Glossary of EE Terms

Historically defines short-range radios, used at the tactical level within the armed forces compared to strategic long range communication systems. Enhanced technology and capabilities has resulted in many tactical radios supporting much longer ranges and the term is now often associated with man portable or hand-held radios used by the warfighter.

Temperature drift is specified as the maximum change from the ambient (25°C) value to the value at either TMIN or TMAX. For offset and gain drift, the drift is reported in ppm of full-scale range (FSR) per °C. For reference drift, the drift is reported in ppm per °C.

Time domain is a term used to describe the analysis of mathematical functions, or physical signals, with respect to time. A time domain graph shows how a signal changes over time, whereas a frequency domain graph shows how much of the signal’s energy lies within each given frequency band over a range of frequencies.

The measure of the energy deposited in a medium by ionizing radiation per unit mass. It is equal to the energy deposited per unit mass of medium, which may be measured as joules per kilogram and represented by the equivalent SI unit, gray (Gy), or the antiquated CGS units, rad and rep.

A transceiver is a device comprising both transmit and receive functions which share common circuitry. In the context of industrial automation, transceivers are used to transmit and receive information across the bus network between devices.

Translational motion is motion along a straight line, such as an axis. Accelerometer data can be used to map an object’s trajectory in translational motion.