Telecom Glossary

Cellular Networking Perspectives

Wireless, Telecom and Computer Glossary

Are there wireless telecommunications (or network or security) terms or acronyms that you keep hearing, but that whose meanings are unclear to you? Your prayers have been answered. Check this alphabetic list of 2051 wireless telecom terms, including many data networking and security terms as well. If the term you are looking for is not listed, please suggest it to us. We will define it for you, and add it to this list for the benefit of other readers, also.

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10 Base-T Basic Ethernet at 10 Mbit/sec 100 Base-T Ethernet running at 100 Mbit/sec 1000 Base-T Ethernet running at 1,000 Mbit/sec 128QAM QAM with 7 bits per symbol. 16QAM QAM with 4 bits per symbol.

1G First Generation. Refers to analog cellular systems

1x A cdma2000 notation that indicates that one carrier is being used. Compare with 3x

1xEVDO See EvDO 1xEVDV See EVDV

1XRTT cdma2000 operating mode at basic chip rate (1.2288 Mcps). The theoretical top speed is 153 kbps

2G Second Generation. Refers to digital cellular and PCS wireless systems oriented to voice and low speed data services

2R Receive, Reshape (an optical signal). See 3R 32QAM QAM with 5 bits per symbol.

3G Third Generation. Refers to the next generation of wireless systems - digital with high speed data. Being standardized by 3GPP and 3GPP2 3GiA 3G Internet Appliance

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project for W-CDMA (GSM) 3GPP2 3rd Generation Partnership Project for cdma2000

3GSP 3G Service Provider

3R Reshaping, Retiming, Reamplifying (an optical signal). See 2R 3WC Three Way Call

3x A cdma2000 notation that indicates that three carriers are being used. Compare with 1x. Not widely implemented. Although this allows higher maximum speeds, the average speed per user will not change significantly

3XRTT cdma2000 operating mode at 3 times the basic chip rate of 1.2288 Mcps

64QAM QAM with 6 bits per symbol.

802.11 An IEEE committee that standardizes a wireless Ethernet replacement technology in the ISM band. 802.11b is most commonly implemented and runs at approximately 10 Mbps in the 2.4GHz band. 802.11a runs at 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band. 802.11g provides 24 Mbps in the same band as 802.11b.

802.11a A WiFi WLAN variant that is higher speed (54 Mbps) than 802.11b. Because it also operates in a different frequency band it has proven less popular than 802.11g which offers higher speed in the same band as 802.11b thus providing a simpler migration strategy. The range of this protocol is also lower and the LOS requirements more stringent. See ADRC

802.11b IEEE Wireless LAN system providing throughput of about 11 Mbps but see ADRC

802.11c An IEEE standard for network interoperability between WLAN protocols

802.11d An IEEE standard for operation of their WLAN protocols outside the normal frequency bands (e.g. due to the unavailability of those bands in some countries)

802.11e An IEEE standard for QoS in their WLAN protocols 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n

802.11f An IEEE standard for interconnection between wireless APs 802.11g A second generation version of WiFi providing 54 Mbps raw

throughput (typically a user data rate of about half that) in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as 802.11b. This gave it an advantage over 802.11a which had similar performance but operated in a different frequency band.

802.11h An IEEE standard for spectrum and transmit power management for their WLAN protocols

802.11i Enhanced security for IEEE WLAN protocols

802.11j An adaptation of 802.11 WLAN protocols to the Japanese 4.9–5 GHz frequency band

802.11k A proposed IEEE standard for RRM

802.11m A group for editorial maintenance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN standards 802.11n A future IEEE WLAN protocol that promises raw data rates of 540

Mbps in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band and thus will likely eventually replace 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The protocol is scheduled for completion in 2009. See EWC

802.11p A proposed IEEE standard for ITS. Also known as WAVE 802.11r A proposed IEEE standard for handoff between APs 802.11s A proposed IEEE standard for mesh networking

802.11t A proposed test specification for IEEE WLAN standards

802.11u A proposed standard for authorization of users on IEEE WLANs 802.11v A proposed wireless network management standard for IEEE WLAN

protocols

802.11w A proposed standard for the protection of system management information in IEEE WLAN protocols

3.65-3.7 GHz frequency band 802.15 See Bluetooth

802.16 IEEE WiMax radio interface. 802.3 IEEE standard for Ethernet

8PSK PSK with 8 states, allowing the coding of 8 bit combinations. It is used in EDGE.

8QAM QAM with 3 bits per symbol.

911 The ES service code in many parts of the United States, Canada and a few other countries.

A

A-bis Interface between BTS and BSC

A-GPS Assisted GPS. Network provides information to mobile device to acquire satellite signals and may assist with processing of received data A-interface Interface between the MSC and BS

A-Key The primary CAVE authentication key, used to generate SSD

A/D Analog/Digital. Usually used in the context of conversion from analog to digital (or vice-versa)

A3 GSM authentication algorithm

A5 GSM data encryption algorithm

A5/3 An encryption algorithm for GSM and EDGE

A8 GSM voice encryption algorithm. Used to generate Kc

AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting entity. See RADIUS and Diameter

AAL AAL Adaptation Layer

ABNF Augmented BNF. Defined in RFC 2234 ABR Average bit rate

ABS Alternate Billing Service

AC Authentication Centre. Stores information for authenticating mobiles, and encrypting their voice and data transmissions

ACC Analog Control Channel. See FSK ACCM Asynchronous Control Character Map ACCOLC Access Overload Class

ACCT CDMA Access Control by Call Type

ACD Automatic Call Distributor. Distributes incoming calls to one of a number of people equally able to handle them (e.g. for customer service)

ACELP(1) Adaptive CELP ACELP(2) Algebraic CELP

ACF Authentication Control Function

ACG Automatic Code Gapping. A method of shedding load in telecommunications systems

ACH Access Channel

ACK Acknowledgement signal

ACLR Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio. The ratio of the on-channel transmit power to the power measured in one of the adjacent channels. An important W-CDMA parameter.

ACM SS7 ISUP Address Complete message. Response to IAM ACP Adjacent Channel Power

ACRE Authorization & Call Routing Equipment. Used for routing calls to cellular phones with a ‘cordless’ mode

AD(1) Abbreviated Dialing AD(2) Architecture Document

ADA Advertising Agent. Provides information to a MS on the services provided by a 3G network

ADDS Application Data Delivery Service. See SMS Adjacent

Channel Interference

Interference from signals at slightly different frequencies

ADN Abbreviated Dialing Numbers ADPCM Adaptive Differential PCM

ADRC Aggregate Data Rate Caveat. A warning that most wireless data rates are aggregate, meaning that all users share the bandwidth, and often they are raw rates higher than the actual user throughput could ever be even on an unloaded system. It is probably good to start by dividing the raw rate by a factor of two to obtain the total user throughput rate and then further divide by the average number of simultaneous users (not connected users, but the number who are likely to be simultaneously transmitting)

ADS Asynchronous Data Service

ADSL Asymmetric DSL. Bit rates are higher from the network than from the client

AdSpec IETF Advertisement Specification

AEG Asian Expert Group. A WAP Working Group AES Audio Engineering Society

AF Application Function.

AFLT Advanced Forward Link Trilateration. A geolocation technique that utilizes the mobile station’s measured time of arrival of radio signals from the base stations (and, possibly, other terrestrial measurements) AFRCN GSM Absolute radio frequency channel number

AFSK Audio FSK. Communication by changing frequencies in the audio band rather than RF. Used by MF, DTMF

AGCH GSM Access Grant Channel. The traffic channel assignment information is sent to the mobile on this channel.

