free zone, by arrangement with the terminating (usually wireless) carrier |
| EMA | Electronic Messaging Association. |
| EMC | Electro-Magnetic Compatibility |
| EMF | Electro-Magnetic Field or Electro-Motive Force (Voltage) |
| EMI | Exchange Message Interface. A LEC billing record format. Compare with EMR. Contrast with BAF and CIBER |
| eMLPP | Enhanced MLPP. A GSM method for implementing PS |
| EMR | Exchange Message Record. A LEC billing record format. Compare with EMI. Contrast with BAF and CIBER |
| EMS | Enhanced Messaging Service. SMS extended to include simple graphics, audio and enhanced text (e.g. fonts). A precursor to MMS |
| EMTEL | Emergency Telecommunications for ETSI |
| EN | European Norm (Standard). |
| enum | Telephone Number Mapping to an internet address. A method of converting a phone number into a domain name defined by IETF RFC 2916. Take the full number (including country code), reverse it, put a dot between each pair of adjacent digits, append '.e164.arpa' and, there you have it! This format is easier for DNS systems to handle. |
| EO | End Office |
| EOM | End Of Message |
| EOTD | See E-OTD |
| EP SCP | ETSI Project Smart Card Platform |
| EPE | Enhanced Privacy and Encryption. A North American TDMA architecture that secures voice, messages, and data through encryption |
| Ephemeris(1) | Information on GPS satellite orbits, used to make the acquisition of satellites more efficient. |
| Erlang | Measure of traffic load. Calculated as rate at which calls arrive divided by the rate at which they are completed |
| Erlang B | A traffic model used to engineer resource groups when blockage is low, and the average holding time is known |
| Erlang C | A traffic model commonly used for provisioning data circuits |
| ERMES | European Radio Messaging System. An ETSI paging system established in the 1990s. All European countries are supposed to provide spectrum for it. |
| ERP | Effective Radiated Power |
| ERROR RESULT | Message sent to unsuccessfully end TCAP transaction |
| ES | Emergency Service(s), such as 911 |
| ESA | Enhanced Subscriber Authentication. A long term replacement to the TIA CAVE algorithm |
| ESC | Emergency Services Call |
| ESF | Extended Superframe Format. DS1 format that is used for most T1 links |
| ESIF | ATIS Emergency Services Interconnect Forum |
| ESME(1) | Emergency Services Message Entity. Entity that receives E911 messages from an MSC (e.g. ALI or S/R) |
| ESME(2) | External SME. Used by SMPP to exchange short messages between incompatible technologies |
| ESMR | Enhanced SMR. Allows 'cellular' service as well as traditional SMR services |
| ESN(1) | Electronic Serial Number. 32 bit identifier of an AMPS, CDMA or TDMA mobile. May eventually be replaced by MEID. |
| ESN(2) | Emergency Service Number |
| ESNE | Emergency Services Network Entity. Entity that is connected to an E911 trunk from an MSC (e.g. S/R or PSAP) |
| ESNX | See EESN |
| ESP(1) | Emergency Service Provider |
| ESP(2) | Enhanced Subscriber Privacy. Stronger TIA voice encryption algorithms than those originally provided with CAVE |
| ESP(3) | IETF Encapsulating Security Payload, RFC 2406 |
| ESRD | Emergency Service Routing Digits. An NANP number that routes a call to a PSAP and identifies the cellsite or sector that the call originated from |
| ESRK | Emergency Service Routing Key. A temporary phone number that routes an emergency call to the correct PSAP and allows access to information in the ALI |
| ESZ | Emergency Services Zone. A geographical region served by a single emergency call answering service. |
| ETACS | Extended TACS |
| Ethernet | A LAN protocol using collision detection to resolve access contention (CSMA/CD). Available in 10Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps variants. Standardized as IEEE 802.3. |
| ETR | ETSI Technical Report |
| ETS | European Telecommunication Standard |
| ETSI | European Telecommunications Standards Institute |
| EUIMID | Expanded UIMID. A larger identifier for a cdma2000 UIM. There are two variants, the "Short Form" which is based on MEID and the "Long Form" based on ICCID. For compatibility with ESN a pUIMID is calculated. |
| EvDO | 1x cdma2000 Evolution for High Speed Data Only. See HRPD and EVDV. A high speed CDMA data system. It does not support voice, except as VoIP. Revision 0 promised 2.4 Mbps download, 153 kbps upload on a 1.25 MHz carrier. Revision A was 3.1 Mbps down, 1.8 up. Revision B was 14.7 Mbps download and 4.9 Mbps upload in a 5 MHz carrier and Revision C promises 100 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload in a 20 MHz carrier. See LTE and ADRC |
| EVDV | CDMA 1x Evolution - Voice and High Speed Data services. Although it is more flexible, it is so far less popular than EvDO |
| EVM | Error Vector Magnitude. The difference between the received coordinates of a symbol (defined by phase and amplitude) and the intended position (e.g. what was transmitted). This is a measure of error in digital modulation systems such as QAM. |
| EVRC | Enhanced Variable Rate Voice Coder. An IS-95 voice coder for use on CDMA systems |
| EWC | Enhanced Wireless Consortium. An association to promote the development of the IEEE 802.11n WLAN protocol |
| EWG | GSMA Environmental Working Group |
| F |
| F-BCCH | Fast Broadcast Control Channel |
| F-SCH | Forward SCH (from BS) |
| f1 | AKA message authentication function used to compute MAC |
| f2 | AKA Message authentication function used to compute RES and XRES |
| f3 | AKA Key generating function used to compute CK. Compare with f8. |
| f4 | AKA Key generating function used to compute IK. Compare with f9 |
| f5 | AKA Key generating function used to compute AK. It may simply generate 0 if concealment of SQN is not required. |
| f8 | AKA Ciphering Function. May be Kasumi. Uses CK, which is derived from RAND using f3 |
| f9 | AKA Integrity Protection Function. May be Kasumi. Compare with f4 |
| FA | Foreign Agent |
| FAC(1) | FA Challenge |
| FAC(2) | Final Assembly Code. The 2 digit IMEI ME manufacturer identity |
| FACCH | Fast Associated Control Channel |
| FACH | GSM term for FACCH |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions |
| Fast Fading | Fade duration short relative to channel frame length |
| FBI | US Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FC | Feature Code. An asterisk followed by digits indicating the invocation of a feature (e.g. *73 may be used to disable call forwarding). Feature codes should be sent to the HLR for interpretation. There is no standardization of feature codes |
| FCC | US Federal Communications Commission |
| FCCH | GSM Frequency Correction Channel; downlink only, correction of MS frequencies, transmission of frequency standard to MS etc. |
| FCI | Forward Call Indicator. Used to indicate whether a number portability query has occurred for this call (to prevent looping) |
| FCS | Frame Check Sequence. A checksum for a transmitted frame |
| FDCCH | Forward DCCH |
| FDD | Frequency Division Duplex |
| FDDI | Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
| FDM | Frequency Division Multiplex. See FDMA |
| FDMA | Frequency Division Multiple Access. Compare with TDMA and CDMA |
| FDN | Fixed Dialing Number |
| FDTC | Forward DTC |
| FE | Functional Entity. A logical element of a network. Not necessarily realized as a physically distinct device |
| FE-NTS | Feature Enhanced NTS |
| FEC(1) | Forward Error Correction |
| FEC(2) | Forwarding Equivalence Class. An identity for packets that all get routed via MPLS in the same way |
| FER | Frame Error Rate. The number of frames in error divided by the total. These frames are usually discarded, in which case this can be called the Frame Erasure Rate |
| FEXT | Far End CrossTalk |
| FF | GSMA Fraud Forum |
| FFPC | CDMA Fast Forward Power Control |
| ffs | For Further Study |
| FFT | Fast Fourier Transform |
| FHMA | Frequency Hopping Multiple Access |
| FHSS | Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum. |
| FIB | Forward Indicator Bit. Indicates the start of a retransmission cycle in MTP. See BIB |
| FIFO | First in, first out. A queuing methodology similar to lining up for a bank teller. Compare with LIFO |
| FIPS | US Federal Information Processing Standards |
| FISU | Fill-In Signal Unit. The keep-alive message for SS7 MTP |
| FLEX | A Motorola one-way paging protocol that runs at 1600, 3200 or 6400 bps. Compare with POCSAG |
| FM(1) | Frequency Modulation |
| FM(2) | Follow-Me |
| FOCC | Forward Control Channel. Used to send signaling messages from a base station to one or multiple mobiles |
| Foreign Agent | IP node that receives packets from a Home Agent for delivery to a Mobile Node currently in its service area |
| FPLMTS | Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Systems. Now IMT-2000 |
| FQDN | Fully Qualified DN. A domain name with enough information (including server name, if necessary, to determine a unique IP address). For example, if 'domain.com' had two servers, 'alpha' and 'beta', 'alpha.domain.com' would be fully-qualified, but 'domain.com' would not. |
| FR | Full Rate (e.g. for a voice coder). Compare with HR |
| FRAD | FR Access Device |
| FSK | Frequency Shift Keying |
| FSN(1) | Forward Sequence Number. The sequence number of an MTP frame being transmitted. Contrast with BSN |
| FSN(2) | Frame Sequence Number |
| FTAM | File Transfer, Access and Management |
| FTI | Fractional T1. A customer may lease a portion of a full T1 |
| FTN(1) | Forward-To Number |
| FTN(2) | FEC to NHLFE Map |
| FTP | Internet File Transfer Protocol |
| FTTC | Fiber to the curb |
| FTTH | Fiber to the home |
| FVC | Forward analog voice channel, transmitted by an MS |
| FWA | Fixed Wireless Access. See WLL |
| FWI | Flash with Information; used to transmit data from an MS during a call |
| G |
| G.711 | The ITU-T standard for PCM encoding telephone audio on an 64 kbps channel. Because it operates at an8 kHz sampling rate (8 bits per sample) it can only encode frequencies between 0 and 4 kHz. There are two encoding variants. mu-law and A-law. A-law is used for international circuits and represents smaller signals with greater fidelity. |
| G3FAX | Group III Facsimile service |
| G95 | A sub-group of GGRF investigating roaming between GSM and CDMA systems based on TIA/EIA-95 and cdma2000 |
| GAD | Geographic Area Description. GSM 101.109 and 3GPP 23.032 defines this. Related to CGL in ATIS T1.628 |
| GAIT | GSM/TIA/EIA-41 Interoperability Trial |
| GALILEO | A European positioning system based on 30 satellites and ground stations. Devices can position themselves based on accurate (atomic clock) time transmitted from the satellites and their knowledge of the satellite's positions. Similar to the US GPS |
| GAP | SS7 ISUP Generic Address Parameter. Used in number portability to carry the LRN |
| Gateway MSC | An MSC designed to receive wireless calls from the PSTN |
| Gaussian Noise | Noise with constant power spectral density across the radio channel. |
| GBA | Generic Bootstrapping Architecture. Uses key material located in an HLR, HSS or AAA to 'bootstrap' a key for other purposes, e.g. mobile application security A security association is established by the BSF with both the UE and NAF allowing secure communication between the UE and the NAF, without the NAF having any root key material. |
| Gbps | Giga-bps. A data speed of billions of bits per second. See Mbps and kbps |
| GCC | Group Call Control |
| GCCS | Generic Call Control service for Parlay/OSA |
| GCF | GSM Global Certification Forum |
| GCR | Group Call Register |
| GDOP(1) | DOPTDOPPDOPHDOPVDOP). |
| GDP | ISUP Generic Digits Parameter |
| GECO | Global Emergency Call Origination. Allows a phone to make an emergency call in an area where the emergency digits are different than at home. |
| GEO | Geostationary Orbit (for a satellite) |
| GERAN | 3GPP TSG for GSM/EDGE RAN |
| GETS | US Government Emergency Telecommunications Service |
| GFSK | Gaussian FSK |
| GGRF | GSM Global Roaming Forum within the GSM Association. Composed of GAIT, G95 and groups considering interworking with iDEN and TETRA |
| GGSN | Gateway GSN. Connects to other packet data networks (e.g. internet). See SGSN |
| GHA | Global Hexadecimal Address. See MEID. |
| GHOST | GSM Hosted Short Message Teleservice. Allows TIA/EIA-136 messages to be delivered to a GSM MS |
| GHz | One thousand million Hz. A measure of radio frequency |
| GIF | Graphics Interface Format. A common graphics format suitable for computer-drawn graphics with few colors (up to 256). It supports simple animation. JPEG, PNG or TIFF are more suitable for photographs. |
| Giga | Prefix to indicate one billion (e.g. Giga-bit). Abbreviated G. See Gbps |
| GII | Global Information Infrastructure |
| GIS | Geographic Information System. A system that combines mapping information with domain-specific information that can be queried by computers. |
| GIWU | GSM Inter-Working Unit. An interface to various networks for data communications |
| Global challenge | Method of authentication using the same random number (RAND) for every mobile in a cellsite or sector |
| GLONASS(1) | Russian satellite-based location system. Compatible with GPS |
| GMLC | 3GPP/OMA Gateway MLC |
| GMM | GPRS Mobility Management Protocol |
| GMSC | See MSC-G |
| GMSK | Gaussian MSK |
| GMT | Greenwich Mean Time. The reference point for time zones around the world. |
| GNSS | Global Navigation Satellite System. A generic name for a satellite based positioning system. Examples are GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and Beidou. |
| Go | Interface between the GGSN and PDF that allows the application of policy (network rules) to bearer usage. |
| goodput | See throughput and badput |
| GPRS | General Packet Radio Service. A GSM-based packet data protocol using up to all 8 of the time slots in a GSM channel. It supports data rates up to 115 kbps, although 10-40 kbps is more likely in practice. Most terminals do not support usage of more than 1-3 timeslots. The difference with HSCSD is that the bandwidth can be shared amongst many users, making it more flexible, but also more susceptible to speed degradation due to overloading. See ADRC |
| GPS | Global Positioning System. A system for determining location based on comparing signals from several US military satellites. Compare with AOA, TOA |
| GR | Telecordia Generic Requirements document |
| GRE | Generic Routing Encapsulation. See RFC 1701 |
| GRI | GPRS Roaming Exchange. Provides interconnection, routing, DNS, security and QoS functions |
| GSL | Global Service Logic |
| GSM | Global System for Mobile Communications |
| GSM-R | A GSM-based PAMR system developed by European railways. |
| GSMA | GSM Association |
| gsmSCF | GSM SCF for CAMEL |
| gsmSRF | GSM SRF for CAMEL |
| GSN | GPRS support node. See SGSN, GGSN. |
| GSTN | General Switched Telephone Network. Synonym for PSTN |
| GT | Global Title. A non-native SS7 address based on E.164 DNs, E.212 IMSI, etc. |
| GTA | GT Address |
| GTAI | SS7 SCCP GT Address Indicator |
| GTP | GPRS Tunneling Protocol |
| GTT(1) | Global Title Translation. A method of routing in SS7 networks based on an GTs and not Point Code |
| GTT(2) | Global Text Telephony |
| GUG | GVNS User Group |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| GUP | Generic User Profile |
| GUTS | General UDP Transport Service |
| GVNS | Global Virtual Network Service |
| GW | Gateway |
| H |
