About the Acronym Guide category

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ACRONYM	MEANING	DEFINITION
1xEV-DO	1x Evolution for Data Optimized	Evolution-Data Optimized is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access.
3GPP	Third Generation Partnership Project	The 3GPP is a standards body that works within the scope of the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) to develop 3rd (and future) generation wireless technologies that build upon the base provided by GSM (Global System of Mobile Communications). The group is responsible for the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard, as well as HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access), HSPA+ (Evolved High Speed Packet Access), and LTE.
3GPP2	Third Generation Partnership Project 2	The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 is a collaboration between telecommunications associations to make a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification within the scope of the ITU’s (International Telecommunications Union) IMT-2000 project.
4G	Fourth Generation Wireless Systems	4G is a mobile communications standard intended to replace 3G, allowing wireless Internet access at a much higher speed.
AAA	Authentication, Authorization and Accounting	Authentication , authorization, and accounting is a term for a framework for intelligently controlling access to computer resources, enforcing policies, auditing usage, and providing the information necessary to bill for services.
AC	Authentication Center	The Authentication Center validates any security information management (SIM) card attempting network connection when there is a live network signal.
ACK	Acknowledge or Acknowledgement	A flag used in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to acknowledge receipt of a data packet.
AM	Acknowledged Mode	Acknowledged mode requires that a receiver of information to continuously send indications to the sender that indicate it has successfully received information.
AMBR	Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate	The Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate is the maximum possible bit rate configured by the LTE operator for a particular LTE user .
AMC	Adaptive Modulation and Coding	Adaptive modulation and coding is used to denote the matching of themodulation, coding and other signal and protocol parameters to the conditions on the radio link.
AN	Access Network	An access network is the part of a telecommunications network which connects subscribers to their immediate service provider.
APN	Access Point Name	An Access Point Name is a gateway between a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications ), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), 3G or 4G mobile network and another computer network, frequently the public Internet.
ARP	Address Resolution Protocol	The Address Resolution Protocol is a telecommunication protocol used for resolution of Internet layer addresses into link layer addresses, a critical function in multiple-access networks.
ARQ	Automatic Repeat reQuest	Automatic Repeat reQuest is an error-control method for data transmission that uses acknowledgements and timeouts to achieve reliable data transmission over an unreliable service.
AS	<Access Stratum	The access stratum is a functional layer in the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and LTE wireless telecom protocol stacks between radio network and user equipment.
AS	Application Server	An application server is a component-based product that resides in the middle-tier of a server centric architecture. It provides middleware services for security and state maintenance, along with data access and persistence.
BCCH	Broadcast Control Channel	The Broadcast Control Channel is a logical broadcast channel used by the base station in a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network to send information about the identity of the network. This information is used by a mobile station to get access to the network.
BCH	Broadcast Channel	A Broadcast Channel is a downlink channel in a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) system that is used by the base stations to provide signaling information to the mobile stations.
BER	Bit Error Rate	The bit error rate is the percentage of bits that have errors relative to the total number of bits received in a transmission, usually expressed as ten to a negative power.
BLER	Block Error Rate	Block Error Rate is used in LTE/4G technology to know the in-sync or out-of-sync indication during radio link monitoring.
BPSK	Binary Phase Shift Keying	Binary Phase – shift keying is a digital modulation scheme that conveys data by changing, or modulating, two different phases of a reference signal (the carrier wave).
BW	Bandwidth	Bandwidth is the range of frequencies within a given band, in particular that used for transmitting a signal.
C-RNTI	Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity	Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity is a unique temporary identification used for identifying RRC (Radio Resource Control) Connection and scheduling which is dedicated to a particular UE.
CDMA	Code Division Multiple Access	Code Division Multiple Access is an example of where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communication channel.
CE	Customer Edge	The customer edge is the router at the customer premises that is connected to the provider edge of a service provider IP/MPLS network.
CFI	Channel Format Indicator	In LTE, the Channel Format Indicator value defines the time span, in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, of the Physical Downlink Control Channel transmission (the control region) for a particular downlink subframe.
CINR	Carrier to Interference plus Noise Ratio	The CINR is a measurement of multiple subcarriers; it reflects the carrier quality of the LTE system.
CN	Core Network	A core network is the central part of a telecommunications network that provides various services to customers who are connected by the access network.
CoA	Care Of Address	The care-of address identifies a mobile node’s current point of attachment to the Internet and makes it possible to connect from a different location without changing the device’s home address.
CP	Cyclic Prefix	Cyclic prefix refers to the prefixing of a symbol with a repetition of the end. As a guard interval, it eliminates the intersymbol interference from the previous symbol.
CQI	Channel Quality Indicator	Channel Quality Indicator is an indicator carrying the information on how good/bad the communication channel quality is.
CRC	Cyclic Redundancy Check	A cyclic redundancy check is an error-detecting code commonly used in digital networks and storage devices to detect accidental changes to raw data.
CS	Circuit-Switched	Circuit-switched is a type of network in which a physical path is obtained for and dedicated to a single connection between two end-points in the network for the duration of the connection.
