Electrical, Mechanical, and Thermal Specification
Glossary-9
Intel PXA270 Processor
Glossary
OFDM
: See Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing:
A special form of multi-carrier modulation. In a multi-path
channel, most conventional modulation techniques are sensitive to inter-symbol interference unless the channel
symbol rate is small compared to the delay spread of the channel. OFDM is significantly less sensitive to
inter-symbol interference, because a special set of signals is used to build the composite transmitted signal. The
basic idea is that each bit occupies a frequency-time window that ensures little or no distortion of the waveform. In
practice, it means that bits are transmitted in parallel over a number of frequency-nonselective channels.
Packet:
A bundle of data organized in a group for transmission. Packets typically contain three elements: control
information (for example, source, destination, and length), the data to be transferred, and error detection and
correction bits. Packet data is the basis for packet-switched networks, which eliminate the need to dial-in to send or
receive information, because they are “always on.”
Packet Buffer:
The logical buffer used by a USB device for sending or receiving a single packet. This determines
the maximum packet size the device can send or receive.
Packet ID (PID):
A field in a USB packet that indicates the type of packet, and by inference, the format of the
packet and the type of error detection applied to the packet.
Packet Switched Network:
Networks that transfer packets of data.
PCMCIA
: Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association (PC Card)
PCS:
Personal Communications services. An alternative to cellular, PCD works like cellular technology because it
sends calls from transmitter to transmitter as a caller moves. But PCS uses its own network, not a cellular network,
and offers fewer “blind spots” than cellular, where calls are not available. PCS transmitters are generally closer
together than their cellular counterparts.
PDA
: Personal Digital Assistant. A mobile handheld device that gives users access to text-based information. Users
can synchronize their PDAs with a PC or network; some models support wireless communication to retrieve and
send e-mail and get information from the Internet.
Phase:
A token, data, or handshake packet. A transaction has three phases.
Phase Locked Loop
(PLL): A circuit that acts as a phase detector to keep an oscillator in phase with an incoming
frequency.
Physical Device:
A device that has a physical implementation; for example, speakers, microphones, and CD
players.
PID:
See Packet ID or Process ID.
PIO
: Programmed input/output
Pipe:
A logical abstraction representing the association between an endpoint on a device and software on the host.
A pipe has several attributes; for example, a pipe may transfer data as streams (stream pipe) or messages (message
pipe). See also
stream pipe and message pipe
.
PLL:
See Phase Locked Loop.
PM
: Phase Modulation.
Polling:
Asking multiple devices, one at a time, if they have any data to transmit.
POR:
See Power On Reset.