Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary - Part 34 pdf

Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary through SDP/SAP, content is the broadcast program- ming (e.g., a movie), and broadcast data triggers help to administrate the enhanced TV services. The ATVEF recommends that the PNG image for- mat be used for Internet TV broadcasting whenever possible, with JPEG and GIF for services not yet available through PNG. See broadcast data trigger. EnhancedTrivial FTP Enhanced Trivial F He Trans- fer Protocol. An experimental implementation of Network Block Transfer Protocol (NETBLT) that uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for its trans- port layer. It was designed as a means to improve data transfer throughput for the specialized needs ofhalf duplex radio networks using the Internet Protocol (IP). Through ETFTP, transmission parameters can be customized for low-speed, long-delay radio links. See File Transfer Protocol, Simple File Transfer Pro- tocol, Trivial File Transfer Protocol, RFC 998, RFC 1350, RFC 1986. ENIAC Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calcu- lator/Computer. A historically significant, post World War II, room-sized, vacuum tube, punch card com- puterdedicated in 1943, following the success of the Harvard Mark I. ENIAC was developed by John W. Mauchly and 1. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania, under the guidance of John Brainerd. Adele Goldstine authored the technical guide "Manual for the ENIAC" in 1946, the year the com- puter was unveiled in Philadelphia. Hand wiring was necessary to configure ENIAC to handle different problems. The ENIAC was derived in part from the Atanasoff- Berry Computer (ABC). At the very least, the ABC provided inspiration for the ENIAC, and it is possible that it also provided some design ideas. In the 1930s, Mauchly is reported to have visited with Atanasoff and left with notes on the ABC. See Atanasoff, John V.; Atanasoff-Berry Computer. ENN See Emergency News Network. ENOS Enterprise Network Operating System. An operating system with the power and reliability to effectively support a medium- or larger-sized busi- ness or institution. ENS See Emergency Number Service. Enterprise Application Server EAS. A temporary name for an Open Source project to create a multi- platform, open source Sun Microsystems Java appli- cation server suitable for enterprise firms, that main- tains consistency with industry standards, particularly J2EE. Enterprise ComputerTelephony Forum ECTF. A nonprofit association established in 1995 to promote interoperability among computer telecommunica- tions products and to provide a framework for Com- puter Telephony (CT) interoperability, including stan- dards and education. http://www.ectf.org/ enterprise network, corporatenetworkA network that broadly serves the needs of an enterprise (a larger business) and reaches most of the network-using members of the organization. Since larger networks often have different types of users, they may integrate a variety of technologies, such as a private branch 322 exchange (PBX), datalvoice/videoconferencing, etc. envelope I. Boundary, encasement, encapsulated entity, bounding box, extent. 2. The globe around a vacuum tube or bulb. 3. In amplitude modulation, the extents of the frequencies of the modulated wave. 4. A means of describing the content and characteristics ofa message. Environmental EngineeringTechnical Committee EE. A working committee of the European Telecom- munications Standards Institute (ETSI) engaged in defining the infrastructure and environmental aspects of all telecommunications equipment. Working groups of the EE include environmental conditions (EE 01) and power supplies (EE 02). EE 0I involves the development of environmental classes and the classification environmental condi- tions and related equipment tests to verify that they are mutually compatible. Ecological aspects are not supported by this proj ect, as it was decided that these are being addressed by the European Information and Technology Industry Association (EICTA). EE 02 involved amending and improving existing standards for power supplies and developing an ETSI Guide for power distribution for telecommunications networks. ENVISAT Aproject of the European Space Agency, ENVISAT is an advanced polar orbit Earth imaging satellite system, intended to eventually supersede the ERS-I and ERS-2 systems launched in the 1990s. It is designed to provide advanced imaging using a va- riety of radar and other sensing systems for scientific research and commercial purposes. Tests were suc- cessfully carried out in French Guyana in 2000, and ENVISAT is expected to provide imagery for a pe- riod of about five years from the time of launch. See European Polar Platform, European Remote-Sensing Satellite. http://envisat.esa.intl EO 1. end office. 2. erasable optical. EOB end of block. See end of file for a description that is conceptually similar to end of block markers. EOC See embedded operations channel. EOF See end of file. EOM end of message. See end of file for a descrip- tion that is conceptually similar to end of message markers. EOS 1. Earth-observing satellite. 2. See Earth Ob- serving System. 3. electro-optical system. EOT 1. end of transmission. EOT signals enable a system to provide a variety of communications op- tions, such as the initiation of an automated sequence (e.g., sounding an alarm if it has been an emergency transmission), signaling that the other end of the transmission may now transmit, shutting down the system if appropriate, turning on other equipment, etc. An EDT signal may be passive or active. A pas- sive EOT might be signaled after 30 seconds of si- lence or 30 seconds without further transmissions, for example. An active EDT might be a specific sequence of bytes or frequencies that are recognized as mean- ing the end has been reached or is imminent. 2. end of tape. EDT flags or markers enable manufacturers to include capabilities related to the tape player or recorder that allow it to signal the end, automatically © 2003 by CRC Press LLC reverse to the beginning of the tape, or play the re- verse side of the tape upon reaching the end of the side. EOTC 1. Electro-Optics Technology Center. A de- partment at Tufts University that researches and pro- vides hands-on education in the areas in which op- tics and electronics are related, founded in 1984. 2. Executive Office of Transportation and Construc- tion. 3. European Organisation for Testing and Cer- tification. See European Organisation for Confonnity Assessment. Ephemeris A tabular prediction of the position ofa celestial body or orbiting satellite. This may be cal- culated from Earth information or supplemented with information transmitted by the satellite itself, as in Global Positioning System (GPS) data. EPIC 1. See Electronic Privacy Information Center. 