Acronyms Used in Satellite and Computer Technology

The following acronyms often appear in literature pertaining to satellite and computer technology or service.

ACRONYMS: Telecommunication and Computer Technology Organizations

AAA Since May 03, 2000

ADEC Acronyms

ADEC American Distance Education Consortium
AGSAT Agricultural Satellite Corporation (sm owned by ADEC)
AISEP Advanced Internet Satellite Extension Project
      BMWG Business/Management Working Group
     CAIDA Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
     LAWG Learning Applications Working Group
     NLANR National Laboratory for Applied Network Research
     NSF National Science Foundation
     SD-NAP San Diego Network Access Point
     SWG Support Working Group
     TAP Tachyon Access Point
     TWG Technical Working Group
     UCAID University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development
IDEAL Ideal Distance Education Administrative Language Committee
PCO Principal Contact Officer
TAG Technical Advisory Group

Organization Acronyms

AAHE American Association of Higher Education
ACEC Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce (USGov)
ADL Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative of the DoD
ADLNet Advanced Distributed Learning Network ( DoD)
AIIM Association for Information and Image Management
ALTS Association for Local Telecommunications Services
ANSI American National Standards Institute
APCO Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials
APTS Association of America's Public Television Stations
ATSC* Advanced Television Systems Committee

BMRC Berkeley Multimedia Research Center

CAIDA Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
CANARIE Canadian Advanced Network for Research, Industry and Education
CATA Cable Telecommunications Association
CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CCIR International Radio Consultative Committee
CCSA Canadian Cable Systems Alliance
CCITT International Consultative Committee for Telecommunications and Telegraphy (ITU)
      G3 CCITT Group III fax compression standard
      G4 CCITT Group IV fax and image compression standard
CEA Consumer Electronics Association (aka CEMA, a subsidiary of EIA)
CEMA Computer & Electronics Marketing Association
CEMA Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Association
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CISE Directorate for Computer & Information Science Engineering (NSF)
CPB Corporation for Public Broadcasting
CRPL Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
CRTC Canadian Radio-television Telecommunication Commission
CTIA Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DoD)
DAVIC Digital Audio Visual Council
DOC Department of Commerce
     NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration
     TA Technology Administration
DoD Department of Defense
DOE Department of Engery
DOT Department of Transportation

ECSA Exchange Carriers Standards Association
EIA Electronic Industries Association
EPSCoR Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
EUTELSAT European Telecommunications Satellite Organization

FAA Federal Aviation Administration
FCC* Federal Communications Commission
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
FHWA Federal Highway Administration
FLEWUG Federal Law Enforcement Wireless Users Group
FRA Federal Railroad Administration
FTC Federal Trade Commission
FTSP Federal Telecommunications Standards Program

GDLN Global Distance Learning Network (World Bank)
GPN Great Plains Network
GRC Government Reseach Center (USA)
GWEN Ground Wave Emergency Network

ICA International Communications Association
ICADD International Committee for Accessible Document Design
ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers
ICDE International Council for Open and Distance Education
ICIA International Communications Industries Association
ICRA Internet Content Rating Association
ICTA Independent Cable and Telecommunications Association
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IEC International Engineering Consortium
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMCCA Interactive Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance
IMO International Maritime Organization
IMS Instructional Management Systems Global Learning Consortium
IMTC International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium
INMARSAT International Maritime Satellite Organization
INTELSAT International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
ISO* International Organization for Standardization
ISOC Internet Society
ITAC International Telecommunications Advisory Committee
ITC International Telecomputing Consortium
ITS International Telecommunications Society
ITS Institute for Telecommunication Sciences
ITSA Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy
ITU* International Telecommunication Union
     ITU-D Telecommunications Development Sector (aka ITU-DS)
     ITU-R Radiocommunication Sector (aka ITU-RS)
     ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Sector (aka ITU-TSS)
ITS Institute for Telecommunications Sciences (NTIA)
ITVS Independent Television Service

JPEG* Joint Picture Experts Group
JTC Joint Technical Committee on Wireless Access (ISO/IEC) (aka JTC1)

