Telecommunications terms starting with C

924 terms

contention A condition that arises when two or more data stations attempt to transmit at the same time over a shared channel, or when two data stations attempt to…
contextual information Data about the creation, receipt, storage, or use of a document and its relationship to other records See also metadata.
contingency key [A] key held for use under specific operational conditions or in support of specific contingency plans. [INFOSEC-99]
Contingency Plan Management policy and procedures designed to maintain or restore business operations, including computer operations, possibly at an alternate location, in…
contingency procedure A procedure that is an alternative to the normal path of a process if an unusual but anticipated situation occurs. [2382-pt.8]
continuity check A check made of a circuit to verify that a communication or power path exists.
continuity check transponder A device that is used to interconnect the Go and Return paths of a circuit at the incoming end, and through which the detection of an incoming check tone…
continuous operation Operation in which certain components, such as nodes, facilities, circuits, or equipment, are in an operational state at all times.
continuous presence In teleconferencing, the concurrent presence of two or more video images, such as two images that may appear on a single monitor on a split screen or on…
Continuous Tone An image (e.g. a photograph) which has all the values of gray from white to black.
continuous tone copy In facsimile, an object, i.e., an original, or a recorded copy, that contains shades of gray, i.e.
continuous wave (cw) A wave of constant amplitude and constant frequency.
continuously variable slope delta (CVSD) modulation A type of delta modulation in which the size of the steps of the approximated signal is progressively increased or decreased as required to make the…
contouring In digital facsimile, density step lines in the recorded copy resulting from analog-to-digital conversion when the object, i.e.
Contrast The difference between the brightness of an object compared to that of its immediate background.
contribution In B-ISDN applications, the use of broadband transmission of audio or video information to the user for post-production processing and distribution.
control attribute package A collection of control attributes associated with a security object [ECMA138].
control attributes 1. Attributes, associated with a security object, that when matched against the privilege attributes of a security subject, are used to grant or deny…
control ball Synonym trackball.
control character A character that initiates, modifies, or stops a function, event, operation, or control operation.
control communications The branch of technology devoted to the design, development, and application of communications facilities used specifically for control purposes, such as…
control field In a protocol data unit (PDU), the field that (a) contains data interpreted by the receiving destination logical-link controller (LLC) and (b) may be the…
control function Synonym control operation.
control monitor In computers and networks, the device that displays the progress or status of the overriding software or procedures. 2.
control of electromagnetic radiation Measures taken to minimize unintended electromagnetic radiation emanating from a system or component and to minimize electromagnetic interference.
control operation An operation that affects the recording, processing, transmission, or interpretation of data.
Control Station The station on a network, which supervises the network control procedures such as polling, selecting, and recovery.
control track The magnetized portion along the length of a videotape on which synchronous control information is placed; the control track contains a pulse for each…
controlled access Access in which the resources of an area or system is limited to authorized personnel, users, programs, processes, or other systems, and denied to all…
controlled area An area (a) in which uncontrolled movement will not result in compromise of classified information, (b) that is designed to provide administrative control…
controlled cryptographic item (CCI) Secure telecommunications or information handling equipment, or associated cryptographic component, that is unclassified but governed by a special set of…
controlled not-ready signal A signal, sent in the backward direction, to indicate that a call cannot be completed because the called line is not in a ready condition, but is under…
controlled rerouting A procedure of transferring, in a controlled way, signaling traffic from an alternative signaling route to the normal signaling route when the latter…
controlled security mode See controlled security operation, multilevel security.
controlled security operation In a communications system, operation in which (a) internal security controls prevent inadvertent disclosures, (b) personnel, physical, and administrative…
controlled sharing [A] condition existing when access control is applied to all users and components of an information system (IS). [INFOSEC-99]
controlled space Three-dimensional space surrounding information-system (IS) equipment, within which unauthorized persons are denied unrestricted access and are either…
controller An adapter card, RAID controller, or other module that interprets signals between a host and a eripheral device.
controlling authority [In cryptosystems, the] official responsible for directing the operation of a cryptonet and for managing the operational use and control of keying…
Convergence Integration of computing, communications and broadcasting systems.
convergence point A network point at which two or more possible routes through different intermediate networks from the origination network to destination network converge.
conversation-minute The product of (a) the number of messages and, (b) the average minutes of conversation per message. [47 CFR Pt.36-A]
conversation-minute-kilometers The product of (a) the number of messages, (b) the average minutes of conversation per message, and (c) the average route kilometers of circuits involved.
conversational hypertext access technology (chat) See chat.
conversational mode A mode of communication analogous to a conversation between two persons.
conversational service In telecommunications, a service that provides two-way, interactive, real-time, end-to-end information transfer.
