Glossary

Active Infrared – Two piece systems with infrared transmitter and receiver and infrared beam. The beam is broken for a set period time and event recorded.

AMPS – the analog, first generation (1G) standard for mobile phone service. It uses radio frequencies in the 800 MHz frequency band and was first deployed in the US in 1983. It is still used in North America where there is no GSM coverage and in more than 35 other countries.

Analogue - The traditional means of communicating over a distance, via broadcast transmission or telephone wires. Today it is being replaced by digital broadcast and telephony, which can pack in much more information.

Argos - A satellite-based location and data collection system, which collects, processes and disseminates data from remote platforms (see PTT) worldwide. Argos was originally set up by French and US agencies and implemented in 1978, and is now used by over 300 organisations in 40 countries.

Bandwidth - The range of frequencies in a signal. In computing and networking, bandwidth is used to indicate the digital capacity of a particular link per second with typical measures being bits per second, kilobits per second etc. In other areas of telecommunications bandwidth refers to the amount of electromagnetic spectrum which a signal occupies and is expressed in Hertz (Hz) or KiloHertz (kHz).

Binary - The binary number system is a system where each digit can have one of two possible values, 0 or 1. Thus the number 5 would be expressed as 101 in binary notation (i.e. 1x4 + 0x2 + 1x1).

Bioinformatics - Research, development, or application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological (or medical, behavioural or health) data, including those to acquire, store, organise, archive, analyse, or visualise such data.

Bluetooth - A technology standard enabling low-cost short-range radio links between mobile devices such as laptop computers, mobile phones etc. Such devices can be brought together in a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) or Piconet. See also WiFi.

Broadband - This refers to higher bandwidths, generally referring to data transmission speeds in excess of 1 Mbps (Megabits per second). Modem speeds run at up to 56 Kbps, and a single ISDN line at 64 Kbps. The higher capacity of broadband is seen by many as essential for sending video etc "down the wire" and for coping with large amounts of electronic traffic.

Byte - A group of 8 bits. Bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes are common measures of file size, memory and disk capacity.

CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access. A technology in which a radio signal is spread out using a pseudo-random code so that it occupies a wider bandwidth. Many signals can share the same band, each being distinguished by its own unique code.

CD ROM - Compact Disk Read Only Memory. This is a disc that stores electronic information to be read by a computer.

Channel - A channel of a GPS receiver consists of the circuitry necessary to receive the signal from a single GPS satellite. Typically GPS receiver units will have 12 for good positioning.

Database - Specialised software system used for managing highly structured data. Databases range from simple desktop systems to huge, multi-machine implementations.

DC – Battery power, direct current.

DGPS - Differential Global Positioning Systems. Accurate measurement of the relative positions of two receivers tracking the same GPS signals. A positional accuracy of better than 5 metres can be achieved.

Digital - A digital signal is made up of a sequence of digital numbers. Digital numbers can only have certain, discrete values (compared with analogue signals which can range over a continuity of values). Analogue signals can be represented by digital ones, incurring quantisation noise (due to the difference between the nearest digital value and the actual analogue value). However, this usually is more than compensated for by more accurate transmission and reproduction, as digital signals suffer far less from noise and distortion effects

Domain name - Usually means the first part of a web address, e.g. www.page.com. Domains also include private networks and e-mail servers.

Doppler shift - Physical phenomenon occurring when an observer and a source of acoustic or electromagnetic vibration are moving relative to each other. It produces a variation in frequency of the wave received by the observer. This frequency increases or decreases according to whether the observer and the source are moving closer together or further apart. In the Argos system, the Doppler shift is used too locate platforms.

Download - Accessing files over networks involves "downloading" then to your PC, disc drive or a part of your network. Web pages and the images or other files they contain are downloaded to your browser over the Internet or intranet, where they can be viewed as temporary files or saved.

DVD - Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc. Generally seen as the successor to CDs, CD-ROMs and video-tapes, DVDs can hold huge amounts of information, e.g. a couple of feature films. They can be used in computers, or played through a DVD player into a TV and/sound system. Unlike video tapes, users will be able to jump into films at various points, and access additional information, or have different language versions etc.

EDGE - (2.75G) boosts data speeds (approximately 100-200kbs)

Email - Electronic mail

Ephemeris - The predictions of current satellite position that are transmitted to the user in the data message.

ESP radios – Extensible Sensor Platform radios. This is the merging of sensors and Software Defined Radio (SDR). The sensor’s SDR adapts to match available radio receiver.