CS-CN	Circuit Switched Core Network	In a circuit switched core network , the bit delay is constant during a connection. No circuit can be degraded by competing users because it is protected from use by other users until the circuit is released and a new connection is set up.
CSCF	Call Session Control Function	The Call Session Control Function is responsible for the signaling controlling the communication of IMS User Equipment (UE) with IMS (Instant Messaging Service) enhanced services across different network accesses and domains.
CSI	Channel State Information	Channel state information refers to known channel properties of a communication link. This information describes how a signal propagates from the transmitter to the receiver.
DCCH	Dedicated Control Channel	The dedicated control channel is a single timeslot on an RF (Radio Frequency) carrier that is used to convey eight Stand-alone dedicated control channels.
DCI	Downlink Control Information	Downlink Control Information in LTE is based upon a process that is defined as a blind decoding which depends on a number of decoding attempts on a number of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidate locations for a number of defined DCI formats.
DFT	Discrete Fourier Transform	The discrete Fourier transform converts a finite sequence of equally-spaced samples of a radio signal into an equivalent-length sequence of equally-spaced samples of the discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT), which is a complex-valued function of frequency.
DHCP	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network protocol that enables a server to automatically assign an IP address to a computer from a defined range of numbers configured for a given network.
DL	Downlink	A downlink is the link from a base station to one or more receivers.
DL-SCH	Downlink Shared Channel	The Downlink Shared Channel is the main data bearing channel which is allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis.
DRA	Dynamic Resource Allocation	Dynamic Resource Allocation is an essential technique to exploit the time-space- frequency variation in wireless channels by adaptively distributing precious radio resources, such as spectrum and power, to either maximize or minimize the network performance metrics.
DRX	Discontinuous Reception	Discontinuous reception is a method used in communications to conserve energy use. The UE and the network negotiate phases in which data transfer occurs. During other times the device enters a low power state.
DS	Direct Spread	Direct spread systems are such that they transmit the message bearing signals using a bandwidth that is in excess of the bandwidth that is actually needed by the message signal.
DSCP	Differentiated Service Code Point	Differentiated Services Code Point is a field in an IP packet that enables different levels of service to be assigned to network traffic. This is achieved by marking each packet on the network with a DSCP code and appropriating to it the corresponding level of service.
DTCH	Dedicated Traffic Channel	A dedicated traffic channel is an uplink or downlink communication channel that is only accessible by one device to transfer user data.
DTX	Discontinuous Transmission	Discontinuous transmission is a method of momentarily powering-down a wireless device when there is no data throughput.
E-UTRA	Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access	Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access is the air interface of 3GPP’s LTE upgrade path for networks.
E-UTRAN	Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network	E-UTRAN is the initialism of Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network and is the combination of E-UTRA, UEs and EnodeBs.
ECM	EPS Connection Management	Evolved packet system connection management is the process of identifying, setting up, controlling, and removing a transmission path between two or more points in the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) evolved packet system.
eNB	E-UTRAN Node B	In LTE the eNB acts as a base station that manages radio resources and mobility in the cell and sector to optimize all the UE’s communication in flat radio network structure.
EMM	EPS Mobility Management	Enterprise Mobility Management is the set of people, processes and technology focused on managing devices, wireless networks, and other computing services in a business context.
EPC	Evolved Packet Core	Evolved Packet Core is a framework for providing converged voice and data on a 4G LTE network.
EPS	Evolved Packet System	Evolved packet system is the central network portion of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) LTE mobile communication system. The packet system primarily transfers packet data between edge networks and the radio access network.
ESP	Encapsulating Security Payload	An Encapsulating Security Payload is a protocol within the IPSec for providing authentication, integrity and confidentially of network packets data/payload in IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
EUTRAN	Evolved UTRAN	Evolved UTRAN is the initialism of Evolved UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Terrestrial Radio Access Network and is the combination of E-UTRA, UEs and EnodeBs.
EV-DO	Evolution for Data Optimized	Evolution-Data Optimized is the 3G telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access.
FA	Foreign Agent	A foreign agent is a router serving as a mobility agent for a mobile node.
FDD	Frequency Division Duplex	Frequency – division duplexing is a method for establishing a full-duplex communications link that uses two different radio frequencies for transmitter and receiver operation.
FDM	Frequency Division Multiplexing	Frequency division multiplexing is a technique for sending two or more signals over the same radio channel. Each signal is transmitted as a unique range of frequencies within the bandwidth of the channel as a whole, enabling several signals to be transmitted simultaneously.
FDMA	Frequency Division Multiple Access	Frequency division multiple access is a channel access method used in multiple-access protocols as a channelization protocol. FDMA gives users an individual allocation of one or several frequency bands, or channels.
FEC	Forward Error Correction	Forward error correction is a method of obtaining error control in data transmission in which the source (transmitter) sends redundant data and the destination (receiver) recognizes only the portion of the data that contains no apparent errors.
FFT	Fast Fourier Transform	The fast Fourier transform is a mathematical method for transforming a function of time into a function of frequency. Sometimes it is described as transforming from the time domain to the frequency domain.
FMC	Fixed Mobile Convergence	Fixed – mobile convergence is the trend towards seamless connectivity between fixed and wireless telecommunications networks.