Conversion Timing The actual agreed upon scheduled date and time to commence cutover in a coordinated conversion.
convolutional code A type of error-correction code in which (a) each m-bit information symbol (each m-bit string) to be encoded is transformed into an n-bit symbol, where…
convoy internal communications In a land or maritime convoy, communications (a) that is among the elements of the convoy, (b) includes radio, visual, and sound transmissions, (c) in…
Cookie A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file.
cooperation factor In facsimile systems, the product of the total scanning length and the scanning density, given by CF = L, where L is the scanning line length and is the…
cooperative key generation Electronically exchanging functions of locally generated, random components, from which both terminals of a secure circuit construct traffic encryption…
cooperative remote rekeying Synonym manual remote rekeying.
coordinated clock One of a set of clocks distributed over a spatial region, producing time scales that are synchronized to the time scale of a reference clock at a…
Coordinated Conversion A process whereby a portion of the equipment or facilities from an existing service is to be reused in a replacement service.
coordinated time scale A time scale synchronized within given tolerances to a reference time scale.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) By international agreement, the local time at the prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England.
coordination area The area associated with an Earth station outside of which a terrestrial station sharing the same frequency band neither causes nor is subject to…
coordination contour 1. The line enclosing the coordination area. [NTIA] [RR] 2. The perimeter of the coordination area.
coordination distance Distance on a given azimuth from an Earth station beyond which a terrestrial station sharing the same frequency band neither causes nor is subject to…
copy A reproduction of an original document See also duplication.
copy watch A radio- or video-communications watch in which an operator is required to maintain a continuous receiver watch and to keep a complete log.
copy-protected Of a data medium such as a diskette, pertaining to the use of one or more schemes designed to thwart copying in violation of copyright law or security…
cord circuit A switchboard circuit in which a plug-terminated cord is used to establish connections manually between user lines or between trunks and user lines.
cord lamp The lamp associated with a cord circuit that indicates supervisory conditions for the respective part of the connection.
cordless switchboard A telephone switchboard in which manually operated keys are used to make connections.
Core (Kor) the central part of anything, such as the central mass of necrotic matter in a boil.
core area The part of the cross-sectional area of an optical fiber within which the refractive index is everywhere greater than that of the innermost homogeneous…
core diameter In the cross section of a realizable optical fiber, ideally circular, but assumed to a first approximation to be elliptical, the average of the diameters…
core dump The corpse of a "process", in the form of a file left in the "working directory" of the process, usually as a result of certain kinds of fatal error.
core eccentricity Synonym concentricity error. See ovality.
core gateway Historically, one of a set of gateways (routers) operated by the Internet Network Operations Center at BBN.
core noncircularity See ovality.
core storage See magnetic core storage.
core-cladding offset See concentricity error.
core-to-cladding concentricity Synonym concentricity error.
core-to-cladding eccentricity Synonym concentricity error.
core-to-cladding offset Synonym concentricity error.
Corner Reflector (1) A device, normally consisting of three metallic surfaces or screens perpendicular to one another, designed to act as a radar target or marker.
corner reflector antenna See corner reflector.
corporate security policy left
Corporation for Research and Educational Networking See CREN.
corrective maintenance Maintenance actions carried out to restore a defective item to a specified condition. 2.
Correctness A property of a representation of a Target of Evaluation such that it accurately reflects the stated security target for that system or product [ITSEC].
correctness proof A mathematical proof of consistency between a specification and its implementation. [INFOSEC-99]
corresponding entities Peer entities with a lower layer connection among them. [T1.629-1999]
COSINE Abbreviation for Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe.
cosine emission law Synonym Lambert's cosine law.
cosite Collocation of electronic equipment on the same vehicle, station, or base. Note: Equipment so located is often subject to interference because of its…
cosmic noise Random noise that originates outside the Earth's atmosphere. Note: Cosmic noise characteristics are similar to those of thermal noise.
Costas loop A phase-locked loop used for carrier phase recovery from suppressed-carrier modulation signals, such as from double-sideband suppressed carrier signals.
Coulomb's law The universal law of attraction and repulsion of electric charges.
Countermeasure A design or procedural measure taken against covert or overt attacks.
counterpoise A conductor or system of conductors used as a substitute for earth or ground in an antenna system. [From Weik '89]
country code 1. In international direct telephone dialing, a code that consists of 1-, 2-, or 3-digit numbers in which the first digit designates the region and…
coupled bonding conductor A conductor used to extend the ground at an approved building entrance facility to certain types of ac-powered equipment.
coupled modes In fiber optics, a mode that shares energy among one or more other modes, all of which propagate together.
coupler See directional coupler.
coupling The phase state in which either two dominant or two recessive alleles of two different genes occur on the same chromosome. Synonym: cis configuration.
coupling coefficient A number that expresses the degree of electrical coupling that exists between two circuits.