Ethernet - The most popular LAN protocol

Extranet - A kind of halfway house between the Internet and an intranet. In essence an extranet is a secure shared network using Internet technologies. So it extends an information network beyond an organisation's boundaries, but only to agreed partners and within agreed parameters. There are numerous models for achieving this.

FCC - Federal Communication Commission. The US government organisation responsible for telecommunications administration.

Firewall - A software, hardware or combined software/hardware system used to guard interconnect points between private networks and public networks. Firewalls monitor data traffic and can prevent potential security breaches, whilst allowing trusted or harmless data in and out.

FM – Frequency modulation

GIS - Geographical Information System. A software database used to store and manipulate spatial data

GPRS - Global Packet Radio Service. GSM data transmission technique that does not set up a continuous channel, but transmits and receives data in packets. Very efficient use of available radio spectrum. Only pay for amount of information you download rather than duration of the connection.

GPS - Global Positioning System. GPS is based on a network of transmitting US military NAVSTAR satellites. Commercially available handsets act as receivers and can identify their current location to high accuracies, typically better than 15 metres.

GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications. Originally developed as a pan-European standard for digital mobile telephony, GSM has become the world's most widely used mobile system.

GSM Telemetry - The remote measurement or collection of data where the information is transmitted using the GSM mobile phone network.

GUI – Graphical User Interface (GIS term).

Hardware - The physical parts of a computer or computer system – e.g. the disk drive, the memory chips, the network hubs etc.

HF Radio – High Frequency (HF) radio frequencies are between 3 and 30MHz. This range is often called shortwave.

HSDPA – High Speed Datalink Packet Access.

HTML - Hypertext Mark-up Language. This is the basic coding language for writing web pages. It is based on having <tags> around the contents of the page which give information to your browser, telling it how to display the information, and providing links to other information.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

ICT - Information and Communication Technologies.

Internet - The world-wide "network of networks" used for email, web publishing and increasingly for broadcast and telephony.

Intranet - An intranet is a network using Internet technologies for internal communication and work processes within an organisation. The great advantage, apart from dynamically sharing information, is that the browser can provide a common interface to all applications, allowing the linking together of many different systems.

Ionosphere - The band of charged particles 80 to 120 miles above the Earth's surface.

ISDN -Integrated Services Digital Network. A service provided by telecoms operators providing end-to-end digital links - giving users greater bandwidth and faster call setup times. The faster transmission is particularly useful for applications requiring high bandwidth e.g. transmission of detailed graphics, video conferencing etc.

IP - Internet Protocol. Commonly acknowledged as the key protocol behind the internet IP is only one of a number of protocols which made the internet viable.

ISP - Internet Service Provider. An organisation which provides a user with access to the Internet, in return for a monthly fee or at no charge, and hosts web sites for other users to access.

LAN - Local Area Network: LANs connect computers and associated devices in relatively close proximity, allowing them to share files, applications, etc. at relatively high speed.

Location Based Services - Services based on or deriving added value from position information.

Microwave - Part of the electromagnetic spectrum between radio and light waves, microwaves can be used to transmit data from point to point. Often used to connect sites separated by a road or river, microwave links are also used to provide long distance links by telecoms network providers.

Modem - Short for “modulator-demodulator”. This is a device that connects the computer to telephone networks to access remote computers and online services. It can be external to the computer, but most modern computers have a modem built in.

Multimedia - The use of audio, video, animation and graphics alongside more traditional text based information.

Operating system - The term applied to the software which provides the majority of services when a computer is running – memory management, input (keyboard/mouse) handling, output (screen and printer) etc. Examples include MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Unix.

Packet Radio – Method of transmitting and receiving voice, video or other information and data which can be expressed in digital form (1s and 0s) is series of data packets using RF communications equipment.

Passive Infrared – one piece systems: detect presence of body heat and motion. Both required to cause event and many types of animal recorded.

PIT tag – Passive Integrated Transponder tags. Microchip ID tags for permanent ID. Requires reader to read electromagnetic code. Passive so no current required. Two systems, Trojan and Destron.

PAT tag – Pop- up Archival Tags. Record information on depth, temperature and light levels. Detach at pre-programmed date and float to the surface to transmit data via satellite.

PAN - Personal Area Network - a concept on the lines of LANs and WANs. It's the kind of network which enables the electronic devices on and around a person to communicate with each other, e.g. using the Bluetooth standard.