2. European Project on Information Infrastructure Co- ordination Group. EPllSG See European Project On Information Infra- structure Starter Group. EPLRS See Enhanced Position Location Reporting System. epoxyA synthetic resin useful for protecting or bond- ing materials such as fiber optic cable components. Epoxy has excellent adhesion properties for many types of materials, good water resistance, chemical resistance, and optical characteristics. Epoxy has a tendency to set over time, even when stored in a closed container, rendering it useless for anything other than a doorstop. For this reason, ep- oxy is often mixed on an as-needed basis in the amount required for a specific task. It may be air cured for a few hours or heated to cure in a few minutes. It is important to handle epoxy carefully as it can bond fingers and other body parts and generally get in the way if spilled or sprayed. It is best to have a separate set of tools for opening, handling, and mixing the epoxy so the glue doesn't damage fragile compo- nents. If the epoxy mix is sufficiently viscid, it can be applied with a disposable syringe as long as the needle bore isn't too fine. Be careful to wear safety goggles and never point the syringe at anything that is not intended to be bonded. One common use of epoxy is as a bonding agent to attach fiber filaments within the ferrule of a termi- nating or coupling connector. EPP 1. See Enhanced Parallel Port. 2. European Po- lar Platform. EPPA 1. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (1988). 2. See European Public Paging Association. EPRML extended partial response/maximum like- lihood. See partial response/maximum likelihood. EPROM See Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. EPS See encapsulated PostScript. EPSCS Enhanced Private Switched Communications Service. A commercial switch-renting service from AT &T serving businesses. Equal Access A requirement resulting from the AT &T divestiture Modified Final Judgment (MFJ) in the 1980s, that holds that each Bell Operating Company must provide network services access to competitive companies equal in type and quality to that used by the Bell Operating Companies them- selves. See Feature Groups. Equal ChargeRuleA stipulation of the 1980s AT&T divestiture Modified Final Judgment requiring Bell Operating Companies to charge rates that don't vary as the volume of traffic varies. See Modified Final Judgment. Equatorial Constellation Communications See ECCO. erasable programmable read-only memory EPROM. A read-only computer memory chip that can be electronically erased and reprogrammed. An EPROM is like an Etch-a-Sketch® in that it's a gen- eral purpose device for imprinting information that can be changed or retained at the discretion of the programmer. The EPROM can be programmed for specific needs and doesn't require a constant current to keep the memory refreshed. In other words, it re- tains the information if the system is turned off. EPROMs are handy for technology that is frequently upgraded, such as computer peripherals (e.g., mo- dems). The information most likely to change can be put in an EPROM, and the chip can be swapped out for an updated EPROM while retaining the rest of the circuitry. erasable storage Any storage medium on which the information can be readily removed after it has been recorded. Most erasable storage media are magnetic in nature, as magnetic particles are amenable to be- ing rearranged to remove the data encoding, or to overwrite new infonnation. Semipermanent magnetic storage media include hard disks, floppy diskettes, data cartridges, and audio/video tapes. Many types of memory chips are also erasable and are commonly used as temporary storage on comput- ers. The most commonly used memory chips will lose the information when the power is discontinued. A few optical storage media are also erasable, as some have been developed such that the layer in which the encoded pits are stored can be subsequently altered, but this property is not common to most optical me- dia. See erasable, programmable read-only memory, superparamagnetic. erbium A rare earth element commonly used in the doping of fiber optic cables to manipulate their trans- mission propagation characteristics, especially to enable cables to carry signals for longer distances. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) have not had sufficient bandwidth to support wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), but recent research with er- bium-doped amplifiers in modified silica and tellu- rite glass hosts indicates that broader bandwidth sup- port is possible. See yttrium. erbium-doped fiber amplifier EDFA. Erbium- doped amplifiers have become an important means of reducing signal loss on long fiber optic transmis- sions. Traditionally the attenuation ofa light signal in a fiber optic cable over distance was handled by converting the signal to electromagnetic energy, amplifying it, and converting it back to an optical sig- nal. The development of EDFAs provided a means 323 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary of amplification without conversion, and they amplify far more efficiently than analogous electronic ampli- fiers. These fiber optic amplifiers came into use in the late 1980s and are now used to extend the range of fiber optic transmissions. See doping, simulated Raman scattering. erbium doping A technique of using erbium, a rare earth element, to impregnate another material in or- der to alter its transmission characteristics. Erbium doping is a technique used in the manufacture of fi- ber optic communications cables amplifiers to mini- mize signal loss over distance. See doping. ERe European Radiocommunications Committee. See European Radiocommunications Office. ergonomics The study and application of human en- gineering, i.e., the design of systems and products that adapt them to the needs and comforts oftheir users, rather than the other way around. Ergonomic appli- cations require a knowledge of human anatomy, movement, and orientation, as well as human percep- tion and preferences - psychological and sociologi- cal. This information is then incorporated into design and manufacturing with aresult that, more often than not, is an economic and social compromise. Never- theless, ergonomic designs are to be encouraged. A number of interesting ergonomic adaptations can be seen in the design of chairs, computer keyboards, and phone head and hand sets. Ericsson Telecommunications A major equipment supplier and research and development organization serving Canadian and world communications mar- kets, especially in mobile phone industries. erlang A unit of measure of telephone traffic. It has been variously interpreted in the telephone industry as equal to a full traffic path, to a specified number ofcalling seconds, or to a ratio of full traffic to no traffic. The term is based on mathematical analysis of the characteristics of telephone transmissions by the Danish telephone engineer A.K. Erlang. Erlang was analyzing traffic flow and congestion in the Copenhagen Telephone Company beginning in 1908, which led to changes in the design of telephone switches. Erlang's theories have had practical applications in phone system design for many decades, but now they have to be re-evaluated in light of changing charac- teristics of phone calls since the rise of the Internet. Two-hour voice calls are rare; two-minute voice calls are common. But when computer users log onto the Internet, two-hour connect times are common, as are four-hour connect times. The theories used to develop trunk use and capacity algorithms may have to be re- applied to the new types of usage patterns. See queu- ing theory. Erlang, Agner Krarup (1878-1929) A Danish mathematician, educator, and telephone engineer who studied the mathematical characteristics of telephone transmissions in the early 1900s and described his findings in a number ofpublications, including The Theory of