Glossary

A testing device or probe used to test network cables for breaks and other problems; designed to sense the signal sent by the tone generator and emit a tone when the signal is detected in a particular set of wires.

The geometric physical or electrical configuration describing a local communication network, as in network topology; the shape or arrangement of a system. The most common topologies are bus, ring, and star.

The loss of light energy due to the combined effects of scattering and absorption.

The reflection of light in a medium of a given refractive index off of the interface with a material of a lower refractive index at an angle at or above the critical angle. Total internal reflection occurs at the core/cladding interface within an optical fiber cable.

ISO/IEC 11801 term that defines a location in the horizontal cabling subsystem where flat under-carpet cabling connects to round cabling or where cable is distributed to modular furniture. The ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B equivalent of this term is consolidation point.

The contrasting color-coding stripe along an insulated conductor of a wire pair.

A machine used to pull a preform into an optical fiber using constant tension.

The set of electronics that sends and receives signals on the Ethernet media system. Transceivers may be small outboard devices or they may be built into an Ethernet port. Transceiver is a combination of the words transmitter and receiver.

A device for converting energy from one form to another, such as optical energy to electrical energy.

For a specified cable length, relates to a current on one surface of a shield to the voltage drop generated by this current on the opposite surface of the shield. The transfer impedance is used to determine shield effectiveness against both ingress and egress of interfering signals. Shields with lower transfer impedance are more effective than shields with higher transfer impedance.

A high-voltage burst of electrical current. If the transient is powerful enough, it can damage data transmission equipment and devices that are connected to the transmission equipment.

In a fiber-optic receiver, a device that receives electrical current from the photodiode and amplifies it before sending it to the quantizer IC.

An arrangement of two or more conductors or an optical waveguide used to transfer a signal from one location to another.

The total amount of signal loss that happens during data transmission.

Anything such as wire, coaxial cable, fiber optics, air, or vacuum that is used to carry a signal.