MHEC Midwest Higher Education Consortium
MiCTA MiCTA (aka: Michigan Collegiate Telecommunication Association)
MMTA MultiMedia Telecommunications Association (subsidiary of TIA)
MPAA Motion Picture Association of America
MPEG* Motion Picture Expert's Group

NAB National Association of Broadcasters
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASS National Agricultural Statistical Service (USDA)
NCSA National Computational Science Alliance (University of Illinois)
NCTA National Cable Television Association
NCTC National Cable Television Cooperative
NCTI National Cable Television Institute
NERSC National Energy Resaerch Scientific Computing Center (DOE)
NIPC National Infrastructure Protection Center
NIST National Institute for Standards and Testing (formerly the National Bureau of Standards)
NLANR National Laboratory for Applied Network Research
NLII National Learning Infrastructure Initiative
NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
NPACI National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure
NPR National Public Radio
NRTC National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
NSA National Security Agency
NSF National Science Foundation
NSSN National Standards Systems Network
NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration (DOC)
     ITS Institute for Telecommunications Sciences
     OIA Office of International Affairs
     OSM Office of Spectrum Management
     OTIA Office of Telecommunications & Information Applications
     PTFP Public Telecommunications Facilites Program
     TIIAP Telecommunications & Information Infrastructure Assistance Program
NTON National Transparent Optical Network (DARPA )
NTSC* National Television Standards Committee

OECD Organization of Economic Cooperative Development
OET Office of Engineering and Technology (NTIA)
OSM Office of Spectrum Management (NTIA)
OSTP White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
OT Office of Telecommunications (NTIA)

P3P Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (W3C)
PBS Public Broadcasting Service

SBCA Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association
SD-NAP San Diego Network Access Point
SDSC San Diego Supercomputer Center
SIIA Software Information Industry Association
SMPTE Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers

TIA Telecommunications Industry Association
TSS Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU)

UCAID University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
USIC United States Internet Council
USTA United States Telephone Association (local telephone companies)
USTIA United States Telecommunications Industry Association

ACRONYMS: TELECOMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

3G Third Generation (Licensing for wireless data services)
4G Fourth Generation (Wireless high-density video and super high-speed data services)

AC3 Dolby sound standard/1
ACD Automatic Call Distribution
ACTS Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (NASA)
ADC Analog to Digital Conversion
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP Accelerated Graphics Port
AIN Advanced Intelligent Network
AM* Amplitude Modulation
AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone Service
API Application Programming Interface
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ARQ Automatic Retransmission Request
ASCII* American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASP Application Service Provider
ASR Automated Speech Recognition
ATAPI Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
ATM* Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATV Advanced TeleVision
AV Audio-Visual
AVDC Audio, Video, Data & Control

B2B Business to Business
BAS Broadband Access Server
BAT Boguet Association table /1
BCP Broadband Communications Portal
BER Bit Error Rate
BISDN Broadband ISDN
bps bytes per second
BRI Basic Rate Interface (see PRI)
BSS* Broadcast Satellite Service
BTS Base Transceiver Station
BUD Big Ugly Dish

CA Conditional Access /1
CAM Conditional Access Module/1
CATV Cable Television (formerly Community AntennaTelevision)
CCLM Customer-Controlled Load Management
CDMA* Code Division Multiple Access (see TDMA and FDMA)
CDN Content Delivery Network
CD-ROM Compact Disk-Read Only Memory
CGI Common Gateway Interface
CGM Computer Graphics Metafile
CLEC Competative Local Exchange Carrier
COBRA Common Object Request Broker Architecture (OMG)
COFDM Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
CONUS* Continental United States
CPE Customer Premises Equipment
CPMS Content Provider Management Software
CPS Content Provider Server
CPU Central Processing Unit
CSMA/CD Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detect