AGPS Network Assisted GPS. Land station assists mobile in acquiring its position

AGW Access Gateway AH(1) Authentication Header

AH(2) Answer Hold. Service that allows an incoming call to be placed on hold without answering it first. Closely related to USCF

AHAG TIA TR-45 ad hoc Authentication Group

AI Air Interface

AICH Acquisition Indicator Channel

AIN Advanced Intelligent Network. Telcordia version of IN Air Interface Synonym for Radio Interface.

AK Anonymity Key. In AKA it is derived from RAND using f5.

AKA Authentication and Key Agreement. New generation of security being developed for 3GPP2 CDMA systems and 3GPP UMTS systems. Parts may also be applied to GSM

Alert A command to a mobile to notify the user of an incoming call or message

ALI Automatic Location Information. A database that contains information about the location of emergency callers

AM Amplitude Modulation. See FM

AMA Automatic Message Accounting. See CDR

AMF AKA Authentication Management Field. May indicate the algorithm and key used by the current authentication system.

AMI Alternate Mark Inversion

AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone Service. TIA analog cellular, and all standards that retain compatibility with it (NAMPS, D-AMPS, CDMA).

Standardized in EIA/TIA-553

AMR Adaptive MultiRate Voice Coder. Proposed for use in GSM and UMTS. Bit rates vary between 12.2 and 4.75 kbps

AMR-WB AMR wide (audio) band Voice Coder chosen for UMTS. Developed by Nokia and Voiceage. Has 9 different bitrates

AMTA American Mobile Telecommunications Association AN Access Network

analog Transmission of information through a continuously variable signal. Compare with digital

analogue Alternate (British) spelling of analog Anchor MSC The first MSC involved in a wireless call

ANI(1) Automatic Number Identification. Provision of charge number during a call to allow toll calls without operator intervention

ANI(2) Access Network Identifier

ANI II ANI Information Digits. Describes the type of phone being used to call (e.g. residential line or payphone).

ANM SS7 ISUP Answer Message

ANSI American National Standards Institute

ANSI-136 ANSI version of the TDMA air interface standard. Replaces IS-136. Correct name is TIA-136

ANSI-41 See TIA/EIA-41

ANT ADSL Network Termination

AOA Angle of Arrival. A technique for locating a radio by estimating the angle of signal arrival at multiple points. Compare with TOA AoC Advice of Charge

AP(1) Application Part (of a protocol) AP(2) Access Point. An 802.11 BS

APCO Association of Public Safety Communications Officials APDU Application PDU

API Application Programming Interface APLMN Associated PLMN

APM Application Transport APMN Associated PMN

APN Access Point Name. In a GPRS network, the domain name referring to an external packet network

ARCH Access Response Channel

ARIB Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. Responsible for standardization of telecommunications protocols in Japan

ARM ARQ Response Mode

ARP(1) Authorized Receipt Point. The sole entity authorized to settle and exchange roamer charges and revenue for a carrier

ARP(2) IETF Address Resolution Protocol. Binds the physical (MAC) address of a device to an IP address on a local network (e.g. ethernet subnet). ARPU Average Revenue Per User/Unit

ARQ Automatic Repeat Request. A method of error correction where the receiver detects errors, and requests retransmission from the sender. AS Internet Application Server. Handles applications for a range of

addresses (e.g. a telephone switch)

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The most commonly used method for encoding text in 8 bit characters. See UNICODE for more complex alphabets and the obsolete EBCDIC

ASE Application Service Element

ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit. A computer chip that is customized for a special purpose application

ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation 1. A formal, textual, representation of a protocol message set

ASP AS Process

ASR Automatic Speech Recognition

Asynchronous Data is transmitted only when needed. At least one bit is needed to indicate the start of transmission (known as a start bit). Compare with Synchronous

AT Access Tandem. A switch that can be used to reach a variety of IXCs ATI Access Terminal Identifier

ATIS Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. Parent organization for the T1 standards committees and many telecom industry groups, such as OBF

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Transmits data as 53 byte units using a connection-oriented protocol at speeds up to 2.488 Gbps

ATP Access Transport Parameter (also Adenosine Tri-Phosphate :) ATS Abstract Test Suite

AuC GSM term for AC

AUTH An OMT bit that turns mobile authentication on or off for all mobiles within a cell

AUTHBS Authentication Response from the BS

Authentication Proving the identity of an individual or application (e.g. MS) Authentication

Enhancements

Improvements to network based authentication (TIA/EIA-41) defined in IS-778

Authentication

Vector See Quintet and Triplet

AUTHR Authentication Response. The output of CAVE when RAND is used as a global challenge

AUTHU Authentication Response to Unique Challenge

AUTN AKA Network Authentication Token. Composed of SQN (concealed), AMF and MAC

AV Authentication Vector AVC Analog Voice Channel

AVP Attribute Value Pair. A method of encoding parameters that includes the length of the data, the attribute (parameter) type (usually fixed length) and the attribute value. cf TLV

AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

AWI Alert with Information; used to transmit data while alerting an MS AWS An FCC term for IMTS-2000

B

B/I Busy/Idle bit

B8ZS Bipolar with 8 Zero Substitution. Replaces an all-0 octet by one containing two BPV

Baby Bell see RBOC

Backhaul Routing trunks from a cellsite to an MSC before routing to the PSTN. badput A cute name for wasted bandwidth. Bandwidth = goodput(throughput)

+ badput + unused bandwidth

BAF Billing Automatic Message Accounting Format. The CDR/AMA format used by most US wireline telecom carriers

BAIC Barring of All Incoming Calls BAOC Barring of All Outgoing Calls

BARG GSMA Billing, Accounting and Roaming Group Barring Refusal to allow certain types of calls

Baseband The signal(s) used to modulate the radio channel in the transmitter, and which are recovered by the receiver by demodulating the received radio channel.

BATS Broadcast Air-interface Transport Service used by TIA/EIA-136 BBIT Best Breakfast In Town.

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel

BCD Binary Coded Decimal. Digits 0-9 are encoded as 4 bit numbers (nibble), so two fit within a byte. See TBCD

BCE Base Station Central Equipment. See BSC

BCH(1) Broadcast Channel. A channel transmitted by one (e.g. BS) and received by many (e.g. MS)

BCH(2) Bose, Chaudhuri, and Hocquengham error detection and correction methodology

BCH(3) Basic Call Handling

BCM Basic Call Manager. See WIN

BCMCS Broadcast/Multicast Services for 3GPP2. Contrast with BMC BCSM Basic Call State Model. A n IN concept

BD Billing Domain

BDN Barred Dialing Number Bearer

capability

A capability of a transport protocol (e.g. a maximum bitrate or message latency). A Teleservice may be able to use any facility that can provide a specified bearer capability.

BEG Billing Expert Group. A WAP Working Group BER(1) See Bit Error Rate

BER(2) Basic Encoding Rules. See ASN.1

BGCF Breakout Gateway Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources to IMS sessions in a serving system. Connected to the S-CSCF, MGCF and BGCF

BGP Border Gateway Protocol of IETF RFC 1771. See EBGP.