GBR	Guaranteed Bit Rate	Guaranteed Bit Rate is the minimum bit rate requested by an application. In LTE, minimum GBR bearers and non-GBR bearers may be provided.
GGSN	Gateway GPRS Support Node	A Gateway GPRS Support Node is part of the core network that connects GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) -based 3G networks to the Internet.
GI	Guard Interval	Guard intervals are used to ensure that distinct transmissions do not interfere with one another. These transmissions may belong to different users (as in TDMA) or to the same user (as in OFDM).
GP	Guard Period	In TDMA (Time Division Multiplexed Access), each user’s timeslot ends with a guard period , to avoid data loss and to reduce interference to the following user, caused by propagation delay. Thus a user’s timeslot is protected from interference from the preceding user.
GPRS	General Packet Radio Service	General Packet Radio Service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system’s global system for mobile communications (GSM).
GUTI	Globally unique Temporary UE identity	Glovally unique temporary UE identity is allocated to the UE by the MME (Mobility Management Entity) and has two components. These are the GUMMEI (Globally Unique MME Identity) and the M-TMSI. While the GUMMEI identifies the MME, the M-TMSI identifies the UE within the MME.
GUMMEI	Globally Unique MME Identity	The Globally Unique MME Identifier is constructed from the MCC, MNC and MME Identifier (MMEI).
GT	Guard Time	Guard time is the interval left vacant on a transmission channel that can be used for synchronization and/or compensating for a signal distortion.
GTP	GPRS Tunneling Protocol	GPRS Tunneling Protocol is a group of IP-based communications protocols used to carry general packet radio service (GPRS) within GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and LTE networks.
GTP-U	GTP User plane	GTP User plane is used for carrying user data within the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) core network and between the radio access network and the core network.
GW	Gateway	Gateway refers to a piece of networking hardware that has the following meaning : In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols.
H-FDD	Half-Frequency Division Duplex	Half-Frequency Division Duplex requires that two communication parties take turns transmitting data over two seperate frequency bands or channels.
HA	Home Agent	A home agent is a router on a mobile node’s home network that maintains information about the device’s current location, as identified in its care-of address.
H-ARQ	Hybrid ARQ	Hybrid automatic repeat request ( hybrid ARQ ) is a combination of high-rate forward error-correcting coding and ARQ error-control. In standard ARQ, redundant bits are added to data to be transmitted using an error-detecting code such as a cyclic redundancy check.
HDTV	Hi Definition TV	HDTV is a television display technology that provides picture quality similar to 35 mm.
HLR	Home Location Register	The Home Location Register is the main database of permanent subscriber information for a network. The HLR is an integral component of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiplexed Access), and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks.
HO	Handover	Handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel.
HPLMN	Home PLMN	The Home Public Land Mobile Network identifies the PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) in which the subscribers profile is held. Users roaming to other networks will receive subscription information from the HPLMN.
HSDPA	High Speed Downlink Packet Access	High-Speed Downlink Packet Access is an enhanced 3G communications protocol which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data speeds.
HSPA	High Speed Packet Access	High Speed Packet Access is a telecom technology that allows for data transmission speeds up to 21 Mbps. HSPA+ (also called Evolved HSPA or 4G) is a further evolution of HSPA that offers data speeds of up to 42 Mbps.
HSS	Home Subscriber Server	The Home Subscriber Server is the master user database that supports IMS network entities that handles data sessions.
HSUPA	High Speed Uplink Packet Access	High Speed Packet Access is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunication networks utilizing the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) protocols.
ICI	Inter-Carrier Interference	Intercarrier Interference is an impairment well known to degrade performance of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmissions. It arises from carrier frequency offsets (CFOs), from the Doppler spread due to channel time-variation and, to a lesser extent, from sampling frequency offsets (SFOs).
ICIC	Inter-cell Interference Coordination	Inter – Cell Interference Coordination techniques, present a solution by applying restrictions to the radio resource management (RRM) block, improving favorable channel conditions across subsets of users that are severely impacted by the interference, and thus attaining high spectral efficiency.
IDFT	Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform	An inverse discrete Fourier transform is a Fourier series, using the DTFT samples as coefficients of complex sinusoids at the corresponding DTFT frequencies. It has the same sample-values as the original input sequence.
IEEE	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers	The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer ) describes itself as “the world’s largest technical professional society – promoting the development and application of electrotechnology and allied sciences for the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession, and the well-being of our members.”
IETF	Internet Engineering Task Force	The Internet Engineering Task Force is the body that defines standard Internet operating protocols such as TCP/IP.
IFFT	Inverse Fast Fourier Transform	A fast Fourier transform algorithm computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a sequence, or its inverse.
IMEI	International Mobile Equipment Identity	International Mobile Equipment Identity is a 15- or 17-digit code that uniquely identifies mobile phone sets.
IMS	IP Multimedia Subsystem	The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services.
IMSI	International Mobile Subscriber Identity	The International Mobile Subscriber Identity is used to identify the user of a cellular network and is a unique identification associated with all cellular networks.
