wave, voltage, or current considered separately.
2. Any of the basic parts used in building electronic
equipment, such as resistor or capacitor, etc.
component A term used to identify a raw material, ingredient, part or subassembly that goes into a higher level assembly, compound or other item. It may also include packaging materials for finished goods.
component One of at least two streams that are ad ded together to make a blend. These are not to be con- fused with an additive.
component density The number of components contained in a given volume or within a given package or chip. The quantity of components on a printed board per unit area.
component hazard The instantaneous failure rate of a component or its conditional probability of failure versus time.
component layout The physical arrangement of the components in a chassis or printed circuit.
component placement equipment Automatic system for sorting, and placing components onto hy brid circuit substrates or pcb’s, consisting of indexing- conveyor, sorter, placement heads, missing compo nent detector, programmable electropneumatic con trol, and options to handle special requirements.
component population The variety and number of components (transistors, resistors, transformers etc.) necessary to perform the desired electrical function.
component propellertype current-meter A pro peller type current-meter whose rotor is designed to provide a cosine response; that is, angular flow com ponents are resolved on an axis parallel to the axis of the meter. See figure in British Standard 3680: Part 1:1983.
Component Ratio The desired volume percentages of all components in the blend recipe.
component stress Those factors of usage or test, such as voltage, power, temperatur, frequency etc. which tend to affect the failure rate of component parts.
component testing (software) Testing conducted to verify the implementation of the design for one software element (for example, unit, module) or a col lection of software elements.
composite A material or structure made up of physi cally distinct components that are mechanically, adhe sively or metallurically bonded together.
composite action Additive combination of two or more types of continuous actions (PI, PD, PID, PIDD2
etc.).
composite cable In communications use, a cable in which conductors of different gages or types are com bined under one sheath.
composite circuit A circuit which can be used si multaneously for telephony and direct-current tele graphy or signaling, separation between the two being accomplished by frequency discrimination.
composite color sync The signal comprising all the sync signals necessary for proper operation of a color receiver. Includes the deflection sync signals to which the color sync signal is added in the proper time relationship.
composite conductor One in which strands of dif ferent metals are used in parallel.
composite filter Combination of a number of filter sections, or half sections, all have the same cutoff fre quencies and specified impedance levels.
composite joint A connection between two parts that involves both mechanical joining and welding or brazing, and where both contribute to total joint strength.
composite sample (water quality) Two or more samples or subsamples, mixed together in appropriate known proportions (either discretely or continuously), from which the average result of a desired characteris tic may be obtained. The proportions are usually ba sed on time or flow measurement.
composite seal Sealing device having element of different materials.
composite subcarrier Two or more subcarriers that are combined in a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme.
composite video signal The video signal of a cat hode-ray tube, consisting of picture signal, blanking pulses, and sync pulses.
composite waveform A waveform which is, or which for analytical or descriptive purposes is treated as, the algebraic summation of two or more wave- forms.
composite wire clad A wire having a core of one metal to which is fused an outer shell of one or more different metals.
composition The conversion of computer files con taining text and typesetting commands into a format for input to an imaging system, such as a phototype setter.
composition deviation transmitter A device which transmits the information of a change in a phy sical or chemical property or a composition.
composition resistor 85 computer-assisted tester composition resistor See carbon resistor.
compound modulation Use of an already modula ted wave as a further modulation envelope. Also cal led double modulation.
compound statement A statement constructed by sequencing statements.
compound weir A weir containing two or more sec tions, which may be of different types, each section having a different height. Pertains to liquid flow mea surement in open channels.
compressibility Volumetric strain per unit change in hydrostatic pressure. See also bulk modulus.
compressibility factor (control values) Pertain ing to sizing equations for control valves, ratio of ide al to actual inlet specific mass. See IEC publication 534-2-2 and ISA handbook of control valves.
compressibility of liquids All liquids are compres sible. This follows from the fact that a liquid, as it ap proaches its critical temperature, takes on some of the characteristics of a gas, since at the critical point it reaches a gaseous state. The true density of most li quids for various pressures and temperatures can be determined from chemical handbooks.
compressible Capable of being compressed. Gas and vapor are compressible fluids.
compressible flow Fluid flow under conditions which cause significant changes in density.
compression (data transmission) A process in which the effective gain applied to a signal is varied as a function of the signal magnitude, the effective gain being greater for small rather than for large signals.
compression (oscillography) An increase in the deflection factor usually as the limits of the quality area are exceeded.
compression failure Buckling, collapse or fracture of a structural member that is loaded in compression.
compression fitting Type of fitting in which the connection is made with the aid of a tubing nut and compression ring which does not require any sealing compound or other method of securing. Fittings may be threaded male or female.
compression ratio 1. The ratio of (1) the magnitude
of the gain (or amplification) at a reference signal le vel to (2) its magnitude at a higher stated signal level.