| H.245(1) | A protocol used to control H.323 teleconferencing sessions. |
| H.248 | ITU-T protocol to control the MGW |
| H.323 | ITU-T recommendation for teleconferencing. See OpenH323 |
| HA | MIP Home Agent |
| HAAA | Home AAA |
| HAC | HA Challenge |
| HANDMREQ | TIA/EIA-41 HandoffMeasurementRequest INVOKE message. Being replaced by HANDMREQ2 |
| HANDMREQ2 | TIA/EIA-41 HandoffMeasurementRequest2 INVOKE message. Used by the Serving MSC to determine the signal strength being received by a neighboring Candidate MSC. Replaces HANDMREQ2 |
| Handoff | The process of a MS changing from one frequency in one cell or sector to a different frequency in a neighboring cell or sector |
| HARQ | Hybrid ARQ |
| HC | Home Country |
| HCM | Handset Configuration Management. See IOTA |
| HDB3 | High Density Bipoloar Order 3 Encoding |
| HDLC | High Level Data Link Control |
| HDML | Handheld Markup Language |
| HDR | High Data Rate. High speed data-only version of CDMA, standardized as EvDO. Now called HRPD |
| HDSL | High bit rate DSL. Symmetric DSL used for corporate networking |
| HE | Home Environment |
| Hertz | A unit of frequency. See MHz, GHz, kHz |
| HF | Hyperframe |
| HFC(1) | HF Counter |
| HFC(2) | Hybrid Fiber-Coax |
| HG | Header Generator |
| HI | Handover Interface |
| HINFO | Host Information |
| HIPPI | High-Performance Parallel Interface |
| HLPI | Higher Layer Protocol Identifier |
| HLR | Home Location Register |
| HMAC | Hashed MAC |
| HNI | Home Network Identifier. The MCC and MNC prefix of a group of IMSI codes. |
| Home Address | An IP address permanently assigned to a device that is supported by Mobile IP. Messages routed to this address will arrive at the HA. |
| Home Agent | IP node that receives packets at a Mobile Nodes static address and forwards them to a Foreign Agent for delivery at its current ('care-of') address |
| Home MSC | The MSC to which the PSTN routes based on an MDN |
| HomeRF | Promoters of the SWAP protocol for in-home wireless networking. This protocol was abandoned in 2003. |
| HPC | High Probability of Completion |
| HPLMN | Home PLMN |
| HPS | Home PS |
| HR | Half Rate (e.g. for a voice coder). Compare with FR |
| HRFWG | HomeRF WG. Note that this protocol was abandoned in 2003 |
| HRL | Header Reduction Lower |
| HRPD | cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data (formerly EvDO and HDR). It combines TDM on the forward link to provide from 38kbps to 2.5Mbps data rates. The reverse link supports speeds from 9.6kbps to 154kbps |
| HRU | Header Reduction Upper |
| HS-DSCH | HSDPA DSCH. A high speed channel for transmitting data to a W-CDMA mobile. |
| HS-PDSCCH | HSDPA DL control channel |
| HS-PDSCH | HSDPA DL physical channel |
| HSCSD | High Speed Circuit Switched Data. GSM enhanced to allow the concurrent use of up to four timeslots, providing a theoretical maximum 57.6 kbps data rates, although maximum rates of 28.8kbps to 43.2kbps are more realistic in practice. The main difference with GPRS is that the timeslots are assigned exclusively to one mobile for the duration of a data call. |
| HSDPA | 3GPP High Speed Downlink Packet Access. Provides higher data rates 'down' from the network to the mobile at about 1.5 Mbps in a 5 MHz carrier. Uplink speeds will be the same as EDGE - 384 kbps. See HSUPA and HSPA Evolution. See ADRC |
| HSG | Header Stripping and Generation |
| HSPA Evolution | An evolution of HSDPA and HSUPA that is promising downlink speeds of 28 Mbps, uplink speeds of 11.5 Mbps in a 5 MHz carrier. See ADRC |
| HSS | 3GPP Home Subscriber Server. Similar to AAA |
| HSSI | High Speed Serial Interface. A serial interface that can be used for very short distances (up to 50 feet), supporting speeds up to 52 Mbps |
| HSUPA | 3GPP High Speed Uplink Packet Access. Complements HSDPA by providing higher throughput on the W-CDMA link for uploading (MS to network). Rates for initial systems will be about 1 Mbps but eventually 5.76 Mbps is promised. The RTT is estimated as under 50 ms. See HSPA Evolution and ADRC |
| HTML | Hypertext Markup Language |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol . See RFC 2068 |
| https | Secure HTTP |
| Hyperband Handoff | Handoff between two different frequency bands (e.g. 800 MHz cellular and 1800 MHz PCS) |
| Hz | Cycles per second. A measure of radio frequency |
| I |
| I-CSCF | Interrogating CSCF. Main contact point for IMS connections to a carrier's subscribers |
| I-SCM | Interrogating SCM |
| I-WLAN | WLAN Interworking with a 3GPP cellular network. |
| IA5 | International Alphabet 5. Basically the ASCII character set |
| IAM | SS7 ISUP Initial Address Message. Used to initiate a call |
| IANA | Internet Assigned Number Authority. Mostly superseded by ICANN |
| IAP | Intercept Access Point. A point within the telecommunications network that provides voice or data for CALEA interception to a DF |
| IAPP | Inter-Access Point Protocol. An IEEE protocol to allow the secure transfer of MS context from one AP to another. It is based on IEEE 802.11f. |
| IBC | Iterated Block Ciphers |
| IC(1) | see IXC |
| IC(2) | Integrated Circuit |
| ICANN | The Internet Corporation for Assignment Names and Numbers. Performs top level resource assignment tasks for the internet, e.g. for domain names and IP addresses. |
| ICCID | An identifier for a SIM or UIMLuhn checksum. The number always starts with the digits '89' (indicating a 'Telecommunications' card) followed by a 1-3 digit E.164 Country Code and 1-4 digit Issuer Identification Number. These first digits, which cannot number more than 7, are followed by the Individual Account Identification Number which is most likely to be 11 digits long. Administered according to ITU-T Recommendation E.118 |
| ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol. Method for reporting errors and performing loopback testing on the internet |
| ICO | Intermediate Circular Orbit |
| ICS | Implementation Conformance Statement |
| IDB | ITS Data Bus (SAE J2366) |
| iDEN | Integrated Digital Enhanced Network. Motorola's proprietary system for E-SMR, used by Nextel and others. Based on GSM |
| IDL | Interface Description Language |
| IDSL | ISDN Digital Subscriber Line. Just a fancy name for ISDN |
| IE | Information Element |
| IEC(1) | See IXC |
| IEC(2) | Internet Engineering Consortium |
| IEC(3) | International ElectrotechnIcal Commission and the identity of standards produced by this organization. |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers |
| IEEE 802.15.1 | The IEEE Standard for Bluetooth |
| IEEE 802.15.4 | The IEEEStandard for ZigBee |
| IEEE-ISTO | IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization |
| IESG | Internet Engineering Steering Group. Group that oversees the activities of IETF |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force. Standards setting body for the Internet |
| IF | Information Flow |
| IFAST | International Forum on AMPS Standards Technology. Allocates IRM and SID codes |
| IFFT | Inverse FFT |
| IGP | Interior Gateway Protocol. See MPLS |
| IGS(1) | International GNSS Services. A voluntary federation of more than 200 worldwide agencies that pool resources and permanent GPS and GLONASS station data to generate higher precision data and products. It is likely that the new GNSS, GALILEO, will be included in the future. |
| IIF | Interworking and Interoperability Function |
| IK | Integrity Key. Protects (via encryption) the contents of signaling messages. In AKA it is derived from RAND using f4. It is applied to messages using f9 |
| IKE | Internet Key Exchange Protocol |
| ILEC | Incumbent LEC. The former monopoly local telephone carrier. cf CLEC |
| ILM | Incoming Label Map. See MPLS |
| IM(1) | IP Multimedia. A network using IP to transport voice, signaling, text, video etc. |
| IM(2) | Instant Messaging |
| IM-MGW | IM Media Gateway Function |
| IMAP4 | Internet Message Access Protocol. IETF RFC 2060 |
| IMC | Internet Mail Consortium |
| IMD | Inter-Modulation Distortion. The interaction of two or more signals, producing an unwanted additional signal |
| IMEI | 56 bit GSM International Mobile Equipment Identity. Composed of TAC + FAC + SNR + spare digit. A check digit is also included, but not always transmitted. See also IMEISV and MEID |
| IMEISV | IMEI with Software Version Number. Composed of TAC + FAC + SNR + SVN |
| IMGI | Inernational Mobile Group Identity |
| IMM | See IM |
| iMode | Japanese (NTT DoCoMo) wireless internet access system. See cHTML |
| IMRN | IP Multimedia Routing Number |
| IMS | IP Multimedia Subsystem. An All-IP wireless system, where data, voice and signaling are all carried as IP packets. |
| IMSI | International Mobile Subscriber Identity. Formerly called International Mobile Station Identity. Based on the ITU-T E.212 numbering plan. Composed of MCC MNC and MSIN. The only subscription identifier used by GSM and the future subscription identifier for CDMA. |
| IMSI_M | cdma2000 MIN-based IMSI. |
| IMSI_O | Operational value of IMSI used by a cdma2000 MS. Either IMSI_M or IMSI_T |
| IMSI_O_S | The last 10 digits of IMSI_O. Used for compatibility with older CDMA systems that relied on the 10 digit MIN. |
| IMSI_T | True IMSI used by cdma2000. Compare with IMSI_M. See IMSI_O |
| IMT-2000 | International Mobile Telecommunications for the year 2000 (or thereabouts) |
| IMTS-2000 | The ITU 3G initiative. It does not define specific protocols, but just the performance goals for them, such as bandwidth. Specifications are being developed by 3GPP and 3GPP2. |
| IMUI | International Mobile User Identity |
| IN | Intelligent Network. Wireless equivalents are WIN and CAMEL |
| INAP | IN AP. The IN messaging protocol |
| INC | Industry Numbering Committee (for the NANP) |
| INI | IRM Network Identifier. The first four digits that uniquely identifies a carrier HLR |
| INM | Integrated Network Management |
| INN | Internal Network Number |
| INS(1) | Intertial Navigation System. A device that calculates position based on estimating its own movement relative to a starting position at a known location. Can be quite accurate in the short term, but gets continually less accurate until reset at a known location again. |
| Integrity | Preventing information (e.g. a data transmission) from being manipulated. This can be accomplished by putting a MAC on each message. |
| Interface | A connection between two network elements. Compare with Protocol |
| Interleaving | Mixing of bits upon transmission according to a simple pattern (e.g. organizing bits in a matrix by columns and transmitting by rows) to somewhat randomize the output and protect from burst of noise on the RF channel |
| Intermodulation Interference | RF interference within a channel generated as one or more intermodulation products within the receiver itself, typically as the result of the presence of very strong signals in adjacent bands. Contrast with Systemic Interference and Non-systemic Interference |
| Intserv | Integrated Services |
| INVOKE | Message sent to initiate an TCAP transaction |
| IOS | Inter-Operability Standard. A version of the TIA/EIA-634 A-interface that enhances inter-vendor compatibility |
| IOT | Inter-Operator Tariff |
| IOTA | IP-based Over-the-Air configuration management |
| IP(1) | Intelligent Peripheral |
| IP(2) | Internet Protocol |
| IP-M | IP Multicast |
| IPCP | PPP IP Control Protocol |
| IPDR | Internet Protocol Detail Record. An internet oriented record for carrying charging details for services. Compare with CIBER, BAF, TAP, EMI |
| IPHC | IP Header Compression. Provides compression (and decompression) of TCP, UDP and IP headers. |
| IPLMN | Interrogating PLMN |
| IPoA | IP over ATM |
| IPR | Intellectual Property Rights (e.g. patents). See DRM. |
| IPSEC | IP Security. Compare with SSL (for TCP). See IETF RFC 2401. Also spelled IPSec |
| IPv4 | IP Protocol Version 4. The version currently in use in the internet, using 32 bit addressing. See also IPv6. |
| IPv6 | IP Protocol Version 6. The version that is supposed to provide significantly larger and more powerful addressing, and eventually replace IPv4. Don't hold your breath |
| IPv6CP | IPv6 Control Protocol |
| IR(1) | Intelligent Roaming |
| IR(2) | Infra-Red |
| IR(3) | Initialization and Refresh Packet. RFC 3095 |
| IRA | International Reference Alphabet |
| IRDB | IR Database. A database that can be loaded into a phone over the radio interface that prioritizes systems that may be detected by a phone based on carrier agreements |
| IREG | GSMA International Roaming Experts Group. |
| IRG | IFAST International Roaming Guide |
| IRI | Intercept (i.e. LAES) Related Information |
| IRM | International Roaming MIN. A mobile subscription identifier beginning with the digit 0 or 1 to avoid conflict with NANP MINs |
| IRP | Integration Reference Point |
| IRS | Internet Reachability Service |
| IS | TIA Interim Standard |
| IS-124 | Wireless call detail and billing record format for online transfer |
| IS-136 | Second generation TDMA air interface standard |
| IS-2000 | cdma2000 air interface standard. A successor to TIA/EIA-95-B |
| IS-41 | Wireless intersystems operation standard. Now called TIA/EIA-41 |
| IS-41-C | IS-41 Revision C (Intersystem Operations Standard) |
| IS-54 | First generation TDMA Radio Interface standard |
| IS-634 | See TIA/EIA-634 |
| IS-637 | CDMA short message service standard |
| IS-683 | see TIA/EIA-683 |
| IS-756 | A TIA standard for WNP |
| IS-801 | TIA/EIA interim standard for CDMA MS-assisted position determination |
| IS-91 | Most advanced analog air interface standard (including NAMPS) |
| IS-93 | Wireless-PSTN interface standard |
| IS-95 | cdmaOne CDMA air interface standard |
| ISAKMP | Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol |
| ISC | International Switching Centre |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network. PSTN utilizing SS7 interfaces |
| ISDN-UP | See ISUP |
| ISI | Inter-Symbol Interference |
| ISIM | IMS SIM |
| ISIS | Intermediate System - Intermediate System IP routing algorithm. |
| ISM | Industrial, Scientific, Medical frequency band (2.45-2.5 GHz). Available around the world for unlicensed applications, generally using low power and short distances |
| ISMA | Interference Sense Multiple Access |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| ISO-8859-1 | The most common 8-bit character set used for web pages. An ISO/IECstandard. Also see UNICODE |
| isotropic | Radiating equally in all three dimensions (as opposed to directional, with energy being focussed more in some directions than other). |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider |
| ISUP | ISDN User Part. SS7 signaling between switches. Standardized in ANSI T1.113 and ITU-T Q.760-769 |
| ITAR | US International Traffic in Arms Regulations. These rules used to govern export of encryption technology in the US and, to some extent, in Canada. Replaced by EAR |
| ITN | Individual Telephone Number Pooling. Phone numbers can be assigned to carriers one at a time, instead of in blocks of 1,000 or 10,000 |
| ITOT(1) | ISO Transport Service on top of TCP. Emulates the services of ISO protocols such as COTP but with TCP as the actual transport protocol. See RFC 2126. |
| ITS(1) | Intelligent Transportation System ("Smart Highways") |
| ITS(2) | IP Transport Subsystem |
| ITU | International Telecommunications Union |
| ITU-R | ITU - Radio Communications Division |
| ITU-T | ITU - Telecommunications Division |