BIB Backward Indicator Bit. Indicates when a received MTP frame is out of sequence. See FIB

BIC-Roam Barring of Incoming Calls while Roaming

BICC Bearer Independent Call Control. ISUP adapted for use over IP-based transport. Compare with SIP

BID A SID allocated for accounting purposes. BID's are allocated by Cibernet

BISDN Broadband ISDN

bit Fundamental unit of information, occupying two discrete states (e.g. 0 or 1)

Bit Error Rate The fraction of binary bits that are received with the wrong value. BLA SS7 ISUP Blocking acknowledgement. See BLO

BLOB Block of Bits

Bluetooth A cable-replacement radio protocol for short distance (5-100 meter) networking at moderate speeds (1 Mbps raw bandwidth for version 1 and 3 Mbps for version 2). Developed by the Bluetooth Consortium and standardized by IEEE 802.15.1

BLV Busy Line Verification

BM-SC Broadcast/Multicast Service Center

BMC Broadcast Multicast Control. See 3GPP TS25.324. Contrast with BCMCS.

BMI BS, MSC and Interworking function

BNF Backus-Naur Form. A precursor to ASN.1 and other meta-language BNS Billed Number Screening

BOC Bell Operating Company

BOIC Barring of Outgoing International Calls BOIC-exHC BOIC except to HC

Border Router An IP Router that connects to routers in other networks using the EBGP protocol.

BP Bit Position

bps Bits per second. A measure of the speed of a transmission link BPSK Biphase Shift Keying

BPV Bi-Polar Violation. Transmission of two one-bits in a PCM channel (e.g. DS0) with the same polarity (e.g. both positive or both negative). May be deliberately used to indicate all-zero octets. See B8ZS and HDB3

BR Border Router. Connects a CN with peer networks BREW Binary Runtime for Wireless

BRI Basic Rate Interface (64 kbps). See DS0

Broadcast SMS Short messages sent to multiple mobiles in multiple cells, requiring only one message per cell

BS Base Station (includes BTS and BSC)

BSC Base Station Controller. The 'brains' of a base station, controlling the radio equipment in the BTS

BSF Bootstrapping Function

BSIC BS Identity Code. Color code used by GSM systems to ensure that the source of a frequency transmission can be identified, in areas where multiple cells transmitting on the same frequency can be received BSMC Base Station Manufacturer Code

BSN(1) Backward Sequence Number. The sequence number of the last correctly received MTP frame received. Contrast with FSN BSN(2) BCMCS Serving Node

BSS(1) BS Subsystem

BSS(2) Basic Service Set. An 802.11 network. BSSMAP GSM BSS MAP

BT Burst Type

BTA Basic Trading Area

BTS Base Transceiver System (radio portion of BS)

BTTC Broadcast SMS

BWIF Broadband Wireless Internet Forum. A program of IEEE-ISTO BXA US DoC Bureau of Export Administration. Administers EAR byte An 8 bit unit of data storage. See octet

C

C7 See CCS7

CA(1) Certificate/Certification Authority CA(2) Collision Avoidance

CAC Carrier Access Code. Identifies a long distance carrier. 101+CIC CALEA US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement law. Requires

that telecommunications carriers provide for surveillance (aka wiretaps) at the switch site

CAMA Centralized Automatic Message Accounting

CAMEL Customized Applications for Mobile Networks Enhanced Logic based on CAP. IN capabilities for GSM. Compare with WIN

Candidate MSC An MSC being considered as the Target MSC of a handoff CANID Current ANI

CAP(1) CAMEL AP

CAP(2) Carrierless Amplitude and Phase modulation CAP(3) Competitive Access Provider

CAPCS Cellular Auxiliary Personal Communications Service

CAR Committed Access Rate. An IP method to achieve higher QoS CARE Customer Account Record Exchange. Sent from a LEC to an IXC to

establish a long distance account for a customer

Care-of Address The address that a Home Agent forwards packets to for handling by the Foreign Agent in MIP

Carnivore US FBI ISP wiretapping box, including a processor and removable hard drive to capture internet sessions (email, web access etc.).

CAS Call Associated Signaling. See ISUP. Contrast with NCAS CAT Smart Card Application Toolkit

CATPT CDMA UIM Card Application Toolkit Protocol Teleservice CAVE TIA Cellular Authentication and Voice Encryption Algorithm CB Cell Broadcast

CBC CB Center

CBMI CB Message Identifier CBR Constant Bit Rate

CBS GSM/W-CDMA Cell Broadcast SMS

CC(1) E.164 Country Code CC(2) GSM Call Control protocol

CC(3) Content of Communications (for LAES) CCA Common Cryptographic Algorithm

CCAT CDMA Card Application Toolkit. Specifies communications between a CDMA R-UIM and the ME

CCB US FCC Common Carrier Bureau CCBS Call Completion to Busy Subscriber

CCCH GSM Common Control Channels – PCH, RACH, AGCH CCF(1) Call Control Function (IN term)

CCF(2) Charging Collection Function (3GPP)

CCH Control Channel

CCITT International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee. Precursor to ITU. See ITU-T and ITU-R

CCNR Call Completion on No Reply. See CFNA CCP Compression Control Protocol

CCPN Call Completion to a Ported Number. See LNP CCR(1) SS7 ISUP Continuity check request

CCR(2) Class Conformance Requirement CCS Common Channel Signaling

CCS7 ITU-T version of SS7

CCSA China Communications Standards Association. Successor to CWTS. CCSC Cellular Carrier Specific Code (e.g. #123)

CCSH CDMA Code Combining Soft Handoff

CCSS Call Completion Service Setup

CCT Circuit

CCV Credit Card Validation CCW Cancel Call Waiting CD Collision Detection

CDATA Character Data, such as a quoted text string. Used in XML and derivative protocols such as WML

CDCP Call Detail Collection Point. See TIA/EIA-124

CDG CDMA Development Group

CDGP Call Detail Generation Point

CDIS Call Detail Information Source. An MSC or other entity that produces proprietary CDR’s

CDMA Code Division Multiple Access. Implemented in AMPS-compatible systems by IS-95. Also see W-CDMA

CDMA-PAMR A CDMA-based PAMR system.

cdma2000 Trade name for CDMA air interface standards aimed at 3G

requirements, including IS-2000. It operates in 1.25 MHz carriers at 1.2288 Mcps. There is some debate about whether the "CDMA" should be upper or lower case :)

cdmaOne Trade name for first generations of CDMA air interface standards, including TIA/EIA-95. Operates in pairs of 1.25 MHz channels CdPA Called Party Address

CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data. A protocol that uses 30 khz AMPS channels to transmit packets of data. Standardized in TIA/EIA/IS-732 CdPN Called Party Number. The DN of the party receiving a call

CDR Charging Data Record or Call Detail Record CDRP Call Detail Rating Point

CDVCC Coded Digital Verification Color Code

CEASA Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association. Promotes the use of emergency alerts over cell phones.

CEG Carrier Expert Group. A WAP Working Group

PCS system

cellular A radio concept that allows the multiplication of capacity by using many low-power cell to cover an area, reusing frequencies as much as possible

CELP Code Excited Linear Prediction

CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization CEP Cell Equipment Processor

CEPT Conference des administrations Europeannes des Postes et Telecommunications

CEWS Cell Work Station. Software running here supports termination of the LAPD links to the BTS. A minimal OA&M application is included to support maintenance of the A-bis interface processes and to route OA&M messages to/from the BTS. Call Handling software derives directly from the CEP and PPP of the BCE.