Probabilities and Telephone Conversations in 1909. He described how random calls follow a Poisson pattern of distribution. This observation not 324 only led to some practical design changes in tele- phone switching systems, it also was the beginning of the study of queuing theory, an area of research that has many implications for current research and applications in data network traffic. See erlang. ERM See EMC and Radio Spectrum Matters Tech- nical Committee. ERMAElectronic Recording Method/Machine, Ac- counting. A historic banking system, first demon- strated in 1955. By ayear later, the system had been enhanced with solid-state components and released as ERMA Mark II. In 1959, General Electric began delivering the system, and one was installed in a Bank ofAmerica location in California, considered to be the world's first electronic banking system. ERMES European/Enhanced Radio Messaging Sys- tem. A European wireless mobile communications paging protocol specified by the European Telecom- munications Standards Institute (ETSI) in 1986. ERMES operates at 169.6 to 169.8 MHz at 6.25 Mbps. See EMBARC, SkyTel. ERO See European Radiocommunications Office. ERP effective radiated power. error control In computing, there are many schemes, philosophies, and protocols for safeguarding the in- tegrity of data. Error control encompasses several aspects of data handling: error detection and error correction, if appropriate or possible, that may be part of more extensive data recovery. One of the most ru- dimentary types oferror control is detect-and-drop- if-bad. In other words, if cyclic redundancy check- ing (CRC), noise sensing, or some other error detec- tion mechanism detects a problem, drop the transmis- sion. While this method sounds harsh, it actually was the predominant strategy for file transfer protocols for many years. Error control is related to every aspect of computing, not just file transfers. It involves user interaction with applications programs, file loads and saves, data pro- tection while files are open, and information protec- tion for cached data. The most common implemen- tations of error control, however, are in network trans- missions and dialup data transfers through modems. The arsenal oferror control mechanisms is growing, and, more and more, error control schemes are a mix of software and hardware functions. Error control protocols now sometimes include sophisticated check, compare, and evaluate algorithms, and some incorporate artificial intelligence concepts. There are a number oferror-correcting protocols now widely used in data modems, including MNP4, HST, and V.42 (which includes MNP4 and Link Access Procedure (LAP-M)). See checksum, cyclic redun- dancy checking, Microcom Networking Protocols (for a chart), XModem, YModem, ZModem. error free seconds EFS. A unit of measure of the quality ofa transmitted signal expressed as a percent- age of bit errors over aspecifiedperiod of time. EFS is defined in the ITU-T 0 Series Recommendations (0.151). See bit error rate. ERS See European Remote Sensing Satellite. ERTS-l See Earth Resources Technology Satellite. © 2003 by CRC Press LLC ESA 1. emergency stand-alone. 2. See European Space Agency. ESCA See International Speech Communication As- sociation. ESF 1. See European Science Foundation. 2. See Extended SuperFrame. ESI 1. electro-scientific instrument. 2. electronic share-trading system. 3. Enhanced Serial Interface. 4. End System Identifier. In ATM networks, an iden- tifier that distinguishes multiple nodes at the same level, in case the lower level peer group is partitioned. 5. environmental sensing instrument. ESMR See Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio. ESMTP See Extended Simple Mail Transport Pro- tocol. ESN 1. See electronic serial number. 2. electronic switched network. 3. See emergency services num- ber. ESnet See Energy Sciences Network. ESO Imaging Survey An astronomical imaging project of the European Southern Observatory, an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Germany. The project is an ongoing public imaging survey in support of very large telescope (VLT) proj ects. Data gathered from the original and PILOT surveys are in the public domain. http://www.eso.org/ science/eis/ ESOC See European Space Operations Centre. ESP 1. See Encapsulating Security Payload. 2. See Enhanced Serial Port. 3. See Enhanced Service Pro- vider. ESPA 1. Educational Software Publishers Associa- tion. http://www.uk.digiserve.com/espa/ 2. European Selective Paging Manufacturers Association. The ESPA protocol is a widespread paging standard that enables third party systems to connect with paging devices. ESPAN Enhanced Switch Port Analyzer. An exter- nal network diagnostic and analysis tool which cap- tures information that has been copied to a switched interface. ESRIN The information systems center and main Earth observation center for the European Space Agency (ESA), located in Frascati, Italy. ESRIN pro- cesses data and images from ESA's satellites and combines them with data and observations from in- ternational satellites. ESRIN also provides informa- tion to the public regarding ESA projects. See Euro- pean Space Agency. essential service A regulatory distinction that pro- vides special access to some types of telecommuni- cations equipment or services and that provides more relaxed regulations in some aspects, and more strin- gent regulations in others. Essential services are clas- sified differently in different nations, but tend to in- clude some types of medical personnel, fire-fighting services, transportation administration, emergency broadcast channels or stations, etc. ESTEC See European Space Research and Technol- ogy Centre. ESTO See European Science and Technology Ob- servatory. ETA See Electronics Technicians Association. ETACS Extended TACS (total access communica- tions systems). The wireless transmission technology used in the United Kingdom and northern Europe, derived from U.S. AMPS systems. It is widely used for mobile phone services. ETB 1. See Educational Technology Branch. 2. elec- tronic term book. 3. electronic technical brief: 4. elec- tronic test bed. There are many laboratories and edu- cational institutions operating electronic test beds for the development and testing of electronic instruments ~ ; .• ':: • : •• : • •. and devices. One example is the u.S. Department of i{:rt Defense (000) Ballistic Missile Defense Organiza- tion/Jet Propulsion Laboratory ETB where various characteristics of electronic devices, including radia- tion performance, are studied. 5. end transmissions block. Aterminating marker, indicating the end of a transmission block. 6. Engineers Toolbox. Acommer- cial engineering package providing platform-inde- pendent, Web/Java-based engineering at1alysis and reference modules. ETF 1. Emerging Markets Telecommunications Fund, Inc. A long-term capital appreciation fund es- tablished in 1992. 