Jargon Dictionary

 

1dB compression point Signal level at which a nominally linear RF device's gain is degraded by 1 dB due to compression
1kT SKA - (1kT was an earlier name)
4PSK = QPSK
4QAM = QPSK
AJ Anti Jam - counter measures to stop jamming signals
ALM Asynchronous Logic Machine
AMPS Amplitude Modulated Phone System
ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASK Amplitude Shift Keying - signal moduation process
ATM Asynchonous Transfer Mode - networking standard
AWAC Audio Waveform Amplifier and Converter
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BOS
BPA
BPSK Binary PSK
Bragg grating
CBF Conventional beamformer
CDMA Code division multiple access - cellular transmission
CIC filter Cascaded Integrator Comb filter; a multirate filter designed for computationally-efficient filtering with high decimation (high input-to-output sample rate ratios)
COTS Commercial off the shelf - ie buy rather than build
CPM Constrained power minimization
EDF Erbium-Doped Fiber
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
FIR Finitie Impulse Response
FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
FSK Frequency switched keying - signal moduation process
FTF Fast Transversal Filter
GSM Global system for mobile communications
INR Interference to noise ratio
IQ mapping In digital communications, the relationship between carrier magnitude-phase states and the inferred bit combinations
Jones matrix
LMDS Local Multipoint Distribution Service - digital wireless
LMS Least Mean Squares
LOFAR 0.01 - 0.1 GHz Square Kilometre Array
LSL Least-Squares Lattice
MARY
MDL rank estimator MDL= Minimum Description Length; A method for estimating the number of eigenvalues of a covariance matrix which associated with signals (as opposed to noise)
MIPS Million instructions Per Second
MLSR Maximum Length Shift Register
MMIC Millimetre Monolithic Integrated Circuit
MOS Metal Oxide Semiconductor
MUX Multiplxer ?
MV Minimum Variance
MVDR Minimum Variance Distortionless Response
Measurement Equation
Minimum Description Length MDL= Minimum Description Length; a method for estimating the number of eigenvalues of a covariance matrix which associated with signals (as opposed to noise)
Mobilsat
Neyman-Pearson Detector
OFDM Orthogonal FDM
PAM Pulse Amplitude Modulator
PAST Projection Approximation Subspace Tracking
PCI Canceller
PLL Phase Locked Loop
POTS Plain Old Telephone System - analog circuit switched
PRI Pulse Repetition Interval
PRN Pseudorandom Noise (typically bit sequences which are designed to have minimum correlation except when perfectly aligned)
PSK Phase Shift Keying - signal modulation process
QPSK Quadrature PSK
QRD
RAID
RLS Recursive Least Squares
ROT Really Old Technology
SAP
SDR Signal to Distortion Ratio
SFDR Spurious-Free Dynamic Range; the difference between the maximum signal power at which the system is still linear and the power associated with the spurious products in that condition
SHARC Super Harvard Architecture Computer - also a trade name for a family of DSP microprocessors by Analog Devices, Inc
SINR Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio
SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio
SKA Square Kilometre Array - next generation radio telescope
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
STAP Space Time Adaptive Processing
STSP Subspace Tracking Spatial Projection
Shaping Filter
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
UWB Ultra-Wideband
VHDL
WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Xilinx A manufacturer of FPGAs
adaptive canceller Using a reference signal, removes interference, preserves spec.
adaptive excision Using a reference signal, chops out piece of spectrum
amouratise
antenna station
array gain Maximum gain of an array or "array factor"
array response Set of outputs for a given input signals
autocorrelation
blocks
channel detectors Demodulation is detection of data sent or power detection
closed-form expressions
commutator
complex envelope form Baseband form times the carrier exp^(j*omega*t)
composite transfer
concentrator
correlation lags
covariance matrix A matrix whoses elements are the autocorrelations and crosscorrelations between antennas (in an array) or taps (in a tapped delay line)
depolarisation Repolarisation on a time scale faster than data is sampled
delay beam
eigenvalues
eigenvalues of R
equalisation
excision Signal removal by "cutting out", typically involving loss signals with overlapping frequency or spatial spectrum
eye diagram
fringe pattern
gray code
hybrid
interference Any undesired signal entreing a receiver system
interferer sample covariance matrix
intermodulation Unintentional mixing of two signals, typically due to a nonlinearity
isolation
jammer Interference intended to disable a receiver
lagrange2
liklihood ratio test
look direction
main beam
manifold errors Out of band gain, phase, mutual coupling, receiver errors
matched filter Maximises the peak pulse signal to noise ratio
maximum composite
model order
modified LMS Constrained LMS
multi-rate filter A filter with different input and output sample rates
multi-rate processing Using multi rate filters to condition signals
narrowband data model
non-stationary Time variable statistics
nyquist channel
parametric cancelling Cancellation using a detail model of undesired signals
partitioned
pattern rumble Sidelobe gain variations
peristaltic
phase closure
plinking Removal of sinusoidal (single-frequency) signals by estimating their magnitude, frequency, and phase, followed by subtraction from the original data
polyphase filter
power inversion Result of applying a predicitve canceller SIR = 1/SIR
predictive canceller Adaptive canceller with no ref signal assumes high ISR
ISR Interference to signal ratio
predictive canceller constrained Predictive canceller using knowledge of signal
probability density
quiescent weight vector The desired beamforming weights for the case in which no interference is present
rank detector Something which estimates the number of "significant" (non-noise) eigenvectors
receptor
repolarisation Rotation of polarisation vector during transmission of
a 100% polarsied signal
return loss
sample vectors
samplers Analog to digital converters
self cal
serration error
slot length
smarts Clever ideas
sparse array An array with typical element spacing >> lambda/2
spatial correlation matrices Same as "covariance matrix", but specific to the array case
spatial signature vectors Time-averaged output from an array
speckling
spectral estimates
splatter
stationarity
subarray
subband filtering
subband multichannel detection
subband processing Breaking a wide bandwidth into smaller bands for independent processing, typically to allow delays to be treated as phase shifts
subspace Lower-dimensional parts of a "space"; Example: the x-y plane is a 2-D subspace of the x-y-z (3-D cartesian) coordinate system
surface wave radr
systolic array
tails of interfering slots
taoes
time-frequency slices
verilog
visibility
windowing A taper applied to (typically) time domain signals to suppress endpoint effects; in particular, for spectral estimation.
shannon limit
deconvolution Example: determination of a true brightness distribution from a swept-beam measurement