IMT	International Mobile Telecommunication	International Mobile Telecommunications are requirements issued by the ITU-R of the International Telecommunication Union in 2008 for what is marketed as 4G mobile phone and Internet access service.
IN	Intelligent Networks	Intelligent Network is a telephone network architecture in which the service logic for a call is located separately from the switching facilities, allowing services to be added or changed without having to redesign switching equipment.
IP	Internet Protocol	Internet Protocol is the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.
IPSec	Internet Protocol Security	Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for secure Internet Protocol communications that works by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session.
IPv4	Internet Protocol version 4	Internet Protocol Version 4 is the fourth revision of the IP and a widely used protocol in data communication over different kinds of networks. IPv4 is a connectionless protocol used in packet-switched layer networks, such as Ethernet.
ISI	Inter-Symbol Interference	Inter-symbol Interference is a form of distortion of a signal in which one symbol interferes with subsequent symbols. This is an unwanted phenomenon as the previous symbols have similar effect as noise, thus making the communication less reliable.
ISUP	ISDN Signaling User Part	ISDN Signaling User Part is the protocol used to support the signaling necessary to provide voice and non-voice services in telephone communications. It is an extension of SS7 (Signaling System 7), used as the interface protocol for voice and data within, and for ingression or egression to/from the Public Switched Telephone Network.
ITU	International Telecommunication Union	The International Telecommunication Union is an agency of the United Nations whose purpose is to coordinate telecommunication operations and services throughout the world.
kbps	kilo-bits per second	In the U.S., Kbps stands for kilobits per second (thousands of bits per second) and is a measure of bandwidth on a data transmission medium.
KHz	Kilo Hertz	Kilohertz are a measure of frequency equivalent to 1,000 cycles per second.
L1	Layer 1 (physical layer)	In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, the physical layer or layer 1 is the first and lowest layer. The physical layer defines the means of transmitting raw bits rather than logical data packets over a physical link connecting network nodes.
L2	Layer 2 (data layer)	The data link layer or layer 2 is the second layer of the seven-layer OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model of computer networking. This layer is the protocol layer that transfers data between adjacent network nodes in a wide area network or between nodes on the same local area network segment.
L3	Layer 3 (network layer)	The network layer or layer 3 is the third layer of the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking. This layer is responsible for packet forwarding including routing through intermediate routers, since it knows the address of neighboring network nodes, and it also manages quality of service, and recognizes and forwards local host domain messages.
LB	Load Balancing	In computing, load balancing distributes workloads across multiple computing resources, such as computers, a computer cluster, network links, central processing units or disk drives. Load balancing aims to optimize resource use, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload of any single resource.
LCR	Low Chip Rate	UTRA TDD 1.28 mcps low chip rate (UTRA-TDD LCR) is an air interface found in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) mobile telecommunications networks in China as an alternative to W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access).
LI	Lawful Intercept	Lawful interception is obtaining communications network data pursuant to lawful authority for the purpose of analysis or evidence. Such data generally consist of signalling or network management information or, in fewer instances, the content of the communications.
LTE	Long-Term Evolution	Long-Term Evolution is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements. The standard is developed by the 3GPP and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with minor enhancements described in Release 9.
MAC	Medium Access Control	In the IEEE 802 reference model of computer networking, the medium access control or media access control layer is the lower sublayer of the data link layer (layer 2) of the seven-layer OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model.
MAC	Message Authentication Code	The m essage authentication code is used to authenticate devices based on their physical MAC addresses. It is an early form of filtering. MAC authentication requires that the MAC address of a machine must match a manually defined list of addresses.
MBMS	Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service	Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services is a point-to-multipoint interface specification for existing and upcoming 3GPP cellular networks, which is designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast and multicast services, both within a cell as well as within the core network.
MBR	Maximum Bit Rate	The maximum bit rate is the maximum number of bits that can be conveyed or processed per unit of time.
MBSFN	MBMS Single Frequency Network	MBMS Single Frequency Network is a transmission mode which exploits LTE’s OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) radio interface to send multicast or broadcast data as a multicell transmission over a synchronized single-frequency network.
MCCH	Multicast Control Channel	The Multicast control channel is a sublayer of layer 2 protocol of Radio Interface Protocol Architecture as per BMC-STD. It exists in the user plane only. It is located above the Radio Link Control, a layer 2 responsible for mapping logical channels.
MCH	Multicast Channel	A multicast channel (one-to-many or many-to-many distribution) is a group communication where information is addressed to a group of destination computers simultaneously.
MCM	Multi-Carrier Modulation	Multi – carrier modulation is a method of transmitting data by splitting it into several components, and sending each of these components over separate carrier signals. The individual carriers have narrow bandwidth, but the composite signal can have broad bandwidth.
ME	Mobile Equipment	Mobile equipment is the device that the customer uses to originate and receive calls in a wireless network, or a radio terminal used for radio communication over the Um interface.
MGCF	Media Gateway Control Function	Media Gateway Controller Function controls the resources in Media Gateways with an H.248 interface.
MGW	Media Gateway	A media gateway is a translation device or service that converts media streams between disparate telecommunications technologies such as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), SS7 (Signaling System 7), Next Generation Networks (2G, 2.5G and 3G radio access networks) or private branch exchange (PBX) systems.