2. European Teleconferencing Fed- eration. An industry trade association for video- and teleconferencing. See audiographics, videoconferenc- ing. ETFTP Enhanced Trivial File Transfer Protocol. See Enhanced Trivial FTP. Ethernet An important, widely implemented local area network (LAN) and metropolitan area network (MAN) network transmissions standard developed in 1973 by Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe and David Boggs and patented in 1975. Tat Lam designed the first trans- ceivers for Ethernet, and Ron Crane provided hard- ware expertise for the eventual IEEE 802.3 standards. Crane and Metcalfe founded 3Com Corporation in 1979. The early Ethernet ran at approximately 3 Mbps. Much of the early work was done by the Xerox re- search lab (PARC), and further development was undertaken by a multivendor consortium. Ethernet was formally specified as a production-quality stan- dard called the DEC-Intel-Xerox (DIX) or "Blue Book standard," transmitting at speeds up to 10 Mbps. It was subsequently adopted for standardization for a wide variety of media by the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers and designated IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD in 1985. Each Ethernet interface card requires an Organiza- tionally Unique Identifier (OUI) which is assigned as a three-octet number for the IEEE. The organiza- tion further subdivides this locally into unique six- octet numbers known as a Media Access Control (MAC) address or Ethernet address. The IEEE orga- nization handles identifier allocation by online reg- istration forms or by phone at the IEEE Registration Authority. Current Ethernet protocols can run over thick and thin coaxial cable, multimode fiber, and unshielded twisted-pair. Physical standards for running Ethernet include 1 OOBase- TX, 10Base-5, 1 OBase- T and others. 325 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary It's easier to understand these physical standard des- ignations if the three component parts are analyzed as follows: a "10" indicates a signaling speed of 10 Mbps, while the "base" stands for baseband, and the suffix describes the maximum run of an unrepeated cable segment (in hundreds of meters), if it is a num- ber, or refers to fiber (F) or twisted-pair (T). Ethernet is now a worldwide networking standard, having been adopted by the International Organiza- tion for Standardization (ISO) as ISO/IEC ANSI! IEEE Std. 802.3 in 1992. EthernetAddress Resolution Protocol EARP. The addresses of hosts within a particular protocol may not be compatible with the corresponding Ethernet address. That is, the lengths or values may differ. EARP deals with an incompatibility by allowing dy- namic distribution of the infonnation needed to build tables to translate an address from the foreign protocol's address space into a 48-bit Ethernet ad- dress. This can also be generalized to non-l0Mbps Ethernet systems such as packet radio networks. See RFC 826. EthernetDigital Subscriber Line EDSL. A Digital Subscriber Service that uses copper wires running between subscribers and the central office as a shared communications medium. Crosstalk is a limitation, but, like Ethernet and unlike earlier xDSL technolo- gies, EDSL has some ability to adapt to traffic inter- ference. See Digital Subscriber Line. Contrast with Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line. EtherTalkAn IEEE 802.3 standard Ethernet proto- col implemented for local area networks (LANs) on Macintosh and G3 computers by Apple Computer. See AppleTalk. ETIS See European Telecommunication Infonnatics Services. ETNO See European Public Telecommunications Network Operations Association. ETO See European Telecommunications Office. ETRI See Electronics Telecommunications Research Institute. ETA See Electronics Technicians Association, Inter- national. ETS 1. See Electronic Technology Systems. 2. See European Technology Services. 3. European Tele- communication Standard. See European Telecommu- nications Standards Institute. ETSA See European Telecommunication Services Association. ETSAG European Telecommunication Standards Awareness Group Advisory Committee. ETSI See European Telecommunication Standards Institute. ETSI ATM Services Interoperability EASI. A fonner European Telecommunications Standards In- stitute (ETSI) project, in conjunction with EURESCOM P8I3, that produced specifications for interoperability for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks and ATM network services. The project was finalized in 1999 and closed in May 2000 with the remaining work being transferred to the Tele- communications Management Network Technical 326 Committee (TC TMN) and the Services and Proto- cols for Advanced Networks Technical Committee (TC SPAN). Eudora Light, Eudora Pro A widely distributed commercial personal computer electronic messaging applications program compatible with the Macintosh operating system (OS) and Windows. Eudora Pro is a pay version, and Eudora Light is freely distributed by Qualcomm Enterprises. EUnet European Unix network. A cooperative com- mercial backbone network in Europe, established without public funding in the early 1980s, at a time when most computer networks were focused on aca- demic communication and research and development. EUnet evolved from the European Unix Users Group (EUUG) network connecting The Netherlands, U.K., and parts of Scandinavia. In March 1995, EUnet In- ternational was fonned; the same year EUnet installed full Internet connectivity. EUnet expanded and upgraded over the next several years to service 14 European nations. It was acquired by Qwest in March 1998 and joined with KPN as KPNQwest ayear later. A large proportion ofEUnet's commercial customers were nonprofit institutions. EUnet predated the Ebone and has had an on-again! off-again relationship with the Ebone. See Ebone. EUROBIT In 1999, EUROBIT was succeeded by European Information and Communications Technol- ogy Association (EICTA). European Academic and Research Network EARN. A European networking system whichjoined with the BITNET system in 1982, making BITNET an international network. In 1994, EARN was merged with RARE to form TERENA. See BITNET, TERENA. European Advanced Networking Test Center EANTC. An institution within the Technical Univer- sity Berlin that has offered consulting, testing, and educational services for modem network technolo- gies since the late 1880s. EANTC provides standard confonnance and interoperability testing and perfor- mance measurement. EANTC engages in educational programs and collaborative projects in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technologies. It further pro- vides ATM group testing activities to promote multi- vendor interoperability of ATM systems. European Association of Communications Agen- cies EACA. A trade organization that publishes ethi- cal guidelines for responsible advertising and has is- sued a position statement regarding virtual advertis- ing in electronic media. It promotes and supports self- regulation and the rights and responsibilities of its members. http://www.eaca.be/ European Association of Consumer Electronics Manufacturers EACEM. A trade organization estab- lished to promote and support production and distri- bution of consumer electronics products and services in the European Union. http://www.eacem.be/ EuropeanAssociation ofDirectory and Database Publishers EADP. A trade organization representing members in more than three dozen nations world- wide, EADP was founded in 1966. EADP engages © 2003 by CRC Press LLC in benchmark studies, compiles statistics related to the industry, promotes quality and excellence, and publishes a directory of its members and their prod- ucts. http://www.eadp.be/ European Association of Information Services EUSIDIC. An independent communications vehicle for information industry professionals, founded in 1970. Members include senior personnel and man- agers from