DAB Digital Audio Broadcast
DAMA* Demand Assigned Multiple Access
DARS Digital Audio Radio Services
DATS Digital Audio Transmission Service
DAVIC Digital Audio Visual Council
dB* Decibel
DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite (or Service)
DCII* DigiCipher II /1
DES Digital Encryption Standard
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DLC Digital Loop Carrier
DNS Data Network System
DNS Domain Name System
DPRL Digital Property Rights Language
DRAM Dynamic RAM
DS-0*Digital Signal Level-0 (64 Kb/s)
DS-1* Digital Signal Level-1 (1.544 Mb/s)
DS-3* Digital Signal Level-3 (44.736 Mb/s)
DSL* Digital Subscriber Line
     ADSL Asymmetric DSL
     HDSL High bit-rat DSL
     IDSL ISDN DSL
     SDSL Symemetrical DSL
DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
DSM Demand-Side Management
DSR Distributed Speech Recognition
DSS Digital Satellite System (trade name for DirectTV system)
DSS Digital Signature Standard
DSSL Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DIS 10179)
DSU Data Service Unit
DTH Direct To Home
DTV Digital TeleVision
     EDTV Enhanced Definition TeleVision
     HDTV High Definition TeleVision
     SDTV Standard Definition TeleVision
DVB* Digital Video Broadcast
     DVB-C Digital Video Broadcast-Cable
     DVB-RCS Digital Video Broadcast-Return Channel Satellite
     DVB-S Digital Video Broadcast-Cable
     DVB-T Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial
DVD Digital Video Disk
DWDM Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer

ECC Elliptic-Curve Crytogrophy
EDGE Ehnanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
EDI Electronic Document Interchange
EDMS Electronic Document Management System
EDMS Enterprise Document Management System
EDTV Enhanced Definition TeleVision
EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power
EIT Event Information table /1
EOL End of Life (for satellite)
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning (software)
ES Elementary Stream
ESD Electronic Software Distribution

FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
FDMA* Frequency Division Multiple Access (see CDMA and TDMA)
FEC* Forward Error Correction
FM* Frequency Modulation
FSS* Fixed Satellite Service
FPS Fast-Packet Switching
FSK Frequency-Shift Keying
FT-1 Fractional T-1
FTA Free to AIR /1
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FTTC Fiber To The Curb
FTTH Fiber To The Home

G3 Third Generation Internet
GAT Generic Application Template
GCC Generic Conference Control
GEO* Geosynchronous (or Geostationary) Earth Orbit
GIF Graphics Interchange Format
GMT* Greenwich Mean Time
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GPRS General Packet Radio Services
GPS Global Positioning System
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
GSO 'Super' Geostationary Orbit
GTO Geostationary Transfer Orbit
GUI Graphical User Interface

HALE High Altitude Long Endurance
HDD Hard Disk Drive
HDFS High Density Fixed System
HDLC High-level Data Link Control (see SDLC, the IBM acronym for HDLC)
HDSL High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line
HDTV* High Definition TeleVision
HEO Heliocentric Earth Orbit (see GEO, MEO, LEO)
HFC Hybrid Fiber/Coax
HHR Half Horizontal Resolution /1
HPSS High-Performance Storage System
HTML HyperText Markup Language
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol
Hz Hertz
     KHz KiloHertz
     MHz MegaHertz
     GHz GigaHertz
     THz TereHertz
     PHz PetaHertz
     EHz ExaHertz

IA Internet Appliance
IAD Integrated Access Device
IBOC In-Band, On-Channel (digital radio)
IC Integrated Circuit
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
IDSL ISDN Digital Subscriber Line
IGES Initial Graphics Exchange Standard
IGMP Internet Group Management Protocol
ILEC Incombent Local Exchange Carrier
ILLR Individual Location Longley-Rice model
ILS Internet Location Server (Microsoft)
IM Instant Messaging
IMS Instructional Management System
I/O Input/Output
IOL Inter-Orbit Link
IPng Internet Protocol next Generation
     IPv4 version four
     IPv6 version six
IPO Initial Public Offering (stock)
IPPV Impulse Pay-Per-View
IPSec Internet Protocol Security
IRD* Integrated Receiver/Decoder
IS Integrated Systems
ISBN International Standard Book Numbers
ISDN* Integrated Services Digital Network
ISL* Inter-Satellite Links
ISP Internet Service Provider
IT Information Technology
ITFS Instructional Television Fixed Service
ITS Intelligent Transportation Systems
ITV Interactive TeleVision
IUE Internet User Experience
IXC* Interexchange Carrier