CF Collection function. LEA that collects J-STD-025 data CFB Call Forwarding when subscribing telephone is busy

CFNA Call forward on no-answer (and, usually, also on no page response). See CFNRc and CFNRy

CFNRc Call forward when mobile not reachable. See CFNA CFNRy Call forward when mobile is not answered. See CFNA

CFU Call Forwarding Unconditional (i.e. every incoming call will be forwarded)

CG Charging Gateway

CGB SS7 ISUP Circuit group blocking

CGBA SS7 ISUP CGB acknowledgement

CGI(1) Common Gateway Interface

CGI(2) GSM Cell Global Identification. Composed of LAI + CI CGL Calling Geodetic Location. The position of a mobile phone, as

transmitted through various signaling protocols. See GAD

CGLP SS7 ISUP Calling Geodetic Location Parameter (i.e. Latitude and Longitude)

CgPN Calling Party Number. The DN of the party initiating a call CGSA Cellular Geographic Serving Area. MSA or RSA

CGU SS7 ISUP Circuit group unblocking

CGUA SS7 ISUP CGU acknowledgement

CGVoP Carrier Grade Voice over Packet. See VoIP

CHAP PPP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. Use of RADIUS to authenticate a terminal without sending security data in the clear. Compare with PAP

Churn The rate at which subscribers leave one wireless carrier to go to another. A major expense for carriers

CI GSM Cell Identity. A 16 bit number identifying a cell within an LAI CIBER Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Record. Format used for

exchange of wireless billing records. Maintained by Cibernet Corp Cibernet A subsidiary of the CTIA responsible for facilitating billing aspects of

roaming

CIC Carrier Identification Code. See CAC Ciphertext Encrypted data. Compare with Plaintext CIR(1) Synonym for C/I

CIR(2) Committed Information Rate. Bandwidth associated with a frame relay PVC

Circuit-switched data

Data transmitted over a dedicated (although usually virtual) channel. The destinatioin address is implicitly defined by the (virtual) circuit that is selected

CISC CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee

CITEL Commission InterAmericanna de Telecommunications Association. A Latin American telecommunications association

CK Cipher Key. In AKA, it is derived from RAND using f3 and applied to traffic using f8

CKSN CK Sequence Number

CLASS Custom Local Area Signaling Services. A package of features offered by wireline carriers

Clearinghouse A central point for the gathering and redistribution of records, such as billing records

CLEC Competitive LEC. A new entrant in a market previously limited to one carrier. Some wireless carriers may qualify for this designation

CLI Calling Line Identity. See CgPN

CLIP Calling Line Identification Presentation. See CNIP CLIR Calling Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR

CLLI Common Language Location Identifier. An ASCII identifier of a telephone switch or calling area.

CLNP Connectionless Network Protocol CLNS Connectionless Network Service

CM GSM Connection Management

CMAC Control Mobile Attenuation Code

CMC Cellular Mobile Carrier. A generic term used to classify carrier class cellular systems

CMEA Cellular MEA. Based on CAVE

CMRS Commercial Mobile Radio Service CMSP Indian GSM licence. Replaced by UASL.

CMT Cellular messaging teleservice. A service based on SMS that is similar to that provided by alphanumeric pagers

CMWN Cancel Message Waiting Notification

CN Core Network. Protocols for this include GSM MAP and ANSI-41 CNA Canadian Number Administrator. Administers telecom numbering

resources in Canada, under the oversight of the CRTC.

CNAME Canonical Name. A basic Domain name that may be pointed to by multiple aliases

CNAP Calling NAme Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNAR

CNAR Calling NAme Restriction. An originating party feature CNDB Calling Name Database

CNIP Calling Number Identification Presentation. A terminating party feature. Overridden by CNIR

CNIR Calling Number Identification Restriction. An originating party feature CO Central Office

Co-channel Interference

Interference from other signals using the same radio channel COA Care-Of Address

codec Voice coder and decoder. See vocoder and Voice Coder COFDM Code OFDMA

COFETEL Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones de Mexico

COLP Connected Line Identification Presentation. See COLR, CNIP COLR Connected Line Identification Restriction. See CNIR, COLP COMET IETF SIP Preconditions Met message

Confidentiality Keeping information private (e.g. by encryption) CONS Connection-Oriented Network Service

Control Channel

A cellular or PCS channel that broadcasts information about a cell to mobiles that are not currently in a call

CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture CORD Cellular Operations Record Distribution

CoS Class of Service. Method of managing traffic by grouping similar types (e.g. voice, video, email)

COUNT Call History Count. An internal mobile counter that can be used to detect the presence of clones

COWS Common Work Station. Software running in the Common Work Station element supports termination of the SS7 links to the MSC as well as the X.25 links to the OMC (including the OSI stack) and any

PSDN services. The majority of the OA&M software is found here. CPDE Centralized PDE

CPE Customer Premises Equipment. A standard telephone is an example of telecommunications equipment that is usually located at the customer’s site.

CPG SS7 ISUP Call ProGress Message

CPGA Cost per Gross Addition. The cost to a carrier of adding one subscriber CPL IETF Call Processing Language. An XML-based language for

describing internet telecommunications services.

CPN See CgPN

CPP Calling Party Pays. The calling party pays for calls to mobile, not the mobile receiving the call. cf TPP

CQM(1) Channel Quality Measurement

CQM(2) Core Quality of Service Manager. Obsolete. See PDF

CR Change Request. A description of a problem in a standard (error, limitation, ambiguity or restriction) and a description of how it should be fixed

CR-LDP Constraint-based Routing LDP. See MPLS

CRC Cyclic Redundancy Code (or check). Included in many digital protocols to check for errors in transmitted messages

CRDB Coordinate Routing DataBase. Proposed for E911 systems to convert a location into routing information

CRL Certificate Revocation List CRM(1) Customer Resource Management CRM(2) Channel Request Message

CRTC Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission CRTP Compressed Real-Time Transport Protocol. Provides compression (and

decompression) of RTP, UDP and IP headers.

Cryptosync Externally-provided synchronizing information for cryptoalgorithms (ciphers) that allows an encryptor at one end to uniquely encrypt each block of content into ciphertext, and yet allows a decryptor at the other end to properly decrypt the ciphertext to yield the original plaintext. Cryptosync often takes the form of the output of a binary counter CS(1) IN Capability Set

CS(2) Circuit switched. Contrast with PS

CS-1 IN CS 1

CS-2 IN Capability Set 2

CS-ACELP Conjugate Structure ACELP CSA Canadian Standards Association CSC Customer Service Center

CSCF Call Session Control Function. Controls the assignment of resources from the home system. See I-CSCF, P-CSCF and S-CSCF

CSCN Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering. A working group of the CRTC CISC

CSD Circuit switched data. Data travels between two devices using a fixed amount of bandwidth allocated for the duration of the data call. Compare with Packet data that uses shared bandwidth to service multiple users. Packet data can be more efficient (except when the overhead of identifying and routing packets is greater than the savings) but the performance is less predictable.

CSFP Coded Superframe Phase

CSI CAMEL Subscription Information CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access CSMA/CA See CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD CSMA with CD (also known as CA). Ethernet devices use this to minimize collisions by checking the line before sending

CSRC Contributing Source

CSS Cascading Style Sheets. See HTML

CSU Channel Service Unit. Unit that interfaces between the telephone company and a private network

CT Call Transfer

CTCP Compressed TCP. Provides compression (and decompression) of TCP and IP headers.