publishing, Internet, computer, and infor- mation firms, as well as government personnel throughout Europe. http://www.eema.org/ EuropeanAssociation of RemoteSensing Labora- tories EARSeL. A scientific network of about 300 academic and commercial remote-sensing institutes, founded in 1977 through the European Space Agency (ESA), the Council of Europe, and the Europe Com- mission. EARSel promotes and stimulates education, research, and cooperation in remote-sensing and Earth observations. http://www.earsel.org/ EuropeanAstronautCentre EAC. The base for as- tronauts from European Space Agency projects, es- tablished in 1990. EAC provides training and medi- cal support to ESA astronauts and astronauts from partnering space agencies, especially those involved with the International Space Station. See European Space Agency. European BroadcastingArea EBA. The European portion of the broadcasting region within the Euro- pean Broadcasting Union, including the Euroradio and Eurovision services. (In addition to the EBA, the EBU broadcasts to North America and the Asia-Pa- cific region.) See European Broadcasting Union. European Broadcasting Union EBU. The world's largest professional association of national broadcast- ers, the EBU has headquarters in Geneva, Switzer- land and represents public service broadcasters through its office in Brussels, Belgium. It was founded in 1950 and, in 1993, merged with the union of eastern European broadcasters (DIRT). The EBU represents and negotiates broadcasting rights; provides a range of technical, legal, and op- erational services; operates the Eurovision and Euroradio networks; and promotes and coordinates coproductions on behalfof members in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere. The EBU also collaborates with other prominent associations, in- cluding the North American Broadcasters' Associa- tion, the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, the Arab States Broadcasting Union, and others. In addition to member support and programming co- ordination, the EBU is involved in the research and development of new broadcast media, providing in- put into formats, standards, and digital broadcasting technologies. The more recent multimedia activities include a Digital Strategy Group (DSG), the On-Line Services Group (OLS), and the Multimedia Forum. See Euroradio, Eurovision. http://www.ebu.ch/ European Cable Communications Association ECCA. A trade organization promoting the interests of the European cable industry, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The ECCA fosters cooperation among operators in the industry and promotes member interests in Europe and abroad. The ECCA further works to assure fair access to various communica- tions infrastructures, provides aid in the management of copyright issues, and encourages interoperability standards to facilitate compatibility of the various cable broadcasting and data services technologies. http://www.ecca.be/ European Commission EC. Asignificant European policy initiatives body working within the European Union (EU). The EC works in partnership with Eu- ropean institutions and governments of the member states of the EU. http://europa.eu.int/comm/ European Committee for Telecommunications Regulatory Affairs ECTRA. This CEPT-affiliated organization studies and develops telecommunica- tions regulatory frameworks and policies for Europe in cooperation with the European Radiocommunica- tions Committee (ERC), the European Commission, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). ECTRA was founded in 1990. European CommunityTeleworkForum ECTF. An organization formed in 1992 to further and coordi- nate European developments in telework through computer networks and communications venues and to provide an open forum for discussion of related issues. It is funded through a nonprofit European Eco- nomic Interest Group. See ADVANCE Project, TelePrompt Project, telework. European Computer ManufacturersAssociation ECMA. An international industry association promot- ing the standardization of information and commu- nication systems; ECMA was founded in 1961. http://www.ecma.ch/ European Council of Telecommunications Users Association ECTUA. European Digital Dealers Association EDDA. A vendor organization comprised of resellers, service providers, and consultants of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) products and related third-party products. European Electronic Messaging Association EEMA. An independent, international, nonprofit fo- rum for electronic business, founded in 1987. EEMA encompasses hardware, software, and governmental manufacturers and service providers. EEMA main- tains associations with a number of electronic mes- saging associations in other regions, including Japan, Australasia, the United States, and Russia. http://www.eema.org/ European FreeTradeAssociation EFTA. An inter- national organization entered into by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, headquar- tered in Geneva, Switzerland. EFTA manages and monitors trade relationships among member states, on the basis of the EFTA Convention, that evolved from the Stockholm convention. It further maintains trade relationships with countries not affiliated with the European Union and negotiates its position within the European Union as three of the member states are EU members as well. http://www.efta.int/ European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Associa- tion EISCAT. An international research and education 327 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary organization based in Scandinavia that operates three geophysical research radar systems, an ionospheric heater, and a cynasonde for conducting high latitude upper atmosphere research. Funding is provided by research councils of the EISCAT Associates in Scan- dinavia, Finland, Japan, France, the U.K. (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory), and Germany. The UHF amd VHF EISCAT transmitter is located near Troms0, Norway. The more recently constructed Svalbard Radar incoherent scatter radar facility is on Spitsbergen in northern Norway, and there is receiv- ing equipment in SodankyUi in northern Finland. The three EISCAT incoherent scatter radar systems op- erate at 931 MHz, 224 MHz, and 500 MHz. http://www.eiscat.uit.no/ European Information and Communications Technology Association EICTA. A trade association that succeeded ECTEL and EUROBIT, founded in November 1999. EICTA represents Europe's infor- mation, communications, and technology (ICT) pro- fessionals from its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. ICT is considered the fastest growing industry sec- tor in Europe. It promotes and encourages technol- ogy convergence and faster, better information and communications systems. European Information Technology Association EITA. An information technology trade organization with its secretariat in the U.K. EITA is initially fo- cused on studying IT industries in the Baltic and Slo- vak regions and encourages participation from the countries in those areas. European Institute ofPublic Administration EIPA. An educational institute providing public manage- ment training for public officials of European Insti- tutions and Member States of the European Union, established in Maastricht in 1981. EIPA's main cen- ters are in Barcelona and Luxembourg. European InteractiveMedia Federation EIMF. See European