USB2SDR Acronyms
Acronym Definitions
This page provides a list of acronyms which you may encounter in Software Defined Radio projects. The list was initiated by Alan, W6ARH in collaboration with Ron, KU7Y.
| Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1E | SDR-Radio.com Internet client/server application |
| ABPF | Auto Band Pass Filter |
| ADC | Analog to Digital Converter |
| AFSK | Audio Frequency Shift Keying (Base band Modulation) |
| APRS | Automatic Packet Reporting System |
| ATiny45 | Microcontroller/microprocessor |
| ATiny85 | Microcontroller/microprocessor |
| AVR | Atmel low power, high performance microcontroller |
| BOM | Bill of Materials - a list of the materials and quantities required to build/construct a kit |
| BPF | Band Pass Filter - a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects (attenuate s) frequencies outside that range |
| CD | Compact Disk media format and form factor |
| CFGSR | Software to program the Si570 using a USB interface |
| Codec | A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec an abbreviation for 'compressor-decompressor' or, more commonly, 'coder-decoder'. A codec (the program or device) should not be confused with a coding or compression format or standard – a format is a document (the standard), a way of storing data, while a codec is a program (an implementation) which can read or write such files. In practice "codec" is sometimes used loosely to refer to formats, however. |
| DAC | Digital to Analog Converter |
| DDS | Direct Digital Sampling |
| DFU | Device Firmware Update |
| DIL | Dual In-line circuit |
| Dimension 4 | Software for Microsoft Windows that synchs PC time to internet time at chosen intervals (important to programs such as WSPR) |
| DIPS | Dual In-line Package |
| DLL | dynamic linked library (Microsoft program support) |
| DMM | Digital Multi-Meter |
| DOS | Disk Based Operating System for Personal Computers |
| Dragon | an FPGA development board that plugs into a PCI and/or USB port |
| Dream | Open-source application to run DRM |
| DRM | Digital Radio Mondaile a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies used for AM HF; Digital Rights Management |
| DSP | Digital Signal Processing |
| DttSP | Linux based SDR management software |
| EIA | Electronics Industries Alliance (Standards) |
| EMI | Electro-Magnetic Interference |
| EMU0202 | Creative Labs Sound Card for PCs |
| EVK | Alereon Ultraband prototype development platform |
| FCC | US Federal Communication Commission |
| FCC-1 | Frequency Meter kit from the Northern California QRP Club |
| FEC | Forward Error Correction |
| FELD HELL | Facsimile protocol for HF images (AKA "HellSchreiber") |
| FET | Field Effect Transistor |
| FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array |
| FSK | Frequency Shift Keying |
| HEX | hexadecimal numerical presentation. Also used to describe a file of computer instructions in hexadecimal notation. |
| HID | Human Interface Device |
| HRD | Ham Radio Deluxe |
| HVS | High Voltage Serial (has something to do with programming Atiny AVR processors) |
| I,Q | Signals used in SDR. The I (in-phase) and Q (quadrature) signals are identical in all respects except phase (there is 90 degree phase difference between them - "quadrature") |
| I2C | (Inter-IC) bus is a bi-directional two-wire serial bus |
| IC | Integrated Circuit |
| ICE | In Circuit Emulation (used to diagnose IC behavior) |
| IDC | Insulation Displacement Connector (e.g., ribbon cable D9 IDC) |
| IDC | Integrated Distribution Circuit |
| IF | Intermediate Frequency |
| ISP | In circuit serial programming (aka, In System Programming) |
| ISP | internet service provider |
| JTAG | Joint Test Action Group; Programmable Methods of Interface Testing; type of soldering technique |
| KGKSDR | M0KGK SDR Decoder Software |
| LCD | Liquid Crystal Display |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode |
| LO | Local Oscillator |
| LPT | (Line Print Terminal) Parallel Printer I/O port on PC |
| LVPECL | Low Voltage Positive Emitter Coupled Logic (associated with FPGA) |
| MCU | (Micro Controller Unit) Microcomputer on a chip; Motor Control Unit |
| MME | Software Application Programming Interface for managing audio streams (Introduced by Microsoft in 1991) |
| Mobo | The 9V1AL Motherboard (MoBo) is a plugin addition to the Softrock RxTx v. 6.3 transceiver kit |
| Panadapter | A device designed to operate with a search receiver to provide a visual presentation on an oscilloscope screen of a band of frequencies extending above and below the center frequency to which the search receiver is tuned. |
| PC | Personal Computer |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board |
| PCI | Personal Computer Interface (device I/O card form factor) |
| PIC | (Programmable Interface Controller) Microcontroller/microprocessor |
| PowerSDR | Flexradio’s software interface to their products and other SDRs. |
| PowerSdr-IQ | PowerSDR-IQ is a program for homebrew SDR designs. A variantof PowerSDR designed for use with homebrew IQ SDRs. Ported by Christos, SV1EIA |
| PowerSdr-SR40 | A variant of PowerSDR designed for use with the Softrock line of SDR radios. |
| PSDR | Programmable Software Defined Radio |
| PSK | Phase Shift Keying |
| PSK31 | Phase Shift Keying, 31 Baud developed by English amateur radio operator Peter Martinez (G3PLX) |
| QDE | Quadrature Direct Exciter |
| QRP | Low Power Communications |
| QSD | Quadrature Sampling Detector (the heart of an SDR receiver) |
| QSE | Quadrature Sampling Exciter (the TX opposite of RX QSD) |
| QUCS | Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (Open Source Unix/Linux program) |
| RTTY | Radio Teletype |
| RX | Receive |
| RXTX | Transceive (RX and TX in same radio) |
| SDR | Software Defined Radio |
| SDRDLL.dll | software routines to handle USB interfaces to software designed radios |
| SFDR | Spurious-free Dynamic Range |
| SI570 | ANY-RATE I2C PROGRAMMABLE XO/VCXO |
| SIL | Single In-Line |
| SIP | System In Package (multiple instances in a group) |
| SMD | Surface Mount Device |
| SMT | Surface Mount Technology |
| SSTV | Slow Scan Video over HF |
| SVN | Subversion Software Version Management System |
| TX | Transmit |
| UBW | USB Bit Wacker, An inexpensive board to expose USB signals to other home brew projects |
| UMDF | User Mode Driver Framework: device-driver development platform first introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, and is also available for Windows XP. It facilitates the creation of drivers for certain classes of devices. |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus I/O specification (computer interface port) |
| USRP | Universal Software Radio Peripheral (Open Source/Gnu FPGA Software Radio) |
| VAC | Virtual Audio Connection |
| VCO | Voltage Controlled Oscillator |
| VCXO | Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator |
| VDDIN | Input Voltage for Digital Devices |
| VDDIO | I/O Buffer for VDD |
| VFO | Variable Frequency Oscillator |
| VNA | Vector Network Analysis |
| WinRad | A windows software-defined radio program modeled on Leif, SM5BSZ's Linrad software. |
| WSPR | Weak Signal Propagation Reporter |
| XO/VCXO | Crystal Oscillator/Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator |
| Xtal | Crystal |
| ZIF | Zero Insertion Force (type of socket for ICs) |