PDA - Personal Digital Assistant. Originally a hand-held computing device. They are now increasingly being linked to or incorporated to a wireless communications device.

POSIX- Portable Operating System Interface, the open operating interface standard accepted world-wide.

PPS - Precise Positioning Service. The most accurate dynamic positioning possible with standard GPS, based on the dual frequency P-code and no SA.

Pseudo random code - A signal with random noise-like properties. It is a very complicated but repeating pattern of 1's and O's.

PTT - Platform Transmitter Terminals. A transmitter which sends radio signals to the Argos satellite system. Used in satellite telemetry to determine the precise positions of objects, to allow them to be tracked.

RFID – Radio Frequency Identification: automatic ID method. Contains silicon chips and antennas to receive and respond to radio frequency queries from RFID transceiver. Passive tags require no internal power source and active tags require power source.

RASTER Image – series of scan lines of pixel/picture element cells- renders an image. The lines forming the frame of the video form a roster.

Remote access - Refers to a user being able to access their organisation's network or collect data using ICT, from any or from a designated location off site.

Satellite constellation - The arrangement in space of a set of satellites.

Sensor - A measuring instrument which converts a physical quantity, e.g. a pressure or temperature, or wind speed and direction, into an electrical signal.

SA - Selective Availability. A policy adopted by the Department of Defense to introduce some intentional clock noise into the GPS satellite signals thereby degrading their accuracy for civilian users. This policy was discontinued as of May 1, 2000 and now SA is turned off.

Server - A server is an element on the network which holds information or applications to be accessed by users of the network. The main types of server you are likely to encounter are: file servers - where electronic files such as documents are stored for shared access; application server - where software programmes are held to be downloaded by users when they need them, rather than being installed on every PC; database server - where information is held in a database or databases for shared access; web server - where web pages for an intranet, extranet or Internet website are "hosted".

SMS - Short Message Service. Available on digital networks allowing messages of up to 160 characters to be sent and received via the network operator's message centre to your mobile phone.

SPOT tags – Smart Positioner or Temperature Transmitting tags. Aerial, and transmit to satellite wheneve dorsal fin breaks surface, giving almost real time data. They are more sophisticated than PAT tags but harder to attach.

SPOT satellites – Satellite Earth Observation System, can be programmed to target client specific areas of interest.

SPS - Standard Positioning Service. The normal civilian positioning accuracy obtained by using the single frequency C/A code.

SIM – Subscriber Identity Model

Teleconferencing - Holding a "virtual" conference with participants in different locations, either via telephone (audio - conferencing) or video (video - conferencing).

Telemetry – The transmission of information through the atmosphere, usually by radio waves.

Thin Client- In client/server applications a client designed to be especially small so that the bulk of data processing occurs on the server. A fat client uses a disk drive, whereas a thin client is a networked computer without a hard disk drive.

Third Generation (3G) - a term applied to the next generation of mobile telephony which will offer much higher bandwidth and allow video, gaming and other multimedia applications. They are also known as UMTs. The first two generations of mobile telephony were Analogue and GSM.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. Otherwise know as an Internet address

VECTOR image – A graphic image with curves and lines defined by math and formulae. Adobe illustrators, Macromedia Freehand and AutoCAD work with vector graphics. Can be scaled up without losing quality. Exported to be bitmap images for web use.

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) - Telephony over the Internet. Using your computer and the IP networks, you can speak to others similarly connected. The advantage is cost - it's much cheaper, especially for long-distance calls. The disadvantages are (at the moment) quality, which is less than plain old telephony, and that you don't have full access to the global telephony networks.

VHF - Very High Frequency, 30-300 Mhz.

WAN - Wide Area Network. A network or individual links which connect smaller localised networks and system.

WAP - Wireless Application Protocol. Lightweight protocol optimised to carry internet data across wireless networks

WAAS - Wide Area Augmentation System. A system of satellites and ground systems that provide GPS signal corrections, and better positional accuracy. Accuracy of better than three metres can be achieved.

WCDMA - Wideband CDMA. 3G CDMA technology forming the basis of the 3GPP mobile wireless standard

WiFi - Wireless Fidelity. WiFi enabled devices link together without cables to form wireless local area networks. This has great significance for flexible work and the office of the future. See also Bluetooth.

WWW - World Wide Web. The sum total of pages published by users of the Internet. The web is characterised by the ability to jump using "hyperlinks" from page to page in the same "website" or to any other designated page on any site in the Web.