1. Bel: Measurement of a signal's power compared to a reference; also, measurement of sound pressure. See the more commonly used term, "decibel," or, "dB."
Step-up, switching-regulator power supply with a backup battery switchover.
1. Bandwidth (BW) is a range of frequencies, or information, that a circuit can handle or the range of frequencies that a signal contains or occupies.
A base station (or basestation) is a wireless transceiver at a fixed location (e.g. atop a telephone pole) which is part of a wireless communications network, e.g. the cell phone network. Typically, the base station connects to any cell phones in its area
The electrical signal from a sensor when no measured variable is present. Often referred to the output at no-load condition.
A feature of microprocessor supervisory circuits and some power supplies to switch between a main power source and a battery.
A feature in microprocessor supervisory circuits which disconnects a backup battery from any down-stream circuitry until VCC is applied the first time. This keeps a backup battery from discharging until the first time a board is plugged in and used, and t
A feature or device that measures the accumulated energy added to and removed from a battery, allowing accurate estimates of battery charge level.
A feature that monitors the voltage on a battery and indicates when the battery is low. It is usually implemented using a comparator to compare the battery voltage to a specified level. May also include functions such as charging, remaining capacity estim
A circuit that switches between the higher of a main supply and a backup battery.
Binary-coded decimal: Representation of a number in which each decimal digit (0-9) is encoded in binary, with four bits per decimal digit.
Bit Error Rate: A measure of the number of erroneous bits which can be expected in a specified number of bits in a serial stream.
Bit Error Rate (BER) Tester: A piece of test equipment which determines the bit error rate for a device under test (DUT).
Ball grid array: A packaging technology.
The device accommodates signals traveling either direction though a single channel.
An input which accommodates signals both above and below ground.
A Bipolar Junction Transistor, or BJT, is a solid-state device in which the current flow between two terminals (the collector and the emitter) is controlled by the amount of current that flows through a third terminal (the base).
Built-in self-test.
A technique which uses the general-purpose ports of a microcontroller to emulate a serial interface standard (I2C, SPI, etc).
The number of erroneous bits divided by the total number of bits transmitted, received, or processed over some stipulated period.
BLE transmits less data over shorter distances using much less power than Bluetooth
Controls the display segment blink rate.
A technology that allows voice and data connections between a wide range of mobile and stationary devices through short-range digital two-way radio. For instance, it specifies how mobile phones, Wireless Information Devices (WIDs), computers and PDAs inte
Bus low-voltage differential signal
Bit-oriented code
A boost converter (step-up converter) is a DC-to-DC powerconverter that steps up voltage (while stepping down current) from its input (supply) to its output (load).
A power supply that steps an input voltage up (boosts it) to a higher, regulated voltage.
Often refers to using the output of a step-up converter to drive the main power FET switch, providing more gate drive than the input can supply alone. Also refers to using a switched capacitor to boost the voltage of a node.
Broadband passive optical network
Binary phase-shift keying
Band-rate divisor
Break-Before-Make: A switch that is configured to break (open) the first set of contacts before engaging (closing) the new contacts. This prevents the momentary connection of the old and new signal paths.
Bit-rate interface
A battery intended to provide power to system memory while the main battery is replaced.
Used in audio applications, the load (a speaker in this case) is connected between two audio amplifier outputs (it "bridges" the two output terminals).
Although the terms "brightness" and "luminance" are often used interchangeably, they are different. Luminance is the light intensity; brightness is how it is perceived by the human eye.
A transmission medium with enough bandwidth to carry multiple voice, video, or data channels simultaneously.
A condition where the voltage supplied to the system falls below the specified operating range, but above 0V.
BSC (Basic Spacing between Centers) is a term that appears on IC package drawings in reference to dimensions between pins.
Best-straight-line fit
Butterworth (filter)
Base Transceiver Station: The stationary component of a cellphone system includes transmit-receive units and one or more antennae. The combined systems (often including multiple co-located systems and ganged directional antennae) is called a cell-site, a
A "buck" or "step-down" switch-mode voltage regulator is one in which the output voltage is lower than its input voltage.
A switch-mode voltage regulator in which output voltage can be above or below the input voltage.
Burst Dimming is a method of controlling the brightness of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) by turning the lamps on and off at a rate faster than the human eye can detect. The on/off rate is nominally 100Hz to 300Hz. The higher the ratio of on-time t
1) A temporary high-speed data-transfer mode that can transfer data at significantly higher rates than would normally be achieved with nonburst technology.
Data path that connects to a number of devices. A typical example is the bus a computer's circuit board or backplane. Memory, processor, and I/O devices may all share the bus to send data from one to another. A bus acts as a shared highway and is in lieu
Bandwidth, Large Signal
Bandwidth, Small Signal
