Commonly Used Electronic Acronyms

A

A

Amperes

AC

Alternating Current

A/D

Analog to Digital

ADC

Analog to Digital Convertor

AE

Applications Engineer

AI

Artificial Intelligence

ALU

Arithmetic-Logic Unit

AM

Amplitude Modulation

AMD

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

ARQ

Applications Engineer

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASEE

American Society For Engineering Education

ASIC

Application Specific Integrated Circuit

ARQ

Applications Engineer

ASPI

Advanced SCSI Programming Interface

ATDM

Asynchronous Time Division Multiplexing

AUI

Attached Unit Interface

B

B

Magnetix Flux

BBS

Bulletin Board System

BCC

Block Check Character

BCD

Binary Coded Decimal

BiCMOS

Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

BIOS

Basic Input/Output System

BNC

Bayonet Nut(?) Connector

BPS/bps

Bytes/bits per Second

BSC

Binary Synchronous Communications

BSD

Berkeley Standard Distribution

C

C

Capacitance

CAD

Computer Aided Design

CAM

Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAM

Content Addresable Memory

CAS

Column Address Strobe

CBX

Common Branch eXtender

CCD

Charge Coupled Device

CCITT

Consultative Committee of International Telephony and Telegraphy

CD

Carrier Detect

CDDI

Copper Distributed Data Interface

CDROM

Compact Disk Read Only Memory

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access

CGA

Color Graphics Adapter

CISC

Complex Instruction-Set Computer

CLA

Carry Look-Ahead Adapter

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

CP/M

Control Program/Monitor

CPI

Clocks Per Instruction

CPLD

Complex Programmable Logic Devices

CPU

Central Processing Unit

CR

Carriage Return

CRC

Cyclic Redundancy Code

CRQ

Command Response Queue

CRT

Cathode Ray Tube

CS

Chip Select/ Check-Sum

CSMA

Carrier Sense Multiple-Access

CSMA/CD

Carrier Sense Multiple-Access with Collision Detect

CSR

Command Status Register

CTS

Clear to Send

D

D

Dissipation Factor

D/A

Digital to Analog

DAC

Digital to Analog Converter

DAT

Digital Audio Tape

dB

(DB)deciBels

dBm

dB referenced to 1milliWat

DC

Direct Current

DCD

Data Carrier Detect

DCE

Data Circuit (Channel) Equipment

DD

Double Density

DDD

Direct Distance Dialing

DEC

Digital Equipment Corporation

DES

Data Encryption Corporation

DID

Direct Inward Dial

DIN

Deutsche Industrie Norm

DIP

Dual-In-Line Package

DMA

Direct Memory Access

DOS

Disk Operating System

DPDT

Double-Pole Double-Throw (switch)

DPE

Data Parity Error

DPSK

Differential Phase Shift Keying

DRAM

Dynamic Random Access Memory

DS

Double Sided

DSP

Digital Signal Processor

DSR

Data Set Ready

DTC

Data Terminal Controller

DTE

Data Terminal (Terminating Equipment)

DTMF

Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency

DTR

Data Terminal Ready

DVD

Digital Video Disk

E

E

EMF

EBCDIC

Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

ECC

Error Correction Code

ECL

Emitter-Coupled Logic

ECN

Engineering Change Notice

ECO

Engineering Change Order

ECR

Engineering Change Request

EEPROM

Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EGA

Enhanced Graphics Adapter

EIA

Electronic Industries Association

EISA

Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture

EMI

Electro-Magnetic Interference

EMF

Electro-Motive Force

EMS

Expanded Memory Specification

EOF

End of File

EOL

End of Line

EPROM

Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

ESD

Electro-Static Discharge

ESDI

Enhanced Small Devices Interface

F

F

Farads

FAT

File Allocation Table

FCC

Federal Communications Commission

FDD

Floppy Disk Drive

FDDI

Fiber Distributed Data Interface

FDM

Frequency Division Multiplexing

FDMA

Frequency Division Multiple Access

FDX

Full-Duplex Transmission

FE

Front End

FEP

Front End Processor

FF

Form Feed

FF

Flip Flop

FFT

Fast Fourier Transform

FIFO

First-In-First-Out

FILO

First-In-Last-Out

FLOPS

Floating-point Operations Per Second

FM

Frequency Modulation

FPGA

Field Programmable Gate Array

FPU

Floating Point Unit

FRU

Field Replaceable Unit

FSK

Frequency Shifty Keying

FTP

File Transfer Program

G-H-I

G

Giga

GAs

Gallium Arsenide

GFLOPS

Billions(10^9) of Floating Point Operations Per Second ("Giga-Flops")

GHz

Giga Hertz

GNU

Gnu’s Not Unix

GPIB

General Purpose Interface Bus

GUI

Graphical User Interface

H

Henries

H

Magnetic Force

HD

High Density

HDD

Hard Disk Drive

HDX

Half-Duplex Transmission

HFS

Hierarchical File System

HP

Hewlett-Packard

I

Current

HPIB

Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus

I/O

Input/Output

IBM

International Business Machines Corp.