JPEG* Joint Picture Experts Group (standard)

L2TP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
LAN* Local Area Network
LAP-B Link Access Procedure-Balanced
LAP-D Link Access Procedure-D Channel
LATA* Local Access and Transport Area
LCD* Liquid-Crystal Display
LCOS Liquid Crystal On Silicon
LDAP Lightweight Delivery Access Protocol
LEC*Local Exchange Carrier
LEO* Low Earth Orbit
LMDS* Local Multipoint Distribution System
LNA Low Noise Amplifier
LNB Low Noise Buffer
LPFM Low Power FM
LPTV Low Power TeleVision
LTVS Local Television on Satellite (a service mark)
LVDS Low Voltage Differential Signaling

Mbone Multicast Backbone (Internet)
MCPC Multiple Carrier Per Channel
MCS Multipoint Communication Service ( ITU/T.120 Standards)
MCS Multipoint Conference Server
MCU Multipoint Control Unit
MDP Multicast Diffusion Protocol
MDS Multipoint Distribution System
MDU Multiple Dwelling Unit
MEMS MicroElectroMechanical Systems
MEO* Medium Earth Orbit
MIBs Management Information Bases
MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
MMDS Microwave Multiple Distribution System
MMDS Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Services
MMIC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit
MP Main Profile /1
MPEG* Moving Picture Experts Group (standard)
MPLS MultiPoint Label Switching
MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching
MPS Modular Processing System
MSO Multi-System Operator or Multiple Service Operator
MSP Management Service Provider
MSS Mobile Satellite Service
MTOPS* Millions of Theoretical Operations Per Second
MVDDS Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Services
MVPD Multichannel Video Programming Distributor

NAP Network Access Point
NAS Network Attached Storage
NAT Network Access Translation or Network Address Translation
NC Network Computer
NCP Network Core Protocol
NGI Next Generation Internet
NIC Network Operating Center
NII National Information Infrastructure
NIT Network Information table/1
NOC Network Operating Center
NOS Network Operating System
NPO Null Packet Optimization
NPRM Notice of Proposed RuleMaking (FCC)
NSP Network Service Provider
NTSC* National Television Standards Committee
NVOD Near Video-On-Demand

OC-N*Optical Carrier-Level N
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer
OLE Object Linking & Embedding
OMG Object Management Group
OSA* Open Systems Architecture
OSI Open Standards Interface
OSI* Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (aka OSIRM)
OTARD Over-The-Air Reception Devices

P2P Peer-to-Peer
P3P Platform for Privacy Preferences
PAD Packet Assembler/Disassembler
PAL* Phase Alteration System
PAM Payload Assist Module
PAT Program Association table /1
PC Personal Computer
PCI Periferal Component Interconnect
PCMA Paired Carrier Multiple Access
PCR Program Clock Reference
PCS Personal Communication Services
PDF Portable Document Format
PES Packet Elementary Stream/1
PID Packet Identification /1
     VPID Packet Identification for Video Stream/1
     APID Packet Identification for Audio Stream /1
     PCR PID Packet Identification - Program Clock Reference /1
PKI Public Key Infrastructures
PMT Program Map table /1
POP* Point-of-Presence
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (see also, L2TP)
PPV Pay-Per-View
PSSP Parallel System Suport Program (IBM software)
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
PRI Primary Rate Interface
PTT Post and Telecommunications Provider
PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit
PVR Personal Video Recorder

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QoS Quality of Service
QPSK* Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