2. In an internal combustion engine, the ratio of cylin
der volume with the piston at bottom dead center to the volume with the piston at top dead center. 3. In powder metallurgy, the ratio of the volume of loose powder used to make a part to the volume of the pres sed compact.
compression spring An elastic member, usually made by bending metal wire into a helical coil, that resists a force tending to compress it.
compression test A destructive test for determining fracture strength, yield strength, ductility and elastic modulus by progressively loading a short-column spe cimen in compression.
compressor A hardware or software process for re- moving redundant or otherwise uninteresting words from a stream, thereby “compressing” the data quanti ty.
compressor (control valves) The part of the stem assembly in a diaphragm valve such as the Saunders patent diaphragm valve which effects flow restriction by forcing the diaphragm toward an internal web.
compressor (data transmission) A transducer, which for a given amplitude range of input voltages, produces a smaller range of output voltages. One im portant type of compressor employs the envelope of speech signals to reduce their volume range by ampli fying weak signals and attenuating strong signals.
compressor-stator-blade-control system A me ans by which the turbine compressor stator blades are adjusted by vary the operating characteristics of the compressor.
computational process An instance of execution of a segment by a processor using a data area.
computational slot One of eight user-accessible processing blocks within the Basic Controller. Each can be used to solve any of the auxiliary and control algorithms. Refers to Honeywell TDC 3000 control systems.
computational stability The degree to which a computational process remains valid when subjected to effects such as errors, mistakes, or malfunctions.
compute bound Concerns a restriction in a compu ter function or program that limits output rate because operations are delayed awaiting completion of a com putation operation. Same as compute limited.
compute limited See compute bound.
compute mode The operating mode of analog com puter during which the solution is in progress. Syno nymous with operate mode.
computer A programmable functional unit that con sists of one or more associated processing units and peripheral equipment, that is controlled by internally stored programs, and that can perform substantial computation, including numerous arithmetic opera tions or logic operations without human intervention during a run.
computer-aided design, CAD Refers to the capa bility of a computer to be used for automated industri al, statistical, biological etc., design through visual devices.
computer-aided engineering, CAE The use of computers to aid in engineering analysis and design. May include solution of mathematical problems, pro cess control, numerical control and execution of pro- grams performing complex or repetitive calculations.
computer-aided inspection, CAI The use of com puters to inspect manufactured parts.
computer-aided instruction, CAI The use of com puters to present instructional material and to accept and evaluate student responses.
computer-aided management, CAM The applica tion of computers to business management activities.
computer-aided manufacturing, CAM The use of computers and numerical control equipment to aid in manufacturing processes. May include robotics, con trol and product assembly. Often used in combination such as CAD/CAM.
computer-aided manufacturing-International, CAM-I An organization of private companies and go vernment agencies to develop a numerically control- led computer-aided programming language.
computer-aided typesetting The use of computers at any stage of the document composition process. This may involve text formatting, input from a word processing system, or computer-aided page makeup.
computer applications engineer An employee who provides primarily hardware-orientated technical sales support to sales personnel. Their work, in vary ing degrees, involves hardware configuration, special systems, peripheral equipment, modules, and instru ments.
computer-assisted instruction, CAI A data pro cessing application in which a computing system is used to assist in the instructions of students.
computer-assisted tester A test directly program med by a computer but which operates in association with a computer by using some arithmetic functions of the computer.
computer assisted tomography 86 computer numerical control computer assisted tomography See CAT.
computer auto-manual station A device in a di rect digital control (DDC) loop between the computer and the final controlling element that has the capabili ty of switching between DDC, automatic backup con trol, and manual control whereby this switching can be carried out automatically or manually.
computer-based instruction, CBI The use of computers to support any process involving human learning.
computer center A complex of computer equip ment, peripheral equipment, program library, person nel and the office space containing it all.
computer code A machine code for a specific com puter. Also called machine language.
computer control 1. Type of control in which a
computer is used in the controlling system. 2. A mode of control wherein a computer, using as input the pro cess variables, produces outputs that controls the pro cess.
computer control counter 1. A counter that stores
the next required address. 2. Any counter that provi des information to the control unit.
computer data (software) Data available for com munication between or within computer equipment. Such data can be external (in computer-readable form) or resident within the computer equipment and can be in the form of analog or digital signals.
computer-dependent language A relative term for a programming language whose translation can be achieved only by a specific model (or models) of com puter.
computer dependent programs Programs specifi cally written using the language and/or features of a specific computer.
computer diagnosis The use of data processing systems for evaluation of raw data.
computer diagram A functional drawing showing interconnections between computing elements, such interconnections being specified for the solution of a particular set of equations.
computer efficiency Determined by the ratio of the number of hours of correct machine operation to the total hours of scheduled operation; on a 168 hours of werek scheduled operation if 12 hours of preventive maintenance are required and 4.8 hours of unschedu led down time occurs, then the operation ratio is 168 to 16,8/168, which is equivalent to a 90% operation ratio.
computer equation (machine equation) An equation derived from a mathematical model for more convenient use on a computer.
computer gateway, CG A node that interconnects an upper-level processor to the Local Control Net- work in the Honeywell TDC 3000 control system.
computer-generated hologram A synthetic holo gram produced using a computer plotter. The binary structure is formed on a large scale and is then photo- graphically reduced. The holograms are finally etched into a medium.
