| Term |
Definition |
| Fading |
The process, in microwave or radio transmission whereby the signal slowly diminishes due to electrical interference or atmospheric conditions. |
| Far-end Cross Talk |
Transfer of signals between conductors that then travels in the same direction as the transmitted signals and will therefor cause problems at the "far-end". |
| Fast Ethernet |
Any of a number of 100-Mbps Ethernet specifications. Fast Ethernet offers a speed ten times that of the 10BaseT Ethernet specification. Existing 10BaseT applications and network management tools can run on Fast Ethernet networks. Based on an extension to the IEEE 802.3 specification. |
| Fast Packet Multiplexing |
A form of time division multiplexing which deals with packetized data from multiple channels and multiple source types. Unlike standard time division multiplexing a fast packet device is capable of favoring channels (voice for example) based on source type and interrupting channels (data for example) to allow higher priority signals (voice for example) to be transmitted first. |
| FC |
Feedback Control - An end-to-end network control mechanism to regulate the rate at which a sender can inject cells into an ATM network, based on feedback received from the RM-cells. |
| FCC |
Federal Communications Commission. |
| FCIC |
Full Custom Integrated Circuit. |
| FCT |
Fast CMOS Technology. |
| FDDI |
Fiber Data Distribution Interface. |
| FDM |
Frequency Division Multiplexing. |
| FDMA |
Frequency Division Multiple Access. |
| FDX |
Full-Duplex Transmission. |
| FECN |
Forward Explicit Congestion Notification - An indicator bit in the Frame Relay header to notify the destination of traffic that the virtual circuit is passing through a congested switch. The EFCI bit in ATM is equivalent to FECN. |
| FER |
Frame Error Rate. |
| FFT |
Fast Fourier Transform. |
| FHMA |
Frequency Hopping Multiple Access. |
| Fiber To The Kerb (FTTK) |
Also known as Fiber to the curb (FTTC) in North America. A method of multiplexing signals through a fiber to demultiplexer box, located on or near subscribers premises. Multiple twisted pairs are then fed to the subscribers premises. |
| FIFO |
First In, First Out - A FIFO memory is one in which the first byte to have been written into the memory is the first one to be read from the read port. |
| Filter |
An electronic device which removes a specific frequency(s) from a transmitted signal. Normally used to eliminate pre-defined types of noise. |
| Filtering Rate |
The maximum number of frames per second that a bridge or switch can continuously receive, parse, and make a forwarding decision on. |
| FIR |
Finite Impulse Response filter. |
| Flooding |
A Packet Switched Network routing method whereby identical packets are sent to all destinations to insure that the intended destination is reached. |
| FLOPS |
Abbreviation for floating point operations per second - Measure of the speed at which a computer program can be run. |
| FM |
Frequency Modulation. |
| FM Subcarrier |
One way data transmission using the modulation of an unwanted portion of a FM Broadcast Station's frequency band. |
| FMV |
Full Motion Video. The projection of 20 or more frames (or still images) per second to give the eye the perception of movement. Broadcast video in the United States uses 30 frames per second, and most film technologies use 24 frames per second. |
| Forward Error Correction |
The process whereby additional bits are appended to each character as it is transmitted so that the receiver will be able to both detect AND correct transmission errors. The most normally used process results in the ability (at the receiver) to detect and correct 100% of all single bit errors and to detect (but not necessarily correct) approx 99.99% of all multiple bit errors. |
| Four Wire Circuit |
A transmission system consisting of four wire, two to for each direction of transmission. |
| FOX |
Fiber optic extension. |
| FOXI |
Fiber optic transparent synchronous transmitter-receiver interface. |
| FP |
Floating Point. |
| FPU |
Floating Point Unit. |
| Fractional T1 |
A service available from AT&T, MCI, and others. Customer leases a 128, 256, 384 or 512 kilobit per second channel which is part of a Telco owned T1 transmission system. |
| Fractional T3 |
A Telco service in which portions of a T3 (44.736 megabit per second) transmission service are leased to provide a similar service (normally at a lower cost) to a T1 (1.544 megabit per second) or T2 (3.152 megabit per second) channel. |
| FRAD |
Frame Relay Access Device - A device responsible for framing data with header and trailer information (control information) before presenting the frame to the Frame Relay switch. |
| Frame |
A unit of data transported on a link layer. In Ethernet, for example, a frame would contain the MAC header, the IP (or other) packet within, and the Ethernet trailer. |
| Frame Alignment Timeslot |
A timeslot starting at a particular phase in each frame and allocated to the transmission of a frame alignment signal. |
| Frame Bursting |
A technique permitted only in half-duplex Gigabit Ethernet networks that optionally allows a station to transmit a series of frames without relinquishing control of the transmission medium. It improves the performance of Gigabit Ethernet when transmitting short frames. |
| Frame Relay |
An efficient packet switching technology to provide reliable packet delivery over virtual circuits. The link layer handles much of the network layer functionality. Some of the concepts used in frame relay have been incorporate in ATM networks. |
| Framing |
The process of placing controlling information around characters or messages before transmission. For Asynchronous transmission individual characters are framed. For Synchronous transmission blocks of data or messages are framed. |
| Freeze Frame |
A process whereby a limited number of digital image frames are captured and transmitted per second. A technique used in teleconferencing to reduce transmission bandwidth requirements. |
| Frequency Agile Modem |
A Modem which has the ability to search a Broadband transmission system and find an available frequency derived channel and then modulate Analog signals at that frequency. |
| Frequency Division Multiplexing |
The transmission of multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path by dividing the available bandwidth into multiple channels that each cover a different range of frequencies. |
| Frequency Hopping |
A process whereby several communications channels of different frequencies are used for the same data transmission. |
| Frequency Offset |
A non-linear distortion that causes a shift in the frequency of a received signal. |
| Frequency Shift Keying |
A modulation technique used to convert binary data into an analog form, comprising of two sinusoidal frequencies. The different frequencies representing logic '1' and logic '0'. |
| Front End Processor |
A processing device placed between a computer and a network of terminals or other computers. The main function of such a devices is to implement the controls needed for communication. The device may also provide some level of computational back-up. When it's sole function is communications control the unit may be called a Communications Controller. |
| FSM |
Frequency Shift Modulation. |
| FTMB |
Fiber to major business. |
| FTTB |
Fiber to the business. |
| FTTC |
Fiber to the kerb. |
| FTTD |
Fiber to the desk. |
| Full Duplex |
A device/system which can convey information in both directions simultaneously. |
| Full Duplex Transmission |
Bi-directional transmission. Transmission in both directions at the same time. |
| FUNI |
Frame User Network Interface - Frame-based interface to ATM supporting signaling and QoS. To interoperate with a Frame Relay end system, the ATM switch should support FRF.8 which is the Frame Relay/ATM Service Internetworking specification. Replaces the ATM-DXI. |
| FVC |
Frequency to Voltage Converter. |