RADSL Rate Adaptive Digital Subsrciber Line
RAM* Random Access Memory
     DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory
     SDRAM Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
     SRAM Static Random Access Memory
RAS Registration/Admission/Status
RAS Remote Access Server
RBOC* Regional Bell Operating Company
RDS Radio Data System
RF Radio Frequency
RIP Routing Informatin Protocol
RNSS Radio Navigation Satellite Service
ROM*Read Only Memory
RSVP Resource Reservation Protocol
RTF Rich Text Format
RT Remote Terminal
RTCP Real-Time Control Protocol
RTOS Real-Time Operating System
RTP Real-Time Protocol

SAN Storage Area Network
SAP Systems Applications Products (Service Mark for German IT company)
SAR* Specific Absorption Rate
SCN Switched Circuit Network (See PSTNor ISDN)
SCPC Single Carrier Per Channel
SD Secure Digital Expansion slot
SDH*Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SDLC Synchronous Data Link Control
SDR Software Defined Radio
SDRAM Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SDSL Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
SDTV Standard Definition TeleVision
SECAM* Sequential Encoded Color Amplitude Modulation
SFD Saturated Flux Density
SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language
SHVA Satellite Home Viewers Act (Passed - 106th Congress)
SI System Information /1
SLA Service Level Agreement
SMDS Switched Multimegabit Data Service
SMP Symmetric Multi-Processor
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNAFU Situation Normal, All Fowled Up (Ask your grandfather for original definition.)
SNA/LAN Systems Network Architecture/Local Area Network
SNG Satellite News Gathering
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SOHO Small Office, Home Office
SOI Silicon-On-Insulator
SONET* Synchronous Optical Network
SP Studio Profile /1
SQL Structured Query Language
SR Symbol Rate/1
SRAM Static RAM
SSL Secure Socket Layer
SSP Storage Service Provider
SSPA Solid State Power Amplifier
STS* Synchronous Transport Signal
STS-N* Synchronous Transport Signal-Level N

T-1* T-carrier Multiplexer, Level 1
TAP Tachyon Access Point
TCP/IP* Transmission Control Protocol/Internt Protocol
TDM Time Division Multiplex /1
TDMA* Time Division Multiple Access (see CDMA and FDMA)
TDMA/WIN Time Division Multiple Access/Wireless Intelligent Networks
TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
TDT Time and Date table/1
TELRIC Total Element Long-Run Incremental Cost (FCC)
THEO Twelve Hours Excentric Orbit (Molniya orbit)
TIFF Tagged Image File Format
TLD Top-Level Domain
TP Transport Packet
TQM Total Quality Management
TS Transprot Stream
TT&S Telemetry, Tracking and Control, satellite
TVRO TeleVision Receive Only (terminal)
TWTA Traveling-Wave Tube Amplifier

UCITA Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UETA Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
UHF UltraHigh Frequency
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
UNII Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure
UPS Uninterupted Power Supply
URL Uniform Resource Locator
USAT* Ultra Small Aperture Terminal
USB Universal Serial Bus
UUNET Unix to Unix NETwork (also name of 1st commercial Internet service provider)
UVM Universal Virtual Machine
UWB Ultra-WideBand
VAR Value Added Reseller
vBNS very highspeed Backbone Network Service (MCI/Worldcom)
VGA* Video Graphics Adapter
VGL Voice-Grade Line
VHF Very High Frequency
VOD Video-On-Demand
VOFDM Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
VPN Virtual Private Network
VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language
VSAT* Very Small Aperture Terminal
VSB-8 Vestigial SideBand modulation (aka, 8-VSB) /1

WAN Wide Area Network
WAP Wireless Application Protocol
W-CDMA Wideband-CDMA
WCS Wireless Communications Service
WGS Wideband Gapfiller Satellite
WLL Wireless Local Loop
WML Wireless Markup Language
WWW World Wide Web

XML Extensible Markup Language

Y2K You're Too Kind

ZULU Greenwich Mean Time

/1 These acronyms refer to terms used in the article "North American MPEG-2 Information" by Rod Hewitt. The article is approximately 31 pages in length and may be found at http://www.coolstf.com/mpeg/.