| Iu | Interface between an RNC and CN (MSC, SGSN or CBC). Support for this within GSM has been suggested, but is unlikely. See also Iub, Iur. |
| IUA | ISDN Q.921 User Adaptation Layer |
| Iub | A 3GPP interface between an RNC and a Node B. See Iu, Iur. |
| Iur | A 3GPP interface between two RNCs. This is a logical interface, and the RNCs may not be connected by point-to-point physical links. See Iu, Iub. |
| IV | Initialization Vector. A 24-bit session-specific key for WEP |
| IVR | Interactive Voice Response |
| IVRU | IVR Unit |
| IWF | Inter-working Function. Used for wireless data interworking between digital mode data and analog (e.g. modems) |
| IXC | Inter-eXchange Carrier. A carrier licensed to provide long distance services |
| J |
| J-STD- | Joint ATIS-T1/TIA standard |
| J-STD-025 | LAES standard jointly produced by ATIS T1 and TIA TR-45 |
| J-STD-034 | Wireless E911 Phase I standard (cellsite and mobile identification, callback capabilities). See J-STD-036 |
| J-STD-036 | Wireless E911 Phase II standard (position of caller within 125m/400ft). See J-STD-034 |
| J2EE | Java 2 Enterprise Edition |
| J2ME | Java 2 Micro Edition |
| JAIN | Java APIs for Intelligent Networks |
| Java | A C-like programming language that is compiled into a virtual machine language providing efficiency close to that of languages compiled into native machine code while providing portability of the compiled program. Each computer system that wants to run Java has to provide a virtual machine |
| JCP | Java Community Process |
| JDC | Japanese Digital Cellular |
| JFIF | JPEG File Interchange Format |
| JIP | ISUP Jurisdiction Information Parameter |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group. Not usually used to refer to the group, but a graphics format created for them that is suitable for digital photographs and similar images. It supports 24 bit color as well as variable levels of compression and quality. It should be referred to as JFIF, but isn't. cf GIF, PNG, TIFF |
| JSR | Java Specification Request |
| JSR 177 | JSR for Security and Trust services API for J2ME |
| JTACS | Japanese TACS |
| JTC | Joint Technical Committee (e.g. with members of more than one SDO) |
| K |
| Kasumi | A block cipher used by AKA for the A5/3, f8 and f9 algorithms. See the wikipedia entry for more details |
| kbps | kilo-bps. A data speed of billions of bits per second. See Mbps and Gbps |
| Kc | GSM cipher key. Used for voice encryption |
| KDF | Key Derivation Function |
| KG | Key Generator |
| kHz | kilo-Hertz. Thousands of cycles per second. See MHz and GHz |
| Ki | GSM subscriber authentication key |
| kilo | Prefix to indicate one thousand (e.g. kilo-bit). Abbreviated k. See kbps |
| KSG | Keystream Generators |
| KSI | Key Set Identifier |
| KSS | Key Stream Segment |
| L |
| L1 | Layer 2 |
| L2 | Layer 2 |
| L2TP | Layer 2 Tunnel Protocol. Defined in RFC 2661. Successor to PPTP. IP packets are wrapped in a layer containing another set of IP addresses and possibly also control messages. The detailed format varies depending on whether the transport protocol is IP, UDP or another PSN type. |
| L3 | Layer 3 |
| LAC(1) | Link Access Control |
| LAC(2) | Location Area Code. 16 bit number identifiying a location area (i.e. group of base stations) within a GSM PLMN |
| LAES | Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance. See CALEA, J-STD-025, surveillance |
| LAI | GSM Location Area Identity. Composed of MCC + MNC + LAC |
| LAK | Local Authentication Key |
| LAN | Local Area Network. Compare with WAN, MAN. |
| LAP | Link Access Protocol |
| LAPB | Link Access Protocol, Balanced |
| LAPD | Link Access Protocol for the ISDN D Channel |
| LATA | Local Access and Transport Area. US local telephone service area |
| LB | Letter Ballot |
| LBA | Location Based Application |
| LBC | Last Batch Count. Exchanged by CIBER billing clearinghouses to ensure they do not get out of sequence with each other. |
| LBS | Location Based Services |
| LCP | Link Control Protocol. A subset of PPP that is used to negotiate and establish link capabilities, including authentication |
| LCS | Location Services. This usually implies positioning of an MS for commercial services, not emergency services |
| LCSM | LCS Manager |
| LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. See IETF RFC 3377. Compare with X.500 DAP |
| LDP | Label Distribution Protocol. See MPLS |
| LDT | Location Determination Technology |
| LEA | Law Enforcement Agency |
| Leakage | Inability to bill for a service |
| LEAP | Lighweight EAP. A Cisco proprietary version. |
| LEC | Local Exchange Carrier (wireline carrier for local calls). Also see ILEC and CLEC |
| LEMF | Law Enforcement Monitoring Facility (for LAES) |
| LEO | Low Earth Orbit |
| LER | Label Edge Router. See MPLS |
| LERG | Local Exchange Routing Guide. Includes a list of valid number blocks in the NANP |
| LFB | Lookahead For Busy |
| LIDB | Line Information DataBase. Used for validating collect calls, 3rd party calls, etc. |
| LIF | Location Interoperability Forum within OMA |
| LIFO | Last in, first out. A queuing methodology similar to stacking dishes and using the dish on the top of the stack. Compare with FIFO |
| LIR | Location Identification Restriction. Prevents the location of a mobile phone from being revealed (with legal exceptions for E911, etc.) |
| LLA-RHOC | Link Layer Assisted ROHC |
| LMDS | Local Multipoint Distribution Service. Uses the 27.5-31.3 GHz frequency band to serve mulitple points within a radius of 3-5km. Most carriers in this space have abandoned it or gone bankrupt. See MMDS. |
| LMM | Localized Mobility Management to improve local handover performance in Mobile IP |
| LMR | Land Mobile Radio |
| LMSD | Legacy MS Domain. Refers to existing SS7-based telecommunications systems, when accessed from an All-IP system. See MMD |
| LMSI | Local Mobile Station Identity. See TMSI |
| LMU | GSM Location Measurement Unit |
| LND | Last Number Dialed |
| LNP | Local Number Portability. Allows consumers to keep a phone number (MDN) when changing carriers within the same geographical region |
| LNPWG | Local Number Portability Working Group of NANC |
| LORAN(1) | Long Range Aid to Navigation. A land based navigation system based on the difference in time between signals received from several transmitters at known locations. |
| LOS | Line of Sight. A direct path through the air from transmitter to receiver. Always desirable for wireless communications, although not always necessary (e.g. for cellular/PCS) |
| LPC | Linear Predictive Coding |
| LPDE | Local PDE |
| LPDU | Link Protocol Data Unit. A frame |
| LRF | Location Registration Function. See WIN |
| LRN | Location Routing Number. A routing number that identifies the terminating switch for a Ported DN |
| LSB | Least Significant Bit or Byte. Compare with MSB |
| LSMS | Local Service Management System. Telephone carrier interface that downloads information from the NPAC into one or more NPDBs |
| LSP | Label Switched Path. See MPLS |
| LSPI | Proposed SS7 ISUP Local Service Provider Identification |
| LSR | Label Switching Router. See MPLS |
| LSSU | Link Status Signal Unit. The link status message for SS7 MTP |
| LT | Line Termination |
| LTE | A GSM competitor to EvDO Revision C promising similar data rates. See ADRC |
| LUDT | Long UDT. Supports messages up to 3 kilobytes in length |
| M |
| M2M | Machine To Machine. Communications between unattended machines. Most electronic communications is between machines but in many cases, such as a cellphone or PC, this is usually only because a person is using the device. An example of an M2M scenario is when a heat or alarm sensor communicates with a central computer, perhaps with the central computer providing feedback to other devices to shut off a malfunctioning machine, turn on fans or other automated control |
| M2PA | SS7 MTP2 Peer-to-Peer User Adaptation Layer |
| M2UA | SS7 MTP2 User Adaptation Layer |
| M3UA | SS7 MTP3 User Adaptation Layer. Resides above SCTP and below SCCP in an IP telecom signaling protocol stack. |
| MAAL | Management ATM Adaptation Layer. Maps management requests from system management to SAAL. See ATIS T1.652 |
| MABEL | Major Account Billing Exchange Logistical Record. Defined by Cibernet to facilitate centralized billing for large account customers |
| MAC(1) | Medium Access Control |
| MAC(2) | Message Authentication Code. In AKA, a value derived from SQN, RAND and AMF using f1 that shows that the sender was in possession of certain secret information (i.e. is authentic). |
| MACA | Mobile Assisted Channel Allocation. Mobile determines the best alternate cellsite to originate a call in, when no channels are available in the current site |
| MAH | Mobile Access Hunting. Termination to one of a group of mobiles |
| MAHO | Mobile Assisted Handoff. Mobile measures signal strength at neighoring base stations to determine which to handoff to |
| MAN | Metropolitan Area Network. Compare with LAN, WAN |
| MANET | Mobile ad hoc Network. A collection of wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network without any fixed network infrastructure. |
| MAP | Mobile AP. Protocol that interconnects wireless telephone systems. See GSM and TIA/EIA-41 |
| MBI | MIN Block Identifier. The first 6 digits (usually) of a North American MIN, when assigned separately from the MDN. The first digit is always 2-9 (inclusive). Digits 0 and 1 are reserved for IRM codes. |
| MBMS | UTRA Multimedia Broadcast and Multimedia Service |
| Mbps | Mega-bps. A data speed of millions of bits per second. See Gbps and kbps |
| MC(1) | Short Message Center |
| MC(2) | Multi-carrier |
| MCC | E.212 Mobile Country Code. First 3 digits of IMSI |
| MCFTP | Multi-Channel Flow Treatment Protocol |
| MCI | Malicious Call Identification |
| MCID | See MCI |
| MCL | Minimum Coupling Loss. The minimum loss required between a transmitter and a nearby receiver to avoid adversely affecting receiver performance. |
| Mcps | Million Chips-per-second. See CDMA and W-CDMA |
| MCSE | Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer |
| MD-IS | Mobile Data - Intermediate System. A CDPD term |
| MD5 | Message Digest 5. A secure hashing algorithm. See SHA-1 |
| MDN | Mobile DN |
| MDS | Multi-Point Distribution System. |
| ME | Mobile Equipment. Synonym for UE. Contrast with MS |
| MEA | Message Encryption Algorithm |
| Mega | Prefix to indicate one million (e.g. Mega-bit). Abbreviated M. See Mbps |
| MEGACO | Media Gateway Control - IETF Working Group |
| MEI | Mobility Event Indicator |
| MEID | A 56 bit Mobile Equipment Identity for CDMA and TDMA MS. Similar to the GSM IMEI, but allowing hexadecimal digits, and with a simplified structure (2 digit region code, 6 digit manufacturer code, 6 digit serial number). ESN and MEID are assigned by the TIA in their role as GHA. |
| MEMS | Micro-Eletronic Mechanical System |
| MESA | Mobility for Emergency Service Applications. A joint ETSI/TIA project to increase the interoperability of emergency service communications. |
| mesh | A form of networking where access to a server can be accomplished by routing through other clients that are physically closer |
| meta-language | A language that can be used to define other languages. See ASN.1 and BNF |
| MExE | 3GPP TSG-T Mobile Execution Environment |
| MF(1) | Multi-frequency tone signaling. Used for trunk signaling |
| MF(2) | UIM Master File. Compare with EF and DF |
| MG | Media Gateway |
| MGC | MG Controller |
| MGCF | MG Control Function |
| MGCP | MG Control Protocol. A VoIP call control standard. Also see older protocol SGCP |
| MGW | Media Gateway. Interface between packet environment of the CN and circuit environment of PSTN |
| MHz | Million Hz. A measure of radio frequency |
| MIB | Management Information (Data)Bases |
| MIH | Media Independent Handover. An IEEE 802.11 term indicating handover between 802.11, 802.3 or 802.16 and another radio interface. |
| MIHF | MIH Function. A cross-layer entity, defined by IEEE 802.21, that provides mobility support through SAPs offering Event, Information and Command services. |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| MIMO | Multiple Input, Multiple Output antennas. This increases throughput and reduces bit error rates compared to traditional antenna systems which transmit and receive through a single antenna. |
| MIN | Mobile Identification Number. 10 digit identifier of a mobile subscription. IRM for cdma2000, TDMA, AMPS. A MIN intended for use outside North America is usually an IRM assigned by IFAST |
| MIN1 | The last 7 digits of a MIN encoded in a wierd, but compact, 24 bit binary format |
| MIN2 | The first 3 digits of a MIN encoded in a very wierd, but compact, 10 bit binary format |
| minimization | Removal of information that has been collected, but that is outside the scope of a court order. See LAES |
| MIP | Mobile IP. IETF RFC 2002 |
| MIPS | Million Instructions per Second. Measurement of processor speed |
| MISP | Mobile Internet Service Provider |
| MLC | OMA/3GPP Mobile Location Center |
| MLP | Mobile Location Protocol. An XML-based protocol developed by the OMA LIF group. |
| MLPP | Multi-Level Precedence and Pre-emption |
| MLTS | Multi-line Telephone System |
| MM(1) | Mobility Management |
| MM(2) | Multimedia Message |
| MM1 | MMS interface between UA and MMS Relay/Server |
| MM2 | MMS interface between MMS Relay and MMS Server |
| MM3 | MMS interface between MMS Relay/Server and External Servers for fax, email etc. |
| MM4 | MMS interface between two MMS Relay/Servers |
| MM5 | MMS interface between MMS Relay/Server and HLR |
| MM6 | MMS interface between MMS Relay/Server and user databases |
| MM7 | MMS interface between MMS Relay/Server and VAS applications |
| MM8 | MMS interface between MMS Relay/Server and billing systems |
| MMD | Multi-Media Domain. An IP-based signaling system supporting voice, video, graphics, sound and application data, such as email in an integrated fashion. Contrast with LMSD. See IMS |
| MMDS | Multi-channel Multi-Point Distribution Service. Uses the 2.1-2.7 GHz frequency band. The success of this technology has been about as poor as its cousin, LMDS. |
| MMI | Man-Machine Interface |
| MML | Man-Machine Language. A human-readable language devised for communications between a human and a computer. Examples of formal languages in telecommunications are ITU-T Z.300 and the related TL1. These languages are textual and most humans are unlikely to want to use them directly, so they are more likely to take the place of a human-readable (i.e. ASCII character) protocol, with a GUI for the human to view and control the interactions with the computer more effectively and pleasantly. |
| MMS | MM Service (e.g. text, audio, graphics) |
| MMSE | Multimedia Messaging Service Environment |
| MMSNA | MMS Network Architecture |
| MMTA | MultiMedia Telecommunications Association. A subsidiary of TIA |
| MN | Mobile Node. An internet term for a mobile device capable of IP communications. See Mobile IP |
| MN-FA | MN Foreign Authentication. An extension to MIP that provides stronger authentication. See IETF RFC 3012 |
| MNC | E.212 Mobile Network Code (identifies an individual carrier, or a portion of a carrier network). Part of IMSI |
| MNIC | Mobile Network Identification Code |
| MNID | MN Identification |
| MNO | Mobile Network Operator. A carrier. |
| MNP | Mobile Number Portability. See LNP, WNP |