computer graphics Computer output in the form of pictorial representation (graphs, charts, drawings, etc.) that is displayed visually, usually by a cathode- ray tube.
computer graphics A human-oriented system which uses the capabilities of a computer to create, transform, and display pictorial and symbolic data.
computer independent language A language in which computer programs can be created without re gard for the actual computers which will be used to process the theory. Related to transportability.
computer instruction, machine instruction A machine instruction for a specific computer.
computer instruction code, machine code A code used to represent the instructions in an instruc tion set.
computer-integrated manufacturing, CIM The computer integrated enterprise of manufacturing in cluding the management of required resources; pe ople, organization, material, energy, data, computer technology and automation equipment.
computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) ar chitecture A set of principles and rules for selecting and developing products and standards that can parti cipate in a CIM system.
computer integrated manufacturing, CIM The computer integrated enterprise of manufacturing in cluding the management of required resources; pe ople, organization, material, energy, data, computer technology and automation equipment.
computer interfacing The synchronization of digi tal data transmission between a computer and one or more external I/O devices.
computerization Automation by means of compu ters.
computerize To automate by means of computers.
computerized axial tomograph See CAT.
computerized numerical control, CNC A nume rical control system wherein a dedicated, stored pro- gram computer is used to perform some or all of the basic numerical control functions.
computerized robot A servo model run by a com puter. The computer controller does not have to be taught by leading the arm-gripper through a routine; new instructions can be transmitted electronically. The programming for such “smart” robots may inclu de the ability to optimize, or improve, its work-routine instructions.
computer language, machine language A com puter-orientated language whose instructions consist only of computer instructions.
computer-limited Pertaining to a situation in which the time required for computation exceeds the time available.
computer-limited operation Operation of a perip heral device in a mode in which the device can receive or transmit information more rapidly than the compu ter can supply or accept it.
computer literacy The ability to use computer tech nology in a particular discipline.
computer logic The logical operations of the com puter, consisting entirely of five operations – add, sub- tract, multiply, divide and compare. This simple pro cessing logic is enough to allow the computer to accomplish its entire potential of tasks when properly programmed.
computer-managed instruction, CMI The use of computers for management of student progress. Acti vities may include record keeping, progress evalua tion, and lesson assignment.
computer matrix Relating to computers, a logic net- work in the form of an array of input leads and com puter logic.
computer mode See compute mode.
computer network 1. A network of data processing
nodes that are interconnected for the purpose of data communication. 2. A complex consisting of two or more interconnected computers or computing units.
computer numerical control, CNC A numerical control system wherein a dedicated, stored program computer is used to perform some or all of the basic numerical control functions.
computer
computer operator 87 concentration processes computer operator A person who performs stan
dard system operations such as adjusting system ope- ration parameters at the system console, loading a tape transport, placing cards in a card reader, and re- moving listings from the line printer.
computer-orientated language, low level lang uage A programming language that reflects the struc ture of a given computer or that of a given class of computers.
computer output microfilm The end result of a process that converts and records data from a compu ter directly to a microform.
computer-output, microfilm printer, COM-prin ter A microfilm printer that will take output directly from the computer thus substituting for line printer or tape output.
computer-part-programming In numerical con trol, the preparation of a part program to obtain a machine program using the computer and appropriate processor and post processor.
computer peripheral The auxiliary devices under control of a central computer, such as readers, prin ters, magnetic tape units, and optical character read ers.
computer port The physical location where the com munication line interfaces to the computer.
computer program A sequence of instructions sui table for processing. See also program.
computer program certification See certification.
computer program configuration identifica tion See configuration identification.
computer programmer A person who designs, wri tes, debugs, and documents computer programs.
computer programming language A set of preci sely defined structure and syntax (representation, con ventions, and rules of use and interpretation) devised to simplify communication with a computer, such as BASIC, COBOL, ALGOL and FORTRAN.
computer program validation See validation.
computer program verification See verification.
computer run To process a batch of transactions while under the control of one or more programs, and against all the files that are affected to produce the re quired output.
computer science 1. The field of knowledge that
involves the design and use of computer equipment, including software development. 2. The science of solving problems with computers.
computer simulation A logical-mathematical repre sentation of a simulation concept, system, or opera tion programmed for solution on an analog or digital computer.
computer system audit An examination of the pro cedures used in a computer system to evaluate their effectiveness and correctness, and to recommend im provements.
computer system, computing system, data processing system A system, including compu ting equipment and associated personnel, that per- forms input, processing, storage, output, and control functions to accomplish a sequence of operations on data. In the English usage, “data processing system” is a preferred form for those systems which include personnel.
computer system fault tolerance, (computer system) resilience The ability of a computer sys tem to continue to operate correctly even though one or more of its component parts are malfunctioning.
computer system security, data processing system security The technological and administra
tive safequards established and applied to a data pro cessing system to protect hardware, software, and data from accidental or malicious modifications, destruc tion or disclosure.
computer tape A high-quality magnetic digital re- cording tape.
computer terminal Peripheral computer equipment for entering and retrieving data. Sometimes incorpo rates cathode-ray tube for display.
computer time See time.
computer utility A network of central computers