MHz	Megahertz	A megahertz is one million hertz, as a measure of the frequency of radio transmissions or the clock speed of a computer.
MIB	Master Information Block	Master Information Block is a very important message or information that is broadcasted by the LTE eNodeB irrespective of any users presence. The MIB (Management Information Base) is first among the other system information blocks or SIB, which are also broadcasted by the eNodeB.
MIMO	Multiple Input Multiple Output	MIMO is an antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at both the source and the destination. The antennas at each end of the communications circuit are combined to minimize errors and optimize data speed.
MIP	Mobile IP	Mobile IP is an Internet Engineering Task Force standard communications protocol that is designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while maintaining a permanent IP address.
MISO	Multiple Input Single Output	MISO is an antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at the source. The antennas are combined to minimize errors and optimize data speed.
MMD	Multimedia Domain	Multimedia Domain is essentially a version of 3GPP IMS architecture that has been adapted by 3GPP2. In CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, the terms IMS and MMD (Maximum-Minimum Distance) are often used interchangeably even though, technically, IMS is a subset of MMD.
MME	Mobility Management Entity	LTE Mobility Management Entity is responsible for initiating paging and authentication of the mobile devices.
MMEGI	MME Group Identity	A group of MMEs is assigned an MME Group Identity which works along with MMEC to make MME identifier (MMEI). A MMEI uniquely identifies the MME within a particular network.
MMS	Multimedia Messaging Service	Multimedia Messaging Service is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content over a network.
MS	Mobile Station	A mobile station comprises all user equipment and software needed for communication with a mobile network. The term refers to the global system connected to the network.
MSC	Mobile Switching Center	The mobile switching center is a 2G core network element which controls the network switching subsystem elements. Alternatively or adaptively, MSS can be used in GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks as well, if the manufacturer has implemented support for GSM networks in the MSS.
MTCH	MBMS Traffic Channel	MBMS traffice channels are the channels used to transport multimedia content from one device to another.
NACK	Negative ACK	Negative acknowledgment is a signal used in digital communications to ensure that data is received with a minimum of errors. Sometimes the NACK (Negative Acknowledgement) signal is called REJ (for rejection or rejected).
NAS	Non-Access Stratum	Non – access stratum is a functional layer in the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and LTE wireless telecom protocol stacks between the core network and user equipment. This layer is used to manage the establishment of communication sessions and for maintaining continuous communications with the user equipment as it moves.
NBM	Network Based Mobility	An alternate from host based mobility, network based mobility requires no localized mobility management support on the mobile nodes and is independent of global mobility management protocol, resulting in modular mobility management architechture.
OFDM	Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing	OFDM is a frequency – division multiplexing scheme used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of closely spaced orthogonal sub-carrier signals are used to carry data on several parallel data streams or channels.
OFDMA	Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access	Orthogonal Frequency – Division Multiple Access is a multi-user version of OFDM. Multiple access is achieved in OFDMA by assigning subsets of subcarriers to individual users.
OSS	Operations System Support	An operational support system is a set of programs that help a communications service provider monitor, control, analyze and manage a telephone or computer network.
P-GW	PDN Gateway	The Packet Data Network Gateway communicates with the outside world i.e. packet data networks PDN (Private Data Network), using SGi interface. Each packet data network is identified by an access point name.
P-SCH	Primary Synchronization Channel	The Primary Synchornization Channel is repeated at the beginning of each time slot and the same code is used by all the cells and enables the UE to detect the existence of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) cell and to synchronize itself on the time slot boundaries.
PAPR	Peak-to-Average Power Ratio	Peak-to-Average Power Ratio can be defined as the relationship between the maximum power of a sample in a transmit OFDM symbol and its average power.
PBCH	Physical Broadcast Channel	The Physical Broadcast Channel carries system information for UEs requiring to access the network. It only carries what is termed Master Information Block, MIB, messages.
PCCH	Paging Control Channel	Paging Control Channel is a downlink channel that transfers paging information. This channel is used when the network does not know the location cell of the UE, or the UE is in the cell connected state but utilizing UE sleep mode procedures.
PCH	Paging Channel	The Paging Channel is the downlink transport channel in UMTS that carries the PCCH. It is used to broadcast paging and notification messages in a cell. The PCH is transported in the S-CCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel).
PCFICH	Physical Control Format Indicator Channel	The Physical Control Format Indicator Channel is one of the control channels that works at physical layer. It is used to dynamically indicate the number of symbols to be used for PDCCH.
PCRF	Policy and Charging Rule Function	Policy and Charging Rules Function is the software node designated in real-time to determine policy rules in a multimedia network.
PDCCH	Physical Dedicated Control Channel	The Physcial Dedicated Control Channel carries a message called DCI (Downlink Control Information) which includes resource assignments for a UE or group of UE’s.
PDCP	Packet Data Convergence Protocol	Packet Data Convergence Protocol is specified by the 3GPP in TS 25.323 for UMTS and TS 36.323 for LTE. The PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) is located in the Radio Protocol Stack in the UMTS and LTE Air interface on top of the RLC (Radio Link Control) layer.
