TECHNICAL DATA GLOSSARY

Accelerated Aging: A test in which voltage, temperature, etc. are increased above normal operating values to obtain observable deterioration in a relatively short period of time.

Aerial Cable : A cable suspended in the air on poles or other overhead structure.

Alloy: A metal formed by combining two or more different metals to obtain desirable properties.

Alpha-Byte™: Alpha Wire trademark for high-speed cellular data cables for extended distances.

Alternating Current: Electric current that continually reverses its direction. It is expressed in cycles per second (hertz or Hz).

Ambient Temperature: The temperature of a medium surrounding an object.

American Wire Gauge (AWG) : A standard system for designating wire diameter. Primarily used in the United States.

Ampacity: The maximum current an insulated wire or cable can safely carry without exceeding either the Insulation or jacket material limitations. (Same as Current Carrying Capacity.)

Ampere: The unit of current. One ampere is the current flowing through one ohm of resistance at one volt potential.

Analog: Representation of data by continuously variable quantities.

Annealed Wire: Wire which after final drawdown, has been heated and slowly cooled to remove the effects of cold working.

ANSI: Abbreviation for American National Standards Institute.

Anti-Oxidant: A substance which prevents or slows down oxidation of material exposed to heat.

ASA: Abbreviation for American Standards Association. Former name of ANSI.

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

ASME: Abbreviation for American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials.

Attentuation: Power loss in an electrical system. In cables, generally expressed in dB per unit length.

Audio Frequency: Those frequencies audible to the human ear, generally considered to be in the range of 32 to 16,000 Hertz (Hz).

AWG: Abbreviation for American Wire Gauge (AWG).

AWM: Designation for Appliance Wiring Material.

Backbone Wiring: The physical/electrical interconnections between telecommunications closets and equipment rooms. Cross-connect hardware and cabling in the main and intermediate cross-connects are considered part of the Backbone Wiring.

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

Bandwidth: The difference between the upper and lower limits of a given band of frequencies. Expressed in Hertz (Hz).

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

Baud: Unit of data transmission speed representing bits per second. 9600 Baud = 9600 bits per second.

Bend Loss: Stated in dB, or decibels, the amount of optical power lost due to outside forces strong enough to allow the light to radiate out through the bend.

Bend Radius: The radius of curvature that a wire or cable can bend without causing any damaging effects.

Binder: A spirally served tape or thread used for holding assembled cable components in place awaiting subsequent manufacturing operations.

Bit: One binary digit.

"Bit Error Rate, (BER)": Discrepancy between outgoing and incoming bits transmitted between data equipment.

Bond Strength: Amount of adhesion between surfaces, e.g. in cemented .

Braid: A fibrous or metallic group of filaments interwoven in cylindrical form to form a covering over one or more wires.

Braid Angle: The smaller of the two angles formed by the shielding strand and the axis of the cable being shielded.

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

Braid Ends: The number of strands used to make up one carrier. The stands are wound side by side on the carrier bobbin and lie parallel in the finished braid.

Breakdown Voltage : The voltage at which the Insulation between two conductors is destroyed.

Breakout: The point at which a conductor or group of conductors is separated from a multiconductor cable to complete circuits at various points along the main cable.

Bunch Stranding: A group of wires of the same diameter twisted together without a predetermined pattern.

Byte: A group of eight binary digits.

Cable Assembly: A length of fiber optic cable with connectors on one or both ends.

""Cable Track ""C"" Track"" : Flexible plastic or metallic tray, used to guide and protect cables in high speed motion applications.

Cable Tray :See "Cable Track"

Campus Backbone: Wiring between buildings that share telecommunications facilities.

CAD/CAM: Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Capacitance: Storage of electrically separated charges between two plates having different potentials. The value depends largely on the surface area of the plates and the distance between them.

Capacitance, Direct: The capacitance measured directly from conductor to conductor through a single insulating layer.

Capacitance, Mutual: The capacitance between two conductors with all other conductors, including shield, short circuited to Ground.

Carrier Frequency: The Electromagnetic wave Frequency selected to transmit information. Optical carrier Frequency is from the infrared, visible range or ultraviolet spectrum areas (10¹² Hz and above).

CATV: An acronym for Community Antenna Television.

Cellular (Foam) Polyethylene: Expanded or "foam" polyethylene consisting of individual closed cells suspended in a polyethylene medium.

CE (Conformitè Europèenne): is a European Economic Community approval indicating that a product complies with a European Directive.

CENELEC: European Economic Community Committee for Standardization of technical requirements.

Certificate of Compliance (C of C): A certificate which is normally generated by a Quality Control Department, which shows that the product being shipped meets customer's specifications.

Certified Test Report (CTR): A report providing actual test data on a cable. Tests are normally run by a Quality Control Department, which shows that the product being shipped conforms to test specifications.

Characteristic Impedance: The impedance that, when connected to the output terminals of a Transmission Line of any length, makes the line appear infinitely long. The ratio of voltage to current at every point along a Transmission Line on which there are no standing waves.