CTIA Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association

CUG Closed User Group. Calls are restricted to within the group CW Calling Waiting

CWTA Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association

CWTS Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standards. Replaced by CCSA

D

D Digit The fourth digit of an NANP phone number. Currently restricted to the values 2-9 to allow 7 digit dialing

D-AMPS Digital AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136 TDMA)

D-H Diffie-Hellman

D/L Downlink (e.g. from base station to mobile). Compare with U/L. DACS See DCS

DAP X.500 Directory Access protocol

DataTAC Data TAC. A Motorola wireless data system. Formerly known as Ardis. dB Decibel. 10 times the logarithm of the value in base 10

dBi Decibels relative to isotropic radiator. A measurement of the gain of an antenna.

dBm Decibels referenced to one milliwatt

DCC Digital Color Code. A number assigned to a control channel used to limit erroneous accesses

DCCH Digital Control Channel. The control channel used by IS-136 and TIA/EIA-136 D-AMPS systems

DCE Data Communications Equipment (i.e. a computer)

DCF DRM Content Format

DCH Dedicated Channel

DCN Data Communications Network DCS(1) Data Coding Scheme

DCS(2) Digital Cross-Connect System

DCS(3) European PCS frequencies in the 1800 MHz range. DDM Data Description Method

DEA US Drug Enforcement Agency

DECT Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony

DES Data Encryption Standard. A commonly used encryption method, usually used with 56 bit keys. See AES, TDES.

DF(1) UIM Dedicated File. Compare with EF and MF DF(2) Delivery Function (for LAES)

DFCA Dynamic Frequency and Channel Allocation. Dynamic assignment of radio channels to optimize capacity. Proposed for GSM, but not yet implemented.

DFP Distributed Functional Plane NRM

DHCP Dynamic Host Control Protocol. Allows automatic assignment of IP addresses on a network

DHKE Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange. A method of securely exchange encryption keys over an insecure interface

Diameter An IETF AAA protocol designed to be twice as good as RADIUS. Unlike its predecessor it supports MIP and uses SCTP (or TCP) instead of UDP for more reliable transport. It uses IPSEC and TLS instead of a shared secret.

DID Direct Inward Dialing. Directs all calls to a block of numbers to a PBX Diffie-Hellman A secure key exchange mechanism

Diffserv Differentiated Services. Different QoS for different types of traffic (e.g. voice, video, email). See IETF RFCs 2474 and 2475

digital Transmission of information through a signal that can take on only certain discrete values (e.g. bits with values 0 or 1). Compare with analog

Disconnection The end of a call. Not to be confused with Termination of a call or the Release of a trunk

UL

DLC Digital Loop Carrier. A single digital facility (e.g. T1 or T3) carrying multiple lines to a business or other large customer

DLCI Data Link Connection/Circuit Identifier

DLP Discrete Logarithm Problem. Used in some cryptography systems DMAC Digital Mobile Attenuation Code

DMH Data Message Handler. An informal name for the TIA IS-124 standard DMO Direct Mode Operation. Group calling capabilities, e.g. PTT, of a

PAMR system. Compare with TMO.

DMT Discrete Multi-Tone line code being proposed for VDSL. Compare with QAM/CAP

DMU Dynamic MIP Key Update. A secure and efficient mechanism for distributing and updating Mobile IP (MIP) cryptographic keys in cdma2000 networks (including High Rate Packet Data which is often referred to as 1xEV-DO). Because the Dynamic Mobile IP Key Update (DMU) procedure occurs at the IP layer directly between the MIP MN and RADIUS or Diameter AAA Server, it may be used to securely bootstrap the MN-AAA key (and other cryptographic keys) in MIP networks using any RAN technology.

DN(1) Directory Number. The number dialed to terminate a call to a phone DN(2) Domain Name (e.g. cnp-wireless.com).

DNIC Data network identification code

DNIS Dialed Number Identification Service. Identifies the called (not calling) number. Only useful when multiple numbers terminate at the same location (e.g. a regular phone number, 1-800 and 1-900 number). Contrast with CNIP

DNS Internet Domain Name Service/System. See RFC 1035 DOA Dead On Arrival

DoC US Department of Commerce DOI Domain of Interpretation DOJ US Department of Justice

Domain A portion of the internet (e.g. cnp-wireless.com)

Donor Switch The switch from which a number has been ported. See LNP Downlink Path from base station to terminal

DP WIN/CAMEL Detection Point

DPC(1) Destination Point Code for an SS7 message DPC(2) Downlink Power Control

DPCCH Dedicated Physical Control Channel DPCH Dedicated Physical Channel

DPSK Differential PSK

DQPSK Differential Quadrature PSK

DRAC Dynamic Resource Allocation Control DRM Digital Rights Management

DRNC Drift RNC DRNS Drift RNS

DS Direct Spread. See CDMA DS-CDMA Direct Sequence CDMA

DS0 Digital Signal Level 0. A 64 kbps digital link used to carry a single voice conversation or signaling traffic for multiple calls/trunks. In ANSI networks, 8 kbps is usually reserved for in-band signaling (on-hook/off-hook etc.), reducing the bandwidth to 56 kbps

DS1 Digital Signal Level 1. A 1.544 Mbps signaling link carrying 24 DS0 channels

DS1C Digital Signal Level 1C. A 3.152 Mbps signaling link carrying 48 DS0 channels

DS2 Digital Service, Level 2. 6.312 Mbps. Carries 96 DS0 channels (4 DS1 channels)

DS3 Digital Service, Level 3. 44.736 Mbps. Carries 672 DS0 channels (28 DS1 channels)

DSA Digital Signature Algorithm DSCH Downlink Shared Channel DSF Dispersion Shifted Fiber DSI Digital Speech Interpolation

DSL Digital Subscriber Line. See SHDSL, ADSL, SDSL, VDSL DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

DSMA Digital Sense Multiple Access. Access to a shared resource is

controlled by sensing a digital signal before attempting an access. Used by CDPD

DSP Digital Signal Processing/Processor DSR(1) Distributed Speech Recognition DSR(2) Direct Signal Reporting

DSS-1 Digital Subscriber Signaling System No. 1

DSU(1) Digital Service Unit. Interface between the terminal equipment (DTE) and the service provider's facilities

DTC Digital Traffic Channel DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel

DTD Document Type Definition. An XML grammar specification DTE Data Terminal Equipment

GSM and EDGE, bringing some 3G services to a 2G system (without the wide pipe though!)

DTMF Dual Tone Multifrequency. Tone signaling used by phones DTN Deflected-To Number

DTX Discontinuous Transmission. A mobile only transmits when the user is talking. This saves battery life, but can introduce some choppiness into conversations

Dual-band A mobile that can support two different frequency ranges. Compare with Dual-mode

Dual-mode A mobile that can support two different technologies. Compare with Dual-band

DUP SS7 Data User Part

DVCC Digital Verification Color Code DWDM Dense Wave Division Multiplexing

E

E-Mail(1) Electronic Mail

E-OTD Enhanced Observed Time Difference. A positioning technology based on software within wireless phones combined with their existing signal measurement capabilities. Compare with the purely network-based AOA, TOA and TDOA

E-SMR Enhanced SMR. See iDEN

E.164 ITU-T dialing plan standard. Numbers are composed of CC+NSN (NDC + NDC)

E.212 ITU-T mobile identification number standard

E.214 ITU-T standard that allows an E.212 IMSI number to be mapped onto an E.164 number to allow routing through SS7 networks.