| MO | Mobile Originated/Originating |
| Mobile IP | A set of protocols that allows a MN to roam on the internet. Not widely implemented. |
| Mobile Node | An IP network node that has both a static address and a 'care-of' address associated with it. IP packets can be routed to it via a Home Agent (at its static address) and a Foreign Agent (at its care-of address) |
| Mobility | The capability of a device to initiate or receive services in many different systems, and to maintain session while travelling between systems. |
| Mobitex | An Ericsson Wireless Data protocol, once known as RAM Mobile Data in the US. |
| MOS | Mean Opinion Score. A method of measuring quality (e.g. of wireless voice transmission) by asking people to rank their opinion on a numeric scale, and then averaging the results. Sophisticated, huh! |
| MoU(1) | GSM Memorandum of Understanding. The guidelines under which GSM systems are implemented |
| MoU(2) | Minutes of Use. A common measure of the usage of a group of subscribers |
| MPC | Mobile Positioning Center. Interfaces between MSC, PDE, CRDB and ESME |
| MPC-MLQ(1) | Multipulse LPC with Maximum Likelihood Quantization audio codec used in G.723.1. Operates at a bit rate of 6.3 kbps |
| MPCAP | Mobility Positioning Capabilities |
| MPCI | Mobile PCI |
| MPEG | Motion Pictures Experts Group. Not usually used to refer to a group but a format for audio/video compression (and, obviously, decompression) |
| MPLS | Multi Protocol Label Switching. An IP protocol (RFC 3031) designed to provide preferred treatment to priority traffic to achieve a higher QoS. Every packet labeled with the same FEC gets the same treatment |
| MPS | Minimum Performance Standards/Specification. |
| MRF | Media Resource Function. Provides conference bridges, announcements, tones and so forth to IP-based telephony networks. See MRFC and MRFP |
| MRFC | MRF Controller |
| MRFP | MRF Processor. Provides tones, recordings, conference bridges etc. |
| MRP | Market Representation Partner. A participant in the 3GPP or 3GPP2 process that represents the marketing of technology in a region, such as 3G Americas for 3GPP or CDG for 3GPP2. |
| MS(1) | Mobile Station (wireless phone) |
| ms(2) | Milliseconds. Thousandths of a second. Also msec |
| MS-SME | SME embedded in MS |
| MSA | Metropolitan Statistical Area. CGSA for urban cellular systems. Also used for licensing the FCC AWS D band. |
| MSAG | Master Street Address Guide. A database of street names and house number ranges that define ESZ and their associated ESNs to enable proper routing of 911 calls. See E911. |
| MSB | Most Significant Bit or Byte. Compare with LSB |
| MSC | Mobile Switching Centre |
| MSC-G | See Gateway MSC |
| MSC-H | See Home MSC |
| MSC-O | See Originating MSC |
| MSC-S | Serving MSC |
| MSC-V | Visited MSC. The MSC which a mobile is currently registered in |
| MSCIN | MSC Identification Number |
| msec | Milliseconds. See ms |
| MSEIA | MS Emergency Information Assistance |
| MSID | Mobile Station Identifier. A MIN or an IMSI. See IMSI_O |
| MSIN | Mobile Subscriber Identity Number. Unique number assigned to a subscriber as part of IMSI |
| MSISDN | MS ISDN number. Same as MDN |
| MSK | Minimum Shift Keying. FSK where peak-to-peak FM deviation is half the data rate |
| MSO | CDMA Markov Service Option |
| MSP | Multiple Subscriber Profile |
| MSRN | Mobile Station Roaming Number. The GSM equivalent of the ANSI-41 TLDN |
| MSS(1) | Mobile Satellite System/Service |
| MSS(3) | Multimedia Streaming Service |
| MSU | Message Signal Unit. The payload message for SS7 MTP |
| MT | Mobile Terminated/Termination/Terminal. The UE is composed of the MT and SIM/USIM and possibly other peripherals |
| MTA(1) | Major Trading Area |
| MTA(2) | Mail Transfer Agent |
| MTE | Months to Exhaust. The time at which a numbering resource (e.g. area code) is expected to be fully utilized |
| MTP | Message Transfer Part (SS7 transport layer) |
| MTP2 | MTP Layer 2 |
| MTP3 | MTP Layer 3 |
| MTSO | Older term for MSC |
| MTTR | Mean Time to Restore (after failure) |
| MTU | Message Transfer Unit |
| Multipath | A radio link between the transmitter and receiver comprised of multiple paths which include intermediate reflections from various surfaces, usually due to non-line of sight communication paths |
| MUX | Multiplexer |
| MVNE | Mobile Virtual Network Enabler. Provides infrastructure and services such as billing, subscriber management and operations support to MVNOs. |
| MVNO | Mobile Virtual Network Operator. A company that markets cellular service but contracts with facilities-based cellular carriers to actually provide the coverage |
| mW | milli-Watt |
| MWIF | Mobile WIreless Internet Forum. Promotes the use of a single All-IP network for future wireless systems (e.g. convergence of 3GPP and 3GPP2 protocols) |
| MWN | Message Waiting Notification (e.g. stutter dial tone or an indication on a wireless phone's display) |
| MWNE | Managed Wireless Network Entity. A piece of equipment that provides OA&M data |
| MX | Mail Exchange (internet mail server) |
| N |
| N-1 Switch | The switch responsible for LNP queries |
| N-AMPS | See NAMPS |
| NAA | Network Access Application |
| NACK | Negative ACK |
| NAF | Network Application Function of GBA. |
| NAI | Network Access Identifier. This is an email-like address format used to identify a AAA or a device with an interface to one. |
| NAM | Number Assignment Module. A portion of a mobile phone that stores a single user profile, including MIN and IMSI, but not ESN |
| NAMPS | Narrowband AMPS |
| NANC | North American Numbering Council. The organization responsible for overseeing the distribution of telephone numbers in the NANP |
| NANP | North American Numbering Plan |
| NANPA | North American Numbering Plan Administrator (or Area) |
| NAPTR | Number Authority Pointer. See IETF RFC 2915. |
| NAS(1) | Network Access Servers |
| NAS(2) | Non-Access Stratum. Protocols between the UE and the core network that are transparent to the RAN (e.g. SMS) |
| NAT | Network Address Translation. Maps an internal set of IP addresses to an external set (perhaps assigned dynamically by DHCP) |
| NBAP | Node B Application Part |
| NCAS | Non-Call Associated Signaling. Compare with CAS |
| NCG | Network Capability Gateway. Obsolete. See OSA-SCS |
| NCGW | Synonym for NCG. Obsolete. See OSA-SCS |
| NCS | National Communication System. Responsible for US Government communications, including WPS and GETS |
| NDC | E.164 National Destination Code |
| NDS | Network Domain Security |
| NE | Network Entity |
| NEBS | Network Equipment Building Systems |
| NEMA-0183(1) | Electrical interface for communications between maritime electronic devices. This includes some GPS data. |
| Net Additions | Increase in new revenue-generating subscribers over a time period (usually a quarter year) |
| NFCC | Network Firewall Configuration and Control |
| NFS | Number Field Sieve. Used in cryptography |
| NGN | Next Generation Network. ITU-T term for future wireless systems with even higher speed data capabilities. |
| NHLFE | Next Hop Label Forwarding Entry. See MPLS |
| NHP | No-Header Packet. See RFC 3242 |
| NI(1) | Network Identity |
| NI(2) | Number Incomplete |
| nibble | Four bit |
| NID | Network Identification. A number that uniquely identifies a portion of a wireless carrier's total system. Used by TIA/EIA-95 (CDMA) systems |
| NIDS | Network-Initiated Data Session |
| NIIF | Network Interconnection Interoperability Forum |
| NIST | US National Insitute of Standards and Technology |
| NL | Neighbour List |
| NMR | Network Measurement Results |
| NMSI | National Mobile Subscription Identity. MNC + MSIN |
| NMT | Nordic Mobile Telephone. An analog cellular system available either in the 450 MHz or 900 MHz bands |
| Node B | Logical node in the 3GPP RNS responsible for radio transmission/reception in one or more cells to and from the UE. Terminates the Iub interface towards the RNC. |
| Non-repudiation | Ensuring that a communication cannot be disavowed later |
| Non-systemic Interference | RF interference within a channel used in a wireless system that emanates from a transmitter that is not part of the same system, and that may have undefined channel characteristics. This is of greatest concern for systems operating in unlicensed bands, such as ISM. Compare with Systemic Interference |
| nonce | A number that is used only once. Often used in cryptography |
| NP | Number Portability |
| NPA | NANP Numbering Plan Area (i.e. area code) |
| NPAC | NP Administration Center. Often used to refer to the NPAC SMS |
| NPDB | Number Portability Database. A list of ported numbers and associated LRNs used for LNP routing |
| NPDE | Network PDE |
| NPDU | Network Protocol Data Unit. A packet |
| NPI | Numbering Plan Identifier |
| NPM | Non-Public Mode Service |
| NPRM | FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| NRM | Network Reference Model (e.g. TIA/EIA/TSB-100) |
| NRN | Network Routing Number |
| NRTL | Nationally Recognized Test Lab |
| NRZ | Non-RZ |
| NS | Authoritative Name Server for a Domain. Converts between a domain name (e.g. cnp-wireless.com) and an IP address and related information |
| NS/EP | US National Security and Emergency Preparedness. See WPS |
| NSA | US National Security Agency. Keeps a tight grip on exports of US encryption technology |
| NSDPB&S | Non-signaling Data Protocol for Billing and Settlement. subset of IS-124 |
| NSDPF | Non-signaling Data Protocol for Fraud. A subset of IS-124 |
| NSDU | Network Service Data Unit |
| NSEP | National Security and Emergency Preparedness. People who are eligible for PAS/PACA |
| NSN | National Significant Number. All of an E.164 number apart from the CC, i.e. NDC + SN |
| NSS | Network and Switching Subsystem |
| NSTAC | US National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council |
| NT | Network Termination |
| NTIA | U.S. Dept. of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration |
| NTS | Number Translation Service |
| Number Pooling | Sharing a block of numbers between carriers. In the NANP this means that a block of 10,000 numbers is shared (currently in multiples of 1,000) by several carriers. Pooling is implemented using LNP |
| Number Porting | See LNP or WNP |
| NVSE | Normal Vendor Specific Extension |
| NXX | Digits 4-6 of a NANP directory number. N can be any digit 2-8, while X can be any digit 0-9 |
| O |
| O-BCSM | Originating BCSM |
| O/E | Odd/Even |
| O&M | Operations and Maintenance |
| OA&M | Operations, Administration and Maintenance |
| OAA | Over-the-Air Activation. See OTA |
| OAM&P | Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning |
| OATS | Over-the-Air Activation Teleservice. See TIA/EIA-136 |
| OBF | Ordering and Billing Forum of ATIS |
| OC-1 | SONET service at 51.84 Mbps. Equivalent to one DS3 (672 DS0) |
| OC-12 | SONET service at 622.08 Mbps. Equivalent to 12 DS3 or 8,064 DS0 |
| OC-18 | SONET service at 933.12 Mbps. Equivalent to 18 DS3 or 12,096 DS0 |
| OC-192 | SONET service at 9.95328 Gbps. Equivalent to 192 DS3 or 129,024 DS0 |
| OC-24 | SONET service at 1.24416 Gbps. Equivalent to 24 DS3 or 16,128 DS0 |
| OC-3 | SONET service at 155.52 Mbps. Equivalent to 3 DS3 or 2,016 DS0 |
| OC-36 | SONET service at 1.86624 Gbps. Equivalent to 36 DS3 or 24,192 DS0 |
| OC-48 | SONET service at 2.48832 Gbps. Equivalent to 48 DS3 or 32,256 DS0 |
| OC-768 | SONET service at 38.813 Gbps. Equivalent to 768 DS3 |
| OC-9 | SONET service at 466.56 Mbps. Equivalent to 9 DS3 or 6,048 DS0 |
| OC-96 | SONET service at 4.97664 Gbps. Equivalent to 96 DS3 or 64,512 DS0 |
| OCDM | Optical Code Division Multiplexing |
| OCH | Optical Channel |
| OCN | Operating Company Number. US identifier for a telecom carrier |
| OCS | Online Charging System. Used for real-time charging (e.g. prepaid). |
| OCSP | Online Certificate Status Protocol. An IETF protocol |
| octet | A snooty standards term for byte |
| ODB | Operator Determined Barring |
| OET | US FCC Office of Engineering & Technology |
| OFA | Optical Fiber Gateway |
| OFDM | See OFDMA |
| OFDMA | Orthogonal FDMA |
| OG | Optical Gateway |
| OHG | Operators Harmonization Group. A group of wireless carriers that wants to make CDMA systems work on both ANSI-41 and GSM networks |
| OLA | Optical Line Amplifier |
| OLC | Overload Control |
| OLI | Originating Line Indicator. ISUP parameter that identifies the class of phone (e.g. residential, payphone, hotel/motel) |
| OLNS | Originating Line Number Screening (using LIDB) |
| OLT | Optical Line Termination |
| OMA | Open Mobile Alliance |
| OMC | Operations and Maintenance Center |
| OMNCS | Office of the Manager, NCS |
| OMT | Overhead Message Train (messages transmitted from base station on the analog Control Channel) |
| ON | Optical Network |
| OPC | Originating Point Code. Where an SS7 message came from |
| OPDU | Operation PDU |
| OpenH323 | A project to create an open source implementation of H.323 |
| OPSP | Origination Participation Service Provider |
| OPTS | Over-the-Air Programming Teleservice. See TIA/EIA-136 |
| Originating MSC | The first MSC involved in a mobile terminated call. Either a Gateway MSC or the Home MSC |
| Origination | The process of starting a call, usually initiated by dialing digits |
| ORREQ | TIA/EIA-41 OriginationRequest transaction |
| OSA | 3GPP Open Service Access. Enables third parties to use network functionality through an open standardized interface (OSA API) |
| OSA-AS | OSA Application Server |
| OSA-SCS | OSA Control Server |
| OSF | Operations Systems Function |
| OSI | French synonym for ISO |
| OSPF | Open Shortest Path First IP routing algorithm. |
| OSS(1) | Operations Support Subsystem |
| OSS(2) | Operator Services Switch |
| OTA | Over-the-Air programming. Uploads internal mobile tables or software. |
| OTAF | Over-The-Air Activation Function. A specialized MC for performing OTASP and OTAPA |
| OTAPA | Over-The-Air Parameter Administration. A network initiated form of OTA |
| OTASP | Over-the-Air Service Provisioning. A mobile-initiated form of OTA |
| OTDOA | Observed TDOA |
| overdial | The process of dialing a phone number during an established call, when the original number dialed was to access some kind of gateway system. See Roamer Port |
| OWF | One Way Function. A function that is much easier to perform than to invert (i.e. back-calculate). This concept is the foundation of much of modern cryptography |
| OXC | Optical Cross Connect |
| P |
| P-CSCF | Proxy CSCF. First contact point for a terminal within the IMS |
| P-P | PDSN to PDSN interface used to support fast handoff (tunneling of packets from old serving system to new serving system). |
| P-SCM | Proxy SCM |
| P-TMSI | Packet TMSI |
| PABX | See PBX |
| PAC | PPTP Access Concentrator. Concentrates PPP traffic on a dial access platform. See PNS |
| PACA | Priority Access and Channel Assignment. Channels are assigned to mobiles attempting to originate a call in order of priority, rather than first-come, first-served. See PAS |
| Packet data | Data transmitted from multiple users in individually address discrete packets. Compare with CSD |
| PACS | Personal Access Communications System |
| PAD | Packet Assembly/Disassembly |
| Page | The process of telling an MS to prepare for an incoming call |
| PAMR | Public Access Mobile Radio. A wide-area form of PMR that provides group-oriented communications (such as PTT) to the public, rather than being run for a single organization. See SMR. |
