Technical Abbreviations and Acronyms
Here are many of the abbreviations and acronyms commonly used with compliance testing.
| A | |
| A | Ampere |
| AC | Alternating Current |
| aH | Ampere Hour |
| AM | Amplitude Modulation | C |
| C | Capacitance |
| CEN | European Committee for Standardization |
| CENELEC | European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization |
| CISPR | Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radio (International Special Committee for Radio Protection) |
| CL | Current Loop |
| cm | centimeter |
| CSA | Canadian Standards Association |
| CW | Continuous Wave | D |
| dB | DeciBel |
| dBA | Decibel per Ampere |
| dBm | Decibel (1 milliwatt ref) |
| dBV | Decibel per Volt |
| DC | Direct Current |
| DMM | Digital MultiMeter |
| DOD | Department of Defense |
| DPDT | Double Pole Double Throw |
| DPST | Double Pole Single Throw |
| DVM | Digital Volt-Meter | E |
| E-Field | Electric Field |
| EHF | Extremely High Frequency |
| EIA | Electronics Industries Association |
| EIRP | Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power |
| ELF | Extremely Low Frequency |
| EMC | Electromagnetic Compatibility or Electromagnetic Compliance |
| EMI | Electromagnetic Interference |
| EMP | Electromagnetic Pulse |
| EN standards | European Standards |
| ERP | Effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESD | Electrostatic Sensitive Device or ElectroStatic Discharge |
| ESR | Equivalent Series Resistance |
| ETSI | European Telecommunications Standards Institute |
| F | |
| F | Farad |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FET | Field Effect Transistor |
| FFT | Fast Fourier Transform |
| FM | Frequency Modulation | G |
| GFCI | Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter |
| GHz | giga Hertz |
| GND | Ground |
| GPIB | General Purpose Interface Bus |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| H | |
| HF | High Frequency |
| H-Field | Magnetic Field |
| HPIB | Hewlett Packard Interface Bus |
| HVPS | High Voltage Power Supply |
| Hz | Hertz (frequency in cycles per second) |
| I | |
| I | Current |
| IC | Integrated Circuit |
| IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| I\O | Input/Output |
| IR | Infrared |
| J | |
| JFET | Junction Field Effect Transistor |
| JIS | Japanese Industrial Standard |
| K | |
| kHz | Kilo Hertz (1000 cycles per second) |
| KW | Kilo Watts |
| KWH | Kilo Watt Hours |
| L | |
| L | Inductance |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LC | Inductance and Capacitance |
| LCD | Liquid Crystal Display |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode |
| LF | Low Frequency |
| LO | Local Oscillator |
| LW | Long Wave |
| M | |
| M | Meters |
| mAH | milliAmpere-Hour |
| MB | MegaBytes |
| MHz | MegaHertz (million cycles per second) |
| MIL | Military |
| MIL-STD | Military Standard |
| MIL-STD | Military Standard |
| mm | millimeters |
| mW | milliwatt |
| N | |
| NC | Not Connected or Normally Closed |
| NEG | Negative |
| NEMA | National Electrical Manufacturers Association |
| nF | NanoFarad |
| NiCad | Nickel Cadmium |
| NiMH | Nickel Metal Hydride |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NO | Normally Open |
| NPR | Noise Power Ratio |
| NPR | Noise Power Ratio |
| O | |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OPAMP | Operational Amplifier |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
| OVP | Over Voltage Protection |
| P | |
| PA | Power Amplifier |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board |
| PEP | Peak Envelope Power |
| PG | Power Gain |
| PLL | Phase Locked Loop |
| PM | Pulse/Phase Modulation |
| POV | Peak Operating Voltage |
| PWM | Pulse Width Modulation |
| PWR | Power |
| Q | |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| QC | Quality Control |
| R | |
| R | Resistance |
| R&D | Research and Development |
| RADAR | RAdio Detection And Ranging |
| RC | Radio Control |
| REACH | Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals |
| RF | Radio Frequency |
| RFI | Radio Frequency Interference |
| RH | Relative Humidity |
| RL | Return Loss |
| S | |
| S/N | Signal to Noise |
| SD | Standard Deviation |
| SD | Standard Deviation |
| SG | Signal Ground |
| SHF | Super High Frequency |
| SI | Signal Integrity |
| SMD | Surface Mount Device |
| SNR | Signal to Noise Ratio |
| SMT | Surface Mount Technology |
| SP | Signal Processor |
| SPDT | Single Pole Double Throw |
| SPST | Single Pole Single Throw |
| SSR | Solid State Relay |
| SVHC | Substance of Very High Concern |
| SW | Short Wave |
| T | |
| TC | Temperature Coefficient |
| TDR | Time Domain Reflectometry |
| TEM | Transverse ElectroMagnetic |
| TEMPEST | Telecommunications Electronics Materials Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions |
| THD | Total Harmonic Distortion |
| TM | Transverse Magnetic |
| TR | Transient Response |
| TRP | Total Radiated Power |
| TV | Television |
| TWT | Traveling Wave Tube |
| U | |
| uF | micro Farad |
| UHF | Ultra High Frequency |
| UL | Underwriters Laboratories |
| UPC | Universal Product Code |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus |
| UTC | Universal Time Code |
| V | |
| V | Volt |
| VA | Volt Ampere |
| VAC | Volts Alternating Current |
| VCC | Supply Voltage |
| VCO | Voltage Controlled Oscillator |
| VDC | Volts Direct Current |
| VHF | Very High Frequency |
| VLF | Very Low Frequency |
| VR | Voltage Regulator |
| VSS | Supply Voltage |
| VSWR | Voltage Standing Wave Ratio |
| W | |
| W | Watts |
| WH | Watt Hour |
| X | |
| XMT | Transmit |
| XTAL | Crystal |
Additional Resource
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This Tech. Note covers frequently used conversion factors, how they are derived, and why they are used. If you need to convert from one series of units to another for any reason, this is the tech. note for you. [more...]
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Contact Details
A.H. Systems, inc.
9710 Cozycroft Ave.
Chatsworth, CA 91311
P: (818) 998-0223
F: (818) 998-6892
E: Email