Unfortunately, this mapping does not work in North America E1 A digital link carry 32 DS0 channels, with two used for signaling

purposes. Used mostly outside North America. Compare with T1 E911 Enhanced 9-1-1 service. Provides the identity and the approximate

location of the calling phone

EA(1) Economic Area. A geographical area used by the US FCC to license the AWS A band.

EA(2) Equal Access

EACC Emergency Area Congestion Control

EAP IETF Extensible Authentication Protocol, RFC 4017

EAP-TLS EAP Transport Layer Security. Public key encryption for WiFi. EAP-TTLS EAP Tunneled Transport Layer Security. Provides mutual

network-side certificates.

EAR Export Administration Regulations. Replace ITAR for control of export of encryption technologies

EAS Emergency Alert System. A US government system that transmits audio or text information about emergencies (mostly weather) to radio and TV stations. There has been some talk about extending this to wireless phones via broadcast SMS

Eb Energy of an information bit

EBCDIC Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code. IBM's byte code for letters, numbers and special characters. Not as good as ASCII because, for example, letters are not all in a single group, making software more awkward

EBGP External BGP. BGP between routers in two different networks. EBNF Extended BNF. Used to define XML, for example.

EBS Emergency Broadcast System. See EAS EC Exchange Carrier

ECC Elliptic Curve Cryptography

ECDLP Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem. See ECC ECMA European Computer Manufacturer's Association

ECSA Exchange Carrier's Standards Association. Renamed ATIS several years ago

ECT Explicit Call Transfer

EDAC CDMA Error Detection and Correction coding. See FEC

EDGE Enhanced Data-rates for GSM (or Global) Evolution. Uses 8PSK modulation to increase data rates within the 200 kHz RF bandwidth to a theoretical limit of 384 kbps (474 kbps raw), although per-user rates will be significantly lower because few if any phones can use all 8 available timeslots. A higher speed successor to GPRS. See ADRC EDI Electronic Data Interchange. Used to transfer business-level data

between companies (e.g. invoices, purchase orders). Nowadays, more attention is on XML for this purpose

EDR Efficient Data Representation. Assigns one record to represent a block of 1,000 pooled numbers

EDS Enhanced Dialed Service(s)

EESN Expanded ESN. An idea that never took off. See MEID EF UIM Elementary File. Compare with DF and MF EFI External Functionality Interface

EFR Enhanced Full Rate. The standard GSM Voice Coder operating at 12.2 kbps

EGPRS-136 GPRS adapted for use in TIA/EIA-136 networks EHFC Extended Hyperframe Counter

EIA Electronics Industry Alliance

EIA/TIA-553 Analog AMPS cellular standard. Formerly IS-3

EIR Equipment Identity Register. Stores information about wireless terminals as opposed to subscriptions. Compare with HLR EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

ELCA Extended Local Calling Area. Allows toll-free calls to numbers outside the normal toll-free zone, by arrangement with the terminating (usually wireless) carrier

EMA Electronic Messaging Association. EMC Electro-Magnetic Compatibility

EMF Electro-Magnetic Field or Electro-Motive Force (Voltage)

EMI Exchange Message Interface. A LEC billing record format. Compare with EMR. Contrast with BAF and CIBER

eMLPP Enhanced MLPP. A GSM method for implementing PS

EMR Exchange Message Record. A LEC billing record format. Compare with EMI. Contrast with BAF and CIBER

EMS Enhanced Messaging Service. SMS extended to include simple graphics, audio and enhanced text (e.g. fonts). A precursor to MMS EMTEL Emergency Telecommunications for ETSI

EN European Norm (Standard).

enum Telephone Number Mapping to an internet address. A method of converting a phone number into a domain name defined by IETF RFC 2916. Take the full number (including country code), reverse it, put a dot between each pair of adjacent digits, append '.e164.arpa' and, there you have it! This format is easier for DNS systems to handle.

EO End Office EOM End Of Message EOTD See E-OTD

EP SCP ETSI Project Smart Card Platform

EPE Enhanced Privacy and Encryption. A North American TDMA

architecture that secures voice, messages, and data through encryption Erlang Measure of traffic load. Calculated as rate at which calls arrive divided

by the rate at which they are completed

Erlang B A traffic model used to engineer resource groups when blockage is low, and the average holding time is known

Erlang C A traffic model commonly used for provisioning data circuits ERMES European Radio Messaging System. An ETSI paging system

established in the 1990s. All European countries are supposed to provide spectrum for it.

ERP Effective Radiated Power

RESULT

ES Emergency Service(s), such as 911

ESA Enhanced Subscriber Authentication. A long term replacement to the TIA CAVE algorithm

ESC Emergency Services Call

ESF Extended Superframe Format. DS1 format that is used for most T1 links

ESIF ATIS Emergency Services Interconnect Forum

ESME(1) Emergency Services Message Entity. Entity that receives E911 messages from an MSC (e.g. ALI or S/R)

ESME(2) External SME. Used by SMPP to exchange short messages between incompatible technologies

ESMR Enhanced SMR. Allows ‘cellular’ service as well as traditional SMR services

ESN(1) Electronic Serial Number. 32 bit identifier of an AMPS, CDMA or TDMA mobile. May eventually be replaced by MEID.

ESN(2) Emergency Service Number

ESNE Emergency Services Network Entity. Entity that is connected to an E911 trunk from an MSC (e.g. S/R or PSAP)

ESNX See EESN

ESP(1) Emergency Service Provider

ESP(2) Enhanced Subscriber Privacy. Stronger TIA voice encryption algorithms than those originally provided with CAVE

ESP(3) IETF Encapsulating Security Payload, RFC 2406

ESRD Emergency Service Routing Digits. An NANP number that routes a call to a PSAP and identifies the cellsite or sector that the call originated from

ESRK Emergency Service Routing Key. A temporary phone number that routes an emergency call to the correct PSAP and allows access to information in the ALI

ESZ Emergency Services Zone. A geographical region served by a single emergency call answering service.

ETACS Extended TACS

Ethernet A LAN protocol using collision detection to resolve access contention (CSMA/CD). Available in 10Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps variants. Standardized as IEEE 802.3.

ETR ETSI Technical Report

ETS European Telecommunication Standard

ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

EvDO 1x cdma2000 Evolution for High Speed Data Only. See HRPD and EVDV. A high speed CDMA data system. It does not support voice,

except as VoIP. Revision 0 promised 2.4 Mbps download, 153 kbps upload on a 1.25 MHz carrier. Revision A was 3.1 Mbps down, 1.8 up. Revision B was 14.7 Mbps download and 4.9 Mbps upload in a 5 MHz carrier and Revision C promises 100 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload in a 20 MHz carrier. See LTE and ADRC

EVDV CDMA 1x Evolution - Voice and High Speed Data services. Although it is more flexible, it is so far less popular than EvDO

EVM Error Vector Magnitude. The difference between the received coordinates of a symbol (defined by phase and amplitude) and the intended position (e.g. what was transmitted). This is a measure of error in digital modulation systems such as QAM.