| PAN | Personal Area Network. A network that connects personal devices, such as computer, keyboard, mouse, phone and monitor. Also known as Piconet |
| PANID | Previous ANI |
| PAP | Password Authentication Protocol. A simple authentication protocol that sends security information in the clear. Compare with CHAP |
| Parlay/OSA | Open Service Access/Architecture. An API that enables operator and 3rd party applications to make use of network functionality through a set of open, standardised interfaces. Implementations are JAIN SPA, OMG-IDL and WSDL |
| PAS | Priority Access Service. See PACA |
| PBCCH | GPRS Packet Broadcast CCH |
| PBX | Private Branch Exchange. A privately owned switch providing wired and possibly also wireless service for an office, factory, campus, etc. |
| PC | Personal Computer |
| PCAP | UTRAN Positioning Calculation Application Part |
| PCCCH | GPRS Packet Control Channel |
| PCF | Packet Control Function. Obsolete. See PDF |
| PCG | 3GPP Project Coordination Group |
| PCH | Paging Channel |
| PCI | Protocol Capability Indicator |
| PCIA | Personal Communications Industry Association. Rival trade association to CTIA |
| PCM | Pulse Code Modulation. The encoding scheme for digital voice in a circuit-switched telephone network. |
| PCMCIA | Personal Computer Memory Card International Association |
| PCN | Personal Communications Network. See PCS |
| PCS | Personal Communications System. See DCS, PCS1900 |
| PCS1900 | North American PCS frequencies, 1850-1990 MHz. See DCS |
| PCSC | Personal Communications Switching Center. See MSC |
| PD | Packet data |
| PDA | Personal Digital Assistant |
| PDC | Pacific Digital Cellular. A Japanese cellular standard based on GSM operating in the 800 MHz and 1500 MHz frequency bands. |
| PDC-P | PDC Packet network used |
| PDCP | UTRA Packet Data Convergence Protocol |
| PDD | Post-Dial Delay. The delay between dialing and having the call cut through to the party at the other end |
| PDE | Position Determining Entity |
| PDF | Policy Decision Function |
| PDG | PD Gateway. Similar to PDSN. |
| PDH | Plesiochhronous Digital Hierarchy |
| PDLP | PD link protocol |
| PDN | Public Data Network or Packet Data Network |
| PDP | PD Protocol |
| PDREG | Power-Down Registration |
| PDSN | Packet Data Serving Node. Not to be confused with PSDN |
| PDU | Protocol Data Unit |
| PEAP | Protected EAP. A more secure version of LEAP developed by Microsoft and Cisco. |
| pen register | A form of surveillance where dialed digits and time of call are collected |
| Penetration | The percentage of the population of a service area (POP) that have acquired a certain service |
| PER(1) | Packed Encoding Rules. Avoids the TLV overhead of BER and TCAP |
| PER(2) | Packet Error Rate. The fraction of packets that have one or more errors. Compare with BER. |
| pESN | Pseudo ESN. Formed from the 8-bit prefix 0x80 followed by the 24 least significant bits of the SHA-1 extract of the MEID. See also tESN and pUIMID. |
| Peta | Prefix to indicate one thousand trillion (e.g. Peta-bit). Abbreviated P |
| PH | Packet Handler |
| PHB | Per-Hop Behaviour |
| PHS | Personal Handyphone Service. A real success until people found that it was not true cellular service |
| PI | Polling Indicator |
| PIC(1) | Preferred Inter-exchange Carrier Code. Identifies the long distance carrier for a subscriber. Generally national in scope |
| PIC(2) | Point in Call. An IN, WIN, CAMEL term |
| Piconet | See PAN |
| PIN | Personal Identification Number. Used to restrict access to personal services or capabilities |
| PINT | PSTN and Internet Interworking - IETF WG. See RFC 2848 |
| PISN | Private Integrated Services Network. Composed of inter-connected PBXs. |
| PKC | Public Key Cryptography. Also known as Asymmetric Key Cryptography |
| PKCS | PKC System |
| PKE | Public Key Encryption |
| PKI | Public Key Infrastructure |
| PL | Physical Layer |
| Plaintext | Unencrypted data. Compare with Ciphertext |
| PLCM | Used for encoding cdma2000 conversations on the reverse traffic channel. Originally based on the ESN of an MS it now can be assigned by the BS or calculated from the IMSI or MEID. |
| PLMN | Public Land Mobile Network. A cellular, PCS or 3G wireless network |
| PM(1) | Privacy Mode |
| PM(2) | Personal Mobility |
| PMN | Public Mobile Network. Synonym for PLMN |
| PMR | Professional/Private Mobile Radio. A radio system established to service a single organization or group of related organizations. They usually provide special group communications capabilities, such as PTT. See SMR. Contrast with PAMR |
| PN(1) | Pseudo-Noise. Orthogonal code used to separate CDMA transmissions |
| PN(2) | Project number |
| PN Sequence | A defined repetitive sequence of binary bits, typically quite long. PN sequences are often used to test digital communications systems because they are composed of typical data patterns (as opposed to, say, alternating 1s and 0s) but are nonetheless defined bit-by-bit, so that the correctness of received bits can be determined at the receiver. PN sequences are also used extensively in the channel structure of many wireless technologies such as CDMA. |
| PNA | Presence Network Agent |
| PNG | Portable Network Graphics. A web graphics format using lossless compression (and decompression) and 48 bit color (unlike JPEG). Its proponents believe that it will also replace GIF and TIFF. |
| PNP | Private Numbering Plan |
| PNS | PPTP Network Server. See PAC |
| PoC | Push/Press-to-Talk over Cellular. Refers to systems running over standard cellular systems that emulate the push-to-talk system of iDen and similar systems. See PTT. |
| POCSAG | A paging protocol that runs at 512 or 2400 bps. Compare with FLEX, ReFLEX. |
| POI | Point of Interconnect |
| Point Code | A numeric SS7 address. 24 bits in the NANP, 16 bits in Japan, and 14 bits in most other countries |
| Pooling | The ability to share a block of 10,000 NANP phone numbers between carriers. See ITN and Thousands block pooling |
| POP(1) | Population of a service area. Licenses are often valued based on this |
| POP(2) | Point of Presence. A place where a carrier provides connectivity to its network |
| POP3 | Post Office Protocol Version 3. IETF RFC 1939 |
| Port-in | The porting of a number from the perspective of the new service provider. See LNP and WNP |
| Port-out | The porting of a number from the perspective of the old service provider. See LNP and WNP |
| Portable Block | A block of 10,000 NANP directory numbers that contains at least one Ported DN |
| Portal | A fancy name for a web page that provides a single point of entry for a suite of web services |
| Ported DN | A DN that has been ported from one carrier to another. See LNP and WNP |
| POS(2) | Packet over SDH |
| POS (1) | Personal Operating Space. A space about a person or object about 10 meters in radius that envelopes the person. See WPAN |
| POTS | Plain Old Telephone Service (incoming and outgoing calls, but no fancy features) |
| PPDN | Public PDN |
| PPDR | Public Protection and Disaster Relief |
| PPDU | Presentation PDU |
| PPP(1) | Point-to-Point Protocol. IETF RFC 1661. Provides a reliable link to the internet over a single-user facility (e.g. phone line) that can carry several network protocols simultaneously. See PPP, PAP, CHAP |
| PPP(2) | Peripheral Pre-Processor |
| PPTP | Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. Allows PPP to be tunneled through an IP network. Uses an enhanced GRE mechanism for flowcontrol and congestion control. Defined in RFC 2637. May be replaced by L2TP |
| PQoS | Position QoS. The desired/required/measured quality of position measuring accuracy and delay |
| PRACK | IETF SIP Provisional Acknowledgement message |
| PRAMP | Power Ramp |
| PRBS | Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence |
| PRC(1) | Premium Rate Charging |
| PRC(2) | Primary Reference Clock |
| PRC(3) | People's Republic of China |
| Prepaid wireless | Wireless services paid for in advance, as opposed to monthly billing. Technical challenges limit the services available, such as roaming and international calling |
| PRI | Primary Rate Interface (1.544 Mbps). See T1, DS1 |
| Private long code mask | Used for encrypting TIA/EIA-95 conversations. Based on secret key information |
| PRL | CDMA Preferred Roaming List. A database within an MS that prioritizes the systems that the mobile might encounter while roaming. |
| PRN | Provide Roaming Number |
| Protocol | A specification of the messages used to communicate over one or more Interface |
| PS(1) | Packet Switch(ed) |
| PS(2) | Priority Service. See WPS, PACA |
| PS(3) | Positioning Server. |
| PSAP | Public Service Answering Point. The place where 9-1-1 calls are answered |
| PSD | Power Spectral Density |
| PSDC | WAG Persistent Storage Drafting Committee. A WAP Working Group |
| PSDN | Packet/Public Switched Data Network. Not be be confused with PDSN |
| Pseudolite(1) | A GPS ground station that transmits a signal similar to a satellite that might not be visible to all GPS devices. |
| PSI | PCF Session ID |
| PSID | Private SID. Used to identify a virtual private wireless system (e.g. wireless PBX) |
| PSK(1) | Phase Shift Keying. Information bits are identified by changes in phase of the carrier. Usually, the signal is split into two parts. I is unchanged, and Q is phase shifted by 90 degrees. Phase can be controlled by the amount of each path that is remixed upon output |
| PSK(2) | Pre-Shared Key. |
| PSMM | Pilot Signal Strength Message. Used for CDMA triangulation |
| PSN | Packet Switched Network |
| PSPDN | Packet Switched PDN |
| PSS | 3GPP Packet Streaming Service. |
| PSTN | Public Switched Telephone Network. The 'phone system'. |
| PSVT | Packet-Switched Video Telephony |
| PTM | Point-to-Multipoint (Broadcast) |
| PTP | Point-to-Point |
| PTT | Push To Talk. Pressing a button on a phone initiates communications with a pre-defined group of other users. The system will usually give one radio the ability to transmit, and the remainder can only listen until the button is released or the phone exceeds the maximum time limit on the right to talk. |
| Public long code mask | See PLCM. |
| PUC(1) | GSM Personal Unblocking Code. A code provided by a carrier to regain access to a SIM that has become locked due to multiple entries of an invalid PIN. If this code is entered incorrectly 10 times, the SIM will become permanently inoperable and must be replaced. |
| pUIMID | Pseudo UIMID formed from the 8 bit prefix 0x80 and the least significant 24-bit SHA-1 extract of the EUIMID. |
| PUK(1) | GSM Personal Unblocking Key. See PUC. |
| PUREG | Power-Up Registration |
| PV | Protocol Version |
| PVC | Permanent VC |
| PVI | PV Indicator |
| PZID | Packet Zone ID |
| Q |
| QAM | Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. A method of encoding a digital symbol in an analog symbol using combinations of phase and amplitude that are modulated at right angles to the main carrier. See 8QAM, 16QAM, 32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM |
| QAM/CAP | QAM/CAP |
| QCELP | Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction |
| QoE | Quality of Experience. The subscriber's perception of their quality of service. |
| QoR | Query on Release. A method for implementing LNP |
| QoS | Quality of Service. A list of measurable attributes such as bandwidth, delay and jitter that should be met for a specific communications service |
| QPSK | Quadrature PSK used in CDMA. Phase can be in one of four states |
| QSIG | ISDN based signaling inter-PBX protocol. |
| Quintet | A group of 5 security data elements used in AKA. Composed of RAND, expected user response (XRES), Cipher Key (CK), Integrity Key (IK) and network authentication token (AUTN) |
| R |
| R and R | Revise and Resubmit. The usual treatment for a contribution to a standards committee |
| R-APDU | Response APDU |
| R-P | Interface between a PDSN and a PCF that uses a GRE tunnel to carry user data and signaling messages. |
| R-SCH | Reverse SCH (from MS) |
| R-SGW | Roaming SGW. Interface between SS7 SCCP and MTP to IP protocols |
| R-UIM | Removable UIM |
| RA | Registration Authority |
| RAB | Radio Access Bearer |
| RAC | Routing Area Code. An 8 bit number identifying a routing area with a location aarea |
| RACF | Radio Access Control Function. An IN term |
| RACH | Random Access Channel. Mobiles compete to access this shared Control Channel |
| Radio Frequency | Electro-magnetic radiation having a frequency in the range used for telecommunications, greater than that of the highest audio-frequency and less than that of the shortest infra-red waves. |
| Radio Interface | The interface between an MS and a BS |
| RADIUS | Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. An internet user authentication system. See IETF RFC 2138, 2139 and AAA |
| RAI | GSM Routing Area Identification. Composed of LAI + RAC |
| RAKE | A receiver technique which uses several baseband correlators to individually process several signal multipath components. The correlator outputs are combined to achieve improved communications reliability and performance |
| RAN | Radio Access Network |
| RANAP | UTRAN RAN Application Part |
| RAND | Random number used for authentication purposes |
| RANDBS | Random number used for base station challenge authentication operation. See CAVE |
| RANDC | RAND Confirmation. A portion of RAND used to try to confirm the value that was used by an MS during a Global challenge |
| RANDSSD | Random number used for CAVE SSD Update operation |
| RANDU | The random number used for a Unique Challenge |
| RAO | Revenue Accounting Office |
| RASC | Radio Access System Controller. An IN term |
| RAT | Radio Access Technology. Used to distinguish between GPRS and UMTS in 3GPP networks. |
| Rate Center | The location of a phone for billing purposes. Long distance charges are calculated based on the distance between two rate centers (often the switch location). Rate centers and competition combine to cause very inefficient number assignment, because every carrier operating in a rate center must be assigned at least 10,000 numbers. But, see Pooling |
| RATI | Random ATI. Compare with UATI |
| RBOC | Regional BOC. One of 7 local exchange companies formed from the breakup of AT&T: NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, US West and Ameritech |
| RCF | Radio Control Function. An IN term |
| RD | Requirements Document |
| RDCCH | Reverse DCCH |
| RDF | Resource Description Format |
| RDTC | Reverse DTC |
| RDV | Roamer Database Verification (IS-847). Ability of HLR to query VLR database to determine whether information needed to support roamers is correct |
| REAG | Regional EA Grouping. A geographical area (encompassing several EAs) used to license the AWS B, C and E bands. |
| RECC | Reverse Analog Control Channel |
| Recipient Switch | The switch to which a number has been ported. See LNP |
| RED | Random Early Detection |
| Reed-Solomon | A type of FEC |
| ReFLEX | A two-way paging protocol related to FLEX. Operates at speeds up to 9600 bps inbound and 6400 bps outbound (25 kHz channel) or 25600 bps (50 kHz channel) |
| Registration | The process where an MS informs a system of its presence |
| Rel(1) | Abbreviation for release of a specification (e.g. GSM Rel 5) |
| REL(2) | SS7 ISUP circuit Release message |