Multimedia Forum. European ISDN, Euro-ISDN A version of Inte- grated Services Digital Network (ISDN) imple- mented for the European networking system. It dif- fers in a number of respects from North American systems. While the signals are compatible (e.g., trans- atlantic ISDN calls), the equipment is not. Euro- ISDN is an evolution ofa variety of European ISDN systems, which up to now have not been fully intercompatible. Euro-ISDN refers to ISDN facilities based upon harmonized European Standards that have been introduced to all Member States of the EU. See ISDN, European ISDN User Forum. European ISDN User Forum EIUF. See ISDN as- sociations. European Manufacturing Technology Users Group EMTUG. A member support organization that provides resources and assistance in information and communications technology in the manufacturing industries. European Multimedia Forum EMF. Descended from the European Interactive Media Federation (EIMF), EMF is the primary European trade organi- zation promoting the competitive environment of 328 emerging digital media industries worldwide. EMF facilitates communication and contacts within the digital communication and promotes and stimulates the trade of multimedia tools and services. http://www.emf.be/ European Organisation for Conformity Assess- ment, Organisation EuropeennepourI'evaluation de la Conformite EOTC. An independent and non- profit body established by the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the European Standards Bodies, founded in April 1990. EOTC is dedicated to the achievement ofa common market within the European Union and the promo- tion of worldwide commerce through the elimination of technical barriers to trade. It seeks to facilitate product conformance and market acceptance of con- forming products. http://www.eotc.be/ European PolarPlatform EPP, PPF. A modular sat- ellite platform project of the European Space Agency (ESA) that will carry eleven ENVISAT-I atmosphere and Earth observation instruments. The platform was designed to fit on the Ariane 5 launcher and, once launched, to use the ESA Data Relay Satellite sys- tem for data transmissions. ESA participated in weather satellite projects in the early 1970s and has continued its involvement in en- vironmental monitoring since that time. The PPF project was underway by the mid-1980s, with a planned launch date of 1995. By the mid-1980s, Brit- ain had expressed doubts about the project, the launch date was deferred, and the design was modified and scaled back to be similar to the SPOT -4 system. The appointment of the British Aerospace (BA) as a ma- jor contractor brought Britain back into the picture. Further scaling back of the project occurred in the early 1990s. Many satellite projects run behind dead- lines, and the PPF was no exception. A new launch date of 1999 was established that was later resched- uled to June 2001 (and then to October 2001). The PPF consists ofa mission-specific payload mod- ule and a general service module. The payload mod- ule includes the ENVISAT instruments and payload support equipment. The service module includes the main satellite support and control functions. The PPF follows a sun-synchronous orbit at about 800 kilo- meters, passing over the Earth's polar regions. The major contractor for the project is Matra Marconi Space (formerly BA). See ENVISAT. European Project on Information Infrastructure Co-ordination Group EPIC. A project of the Euro- pean Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) carrying on from the work begun by the SRC6 and the European Project on Information Infrastructure Starter Group (EPIISG), which was closed in May 1996. Having identified important aspects of the Eu- ropean information infrastructure (Ell) that would benefit from standards work, the role of EPIC was to establish, coordinate, and monitor a number of ac- tive standards projects. This was an ambitious goal involving coordination and cooperation with other standards bodies, including CEN, ISO, IEC, etc. As such, the project was closed in August 1997, and the © 2003 by CRC Press LLC work transferred to the Information, Communication, and Telecommunications Standards Board (ICTSB). European Project On Information Infrastructure Starter Group EPIISG. A project initiated in 1995 to continue the work begun by the 6th Strategic Re- view Committee (SRC6) to identify areas suitable for standardization in tenns ofa European information in- frastructure (Ell) as part of the global information infrastructure (GIl). The final report identified ap- proximately 30 areas for which standards work would be appropriate. The project was concluded in May 1996 when it was superseded by the European Project on Information Infrastructure Co-ordination Group (EPIC). See European Project on Information Infra- structure Co-ordination Group. European Public PagingAssociation EPPA. A trade association representing the paging industry in Eu- rope and abroad, including maj or telecommunica- tions companies and professionals in more than two dozen countries, founded in January 1994. The EPPA provides publications and seminars, encourages the development of and adherence to standards, and represents its members before various government bodies. http://www.eppa.net/ European Public Telecommunications Network OperationsAssociation ETNO. Aprimary trade as- sociation, established in May 1992. ETNO promotes constructive dialogue among members and others involved in the development of the European infor- mation society, in compliance with European law. http://www.etno.belbone.be/ European Radiocommunications Committee ERC. See European Radiocommunications Office. European Radiocommunications Office ERO. The permanent office of the European Radiocommunica- tions Committee of the Conference Europeenne des Administration des Postes et des Telecom- munications (CEPT), located in Copenhagen, Den- mark. It supports the work of the Committee and handles the radio regulatory administrations of CEPT member nations. ERO was established in May 1991 as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding, which was replaced by the CEPT Convention for the Establishment of the European Radiocommunications Office. In January 2001, it was merged with the European Telecommu- nications Office (ETO). http://www.ero.dk/ European Remote-SensingSatellite ERS. Sun-syn- chronous, quasi-circular orbit European satellite sys- tems orbiting at an average distance of about 785 ki- lometers from the Earth. It takes about 100 minutes for an ERS satellite to orbit and the complete cycle repeats every 35 days. The first European remote-sensing satellite, ERS-l, was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in July 1991 from French Guyana; it operated until October 2000. ERS-2 was launched in April 1995. ERS systems are suitable for studying geological for- mations, soil and snow pack mapping, forestry, ocean characteristics, coastal boundaries, agriculture, floods, oil spills, and more. As specific examples of how ERS data are used, ERS-2 carries the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and JPL re- searchers use ERS-2 radar data to monitor and track sea-ice dynamics, especially in the Antarctic region. Although it is aEuropean satellite, anumber of com- mercial firms distribute ERS data to the North Ameri- can market. The ENVISAT system was intended to replace ERS systems in 1999 with the launch finally occurring