EVRC Enhanced Variable Rate Voice Coder. An IS-95 voice coder for use on CDMA systems

EWC Enhanced Wireless Consortium. An association to promote the development of the IEEE 802.11n WLAN protocol

EWG GSMA Environmental Working Group

F

f1 AKA message authentication function used to compute MAC

f2 AKA Message authentication function used to compute RES and XRES f3 AKA Key generating function used to compute CK. Compare with f8. f4 AKA Key generating function used to compute IK. Compare with f9 f5 AKA Key generating function used to compute AK. It may simply

generate 0 if concealment of SQN is not required.

f8 AKA Ciphering Function. May be Kasumi. Uses CK, which is derived from RAND using f3

f9 AKA Integrity Protection Function. May be Kasumi. Compare with f4 FA Foreign Agent

FAC(1) FA Challenge

FAC(2) Final Assembly Code. The 2 digit IMEI ME manufacturer identity FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

FACH GSM term for FACCH

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

Fast Fading Fade duration short relative to channel frame length FBI US Federal Bureau of Investigation

FC Feature Code. An asterisk followed by digits indicating the invocation of a feature (e.g. *73 may be used to disable call forwarding). Feature codes should be sent to the HLR for interpretation. There is no

FCC US Federal Communications Commission

FCCH GSM Frequency Correction Channel; downlink only, correction of MS frequencies, transmission of frequency standard to MS etc.

FCI Forward Call Indicator. Used to indicate whether a number portability query has occurred for this call (to prevent looping)

FCS Frame Check Sequence. A checksum for a transmitted frame FDCCH Forward DCCH

FDD Frequency Division Duplex FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface

FDM Frequency Division Multiplex. See FDMA

FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access. Compare with TDMA and CDMA

FDN Fixed Dialing Number FDTC Forward DTC

FE Functional Entity. A logical element of a network. Not necessarily realized as a physically distinct device

FE-NTS Feature Enhanced NTS FEC(1) Forward Error Correction

FEC(2) Forwarding Equivalence Class. An identity for packets that all get routed via MPLS in the same way

FER Frame Error Rate. The number of frames in error divided by the total. These frames are usually discarded, in which case this can be called the Frame Erasure Rate

FEXT Far End CrossTalk

FF GSMA Fraud Forum

FFPC CDMA Fast Forward Power Control ffs For Further Study

FFT Fast Fourier Transform

FHMA Frequency Hopping Multiple Access FHSS Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum.

FIB Forward Indicator Bit. Indicates the start of a retransmission cycle in MTP. See BIB

FIFO First in, first out. A queuing methodology similar to lining up for a bank teller. Compare with LIFO

FIPS US Federal Information Processing Standards

FISU Fill-In Signal Unit. The keep-alive message for SS7 MTP

FLEX A Motorola one-way paging protocol that runs at 1600, 3200 or 6400 bps. Compare with POCSAG

FM(1) Frequency Modulation FM(2) Follow-Me

FOCC Forward Control Channel. Used to send signaling messages from a base station to one or multiple mobiles

Foreign Agent IP node that receives packets from a Home Agent for delivery to a Mobile Node currently in its service area

FPLMTS Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Systems. Now IMT-2000

FQDN Fully Qualified DN. A domain name with enough information

(including server name, if necessary, to determine a unique IP address). For example, if 'domain.com' had two servers, 'alpha' and 'beta',

'alpha.domain.com' would be fully-qualified, but 'domain.com' would not.

FR Full Rate (e.g. for a voice coder). Compare with HR

FRAD FR Access Device

FSK Frequency Shift Keying

FSN(1) Forward Sequence Number. The sequence number of an MTP frame being transmitted. Contrast with BSN

FSN(2) Frame Sequence Number

FTAM File Transfer, Access and Management

FTI Fractional T1. A customer may lease a portion of a full T1 FTN(1) Forward-To Number

FTN(2) FEC to NHLFE Map

FTP Internet File Transfer Protocol FTTC Fiber to the curb

FTTH Fiber to the home

FVC Forward analog voice channel, transmitted by an MS FWA Fixed Wireless Access. See WLL

FWI Flash with Information; used to transmit data from an MS during a call

G

G.711 The ITU-T standard for PCM encoding telephone audio on an 64 kbps channel. Because it operates at an8 kHz sampling rate (8 bits per sample) it can only encode frequencies between 0 and 4 kHz. There are two encoding variants. mu-law and A-law. A-law is used for

international circuits and represents smaller signals with greater fidelity.

G3FAX Group III Facsimile service

G95 A sub-group of GGRF investigating roaming between GSM and CDMA systems based on TIA/EIA-95 and cdma2000

GAD Geographic Area Description. GSM 101.109 and 3GPP 23.032 defines this. Related to CGL in ATIS T1.628

GALILEO A European positioning system based on 30 satellites and ground stations. Devices can position themselves based on accurate (atomic clock) time transmitted from the satellites and their knowledge of the satellite's positions. Similar to the US GPS

GAP SS7 ISUP Generic Address Parameter. Used in number portability to carry the LRN

Gateway MSC An MSC designed to receive wireless calls from the PSTN

Gaussian Noise Noise with constant power spectral density across the radio channel. GBA Generic Bootstrapping Architecture. Uses key material located in an

HLR, HSS or AAA to ‘bootstrap’ a key for other purposes, e.g. mobile application security A security association is established by the BSF with both the UE and NAF allowing secure communication between the UE and the NAF, without the NAF having any root key material. Gbps Giga-bps. A data speed of billions of bits per second. See Mbps and

kbps

GCC Group Call Control

GCCS Generic Call Control service for Parlay/OSA GCF GSM Global Certification Forum

GCR Group Call Register

GDP ISUP Generic Digits Parameter

GECO Global Emergency Call Origination. Allows a phone to make an

emergency call in an area where the emergency digits are different than at home.

GEO Geostationary Orbit (for a satellite) GERAN 3GPP TSG for GSM/EDGE RAN

GETS US Government Emergency Telecommunications Service GFSK Gaussian FSK

GGRF GSM Global Roaming Forum within the GSM Association. Composed of GAIT, G95 and groups considering interworking with iDEN and TETRA

GGSN Gateway GSN. Connects to other packet data networks (e.g. internet). See SGSN

GHA Global Hexadecimal Address. See MEID.

GHOST GSM Hosted Short Message Teleservice. Allows TIA/EIA-136 messages to be delivered to a GSM MS

GHz One thousand million Hz. A measure of radio frequency

GIF Graphics Interface Format. A common graphics format suitable for computer-drawn graphics with few colors (up to 256). It supports simple animation. JPEG, PNG or TIFF are more suitable for photographs.

GII Global Information Infrastructure

GIS Geographic Information System. A system that combines mapping information with domain-specific information that can be queried by computers.

GIWU GSM Inter-Working Unit. An interface to various networks for data communications

Global

challenge Method of authentication using the same random number (RAND) for every mobile in a cellsite or sector

GMLC 3GPP/OMA Gateway MLC

GMM GPRS Mobility Management Protocol GMSC See MSC-G

GMSK Gaussian MSK

GMT Greenwich Mean Time. The reference point for time zones around the world.

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System. Used as a generic term for GALILEO. Contrast with GPS

Go Interface between the GGSN and PDF that allows the application of policy (network rules) to bearer usage.

goodput See throughput and badput

GPRS General Packet Radio Service. A GSM-based packet data protocol using up to all 8 of the time slots in a GSM channel. It supports data rates up to 115 kbps, although 10-40 kbps is more likely in practice. Most terminals do not support usage of more than 1-3 timeslots. The difference with HSCSD is that the bandwidth can be shared amongst many users, making it more flexible, but also more susceptible to speed degradation due to overloading. See ADRC

GPS Global Positioning System. A system for determining location based on comparing signals from several US military satellites. Compare with AOA, TOA

GR Telecordia Generic Requirements document GRE Generic Routing Encapsulation. See RFC 1701

GRI GPRS Roaming Exchange. Provides interconnection, routing, DNS, security and QoS functions

GSL Global Service Logic

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

GSM-R A GSM-based PAMR system developed by European railways.