| Release | Returning a trunk, transceiver or other telephony resource to the idle list |
| RES | Authentication response. A value calculated from at least a secret key and a random number, that can be used to infer that the respondent is in possession of the secret key, without revealing it. |
| RETURN RESULT | Message sent to successfully end TCAP transaction |
| REVAL | Recommendations on the Procedures for Evaluation of Radio Transmission Technologies for FPLMTS |
| Reverse 911 | Dialing up all landline phones within a geographical area to deliver a recorded message, e.g. about a weather emergency. This is usually a voluntary service |
| Revertive dialing | Calling your own phone number. Often used to access a voice mail system |
| RF | Radio Frequency |
| RFC | IETF Request for Comments. Internet standard (well, not officially, but in practice many internet 'standards' are still just RFCs) |
| RFI(1) | Request For Information |
| RFI(2) | Radio Frequency Interference |
| RFID | Radio Frequency Identification. A small chip that is designed to allow the identification and tracking of an object (e.g.manufactured item, airline bag). |
| RFP | Request for Proposal |
| RFU | Reserved for Future Use |
| RIH | Rate Input Handler. Puts a price on usage (e.g. a phone call) |
| Rijndael | Encryption algorithm chosen for AES (replacement for DES). Means 'Rhine Valley' in Flemish. Pronounced 'Rain Doll' (while clearing your throat) |
| RIL3 | GSM Radio Interface Layer 3 |
| RIP | Routing Information Protocol. Compare with OSPF |
| RLC | Radio Link Control |
| RLEC | Rural LEC |
| RLH | Rate Load Handler. Loads rated transactions into the billing system and monitors the usage limits (e.g. for prepaid, fraud analysis) |
| RLP(1) | Radio link protocol |
| RLP(2) | OMA/3GPP Roaming Location Protocol between SUPL Location Platforms (SLP). |
| RN | Radio Network |
| RNC | Radio Network Controller |
| RNS | Radio Network Subsystem |
| RNTI | Radio Network Temporary Identity. See TMSI |
| ROA | Registered Operating Agency |
| Roamer | A mobile that is present in a system (MSC-V) that is not its home system |
| Roamer Port | A phone number that allows Termination to a Roamer via the MSC-V |
| ROER | Remote Operation Error. See ROSE |
| ROHC | RObust Header Compression (and, if you're lucky, decompression). RFC 3095. Provides compression of IP, UDP, RTP and ESP headers using W-LSB. In future, compression of TCP, SIP and other header types is also planned. It is more robust than CRTP |
| ROIV | Remote Operation Invoke. See RORJ |
| RORJ | Remote Operation Reject. See ROIV |
| RORS | Remote Operation Result |
| ROSE | Remote Operations Service Element. A message packaging protocol |
| Router | An IP packet switch. Compare with STP |
| RPC(1) | Radio Port Controller. An IN term |
| RPC(2) | Remote Procedure Call. A method of exchanging data between applications running on different machines. Compare with SOAP |
| RR(1) | Radio Resource |
| RR(2) | Resource Record. Basic storage element for DNS |
| RRC | RR Control |
| RRM | RR Management |
| RRP | MIP Registration Reply |
| RRQ | MIP Registration Reply Request |
| RS | Reed-Solomon error correction code |
| RSA(1) | Rural Statistical Area. CGSA for rural cellular systems. Also used for licensing the FCC AWS D band. |
| RSA(2) | Rivest, Shamir and Adleman PKE algorithm. Also the name of a corporation based on commercialization of this algorithm |
| RSID | Residential SID. Used to identify a virtual residential wireless system |
| RSN | Robust Security Network. The long-term security enhancement for WiFi that replaces both WPA and WEP. |
| RSS | Received Signal Strength. A measure of the strength of a radio signal |
| RSSI | Received Signal Strength Indication. Used to determine when a Handoff should be attempted |
| RSVD | Reserved |
| RSVP | IETF Resource Reservation Protocol. RFC 2205. A control protocol for assigning bandwidth to packets based on their desired QoS |
| RTCP | RTP Control Protocol. |
| RTF | Radio Terminal Function. An IN term |
| RTP(1) | ISUP Release to Pivot Capability. Allows a call connected to one switch to be redirected to another by dropping back to an earlier switch to optimize trunking |
| RTP(2) | IETF Real Time Protocol. Used by SIP, among other protocols |
| RTSP | Real Time Streaming Protocol |
| RTT(1) | Radio Transmission Technology candidate for IMT-2000 |
| RTT(2) | Round trip time. The time for a message to get from origin to destination and back again. For communications based on the exchange of many small messages this is more important than the actual bandwidth. |
| RTT(3) | Abbreviation for 1XRTT |
| RVC | Reverse analog Voice Channel |
| RX | Abbreviation for receive or receiver |
| RXP | A protocol that bridges ReFLEX networks together. Based on XML, HTTP and TCP/IP. See WCTP |
| RZ | Return to Zero |
| S |
| S-BCCH | SMS BCCH |
| S-CSCF | Serving CSCF. Handles IMS session states |
| S-SCM | Serving SCM |
| S/N | Signal to noise ratio |
| S/R | Emergency services selective router |
| SA | Security Association |
| SA1 | 3GPP TSG SA Working Group 1 for Service Specifications. |
| SA2 | 3GPP TSG SA Working Group 2 for Architecture Specifications. |
| SA3 | 3GPP TSG SA Working Group 3 for Security Specifications. |
| SA4 | 3GPP TSG SA Working Group 4 for Codec Specifications. |
| SA5 | 3GPP TSG SA Working Group 5 for Telecom Management. |
| SAAL | Signaling ATM Adapatation Layer. Equivalent of MTP layer 2 for ATM networks used to carry SS7 traffic. Includes SSCF, SSCOP and MAAL |
| SABM | Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode |
| SACCH | Slow Associated Control Channel. A control channel that is transmitted at a low bit rate in parallel with digitized voice. |
| SACH | GSM term for SACCH |
| SAFER | Safe And Fast Encryption Routine. Based on IBC |
| SAIC | Single Antenna Interference Cancellation |
| SAMPS | ANSI-136 System Assisted Mobile Positioning through Satellite. TDMA, MS-assisted location determination, using GPS |
| SAP | Service Access Point. Identifies a particular user service, sending and receiving a specific class of data. |
| SAPI | SAP Identifier. Assigned by IANA. |
| SAR(1) | Segmentation and Reassembly |
| SAR(2) | Successive Approximation Converter. Type of analog-to-digital converter |
| SAR(3) | Specific Absortion Rate. Amount of RF energy absorbed (e.g. for RF/health studies) |
| SASL | Simple Authentication and Security Layer. IETF RFC 2222 |
| SAT(1) | Supervisory Audio Tone. One of three tones around 6 kHz that are transmitted from a base station to an MS by analog cellular (EIA/TIA-553) |
| SAT(2) | SIM Application Toolkit |
| SC | Steering Committee |
| SCADA(1) | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. |
| SCC(1) | SAT Color Code. A slight variation in frequency to limit false SAT detection |
| SCC(2) | Service Control Code. A 1, 2 or 3 digit code followed by an asterisk (*) used for controlling switch capabilities during a call (e.g. 777*). Compare with FC |
| SCCP | Signaling Connection Control Part. SS7 enhanced routing and identification layer |
| SCE | Service Creation Environment for the Intelligent Network (IN, WIN) |
| SCEG | Smart Card Expert Group. A WAP Working Group |
| SCEMA | Secure Cellular Encryption Module Algorithm |
| SCF | Service Control Function. Most important part of an SCP |
| SCH(1) | CDMA Supplemental Channel. Used for transmitting higher speed data |
| SCH(2) | GSM Synchronisation Channel; downlink only frame synchronisation and identification of base station. |
| SCID | Subchannel Identity |
| SCM(1) | Station Class Mark. Identifies the power class and transmission mode of an AMPS terminal |
| SCM(2) | 3GPP2 Session Control Manager. Manages multimedia sessions. Obsolete. See CSCF |
| SCP | Service Control Point. An SS7 network element used to control call processing (e.g. by providing database or intelligent network services) |
| SCPT | CDMA Service Category Programming Teleservice |
| SCR | Static Conformance Requirements |
| SCTP | Stream Control Transmission Protocol specified in IETF RFC 2960. Similar to TCP, it differs in supporting multiple independent streams of packets which prevents a failure in one stream backing up packets in all streams. |
| SCVP | Simple Certificate Validation Protocol. Allows a simple device to send a certificate to a server for validation. An IETF draft |
| SDB | Short Data Burst |
| SDCA | Indian Short Distance Charging Area |
| SDCC | Supplementary DCC |
| SDCCH | GSM Standalone Dedicated Control Channel. |
| SDCH | See SDCCH |
| SDF | Service Data Function (IN term) |
| SDFU | Sub-rate Digital Facility Unit |
| SDH | Synchronous Digital Hierarchy |
| SDL | Specification Description Language |
| SDL(2) | System Design Language |
| SDO | Standards Development Organization. The TIA and ATIS are SDO's |
| SDP | IETF Session Description Protocol that describes multimedia sessions for the purposes of session announcement, invitation, and other forms of multimedia session initiation. See SIP |
| SDR(1) | Software-Defined Radio. A radio that can operate in different modes (e.g. frequency bands, modulation schemes) based on the software that is currently loaded and active in the device. |
| SDR(2) | Special Drawing RIghts. A virtual currency used for exchange of billing information between carriers. |
| SDSL | Symmetric DSL. Bit rates are the same in both directions |
| SDU(1) | Selection and Distribution Unit. Part of a base station that contains the voice coders |
| SDU(2) | Service Data Unit |
| segmentation | The process of breaking a long protocol message into pieces that are no longer than the maximum allowed by lower protocol layers. Oh, and reassembling them later! |
| Sensitivity | The ability to receive a radio signal very near to the thermal noise level. The more sensitive the receiver, the lower the required incident radio signal required for acceptable reception. |
| SerG | GSMA Services Group |
| Serving MSC | The MSC currently serving an MS |
| SET | SUPL Enabled Terminal. Supports the location procedures of SUPL, interacting with the network over the user plane bearer. |
| Settlement | The process of exchanging revenue between telecommunications carriers |
| SF | Superframe |
| SF_EUIMID(1) | Short Form EUIMID. Based on the MEID format and allocated from the same numbering space. However, the SF_EUIMID of an R-UIM will never be the same as the MEID of the phone that it is inserted into. |
| SFI | Short File Identifier in a UIM or SIM |
| SG(1) | ITU Study Group |
| SG(2) | Signaling Gateway. Converts an internet protocol to another protocol, e.g. SS7 |
| SG(3) | GSMA Security Group |
| SGCP | Simple Gateway Control Protocol. A VoIP call control standard. Also see MGCP |
| SGML | Standardized Generalized Markup Language. The father of XML |
| SGSN | Serving GSN |
| SGW | Signaling Gateway |
| SHA-1 | Secure Hash Algorithm. Produces a condensed representation ('hash') of a string of bits (e.g. protocol message). Because it is computationally infeasible to determine the original text knowing the digest it is useful in authentication algorithms. Because it is also infeasible to find two strings that produce the same digest, it is also useful in digital signing algorithms. See MD5. |
| SHDSL | Single-pair high speed DSL |
| SID | System Identifier. A 15 bit identifier of an AMPS wireless license or system |
| SIF | Signalling Information Field. The payload of an SS7 MTP message |
| SIG | Special Interest Group |
| Signaling | Messages used to control calls, assign resources, maintain and monitor telecommunications systems |
| SIM(1) | GSM Subscriber Identification Module (Smart Card). Compare with UIM |
| SIM(2) | Service Interaction Manager. A WIN concept |
| SIMPLE | SIP for IM and Presence Leveraging |
| SIN | Specification Information Node |
| SINAD | Signal + Noise + Distortion |
| SIP | Session Initiation Protocol. An IETF IP protocol for VoIP (packetized voice) call processing. See SDP. |
| SIP-AS | SIP Application Server |
| SIP-T | Variant of SIP that encapsulates ISUP signaling to provide support for circuit-switched communications |
| SKey | Session Key |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement. A carrier agrees to provide a certain level of service (e.g. availability, bit rate, voice quality) and provide significant discounts if the levels are not met |
| SLC | SUPL Location Center. Coordinates the operations of SUPL in the network. |
| SLEE | Service Level Execution Environment |
| SLF | 3GPP Subscription Locator Function |
| Slow Fading | Fade duration long relative to channel frame length |
| SLP(1) | Service Logic Program |
| SLP(2) | SUPL Location Platform. Consists of an SLC and an SPC. |
| SLS | Signaling Link Selection |
| SM | Session Management |
| SM-MT | Mobile Terminated Short Message |
| SM-SC | Short Message Service Center (see MC) |
| Smart Card | See UIM, SIM |
| SMCK | OTA Secure Mode Ciphering Key. Allows for the encryption of provisioning data that is going to be transmitted over a radio interface |
| SMDPP | TIA/EIA-41 SMS Delivery Point-to-Point message |
| SMDS | Switched Multimegabit Data Service |
| SME(1) | Short Message Entity (SMS terminal) |
| SME(2) | Signaling Message Encryption |
| SMG | Subject Matter Group |
| SMIL | Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language |
| SMLC | Serving MLC |
| SMPP | Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol. Promoted by the SMPP Forum |
| SMR | Specialized Mobile Radio. A form of private mobile radio that allows one talker and multiple listeners in a group (e.g. taxi company) |
| SMS(1) | Short Message Service |
| SMS(2) | Service Management System. Communicates number portability (LNP) and pooling information between carriers. |
| SMS-C | GSM SMS Center. See MC |
| SMSCB | See Broadcast SMS |
| SMSCH | SMS Point-to-Point Channel |
| SMSEG | WAP SMS Expert Group |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transmission Protocol defined in IETF RFC 2821 |
| SMV | CDMA Selectable Mode Voice Coder |
| SN(1) | Service Node. A combination of SCP and IP functionality |
| SN(2) | E.164 Subscriber Number |
| SND | See SINAD |
| SNDCP | Sub-Network Dependant Convergence Protocol |
| SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol. Network management protocol usually used with TCP/IP networks, and others |
| SNR(1) | See S/N |
| SNR(2) | Serial number. The unique 6 digit number assigned to a GSM phone within an IMEI |
| SOA | Service Order Activation. For LNP, this represents an interface between a carrier and the NPAC SMS |
| SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol. XML based language for exchanging data between internet applications on different machines. Bypasses firewalls by being disguised as XML/HTML. Compare with CORBA and RPC |
| SOC | System Operator Code. Used in IS-136 TDMA digital systems to identify the wireless carrier |
| SOHO | Small Office/Home Office |
| SoLSA | Support of Localized Service Area |
| SONET | Synchronous Optical Network |
| SoR | Statement of Requirements. |
| SP(1) | Signaling Point. An SS7 network node: SCP, SSP or STP |
| SP(2) | ANSI standards proposal number |
| SPA | JAIN Service Provider APIs |
| SPASM | Subscriber Parameter Administration Security Mechanism |
| SPC | SS7 Signaling Point Code. Also PC |
| SPDU | Session PDU |
| SPI | Service Provider Identification |
| SPINA | Subscriber PIN Access |
| SPINI | Subscriber PIN Intercept |