IC

Integrated Circuit

IDC

Insulation Displacement Connector

IDE

Integrated Device Electronics

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IMP

Interface Message Protocol

IP

Internet Protocol

IPC

InterProcess Communication

IRQ

Interrupt ReQuest

ISA

Industry Standard Architecture

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network

ISO

International Standards Organization

ISP

ISP Internet Service Provider

J-K-L

J

Joules Of Energy

K

Kilo

KVA

Kilo Volt-Amps

LAN

Local Area Network

LAP

Link Access Protocol

LAPB

Link Access Protocol Balanced

LCD

Kilo

LED

Light Emitting Diode

LF

Line Feed

LIFO

Last In First Out

LSB

Least Significant Bit (or Byte)

LSI

Large Scale Integration

LUN

Logical Unit Number

M

M

Mega

m

milli

MAN

Metropolitan Area Network

MB

Mega Bytes

MBR

Master Boot Record

MCA

Micro Channel Architecture

MCGA

Multi-Color Graphics Array

MCM

Multi-Chip Module

mfd

micro Farads

MFLOP

Millions of Floating Point Operations per Second ("MegaFlops")

MFM

Modified Frequency Modulated

MHz

MegaHertz

MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface

MIPS

Millions of Instructions per Second

MMU

Memory Management Unit

MNP

Microcom Network Protocol

MODEM

Modulator/DEModulator

MOPS

Millions of Operations Per Second

MOS

Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

MSB

Most Significant Bit (or Byte)

MSDOS

Medium Scale Integration

MSI

Medium Scale Integration

MTBF

Mean Time Between Failures

N-O

n

nano

NAND

Not And

N/C

No-Connect

NBS

National Bureau of Standards

NEMA

National Electrical Manufacturers Assocation

NFS

Network File System

NIC

Network Interface Card

NIST

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NMI

Non-Maskable Interrupt

NMOS

Negatively Doped metal-Oxide Semiconductor

NOP

No Operation

NSF

National Science Foundation

NVRAM

NonVolatile Random Access Memory

OCR

Optical Character Recognition

ODI

Open Datalink Interface

OEM

Original Equipment Manufacturer

OS

Operating System

OSF

Open Software Foundation

OSI

Open Systems Interconnect

P

p

pico

PAL

Programmable Array Logic

PLA

Programmable Logic Array

PB

Push Buttom

PBX

Private Branch eXchange

PC

Personal Computer, Program Counter

PCB

Printed Circuit Board

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect

PCM

Pulse Code Modulation

PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association

PE

Professional Engineer

PGA

Pin Grid Array

PIA

Peripheral Interface Adapter

PIC

Programmable Interrupt Controller

PIO

Programmed Input/ Output

PLCC

Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier

PLD

Programmable Logic Device

PLL

Phase Locked Loop

PMOS

Positively doped Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

POP

Post Office Protocol

POST

Power On Self Test

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service

PPP

Point-to-Point Protocol

PQFP

Plastic Quad-FlatPack

PROM

Programmable Read-Only Memory

PSTN

Public Switched Telephone Network

Q-R

Q

Charge

QAM

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

QFP

Quad-FlatPack

R

Resistance

RAM

Random Access Memory

RAS

Row Address Strobe

RCA

Radio Corporation of America

R/C

Radio Control

RC

Resistor - Capacitor

RF

Radio Frequency

RFC

Radio Frequency Choke

RFI

Radio Frequency Interference

RFP

Request for Proposal

RFQ

Request for Quotation

RI

Ring Indicator

RISC

Reduced Instruction-Set Computer

RLL

Run Length Limited

RMS

Root Mean Square

ROM

Read-Only Memory

RPM

Revolutions Per Minute

RS

Recommended Specification

RTC

Real Time Clock

RTS

Request To Send

S

S

Siemens

SASI

Shugart Associates Standard Interface

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface

SD

Single Density

SDLC

Synchonous Data Link Control

SIMM

Single Inline Memory Module

SIP

Single Inline Package

SLIP

Serial Line Internet Protocol

SMD

Surface Mount Device

SMT

Surface Mount Technology

SNA

System Network Architecture

SNR

Signal to Noise Ratio

SOT

Small Outline Transistor

SOIC

Small Outline Integrated Circuit

SPOOL

Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On Line

SPST

Single-Pole-Single-Throw (switch)

SPT

Sectors Per Track

SQE

Signal Quality Error

SRAM

Static Random Access Memory

SS

Single Sided

STDM

Synchronous Time Division Multiplexing

STN

Super Twisted Nematic

STP

Shielded Twisted Pair

STU

Steaming Tape Unit

SVGA

Super Video Graphics Array

T

TCM

Trellis Code Modulation

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol

TDM

Time Division Multiplexing

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access

TI

Texas Instruments

TIA

Telecomm. Industry Association

TPI

Tracks Per Inch

TSR

Terminate and Stay Resident

TTL

Transistor-Transistor Logic

TUV

Technischer Ueberwachuags Verein

U-V

UV

Ultra Violent

UART

Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter

UDP

User Datagram Protocol

UMB

Upper Memory Block

UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supply

UTP

Unshielded Twisted Pair

UUCP

Unix to Unix Copy Program

VCR

Video Cassette Recorder

VESA

Video Enhanced Standards Association

VGA

Video Graphics Array

VLB

VESA Local Bus

VLSI

Very Large Scale Integration

VM

Virtual Memory

VME

Versa Module Eurocard

VRAM

Video Random Access Memory

VTR

Video Tape Recorder

W-X-Y-Z

W

Watts

WAN

Wide Area Network

WATS

Wide Area Telephone Service

WORM

Write-Once Read-Many

WWW

World Wide Wed

XGA

Extended Graphics Array

XMS

Extended Memory Specification

XOR

Exclusive-Or

Y

Admittance

Z

Impedance

ZIF

Zero Insertion Force