in March 2002. See ERS Sensing Instru- ments chart. See ENVISAT, European Space Agency. European Science and Technology Observatory ESTO. The monitoring arm of the Institute for Pro- spective Technological Studies (PROMPT), ESTO is a network of about three dozen European organiza- tions that inform the IPTS of technological trends, events, and breakthroughs with socioeconomic or environmental significance. The IPTS then channels the information to science and technology policy- makers. http://esto.jrc.es/ European ScienceFoundation ESF. Ascientific re- search organization that supports and promotes European Remote-Sensing Satellite (ERS) Sensing Instruments Instrument Abbreviation/Description active microwave instrument AMI A synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and a wind scatterometer. SAR image and wave modes have spatial resolutions of30 meters and 10 meters, respectively. The wind scatterometer has a resolution of 50 kilometers. Data is transmitted in the C-band frequencies (5.3 GHz). radar altimeter RA Nadir-viewing pulse radar with two measurement modes and a resolution of 10 cm (vertical). Data is transmitted in the K-band frequencies (13.8 GHz). microwave radiometer MWR Nadir-viewing, passive radiometer that works in conjunction with the radar altimeter to improve accuracy. along-track scanning radiometer ATSR Four-channel (spectral bands of 1.6, 3.7, 10.8, & 12 flm), infrared radiometer with a spatial resolution of one kilometer. 329 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary cooperation and collaboration in high quality scien- tific research in two dozen European countries, founded in 1974. The ESF seeks to bring together resources and scientists from different countries to work towards common goals and encourages inter- disciplinary projects. The ESF covers the full range of scientific enquiry, so not all are telecommunica- tions related, but much of the research in the physi- cal and engineering sciences and the environmental and Earth sciences related to telecommunications in one way or another. http://www.esf.org/ European Space Agency ESA. The research, devel- opment, and administrative organization for space exploration for Europe, established in 1975. With headquarters in Paris, France, ESA is descended in part from the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO, 1962) and is roughly equivalent to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ESA is a multinational agency that directly employs about 40,000 people. It works in partnership with a number of space agencies, notably NASA, and uses data from or contributes to a large number of space projects, including the European Remote-Sens- ing Satellites (ERS), the Hubble Space Telescope, the Ulysses spacecraft (built in Europe), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO - built in Europe), the pending Galileo satellite navigation system, and many more. See European Space Research and Tech- nology Centre. See ENVISAT, ESRIN, European Remote-Sensing Satellite. http://www.esa.int/ European Space Operations Centre ESOC. A mis- sion control and tracking facility for most of the Eu- ropean Space Agency (ESA) space projects, located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC provides technical guidance on ground links and orbits. See ESRIN, European Space Agency. European Space Research and Technology Cen- tre ESTEC. The largest establishment of the Euro- pean Space Agency, ESTEC houses the space, micro- gravity, and Earth sciences departments and provides technical expertise to the European scientific and in- dustrial communities. ESTEC has laboratories and technical facilities for spacecraft components testing. The ENVISAT systems was assembled at ESTEC. See European Space Agency. European Speech Communication Association ESCA. See International Speech Communication Association. European Technology Services ETS. A commercial fmn providing services to facilitate the import of tele- communications equipment into Australia under regulations imposed by the Australian Telecommu- nication Act of 1997 and the Radiocomms Act of 1992. It also assists companies in complying with the CE mark for products bound for the European Union. European Telecommunications Office ETO. Estab- lished by CEPT /ECTRA to provide expertise for ECTRA members and input into the European Union's developing telecommunications policies on licensing and numbering, ETO was founded in 1994. In January 2001, ETO functions were transferred to the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO). 330 See European Radiocommunications Office. http://www.eto.dk/ European Telecommunication Informatics Ser- vices ETIS. A not- for-profit professional organization of major European public telecommunications opera- tors established in 1991. It supports telecom opera- tors, suppliers, and content providers and encourages cooperation among them. ETIS consists ofa Coun- cil, Management Board, Central Office, and indi- vidual Working Groups. http://www.etis.org/ European Telecommunication Services Associa- tion ETSA. A trade association supporting members in more than a dozen nations who supply, install, and maintain telecommunications equipment and ser- vices. http://www.etsa.org/ European Telecommunication Standard ETS. European Telecommunications and Professional Electronics IndustryECTEl. One of two main Eu- ropean communications trade organizations repre- senting telecommunications equipment vendors and distributors. EUROBIT and ECTEl were succeeded by the European Information and Communications Technology Association (EICTA) in 1999. European Telecommunications Standards Insti- tute ETSI. The standards body in Europe that corre- sponds to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the United States. As a member-driven, nonprofit standards body, ETSI's role is to promote and support communication, cooperation, and inte- gration of technologies in the European Union (EU), Europe's common market. It enlists the cooperation ofa broad range of network administrators, service providers, manufacturers, researchers, and users from more than 50 countries in and outside of Europe. ETSI was founded in 1988 and is currently headquar- tered in Sophia Antipolis, France. ETSI has a number of subgroups, including the Ra- dio Equipment and Systems (RES) 10 group, which is responsible for high speed wireless data standards. This is in the process of being reorganized into an- other body. While ETSI is primarily focused on voluntary stan- dards, some may be adopted by the European Union in their EU member Directives or Regulations. Key ETSI Standards include mobile radio communica- tions (land, sea, and air), service provider access, ATM networking, xDSl, public safety standards, and many more. ETSI cooperates with the International Telecommunication Union (Iru). See CEPT, Inter- national Telecommunication Union. http://www.etsi.org/ European Union EU. A highly significant effort of the countries of Europe to merge into a more open, flexible common market. The effort has been ongo- ing for many decades, beginning at the end of World War I, and is a significant administrative challenge, given the deep traditions, varying cultures, and dif- ferent languages spoken in the European nations. In recent years, the plan is falling into place. Common passports, economic units, and other important building blocks are being established that will make