| SPL | Service Programming Lock. A method of preventing a mobile from changing from the service the subscriber has contracted with |
| SPMC | Signaling Point Management Cluster |
| Spool | Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line. Writing a print or other file to a special area of memory or disk so that it can be printed (or otherwise processed) while other computer operations are ongoing. |
| SPS | Serving PS |
| SPS | Serving PS |
| SQM | Subscription Quality of Service Manager |
| SQN | Sequence number (used for authentication/encryption). Its use can prevent replay attacks, where the same information is transmitted by a fraudulent device as by the legitimate device. |
| SRC | WAP Specification Requirements Committee |
| SRD | CTIA Standards Requirement Document |
| SRES | Expected response to authentication challenge for GSM authentication. Compare with AUTHR |
| SRF | Service Resource Function. Most important part of an IP |
| SRNC | Serving RNC |
| SRNS | Serving RNS |
| SS | Supplementary/Supplemental Service |
| SS7 | Signaling System Number 7 (common channel telecommunications packet switching) |
| SSCF | Service-Specific Coordination Function. Maps between SAAL and higher layer protocols (e.g. SS7 MTP Layer 3). This includes responsibility for link changeover and flow control See ATIS T1.645 |
| SSCOP | Service Specific Connection-Oriented Protocol. Part of SAAL that provides reliable point-to-point communications with sequencing, retransmission on error, flow control, keep-alive, connection control. See ATIS T1.637. |
| SSD | Shared Secret Data. A secondary key used in most CAVE operations |
| SSD-A | Portion of SSD used for Authentication |
| SSD-B | Portion of SSD used for voice, data and signaling encryption |
| SSF | Service Switching Function. An IN term for a switch |
| SSID | Service Set Identifier. An identifier of an 802.11 network. |
| SSL | Secure Socket Layer. Secures TCP connections (e.g. for m-commerce) |
| SSN | Sub-system number. Along with PC, identifies an SS7 network application or a virtual SS7 network entity |
| SSO | Single Sign On. Having one set of authentication data to access many services. |
| SSP | Service Switching Point (e.g. MSC). An SS7 SP that contains switching and signaling functions. |
| ST | End of pulsing signal. An MF tone |
| Stage I | The portion of a standard that describes the external behavior of a standard or capability |
| Stage II | The portion of a standard that describes the flow of messages through a network to implement Stage I behavior |
| Stage III | The portion of a standard that completely describes a protocol, to the level of bit encoding of messages and parameters, based on Stage II message flows |
| STK | SIM Toolkit |
| STM | Synchronous transport mode |
| STP | SS7 signaling transfer point (i.e. packet switch). An SS7 SP that provides routing services. Compare with Router |
| STU-III | Secure Telephone Unit - III. US government telephone encryption system |
| SUA | SCCP User Adaptation Layer. Replaces SCCP and M3UA. Resides above SCTP and below the application in an IP telecom signaling protocol stack. |
| SUPL | OMA Secure User-Plane Location architecture for LCS with intelligent, IP-enabled mobile devices. |
| surveillance | Lawfully (hopefully) authorized monitoring of communications |
| SV | See SVN |
| SVC | Switched Virtual (data) Circuit |
| SVN | GSM Software Version Number. A 2 digit code identifying a line of mobiles. See IMEISV |
| SVP | Switched Virtual Path |
| SWAP | Shared Wireless Access Protocol. Being defined by HRFWG. Operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Abandoned in 2003. |
| SWG | 3GPP Sub-Working Group |
| SYNC | Synchronization |
| Synchronous | Data that is transmitted as a regular, precisely clocked, stream of bits. A pattern of bits is used as a filler for times when there is no data to transmit. Compare with Asynchronous |
| SyncML | A standard for synchronizing mobile devices. |
| Systemic Interference | RF interference within a channel used in a wireless system that emanates from other elements of the system itself, and thus has predictable characteristics. For example, transmissions on the same channel form other base stations (intended for other mobiles). Contrast with Non-systemic Interference and Intermodulation Interference |
| T |
| T-BCSM | Terminating BCSM |
| T-SGW | Trunk SGW |
| T1(1) | Group of standards committees related mostly to wireline standards, such as SS7, but also North American GSM standards |
| T1(2) | A digital link carrying 24 DS0 channels. Used mostly within North America. Compare with E1 |
| T1A1 | Renamed the ATIS Network Performance, Reliability and Quality of Service Committee in 2004. |
| T1E1 | Renamed the ATIS Network Interface, Power, and Protection Committee in 2004. |
| T1M1 | OA&M standards committee for North American wireline networks. Renamed as the ATIS Telecom Management and Operations Committee in 2004. |
| T1P1 | Personal Communications (i.e. US GSM) standards committee for North America. Renamed the ATIS Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee in 2004. |
| T1S1 | SS7 standards committee for North America. Split into the ATIS Packet Technologies and Systems Committee and the Protocol Interworking Committee in 2004. |
| T1X1 | Renamed the ATIS Optical Transport and Synchronization Committee in 2004. |
| T3 | Physical device carrying one DS3 service |
| TA(1) | Terminal Adaptor |
| TA(2) | Timing Advance. An adjustment in the time of cellular transmission based on the distance of a terminal from a base station. This can be used to estimate the distance of a terminal and determine its approximate location. |
| TAC(1) | Total Access Communications. A name used by Motorola in several products, such as TACS, DataTAC |
| TAC(2) | Type Approval Code. 6 digit part of IMEI that is assigned by a central authority (e.g. national telecom regulatory body) |
| TACS | TAC System. Basically AMPS in the 900 MHz frequency band |
| TADIG | GSMA Technology and Documentation Interoperability Group. |
| Tandem | Any switch that is used to receive and route traffic (e.g. phone calls), but neither originates nor terminates them |
| TAP(1) | Transfer Account Procedure. A billing record format used mainly by GSM carriers |
| TAP(2) | Telocator (now PCIA) Alphanumeric Protocol for paging, now also used for SMS. |
| TAPS | TETRA Adcanced Packet Service. A European data system based on GPRS and EDGE designed to work with TETRA. Ideal data performance is 600 kbps with frequency hopping and 466 kbps without. Defined by ETSI TS 101.962. |
| TAR | Temporary Alternative Routing |
| Target MSC | The destination MSC for an inter-system handoff |
| TAS(1) | Telephony Application Server |
| TBCD | Telephony BCD. Digit 0 is encoded as 10, as on a rotary dial phone |
| TCAP | Transaction Capabilities Application Part. Message packaging standard used by TIA/EIA-41, LNP, 800 and other SS7-based applications. Defined in ANSI T1.114 |
| TCB | Telecommunication Certification Body. A national authority for the certification of radio devices. |
| TCC | Telephony Country Code |
| TCG | Trusted Computing Group |
| TCH | Traffic Channel. Often classified as full rate(FR) or half rate (HR) |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol. A protocol that provides for reliable delivery of messages over the internet. See UDP and IP |
| TCP/IP | TCP used over IP |
| TD-CDMA | TDD mode of operation for UTRA |
| TDD(1) | Telephone Device for the Deaf. See TTY |
| TDD(2) | Time Division/Domain Duplex. See TDMA |
| TDES | Triple DES. An encryption algorithm with a strength of about 112 bits. See AES, DES. |
| TDM | Time Division Multiplexing. See also TDMA |
| TDMA | Time Division/Domain Multiple Access. Modulation technique used by D-AMPS and GSM |
| TDOA | Time Difference of Arrival. See TOA and OTDOA |
| TDP | Trigger Detection Point. See IN |
| TDS-CDMA | Time Division Synchronization CDMA. Chinese 3G radio access proposal |
| TDSO | CDMA Test Data Service Option |
| TE | Data Terminal Equipment. A personal computer, for example |
| TEG | WAP Telematics Expert Group |
| Teleservice | A telecommunications service provided between two telecommunications terminals (e.g. a call between two phones or a short message between two wireless devices). Contrast with Bearer capability |
| Tera | Prefix to indicate one trillion (e.g. Tera-bit). Abbreviated T |
| Termination | The process of reaching the destination of a call. Not to be confused with Disconnection |
| tESN | A unique ESN for a phone. See pESN, UIMID, pUIMID |
| TETRA | Terrestrial Trunked Radio. A European PAMR system using 25 kHz channels. |
| TFO | Tandem (or Transcoder) Free Operation. Elimination of the Voice Coder from a digital mobile-to-mobile call (assuming that both mobiles are capable of using the same type) |
| TFT | Traffic Flow Template. Used to determine the QoS that applies to a specific packet. |
| TG | Task Group of ITU-R |
| Thermal Noise | Radio frequency noise associated with thermal activity. At a typical temperature of 300 degrees Kelvin (26.84 degrees Celsius), thermal noise is -174 dBm per hertz, or 114 dBm in a 1 MHz channel. |
| Thousands block pooling | The ability to share a block of 10,000 NANP phone numbers in groups of 1,000 between carriers. Individual phone numbers within the block can then be ported (using LNP) to other carriers |
| throughput | The actual traffic supported, as opposed to the raw bandwidth. Bandwidth that does not result in throughput may be due to packets containing errors, retransmissions, errorneous routing and many other causes. See goodput and badput |
| TIA | Telecommunications Industry Association. A trade association that, among other things, defines standards for cellular and PCS, specifically AMPS, NAMPS, CDMA and TDMA |
| TIA-136 | ANSI version of the TDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-136 and TIA/EIA-136 |
| TIA/EIA | A prefix for a standard produced by the TIA in association with the EIA |
| TIA/EIA-124 | Wireless call detail and billing record format for online transfer. Replaces IS-124 |
| TIA/EIA-136 | ANSI version of the TDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-136. Replaced by TIA-136 |
| TIA/EIA-41 | Wireless intersystem operations standard. Previously called IS-41 |
| TIA/EIA-41-D | Intersystem Operations Standard. Replaces IS-41 |
| TIA/EIA-634 | A-interface standard between BS and MSC |
| TIA/EIA-683 | OTASP for CDMA |
| TIA/EIA-93 | Wireless-PSTN interface standard. Replaces IS-93 |
| TIA/EIA-95 | CDMA air interface standard |
| TIA/EIA-95-B | Third generation CDMACDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-95 |
| TIFF | Tagged Image File Format. Supports up to 24 bit color. Files tend to be large, but high quality. Perhaps because of the file size, it is not supported by many browsers. cf GIF, JPEG, PNG |
| TIPHON | Telecommunications and Internet Protocol Harmonization over Networks |
| TISPAN(1) | Telecoms and Internet Converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networks. See etsi.org/tispan |
| Title III | A surveillance that is authorized to collect content (e.g. voice communications. Contrast with pen register and trap and trace |
| TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol. A modification to WEP that increases security by frequently changing keys. |
| TL1 | Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) MML language for telecommunications network monitoring. |
| TLDN | Temporary Local Directory Number. A number used for routing calls from the Home MSC to MSC-V in ANSI-41. Compare with MSRN |
| TLLI | Temporary Link Level Identity |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| TLV | Tag, Length Value. Encoding of parameters by including an identifier (tag), length (of value) and the actual parameter contents (value). Used by BER and TCAP, for example. cf AVP |
| TM3 | TIA committee for standardization of Terrestrial Mobile Multimedia Multicast. Created in 2005. Also known as TR-47 |
| TMN | Telecommunications Management Network. A network management protocol, used to logically define managed objects |
| TMO | Trunked Mode Operation. A cellular-like mode of operation of a PAMR system. Compare with DMO. |
| TMSI | Temporary mobile station identity. Used as a shorter, more private, mobile identifier. Identifies the system that assigned it, and not directly the MS |
| TMUI | GSM term for TMSI |
| TNRN | Terminating Network Routing Number |
| TOA | Time of Arrival. A technique for location a radio by comparing the time of signal arrival at multiple points. Compare with AOA |
| TON | Type of Number |
| TOS | Type Of Service |
| TPDU | Transport PDU |
| TPKT(1) | An early version of ITOT. |
| TPP | Terminating Party Pays. The mobile pays for airtime, whether it is making or receiving a call. cf CPP |
| TR(1) | 3GPP Technical Report. These are informative, as opposed to TS |
| TR(2) | TIA Technical Review standards committee prefix |
| TR-45 | TIA Standards Committee responsible for AMPS-based cellular and PCS standards, including TDMA and CDMA digital |
| TR-45.1 | TIA analog cellular standards subcommittee |
| TR-45.2 | TIA Standards Subcommittee responsible for intersystem protocols |
| TR-45.3 | TIA TDMA digital cellular/PCS standards subcommittee |
| TR-45.4 | TIA BS/MSC "A" interface standards subcommittee |
| TR-45.5 | TIA CDMA digital cellular/PCS standards subcommittee |
| TR-45.6 | TIA CDPD standards subcommittee |
| TR-45.7 | TIA OA&M cellular standards subcommittee. Now defunct. |
| TR-47 | See TM3 |
| Traffic Channel | A portion of a radio channel used to transmit one direction of a digital voice conversation. Compare with Voice Channel |
| Transcoder(1) | A device that converts a communication signal from one system to another, e.g. analog to digital or air interface digital to PCM. |
| Transcoding | Conversion from one voice (or other media format) coder to another. Multiple transcoding operations can seriously reduce the end-to-end quality. |
| Transparent | Data that is, to lower protocol layers, simply a sequenced collection of bits. Good protocol design tries to make all protocol layers transparent to all others, although often violations of this principal are necessary |
| trap and trace | Collection of the identity of a part originating a call for surveillance purposes |
| TRAU | Transcoding Rate and Adaptation Unit |
| TrFO | Transcoding Free Operation. Establishment of a call without a transcoder. |
| Triplet | A group of 3 security data elements used in GSM authentication. Composed of network challenge random number (RAND), expected user response (SRES) and Cipher Key (CK) |
| TS | 3GPP Technical Specification. Normative, as opposed to TR |
| TSAR | Teleservice segmentation and reassembly for TIA/EIA-136 |
| TSB | TIA Telecommunications Systems Bulletin. Often used as an addendum or erratum to a published interim standard |
| TSG | Technical Specification Group. Part of the 3GPP and 3GPP2 processes |
| TSG CN | 3GPP TSG for CN standardization |
| TSG GERAN | 3GPP TSG for GSM standardization |
| TSG N | 3GPP2 TSG for inter-system network protocols. Replaced by TSG-X. |
| TSG RAN | 3GPP TSG for W-CDMA standardization |
| TSG S | 3GPP2 TSG for service and system aspects (requirements, architecture, Stage 1 descriptions etc.). |
| TSG SA | 3GPP TSG for defining services and architecture of W-CDMA 3G systems |
