A-weighting is a standard weighting curve applied to audio measurements, designed to reflect the response of the human ear.
Analog to digital. Specifically: A/D converter, a circuit that converts analog signals into a stream of digital data.
A sensor or transducer for measuring acceleration.
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface: An industry-standard specification (co-developed by Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba) for operating-system-directed power management for laptop, desktop, and server computers. A replacemen
Adjacent (alternate)-channel power ratio
Accumulated current register
Add/Drop Multiplexer: A synchronous transmission network (SDH or Sonet) can carry multiple channels. An Add/Drop Multiplexer is a device that adds (inserts) or drops (removes) lower-data-rate channel traffic from the higher-rate aggregated channel.
Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation: A compression technique that encodes only the difference between sequential samples.
Analog design system
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line: A method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit carries much more data than a modem can encode on a regular phone connection. ADSL rides on the regular phone wires coming into the subscriber's premise
A qualification test sequence for integrated circuits developed by the AIAG automotive organization.
Analog Front End: The analog portion of a circuit which precedes A/D conversion.
Automatic Gain Control: A circuit that modulates an amplifier's gain, in response to the relative strength of the input signal, in order to maintain the output power.
Ampere-hour(s): A measure of battery capacity. A 4Ah battery could, for instance, deliver 1A for 4 hours, 1/2A for 8 hours, etc.
A method for testing ESD-protection structures in which the ESD generator is discharged through an air gap between the generator and the device under test (DUT).
The Antenna Interface Standards Group (AISG) creates open specifications for antenna-line control and monitoring for 3G systems.
In A/D conversion, the Nyquist principle states that the sampling rate must be at least twice the maximum bandwidth of the analog signal. If the sampling rate is insufficient, then higher-frequency components are "undersampled" and appear shifted to lower
An electromechanical device that converts mechanical power into AC electrical power.
Amplitude Modulation: A modulation method in which the carrier amplitude changes with the input signal amplitude.
Temperature of the air surrounding a component.
Temperature sensor used to measure the temperature of the air that surrounds a component (the ambient temperature).
Active-matrix liquid-crystal display
1. Ampere
The amount of current a conductor can carry without exceeding its specified temperature, in amperes.
Ampere(s), the unit of electrical current. Current is defined as the amount of charge that flows past a give point, per unit of time.
A measure of charge (or current flow over time).
An electrical circuit that produces an output that is a replica of the input. The output may be scaled or have increased drive, or it may provide isolation (so changes in output conditions do not affect the input or other outputs). It may perform other tr
Amplifier circuit types are divided into "classes" which describe whether the amplifier operates in a linear or switching mode, and any techniques used to restore linearity of output.
Advanced Mobile Phone System: An analog only, 1G standard that operates in the 800MHz to 900MHz frequency band. It is still widely used in the United States.
Automatic Meter Reading: A system installed to read a utility meter remotely.
A system in which an electrical value (usually voltage or current, but sometimes frequency, phase, etc.) represents something in the physical world. The electrical signal can then be processed, transmitted, amplified, and finally, transformed back into a
An analog switch (sometimes just called a "switch") is a switching device capable of switching or routing analog signals (meaning signals that can have any level within a specified legal range), based on the level of a digital control signal. Commonly imp
Temperature sensor with a continuous analog voltage or current output that is related, usually linearly, to the measured temperature.
Combining two signals so that the output is on if both signals are present. This can be accomplished by an AND logic gate (two inputs, one output which is high if both inputs are).
American National Standards Institute
An anti-aliasing filter is used before A/D conversion. It is a lowpass filter that removes signal components above the Nyquist frequency, thereby eliminating their sampled replicas (aliases) in the baseband.
Automatic Power Control: Feature in laser driver that uses feedback from the laser to adjust the drive, to keep the laser's output constant.
Avalanche Photo Diode: A photodiode designed to take advantage of avalanche multiplication of photocurrent to provide gain. As the reverse-bias voltage approaches the break-down voltage, hole-electron pairs created by absorbed photons acquire sufficient e
Application program interface: A software layer that allows a system to be programmed via a defined set of commands.
Advanced Power Management: Power management standard for computers that provides five power states: Ready, Stand-by, Suspended, Hibernation, Off.
ATM (-based) passive optical network
Advanced Product Quality Planning. System developed by the AIAG automotive organization to communicate common product quality planning and control plan guidelines for suppliers to the automotive industry.
American Standard Codes for Information Interchange
Application-specific integrated circuit
Automatic test equipment; automated test equipment
Asynchronous transfer mode
A feature in EIA-232 interface devices which puts the IC into a low-power shutdown mode when no signal is present on the EIA-232 bus.
A feature in EIA-232 interface devices which puts the IC into a low-power shutdown mode when no signal is present on the bus or the transmitter inputs.
An autotransformer is a transformer that uses a common winding for both the primary and secondary windings. Essentially an inductor with a center-tap, an autotransformer is often used in power-supply boost-converter applications to achieve a higher output
1. Arbitrary waveform generator