PDN	Packet Data Network	The Packet Data Network is specified and identified by the APN (Access Point Name) to allow a mobile data user to communicate with the network.
PDP	Packet Data Protocol	Packet Data Protocol are network layer addresses (Open Standards Interconnect [OSI] model Layer 3). GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) systems support both X.25 and IP network layer protocols. Therefore, PDP addresses can be X.25, IP, or both.
PDP	Policy Decision Point	Policy Decision Point is a point which evaluates digital access requests against authorization policies before issuing access decisions.
PDSCH	Physical Downlink Shared Channel	The Physical Downlink Shared Channel is the main data bearing channel which is allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDCH is also used to transmit broadcast information not transmitted on the PBCH which include System Information Blocks (SIB) and paging & RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling messages.
PDU	Protocol Data Unit	A protocol data unit is information that is delivered as a unit among peer entities of a network and that may contain control information, such as address information, or user data.
PHICH	Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel	The Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel in the downlink carries Hybrid ARQ acknowledgements (ACK/NACK) for uplink data transfers. PHICHs are located in the first OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbol of each subframe.
PHY	Physical Layer	The physical layer is the first layer of the Open System Interconnection Model. The physical layer deals with bit-level transmission between different devices and supports electrical or mechanical interfaces connecting to the physical medium for synchronized communication.
PLMN	Public Land Mobile Network	A public land mobile network is any wireless communications system intended for use by terrestrial subscribers in vehicles or on foot. Such a system can stand alone, but often it is interconnected with a fixed system such as the public switched telephone network.
PMCH	Physical Multicast Channel	The physical multicast channel is a transmission channel that is used to transfer information from one source to one or more devices (multiple receiving points) that are operating within a radio coverage area. The PMCH carries the multicast channel (MCH).
PMIP	Proxy MIP	Proxy Mobile IPv6 (or PMIPv6, or PMIP) is a network-based mobility management protocol standardized by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and is specified in RFC 5213.
PN	Pseudo-random Noise	Pseudo random noise is a signal similar to noise which satisfies one or more of the standard tests for statistical randomness. Although it seems to lack any definite pattern, pseudo random noise consists of a deterministic sequence of pulses that will repeat itself after its period.
PRACH	Physical Random Access Channel	Physical random-access channel is a Layer-1 channel used by wireless terminals to access the mobile network (TDMA/FDMA, and CDMA based network) for call set-up and bursty data transmission.
PRB	Physical Resource Block	The Physical Resource Block is an LTE specification that allocates users a specific number of subcarriers for a predetermined amount of time.
PRI	Primary Rate Interface	The Primary Rate Interface is a telecommunications interface standard used on an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) for carrying multiple DS0 voice and data transmissions between the network and a user.
P-RNTI	Paging Radio Network Temporary Identity	The Paging Radio Network Temporary Identity is used by the UEs for the reception of paging and is carried by PCCH logical channel which is mapped to PCH transport channel. The PCH transport channel is mapped to PDSCH physical channel.
PSDU	Protocol Service Data Unit	The Protocol Service Data Unit is referred to in the 802.11 standard as the MPDU with an additional PLCP preamble and header, and is typically referred to as such when referencing physical layer operations.
PSTN	Public Switched Telephone Network	he public switched telephone network is the aggregate of the world’s circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators, providing infrastructure and services for public telecommunication.
PUCCH	Physical Uplink Control Channel	The Physical Uplink Control Channel is used to carry UCI (Uplink Control Information). An LTE UE can never transmits both PUCCH and PUSCH during the same subframe.
PUSCH	Physical Uplink Shared Channel	The Physical Uplink Shared Channel channel carries user data. It supports QPSK and 16 QAM modulation with 64QAM being optional.
QAM	Quadrature Amplitude Modulation	Quadrature amplitude modulation ( QAM ) is both an analog and a digital modulation scheme. It conveys two analog message signals, or two digital bit streams, by modulating the amplitudes of two carrier waves, using the amplitude-shift keying (ASK) digital modulation scheme or amplitude modulation (AM) analog modulation scheme.
QCI	QoS Class Identifiers	QoS Class Identifier is a mechanism used in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks to ensure bearer traffic is allocated appropriate Quality of Service .
QoS	Quality of Service	Quality of Service refers to the capability of a network to provide better service to selected network traffic over various technologies, including Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Ethernet and 802.1 networks, SONET, and IP-routed networks that may use any or all of these underlying technologies.
QPSK	Quadrature Phase Shift Keying	Quadrature Phase Shift Keying is a form of Phase Shift Keying in which two bits are modulated at once, selecting one of four possible carrier phase shifts (0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees). QPSK allows the signal to carry twice as much information as ordinary PSK using the same bandwidth.
RACH	Random Access Channel	A random – access channel is a shared channel used by wireless terminals to access the mobile network (TDMA/FDMA, and CDMA based network) for call set-up and bursty data transmission.
RAN	Radio Access Network	A radio access network is part of a mobile telecommunication system. Conceptually, it resides between a device such as a mobile phone, a computer, or any remotely controlled machine and provides connection with its core network.