| TSG-A | 3GPP2 TSG for the IOS |
| TSG-C | 3GPP2 TSG for the cdma2000 radio interface |
| TSG-N | 3GPP2 TSG for network procotols. Replaced by TSG-X |
| TSG-P | 3GPP2 TSG for packet data protocols. Replaced by TSG-X |
| TSG-T | 3GPP TSG for terminal and UIM standardization |
| TSG-X | 3GPP2 TSG for the core network. Formed by the merger of TSG-N and TSG-P |
| TSI | Time Slot Interchange |
| TT | Translation Type. Defines the type of routing address used by GTT (e.g. E.164 directory number, E.212 IMSI etc.). |
| TTA | Telecommunications Technology Association. Standardizes wireless network protocols in Korea |
| TTC(1) | Telecommunication Technology Committee. Telecommunications standardization in Japan |
| TTC(2) | Terminating Toll Center |
| TTCN | Tree and Tabular Combined Notation. ISO/International Electrotechnical Commission IEC 646-3 is a notation for the specification of tests for communication systems. A TTCN-specified test suite is a collection of various test cases together with all of the declarations and components needed. |
| TTY | A device used by the deaf or hearing-impaired to communicate text messages over telephone systems. It runs at 45.45 bps. See TDD |
| Tunnel | An extra protocol addressing layer used to carry data where the inner addressing layer will not take it. Often used in IP, e.g. as part of Mobile IP or VPN |
| Tunneling | Sending data transparently through a foreign network. Usually implies the use of a larger than optimal number of protocol layers |
| TUP | Telephone User Part. Forerunner protocol to SS7 ISUP |
| TWG | GSMA Terminal Working Group |
| TX | Abbrevation for transmission or transmitter |
| U |
| U/L | Uplink (e.g. from mobile to base station). Compare with D/L. |
| UA(1) | User Agent. An application operating on behalf of a user device (e.g. phone or computer). See MM1. |
| UA(2) | GSM Unnumbered Acknowledge |
| UAProf | WAP UA Profiles Drafting Committee. Or a reference to the profiles that they generate. |
| UASL | Indian Unified Access Services Licence. Replaces CMSP. This allows both GSM and CDMA carriers, as well as other technologies, to be implemented. |
| UATI | Unicast ATI. A 128 bit address for a HRPD device. A 32 bit short version is available for transmission.. The AAA returns the IMSI or MIN to the serving network. Compare with RATI |
| UCP | Universal Computer Protocol. Part of ERMES is an ETSI paging system . The most commonly used operations are: 01 - Call Input Operation; 03 - Call Input With Supplementary Services Operation; Operation 30 - SMS Message Transfer Operation; and Operation 51 - Submit Short Message Operation. |
| UDH | Universal Data Header |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol. An internet protocol providing basic services only. Compare with TCP |
| UDR | RADIUS Usage Data Record. Captures accounting data for packet data sessions. |
| UDT | SS7 MTP unit data message. Carries a payload of about 250 octet |
| UDTS | UDT service message. Used to send error responses to UDT messages |
| UE | User Equipment (e.g. phone and all peripherals such as USIM) |
| UEA | UMTS Encryption Algorithm. May be null (no encryption) or Kasumi |
| UGID | User Group Identification |
| UHDM | CDMA Universal Handoff Direction Message |
| UHF | Ultra-High Frequency. 300-3000 MHz (used in the US and Canada as television channels 14-83) |
| UIA | UMTS Integrity Algorithm. One possibility is Kasumi |
| UICC | UMTS IC Card |
| UID | User Interactive Dialog |
| UIM | User Identification Module (Smart Card). See SIM |
| UIMID | UIM Identifier. Really just a 32-bit ESN assigned to a UIM that supports CDMA operation. See tESN. |
| UL | Uplink. Radio link in the direction 'up' to network. Compare with DL |
| ULDCH | 3GPP Enhanced Uplink DCH |
| Um | Radio interface between MS and BSS/BSC |
| UML | ETSI Universal Modelling Language |
| UMTS | Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (a 3G initiative). See www.umts-forum.org. It operates in 5 MHz channels at 3.84 Mcps with 200 kHz between channels. |
| UNI | User-Network Interface |
| UNICODE | A text encoding method that, by using more than 8 bits, can code special characters for many languages. Standardized as ISO 10646. Compare with ASCII, EBCDIC and ISO-8859-1 |
| Unique Challenge | A method of encryption using a unique random number (RANDU) as a challenge |
| Uplink | Path from terminal to base-station |
| UPR | CTIA User Performance Requirements document. Now know as SRD |
| UPT | Universal Personal Communications |
| URI | Uniform Resource Identifier. A superset of URL and URN. If an object is on the internet and does not have one of these it really doesn't exist. |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator. Form of internet address usable by a browser. Of the format ":". http, ftp and mailto are examples of schemes. The remainder of the URL is defined by the scheme, with some restrictions on the characters that can be used. Illegal ASCII characters can be included with the %XX notation, where XX is the two digit hexadecimal value of the character. |
| URN | Uniform Resource Name |
| USAT | USIM Application Toolkit |
| USCF | User Selected Call Forwarding. Allows an incoming call to be diverted before it is answered, either to a preset number, or to a number specified at the time of diversion. Closely related to AH |
| USIM | User Services Identity Module or Universal Subscription Identity Module. SIM for UMTS. See UIM |
| USSD | GSM Unstructured Supplementary Service Data |
| Ut | The 3GPP interface between the UE and AS. |
| UTC | Universal Coordinated Time (don't ask) |
| UTM | Universal Transverse Mercator. |
| UTRA | Universal Terrestrial Radio Access. |
| UTRAN | Universal Terrestrial RAN. The BS, BTS etc. for W-CDMA/UMTS |
| UU-SIGNAL | User to User Signaling |
| UWB | A radio technology that uses short very high speed bursts of data over short distances. It is controversial because some claim that it can share spectrum with other users, and others claim that it will cause unacceptable interference. |
| UWC | Universal Wireless Consortium. Promotes D-AMPS technologies around the world |
| UWC/136 | TDMA digital cellular/PCS based on the IS-136 or TIA/EIA-136 standards |
| UWCC | Universal Wireless Communications Consortium. Proponent of TDMA digital systems based on UWC/136. Disbanded at the end of 2001. |
| V |
| V and V | Verification and Validation. A committee review of a standard before formal ballot |
| VA | Validation Authority |
| VAAA | Visited AAA |
| VAD | Voice Activity Detection. A system that not only detects the absence of voice, and prevents transmission of unecessary digitized voice during this time |
| VAR | Value-added Reseller |
| VAS | Value Added Service |
| VASP | VAS Provider. A company that provides a service (e.g. web content) without being the carrier. |
| VC | Virtual Circuit |
| VCI | VC identifier |
| VDSL | Very high speed DSL, providing about 58 Mbit/sec in both directions. Available as asymetric (see ADSL) or symmetric (see SDSL). See VDSL Alliance |
| VDSL Alliance | Promoters of VDSL |
| VGC | Voice Group Call |
| VGCS | Voice Group Call Service |
| VHE | Virtual Home Environment |
| VHF | Very High Frequency. 30-300 MHz (used in the US and Canada as television channels 2-13) |
| VLAN | Virtual LAN. A subset of a LAN where files and services not available to a user are hidden. |
| VLR | Visitor Location Register |
| VMAC | Voice Mobile Attenuation Code |
| VMS | Voice Message System |
| VMSC | See MSC-V |
| vocoder | Voice Coder or codec |
| VOFDM | Vector OFDMA |
| Voice Channel | A radio channel used to transmit one direction of an analog voice conversation. Compare with Traffic Channel |
| Voice Coder | Converts an analog voice signal into a digitally coded representation, and vice-versa. Wireless voice coders often also compress the voice into a bit rate from 8kbps to 13 kbps. Also called codec or vocoder |
| VoIP | Voice over IP |
| VP(1) | Voice Privacy (i.e. encryption) |
| VP(2) | Virtual Path |
| VPI | VP Identifier |
| VPIM | Voice Profile for Internet Mail |
| VPLMN | Visited PLMN |
| VPM | Voice Privacy Mask |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| VSA | RADIUS Vendor Specific Attribute. A field used to transmit data for a particular accounting application (e.g. cdma2000 packet data). |
| VSELP | Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction |
| W |
| W-CDMA | Physical layer of the FDD mode of operation of UTRA. A 'European' version of CDMA and the 3G evolutionary step planned for GSM. Operates in pairs of 5 MHz channels at 3.84 Mcps |
| W-LSB | Window-Based LSB encoding for IP header compression (and decompression). Part of ROHC |
| W3C | World Wide Web Consortium |
| WADGPS(1) | Wide Area Differential GPS. Provides signal correction information from a number of ground reference stations. |
| WAE | Wireless Application Environment. See WAP |
| WAG(1) | Wireless Applications Group |
| WAG(2) | WLAN Access Gateway |
| Walsh codes | A group of 2N vectors or words which contain 2N binary elements which with themselves and their logical inverses form a mutually orthogonal set. |
| WAN | Wide Area Network. Compare with LAN, MAN |
| WAP | Wireless Application Protocol. A new protocol that is supposed to provide more efficient internet access from wireless phone. See also WML |
| WAP W3C | WAP - W3C Coordination Committee |
| WAR | WLAN Access Router. Manages traffic into and out of a wireless LAN. |
| WARC | World Administrative Radio Convention |
| WASP | Wireless Application Service Provider |
| WASU | Wireless Access Subscriber Unit |
| WATM | Wireless ATM |
| WATS | Wide Area Telephone Service |
| WAVE | See 802.11p |
| WBMP | Wireless Bit MaP. A WAP graphic format |
| WCDMA | See W-CDMA |
| WCMP | Wireless Control Message Protocol. Protocol for reporting errors and performing loopback testing in WAP. Based on ICMP |
| WCTP | Wireless Communications Transfer Protocol. An interface between internet applications and messaging service providers (e.g. paging carriers). Developed by wctp.org. See RXP |
| WDM | Optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing |
| WDP | Wireless Datagram Protocol. See WAP |
| WEMT | CDMA Wireless Enhanced Messageing Teleservice |
| WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy. First security system for 802.11 WLAN. Has known security weaknesses in the algorithm and the use of fixed keys. WEP derives a 64 bit RC4 key from a 40 bit AP-specific key and a 24-bit IV that is unique to the session. Compare with WPA |
| WFQ | Weighted Fair Queuing |
| WG | Working Group |
| WGS-84 | World Geodetic System 1984 |
| WI | Work Item |
| WID | 3GPP WI Description. |
| WIF | Wireless Interconnect Forum (managed by Telcordia) |
| WiFi | IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN system |
| WIG | WAP Interoperability Group |
| WIM | WAP Identity Module |
| WiMax | IEEE OFDM radio interface. |
| WIMS | Wireless Multimedia Message Service |
| WIN | Wireless Intelligent Network. Protocol with similar goals as IN, AIN and CAMEL |
| WIN Phase I | Supports voice controlled services, incoming call screening and CNAP/CNAR |
| WIN Phase II | Supports billing-related services, including Prepaid and Freephone (i.e. 1-800, including airtime) |
| WIN Phase III | Supports location-based services, such as location sensitive billing and intelligent directory assistance |
| WIP | WIN Implementation of PAS |
| WIPP | Wireless Internet Protocol Partnership |
| WLA | Optical Wavelength Adapter |
| WLAN | Wireless LAN, of which the most popular is WiFi |
| WLL | Wireless Local Loop. See FWA |
| WML | Wireless Markup Language. An HTML-like page description and scripting language, that is an essential part of WAP. Compare with cHTML and XHTML |
| WMLSc | WML Script |
| WNE | Wireless Network Entity |
| WNO | Wireless Network Operator. A carrier |
| WNP | Wireless Number Portability. LNP for wireless phones |
| WNP Phase I | The ability for a switch to route to a ported number in another switch |
| WNP Phase II | The ability for a switch to allow numbers to be ported in or out of its number range |
| WNP Phase III | The ability to support services such as short message service in a number portability environment |
| WP | Working Party |
| WPA | WiFi Protected Access. An enhanced version of WEP that does not rely on a static, shared key. |
| WPAN | Wireless Personal Area Network. Standards are being defined by IEEE 802.15 |
| WPG | WAP WIreless Protocols Group |
| WPS | Wireless Priority Service. See PACA, PS, NS/EP |
| Wr | Interface between Proxy AAA and WLAN access network. |
| WRE | Wireless Residential Extension - home base station |
| Ws | Interface between Proxy AAA and Home system AAA. |
| WSDL | Web Service Description Language |
| WSI | Wireless Service Indication |
| WSP | Wireless Session Protocol. See WAP |
| WTA | Wireless Telephony Applications |
| WTAI | WTA Interface |
| WTB | US FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau |
| WTLS | Wireless Transport Layer Security. See WAP |
| WTP | Wireless Transaction Protocol. See WAP |
| WWAN | Wireless WAN |
| www | World-Wide Web |
| Wx | Interface between AAA and HSS |
| WZ1 | World Zone 1. An obsolete telephone numbering term for countries identified by country code 1 ( USA, Canada and some Caribbean nations) |
| X |
| X.25 | An ITU/CCITT defined general purpose packet switching protocol |
| X.500 | The ISO directory protocol. See DAP, LDAP, DNS |
| xDSL | Refers to all the DSL variants |
| XHTML | Extensible HTML. A version of HTML defined by XML and designed to be extensible. This may also be the evolutionary path for cHTML and WML |
| XMAC | Expected MAC |
| XML | Extensible Markup Language. A meta-language that can be used to define languages like HTML and WML |
| XOR | Exclusive OR. A boolean operation, often used in cryptography. The exclusive-or of two bits is 1 if they have the same value and 0 if they have different values. This operation has the nice property that no information is lost. For example, (A xor B) xor B = A and (A xor B) xor A = B. Try that on any other boolean operation! |
| XRES | Expected response to authentication challenge. For AKA it is derived from RAND using f2. Compare with AUTHR |
| XUDT | Extended UDT. Supports message segmentation |
| Y |
| Z |
| Z.300 | An ITU-T series of specifications related to MML |
| ZBTSI | Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange (TSI). Bits 2 through 193 of each DS1 frame are scrambled to minimize the possibility of an all-zero octet. If all zero octets are still found, a group of all-ones is substituted. Due to its complexity this method is not often used. |
| ZCS | Zero Code Suppression. The seventh bit of an all-0 octet is replaced by a 1-bit. Only applicable to voice because there is no way to remove this one bit error. |
| ZigBee | A 'cable replacement' radio technology. Somewhat a competitor to Bluetooth although it is designed more for M2M applications (home, business and inustrial automation). It claims to be cheaper and use less power. It uses unlicensed bands at 2.4 GHz, 915 MHz (US) or 868 MHz (Europe). Data speeds are 20-250 kbps depending on the frequency band used. The communications range is from 10 to 75 meters. Developed by the ZigBee Alliance and standardized as IEEE 802.15.4 |
| ZRP | Zone Routing Protocol. An internet routing protocol that focuses on routing updates within a zone. |
