Glossary of Terms

Analyzer  > See Bus Analyzer


Analog/Digital
As humans, we perceive the world in analog. Everything we see and hear is a continuous transmission of information to our senses. This continuous stream is what defines analog data. Digital information, on the other hand, estimates analog data using only ones and zeros.


A/D converter (Analog/Digital converter)
A device that converts continuously varying analog signals, into binary code for the computer.


ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)
A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. An ASIC, unlike an FPGA, has fixed functionality and is not reprogrammable.


Backplane
A circuit board containing sockets into which other circuit boards can be plugged.


Bandwidth
The transmission capacity of an electronic pathway such as a communications line, computer bus or computer channel. In a digital line, it is measured in bits per second or bytes per second. In an analog channel, bandwidth is measured in Hertz (Hz, cycles per second).


Bit
The smallest possible unit of memory.  A bit can store only two different values, a "0" or a "1". The term for a group of eight bits is called a byte.


Blade
A single circuit board populated with components such as processors, memory and network connections that are usually found on multiple boards.


Bus
A common shared channel between multiple computer devices.


Bus Analyzer
A device or a computer board or module used to monitor and check the performance of a computer bus.


BusView
VMETRO's Windows-based graphical user interface for its Bus Analyzers.


Byte
A small unit of memory. A byte is composed of eight bits. One bit can store two different combinations (0 or 1); two bits can store four different combinations (00, 01, 10, 11); three bits can store eight different combinations (000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111); following this pattern, eight bits, or one byte, can store 256 different values.  A kilobyte (KB) contains 1,024 bytes. A megabyte (MB) contains 1,024 x 1 KB = 1,048,586 bytes. A gigabyte (GB) contains 1,024 x 1MB = 1,073,741,824 bytes, and a terabyte (TB) contains 1,024 x 1 GB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.


CompactPCI (Also referred to as cPCI)
An implementation of the PCI bus technology on a Eurocard form factor.  CompactPCI is most commonly used in Telecomm applications.


Conduction Cooled
Cooling a board or device via a solid material, by adding a heat sink or attaching the module to the system chassis.


Convection Cooled
Cooling a board or device via a fluid motion (typically air).


COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf)
Ready-made merchandise that is available for sale.


CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The computing part of the computer. Also commonly called "processor" or "micro processor".


Data aggregation
When memory is used to group sets of data together.


Data warehousing
When a set of specific data can be placed in memory and used to look up values. This is a database term.


Digital  > See Analog/Digital


Digital Signal Processor  > See DSP


DPIO and DPIO2 (Digital Parallel I/O)
VMETRO's high speed digital parallel input/output PMC module. Supports FPDP and FPDP II.


DSP (Digital Signal Processing)
A category of techniques that analyze signals from sources such as radar antennas, sonar hydrophones, microphones or cameras. Signals are converted into digital data and analyzed using various algorithms.  DSP can also mean Digital Signal Processor, referring to specialized computer equipment to perform the task.


Embedded System /Computer
Used to describe a system or computer that is embedded into the customer's product or application.


Ethernet
A trademark for a local area network protocol.


Eurocard
A commonly used form factor in the embedded computer industry.


Fibre Channel
A high-speed transport technology used to build storage area networks (SANs).


FLASH Memory
A type of memory device that offers non-volatile data storage.


Form Factor
The physical size of a device as measured by outside dimensions.


FPDP (Front Panel Data Port)
A platform-independent 32-bit synchronous data flow path that allows data to be transferred at high speeds (160 MB/s) over moderate distances between boards and processing blocks.


FPDP II
The next generation of FPDP that features backward compatibility with the current FPDP standard, double-edged clocking, and 400 MB/s sustained data transfer rate.


FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)
A type of gate array that is programmed in the field.


GUI (Graphical User Interface)
A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse.


Hot Swap
The ability to pull out a component from a system and plug in a new one while the power is still on and the unit is still operating.  Redundant systems can be designed to swap drives, circuit boards, power supplies and virtually anything that is duplicated within the system.


I/O (Input/Output)
Used to describe the process of moving data, signals, results etc. in and out of a computer or processor.


I/O Controller
A computer board or module that coordinates and controls an I/O function.


I/O Module
Computer circuit board that can be used to perform an I/O task in a computer system.


Interleaving
When memory is filled up on one memory array while data is being pulled out of another memory array. This ping-pong method is commonly used in buffer memory applications.


IP core (Intellectual Property core)
Used to describe a module or function to be integrated into an FPGA design.


JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)
A group of hard disks in a computer that are not set up as any type of RAID configuration. Also called Disk Array.


Latency
In a computer system, latency is often used to describe any delay or the time it takes for a response.


Multiprocessing
The use of more than one processor in a single computer system.


NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering)
Usually refers to the expenses associated with customer specific adaptation of a standard product.


PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
The most common I/O bus in use today. It provides a shared data path between the CPU and peripheral controllers in all kinds of computers from laptops to mainframes and embedded computers.


PCI-X  (PCI eXtended)
An enhanced PCI bus technology.  Improves the bandwidth of PCI to more than 1 GB/s.


PCI Express (PCIe)
A high-speed peripheral interconnect introduced in 2002. Note that although abbreviated "PCX", PCI Express is not the same as "PCI-X". Intending to eventually replace the PCI and AGP buses entirely, PCI Express was designed to match the higher speeds of today's CPUs.


Phoenix
VMETRO's family of signal processing cards based on VITA 41/VXS high-speed real-time serial communications for scalable DSP solutions. Phoenix products include data recorder blades, analog I/O sub-systems, processors, switches, software, firmware and systems infrastructure.


PMC (PCI Mezzanine Card)
A small and compact (74mm x 149mm) daughter card that is used extensively in VME and CompactPCI systems.  Uses PCI for transfers.


PowerMIDAS (Modular Intelligent Data Acquisition Systems)
VMETRO's family of powerful and flexible PMC I/O subsystems for CompactPCI and VMEbus (with optional  RACEway support).


PowerPC
A family of CPUs designed by Freescale, Apple, IBM and Motorola.


Preprocessor
A processor typically used to reduce the amount of data to be processed in an application. This can be done by filtering out unwanted noise and/or signals in the preprocessor.


Processor
A term used for both the CPU in a system, and as a generic name for a board in a system that calculates and processes, such as a DSP board or a CPU board.


RACEway
Switched fabric invented by Mercury Computer Systems Inc.


RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
A disk subsystem that is used to increase performance and/or provide fault tolerance.


RapidIO
The RapidIO Interconnect Architecture is a high-performance, switched fabric technology. It addresses the high-performance embedded industry's need for reliability, increased bandwidth, and faster speeds in an intra-system interconnect.


Rate buffering
When two streams of data are moving at different rates and one of the data streams needs a repository. This term is frequently used in buffer memory applications. For example, a slower interface device may not move fast enough to utilize high speed links, so the data is rate-buffered before offload to another device.


Recorder
A device to record high-speed digital data using hard disks or solid state storage. The Vortex family of Open and Targeted Recorders performs high-speed streaming, digital data recording, playback and analysis.


Ruggedized/Ruggedization
A ruggedized product (board or chassis with boards inside) is able to handle adverse environments and usage. Such a product is able to withstand extended temperature, humidity, vibration and shock.


SAN (Storage Area Network)
A network of storage disks. In large enterprises, a SAN connects multiple computers to a centralized pool of disk storage.


SBC (Single Board Computer)
A printed circuit board that contains a complete computer, including processor, memory, I/O, networking etc.


Sensor
A device that measures or detects a real-world condition, such as an acoustic (microphone, hydrophone), electromagnetic (radar) or optical (camera) signal.


Sensor I/O
The process of bringing I/O from/to a sensor into a computer or processor.


Software-Defined Radio (SDR)
A radio communication system which uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals.


Solid State
When referring to storage, Solid State storage is implemented using integrated circuits as opposed to disk storage, using hard disks.


Switched Fabric
An architecture that allows boards in a rack and/or devices on a board to communicate over a switched network of connections. A Switched Fabric can handle multiple concurrent communication channels as opposed to a Bus.


Transceiver
A device that performs both transmitting and receiving functions.


Vanguard
VMETRO's family of advanced networked Bus Analyzers, Exercisers and Protocol Checkers for PCI, PCI-X, PCI Express and VME.


VITA (VMEbus International Trade Association)
A trade association that supports the VMEbus and other open standards. Founded in 1984.


VITA 41
See VXS


VITA 46
See VPX


VME/VMEbus (VersaModule Eurocard bus)
An expansion bus technology, supporting up to 21 cards in a single backplane, VMEbus is widely used in industrial, telecommunications and military applications.


VME Renaissance
An initiative that provides a significant upgrade to the more than 20 years old VMEbus architecture by specifying new high speed capabilities such as the 2eSST and 2eVME signaling protocols and the VXS serial backplane fabric.


Vortex
VMETRO's family of modular data recorders for VME, CompactPCI and Industrial PC-based systems. Previously known as MDR (CompactPCI and VME) and Marlin (Industrial PC).


VPX (VITA-46)
A switched serial backplane fabric evolved from the VMEbus, but with several new non-compatible components, such as new connectors. VITA 46, also called VPX, supports switched fabrics.


VXS (VITA-41 or VME Switched Serial)
A switched serial backplane fabric for VMEbus. VXS combines the existing VMEbus with enhancements to support switched fabrics.


XMC (Enhanced PMC)
A standard that supports high-speed, switched interconnect protocols on PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) form factor.