the EU a major player in the economics, business development, © 2003 by CRC Press LLC scientific research projects, and cultural development of our emerging global society. In January 2001, Sweden became the host country for the Presidency of the Council of the EU. In February, a new Treaty, amending the Treaty on the European Union and the treaties establishing the member communities of the ED, was signed as the Treaty of Nice. It has been the habit of many North Americans to dis- regard the changes occurring in Europe; in fact, many North Americans barely understand the EU, but it is important both socially and economically to keep abreast of the development of this important market. The EU may someday be significantly larger than the North American market, as the EU's population is already greater than that of the U.S. and it is conduct- ing ongoing negotiations with countries in eastern and central Europe. In May 2001, a summit was held in Russia to discuss the progress and future of the EU. In telecommunications, the existence of the ED fa- cilitates the establishment of inter-nation communi- cations standards and shared backbones. Telecom professionals can now take their expertise to other countries to aid in the progress and competitive vi- ability of telecommunications and information indus- tries. It further allows specialist countries to market their e~pertise and to take charge of areas in which they have longstanding traditions. France and Swit- zerland have long been known for their expertise in developing and manufacturing finely calibrated tech- nical instruments and systems. Belgium has become the administrative headquarters for many telecom- munications and information technology associa- tions. Germany, Italy, and Spain have long traditions in the invention of new technologies. Scandinavia is a leader in atmospheric, ionospheric, and other off- world research with their satellite transceivers in the remote polar regions. The Netherlands and Greece have key geographic positions at opposite ends of the ED, linking Europe with North American travelers through Amsterdam and with the Middle East and the African continent through the southeastern region. The U.K. is a leader in aerospace technology and is involved in many multinational remote-sensing projects. This rich source ofexpertise and resources, when administered toward common goals, will make the ED a significant player in the new world econo- mies opened up by telecommunications technologies. European Workshop in Open Systems EWOS. Working under the auspices of CEN/CENELEC, EWOS was formed in 1987. The organization has created publications and hosted seminars to promote and support Open Systems development. In the mid- 1990s, the EWOS Expert Group worked on produc- ing a technical guide on electronic commerce. EWOS has cooperated with a number of Open Systems groups and standards organizations in the develop- ment of OS I in Europe. See Open Systems Intercon- nection. http://www.ewos.be/ europium A soft, ductile, relatively expensive rare earth metal discovered in the late 1800s and separated in fairly pure form by Demarcay in 1901. Europium is used in conjunction with yttrium oxide to create the red phosphors in color cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) and is used as a doping material for plastics used in lasers. See doping, erbium, gadolinium, yttrium. EuroradioAmajorworld broadcasting service of the European Broadcasting Union, Euroradio has head- quarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The three primary programming arms ofEuroradio are sports and news; music; and popular music, drama, and feature pre- sentations. Music programming has primarily fo- cused on classical music and jazz but is expanding into contemporary music as well. See European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision. EUROTELDEV European (Regional) Telecommu- nication Development. Eurovision Network Alarge, international, perma- nent broadcasting network serving the European and Asian regions, operated by the European Broadcast- ing Union (EBU). The network provides international news, sports, and cultural programming. Eurovision includes over 50 gateways in Europe that provide full connectivity to domestic broadcasting networks through a mix of ground-based and satellite broad- cast systems. The European Service utilizes the EUTELSAT W3 Ku-band satellite (a widebeam digi- tal satellite), while the Asian Service utilizes the AsiaSat C-band satellite. Transatlantic services are provided through the INTELSAT Ku-band system. The digital services offered through INTELSAT were moved from ETSI to MPEG-2 in December 1999, thus increasing channel capacity without increasing bandwidth. See European Broadcasting Union, EUTELSAT. EUSIDIC See European Association of Information Services. EUTELSAT European Telecommunications Satellite organization. The largest satellite operator in Europe, founded in 1977 and formally established in 1985, with 11 satellites in orbit, and afurther six under con- struction. The EUTELSATorbital test satellite (OTS) project, designed as a direct broadcast satellite test system, preceded the EUTELSAT Fx series Ku-band systems. The EUTELSAT digital system is MPEG- 2/DVB-compliant providing both 24 Mbps and 8/12 Mbps services. The system is monitored by the Eurovision Control Centre. EUTELSAT provides hundreds of television and ra- dio stations to subscribers in more than 40 European member countries equipped with DTH or cable tele- vision reception services. See Eurovision Network. http://www.eutelsat.de/ EUV extreme ultraviolet. eV electron volt. See volt. event In computer processing, asignal or other indi- cator that a device or process requires attention, is relinquishing resources, or otherwise needs to com- municate its activities to a central processor or other control unit. event driven An event-driven hardware device, pro- cess, application, or network communication topol- ogy is one that proceeds when triggered by an external event, such as a token, trigger, tickler, interrupt, or alert. Many telecommunications devices, appliances, 331 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC . multimode fiber, and unshielded twisted-pair. Physical standards for running Ethernet include 1 OOBase- TX, 10Base-5, 1 OBase- T and others. 325 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary It's easier to understand these physical standard des- ignations if the three component parts are analyzed as follows: a. detection and error correction, if appropriate or possible, that may be part of more extensive data recovery. One of the most ru- dimentary types oferror control is detect-and-drop- if-bad. In other words, if cyclic redundancy check- ing (CRC), noise sensing, or some other error detec- tion mechanism detects a problem, drop the transmis- sion. While this method sounds harsh, it actually was the predominant. LLC reverse to the beginning of the tape, or play the re- verse side of the tape upon reaching the end of the side. EOTC 1. Electro -Optics Technology Center. A de- partment at Tufts University that researches and pro- vides hands-on education in the areas in which op- tics and electronics are related, founded in 1984. 2. Executive Office of Transportation and Construc- tion. 3. European Organisation for Testing and Cer- tification. See European Organisation for Confonnity Assessment. Ephemeris