RAT	Radio Access Technology	A Radio Access Technology is the underlying physical connection method for a radio based communication network.
RB	Radio Bearer	Radio bearers are channels offered by Layer 2 to higher layers for the transfer of either user or control data. In other words, Layer 2 offers to the upper layers the service of information transmission between the UE and the UTRAN by means of the Radio Bearers and Signaling Radio Bearers.
RB	Resource Block	A Resource Block is a time and frequency resource that occupies 12 subcarriers (12×15 kHz = 180 kHz) and one slot (= 0.5 ms). RBs are allocated in pairs by the scheduler (then referred to as Scheduling Blocks).
RF	Radio Frequency	Radio frequency is any of the electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in the range extending from around 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which include those frequencies used for communications or radar signals.
RLC	Radio Link Control	Radio link control is a layer 2 protocol used in UMTS and LTE on the Air interface.
ROCH	Robust Header Compression	Robust Header Compression is a standardized method to compress the IP, UDP, UDP-Lite, RTP, and TCP headers of Internet packets.
RRC	Radio Resource Control	The Radio Resource Control protocol is used in UMTS and LTE on the Air interface. It handles the control plane signalling of Layer 3 between the User Equipment (UE) and the Radio Access Network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN) as well as for the radio interface between a Relay Node and the E-UTRAN.
RRM	Radio Resource Management	Radio resource management is the system level management of co-channel interference, radio resources, and other radio transmission characteristics in wireless communication systems, for example cellular networks, wireless local area networks and wireless sensor systems.
RSRP	Reference Symbol Received Power	The Reference Symbol Received Power is the linear average over the power contributions for the resource elements that carry cell-specific reference signals within the frequency bandwidth. The signal strength reflects the UE’s received CRS power of an LTE cell.
RSRQ	Reference Signal Received Quality	The Reference Signal Received Quality reflects the relative ratio of signal and interference within the system. It can be calculated with the formula N*RSRP/RSSI, where N is the RE number in the measured frequency bandwidth.
RSSI	Reference Signal Strength Indicator	The Reference Signal Strength Indicator is the linear mean value of all the signals that UE has received, including the intra-frequency signal and interference, the inter-frequency interference, and thermal noise.
S-GW	Serving Gateway	The serving gateway resides in the user plane where it forwards and routes packets to and from the eNodeB and packet data network gateway.
S1-U	S1 – User Plane	The S1-U interface supports the tunneling of end user packets between the eNB and the UPE.
SAE	System Architecture Evolution	System Architecture Evolution is the core network architecture of 3GPP’s LTE wireless communication standard.
SC	Single Carrier	A single carrier transmission means one Radio Frequency carrier is used to carry the information. Hence information in the form of bits is carried by one single RF carrier.
SC-FDMA	Single Carrier – Frequency Division Multiple Access	SC-FDMA is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. It is also called Linearly precoded OFDMA (LP-OFDMA). Like other multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA), it deals with the assignment of multiple users to a shared communication resource.
SCH	Synchronization Channel	Synchronization Channel is a downlink only control channel used in GSM cellular telephone systems. It is part of the Um air interface specification. The purpose of the SCH is to allow the mobile station (handset) to quickly identify a nearby cell (a BTS) and synchronize to that BTS’s TDMA structures.
SCTP	Stream Control Transmission Protocol	The Stream Control Transmission Protocol is a transport-layer protocol, serving in a similar role to the popular protocols TCP and UDP.
SDMA	Space (or Spatial) Division Multiple Access	Space – division multiple access is a channel access method, by which it is able to offer superior performance in radio multiple access communication systems.
SDF	Service Data Flows	A Service Data Flow is an aggregate set of packet flows that match a set of service data flow filters in a PCC rule.
SDU	Service Data Unit	A service data unit is a unit of data that has been passed down from an OSI layer to a lower layer and that has not yet been encapsulated into a protocol data unit by the lower layer.
SG	Signaling Gateway	A Signaling Gateway is a network component responsible for transferring signaling messages (i.e. information related to call establishment, billing, location, short messages, address conversion, and other services) between Common Channel Signaling nodes that communicate using different protocols and transports.
SI	System Information	The System Information provides information to the UEs about various parameters of both the Access Stratum and Non Access Stratum.
SI-1	System Information message 1	System Information messages inform mobile devices about all important parameters of how to access the network and how to find neighboring cells.
SIB	System Information Block	System Information Blocks carry relevant information for the UE, which helps UE to access a cell, perform cell re-selection, information related to INTRA-frequency, INTER-frequency and INTER-RAT cell selections.
SIMO	Single Input Multiple Output	SIMO is an antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at the destination (receiver). The antennas are combined to minimize errors and optimize data speed. The source (transmitter) has only one antenna.
SINR	Signal to Interference plus Noise	The SINR is a measure of a single subcarrier; it reflects the quality of the received signal.
SIP	Session Initiation Protocol	The Session Initiation Protocol is a communications protocol for signaling and controlling multimedia communication sessions.