GSMA GSM Association

gsmSCF GSM SCF for CAMEL gsmSRF GSM SRF for CAMEL

GSN GPRS support node. See SGSN, GGSN.

GT Global Title. A non-native SS7 address based on E.164 DNs, E.212 IMSI, etc.

GTA GT Address

GTAI SS7 SCCP GT Address Indicator

GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

GTT(1) Global Title Translation. A method of routing in SS7 networks based on an GTs and not Point Code

GTT(2) Global Text Telephony

GUG GVNS User Group

GUI Graphical User Interface GUP Generic User Profile

GUTS General UDP Transport Service GVNS Global Virtual Network Service

GW Gateway

H

H.248 ITU-T protocol to control the MGW

H.323 ITU-T recommendation for teleconferencing. See OpenH323

HA MIP Home Agent

HAAA Home AAA

HAC HA Challenge

HANDMREQ TIA/EIA-41 HandoffMeasurementRequest INVOKE message. Being replaced by HANDMREQ2

HANDMREQ2 TIA/EIA-41 HandoffMeasurementRequest2 INVOKE message. Used by the Serving MSC to determine the signal strength being received by a neighboring Candidate MSC. Replaces HANDMREQ2

Handoff The process of a MS changing from one frequency in one cell or sector to a different frequency in a neighboring cell or sector

HARQ Hybrid ARQ HC Home Country

HCM Handset Configuration Management. See IOTA HDB3 High Density Bipoloar Order 3 Encoding HDLC High Level Data Link Control

HDML Handheld Markup Language

HDR High Data Rate. High speed data-only version of CDMA, standardized as EvDO. Now called HRPD

HDSL High bit rate DSL. Symmetric DSL used for corporate networking HE Home Environment

Hertz A unit of frequency. See MHz, GHz, kHz HF Hyperframe

HFC(1) HF Counter

HFC(2) Hybrid Fiber-Coax HG Header Generator HI Handover Interface HINFO Host Information

HIPPI High-Performance Parallel Interface HLPI Higher Layer Protocol Identifier HLR Home Location Register

HMAC Hashed MAC

HNI Home Network Identifier. The MCC and MNC prefix of a group of IMSI codes.

Home Address An IP address permanently assigned to a device that is supported by Mobile IP. Messages routed to this address will arrive at the HA. Home Agent IP node that receives packets at a Mobile Nodes static address and

forwards them to a Foreign Agent for delivery at its current (‘care-of’) address

Home MSC The MSC to which the PSTN routes based on an MDN

HomeRF Promoters of the SWAP protocol for in-home wireless networking. This protocol was abandoned in 2003.

HPC High Probability of Completion HPLMN Home PLMN

HPS Home PS

HR Half Rate (e.g. for a voice coder). Compare with FR

HRFWG HomeRF WG. Note that this protocol was abandoned in 2003 HRL Header Reduction Lower

HRPD cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data (formerly EvDO and HDR). It combines TDM on the forward link to provide from 38kbps to 2.5Mbps data rates. The reverse link supports speeds from 9.6kbps to 154kbps HRU Header Reduction Upper

HS-DSCH HSDPA DSCH. A high speed channel for transmitting data to a W-CDMA mobile.

HS-PDSCCH HSDPA DL control channel HS-PDSCH HSDPA DL physical channel

HSCSD High Speed Circuit Switched Data. GSM enhanced to allow the concurrent use of up to four timeslots, providing a theoretical

maximum 57.6 kbps data rates, although maximum rates of 28.8kbps to 43.2kbps are more realistic in practice. The main difference with GPRS is that the timeslots are assigned exclusively to one mobile for the duration of a data call.

HSDPA 3GPP High Speed Downlink Packet Access. Provides higher data rates ‘down’ from the network to the mobile at about 1.5 Mbps in a 5 MHz

carrier. Uplink speeds will be the same as EDGE – 384 kbps. See HSUPA and HSPA Evolution. See ADRC

HSG Header Stripping and Generation HSPA

Evolution

An evolution of HSDPA and HSUPA that is promising downlink speeds of 28 Mbps, uplink speeds of 11.5 Mbps in a 5 MHz carrier. See ADRC

HSS 3GPP Home Subscriber Server. Similar to AAA

HSSI High Speed Serial Interface. A serial interface that can be used for very short distances (up to 50 feet), supporting speeds up to 52 Mbps

HSUPA 3GPP High Speed Uplink Packet Access. Complements HSDPA by providing higher throughput on the W-CDMA link for uploading (MS to network). Rates for initial systems will be about 1 Mbps but

eventually 5.76 Mbps is promised. The RTT is estimated as under 50 ms. See HSPA Evolution and ADRC

HTML Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol . See RFC 2068 https Secure HTTP

Hyperband Handoff

Handoff between two different frequency bands (e.g. 800 MHz cellular and 1800 MHz PCS)

Hz Cycles per second. A measure of radio frequency

I

I-CSCF Interrogating CSCF. Main contact point for IMS connections to a carrier's subscribers

I-SCM Interrogating SCM

I-WLAN WLAN Interworking with a 3GPP cellular network.

IA5 International Alphabet 5. Basically the ASCII character set IAM SS7 ISUP Initial Address Message. Used to initiate a call

IANA Internet Assigned Number Authority. Mostly superseded by ICANN IAP Intercept Access Point. A point within the telecommunications network

that provides voice or data for CALEA interception to a DF

IAPP Inter-Access Point Protocol. An IEEE protocol to allow the secure transfer of MS context from one AP to another. It is based on IEEE 802.11f.

IBC Iterated Block Ciphers IC(1) see IXC

IC(2) Integrated Circuit

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assignment Names and Numbers. Performs top level resource assignment tasks for the internet, e.g. for domain names and IP addresses.

for some older cards) allowing up to 19 BCD digits to be included. Assigned according to ITU-T Recommendation E.118

ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol. Method for reporting errors and performing loopback testing on the internet

ICO Intermediate Circular Orbit

ICS Implementation Conformance Statement IDB ITS Data Bus (SAE J2366)

iDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network. Motorola’s proprietary system for E-SMR, used by Nextel and others. Based on GSM

IDL Interface Description Language

IDSL ISDN Digital Subscriber Line. Just a fancy name for ISDN IE Information Element

IEC(1) See IXC

IEC(2) Internet Engineering Consortium

IEC(3) International ElectrotechnIcal Commission and the identity of standards produced by this organization.

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers IEEE 802.15.1 The IEEE Standard for Bluetooth

IEEE 802.15.4 The IEEEStandard for ZigBee

IEEE-ISTO IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization

IESG Internet Engineering Steering Group. Group that oversees the activities of IETF

IETF Internet Engineering Task Force. Standards setting body for the Internet

IF Information Flow

IFAST International Forum on AMPS Standards Technology. Allocates IRM and SID codes

IFFT Inverse FFT

IGP Interior Gateway Protocol. See MPLS IIF Interworking and Interoperability Function

IK Integrity Key. Protects (via encryption) the contents of signaling messages. In AKA it is derived from RAND using f4. It is applied to messages using f9

IKE Internet Key Exchange Protocol

ILEC Incumbent LEC. The former monopoly local telephone carrier. cf CLEC

ILM Incoming Label Map. See MPLS

IM(1) IP Multimedia. A network using IP to transport voice, signaling, text, video etc.