SIR	Signal-to-Interference Ratio	The signal -to- interference ratio is the quotient between the average received modulated carrier power S or C and the average received co-channel interference power I, i.e. cross-talk, from other transmitters than the useful signal.
SMS	Short Message Service	Short Message Service is a text messaging service that uses standardized communications protocols to enable fixed line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages.
SN	Service Node	A service node is a switching point that comprises a point of end user access to the network and network services.
SNR	Signal-to-Noise Ratio	The Signal-to-Noise Ratio is the ratio of the strength of an electrical or other signal carrying information to that of interference.
SOFDMA	Scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access	Scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access refers to the air interface outlined for portable or mobile Wi-MAX systems by IEEE, used in IEEE 802.16e(2005) standard.
SRNC	Serving Radio Network Controller	When a RNC (Radio Network Controller) has a RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection with a UE, it is know as the SRNC for that UE. The SRNC is responsible for the users mobility within the UTRAN and is also the point of connection towards the Core Network.
STC	Space Time Coding	Space – time coding is a technique used in wireless communications to transmit multiple copies of a data stream across a number of antennas and to exploit the various received versions of the data to improve the reliability of data transfer.
TA	Tracking Area	Tracking Areas manage and represent the locations of UEs. By re-optimization, the design is successively improved by re-assigning some cells to TAs other than their original ones.
TAI	Tracking Area Identifier	The Tracking Area identity is the identity used to identify tracking areas. The Tracking Area Identity is constructed from the MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC (Mobile Network Code) and TAC (Tracking Area Code).
TDD	Time Division Duplex	Time division duplex refers to duplex communication links where uplink is separated from downlink by the allocation of different time slots in the same frequency band. It is a transmission scheme that allows asymmetric flow for uplink and downlink data transmission.
TEID	Tunnel Endpoint Identifier	The separate tunnels between each set of end points are identified by a Tunnel Endpoint Identifier in the GTP-U messages, which should be a dynamically allocated random number.
TFT	Traffic Flow Template	The Traffic Flow Template is used by GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) to discriminate between different user payloads. The TFT incorporates packet filters such as QoS (Quality of Service), PDP Context and security.
TM	Transparent Mode	Transparent Mode is one of the three modes used to transfer the upper layer Protocol Data Units via Radio link control.
TTI	Transmission Time Interval	Transmission Time Interval is a parameter in UMTS (and other digital telecommunication networks) related to encapsulation of data from higher layers into frames for transmission on the radio link layer. TTI refers to the duration of a transmission on the radio link.
UCI	Uplink Control Information	The Uplink Control Information is a set of information that is carried by the PUCCH. Depending on what kind of information the UCI in PDCCH carries, PDCCH is classified into various formations.
UDP	User Datagram Protocol	The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet protocol suite. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an IP network.
UE	User Equipment	In LTE, user equipment is any device used directly by an end-user to communicate.
UL	Uplink	The uplink part of a network connection is used to send, or upload, data from a UE to a network.
UL-SCH	Uplink Shared Channel	A physical uplink shared channel is a transmission channel that is used to transport user data from one or more mobiles that can transmit on the channel.
UM	Unacknowledged Mode	Unacknowledged Mode is one of three modes used to transfer upper layer Protocol Data Units in radio link control (RLC) used in LTE on the Air interface.
UMA	Unlicensed Mobile Access	Unlicensed Mobile Access is a technology that allows a UMA capable UEs to seamlessly switch back and forth between networks and local wireless networks.
UMTS	Universal Mobile Telecommunications System	Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a so-called “third-generation,” broadband, packet -based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to and possibly higher than 2 megabits per second.
UpPTS	Uplink Pilot Time Slot	The Uplink Pilot Time Slot is one of the three fields that make up the 1ms special subframes that comprise the half-frames used in the LTE TDD frame structure.
UpTS	Uplink Time Slot	In TD-LTE the Uplink Time Slot allows the UE to transmit data to the receiver.
VoIP	Voice over Internet Protocol	Voice over Internet Protocol is a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions of the PSTN.
VPLMN	Visited PLMN	A Visited PLMN on which the mobile subscriber has roamed when leaving their HPLMN (Home Public Land Mobile Network).
VRB	Virtual Resource Blocks	Physical resource blocks (PRBs) and virtual resource blocks support different kinds of resource allocation types. The VRB is introduced to support both block-wise transmission (localized) and transmission on non-consecutive subcarriers (distributed) as a means to maximize frequency diversity.
WCDMA	Wideband Code Division Multiple Access	Wideband Code Division Multiple Access is a third-generation standard that employs the direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) channel access method and the frequency-division duplexing (FDD) method to provide high-speed and high-capacity service.
Wi-Fi	Wireless Fidelity	Wi-Fi is the name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. A common misconception is that the term Wi-Fi is short for “ wireless fidelity ,” however this is not the case. Wi-Fi is simply a trademarked phrase that means IEEE 802.11x.
WiMAX	Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access	WiMAX is a family of wireless communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide multiple physical layer (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) options.
WLAN	Wireless Local Area Networks	A wireless local area network ( WLAN ) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using a wireless distribution method (often spread-spectrum or OFDM radio) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building.