Satellite Technology Glossary

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2P-PAP(Two)

Pulse Amplitude and Phase Modulation Modem

3DTV

Three Dimensional Television

4PDT

Four-Pole Double-Throw

4PST

Four-Pole Single-Throw

A

Ampere

A

Microampere

A-h

Amp-House; Ampere Hour

a.c., AC

Acquisition Cycle

a.c., AC

Address Complete

a.c., AC

Alternating Current

a.c., AC

Assignment Channel

a.u.

Astronomical Unit

A/D

Analog to Digital Conversion

A/D

Analog to Digital Converter

A/D

Analogue to Digital

AAC

Automatic Amplitude Control

AAC

Autonomous Attitude Control

ABC

Automated Brightness Control

ABM

Apogee Booster Motor Apogee Boost Maneuvers

ABS

Absent

ABU

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union

AC

Acquisition Cycle

AC

Alternating Current

AC

Assignment Channel

AC/DC

Alternating Current or Direct Current

ACAST

Advisory Committe on the Application of Science and Technology to Development (UN)

ACC

Administrative Committee on Coordination

ACC

Alarm and Control Consolidation

ACC

Alarm and Control Coordination

ACC

Alarm Cosolidation Console

ACC

Alarms Control & Consolidation

ACC

Antenna Control Console

ACC

Automatic Chroma Control

ACCEL

Accelerometer

ACD

Automatic Call Distribution

ACDE

Attitude Control and Determination Electronics

ACDS

Attitude Control and Determination Subsystem

ACE

Attitude Control Electronics

ACE

Automatic Calling Equipment

ACEL

Accelerometer

ACI

Acknowledgement Signal Unit

ACI

Acquisition Cycle Interval

ACI

Adjacent Channel Interference

ACM

Acceptance Testing & Configuration Management

ACME

Analog Circuit Multiplication Equipment

ACP

Acquisition and Synchronization Processor

ACP

Attitude Control Processor

ACP

Automated Command Procedure

ACS

Attitude Control Subsystem

ACSSB

Amplitude Companded Single Sideband

ACTP

Abridged Condensed Time Plan

ACTS

Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (USA)

ACU

Acquisition Control Unit

ACU

Acquisition/Antenna/Attitude Control Unit

ACU

Adaptive Delta Modulation

ACU

Antenna Control Unit

ACU

Automatic Calling Unit

ADC

Analog to Digital Converter

ADC

Automatic Deviation Control

ADCE

Attitude Determination and Control Equipment

ADCE

Attitude Determination and Control Electronics

ADCS

Analog Despin Control System

ADCS

Attitude Determination and Control (Sub) System

ADCS

Attitude Determination and Control Support

ADDER

Automatic Digital Data Error Recorder

ADDR

Address Complete

ADE

Automatic Design Engineering

ADE

Automatic Doppler Enhancer

ADF

Automatic Direction Finder

ADI

Alternate Digital Conversion

ADM

Adaptive Delta Modulation

ADM

Administrative Procedures Manual

ADMA

Administrative Committe on Coordination

ADMA

Amplitude Domain (or Division) Multiple Access

ADP

Acquisition Phase UW Detection

ADP

Attitude Data Processor

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

ADPCM

Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation

AEN

Equivalent Articulation Loss (USA)

AEROSAT

Aeronautical Satellite System

AF

Audio Frequency

AFC

Automatic Frequency Control

AFCAC

African Civil Aviation Commission

AFCAC

African Development Bank

AFSATCOM

Air Force Satellite Communications System (USA)

AFSK

Amplitude and Frequency-Shift Keying

AFT

Automatic Fine Tuning

AFT

Back; rear (after)

AGC

Automatic Gain Control

AGRIS

Agricultural Research Information Service (FAO - USA)

Ah

Ampere-Hour

AI

Articulation Index (of a speech circuit)

AI

Artificial Intelligence

AIAA

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (USA)

AIBD

Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development

AIRE

Alarm Indication to Remote End

AIS

Alarm Indication Signal

AIS

Alarm Inhibit System

AKM

Apogee Kick Motor

ALC

Automatic Light/Level Control

ALF

Absorption Limiting Frequency

ALGOL

Algorithmic Language

ALM

Apogee Lowering Maneuver

ALOHA

System developed by University of Hawaii to use RMA for Pacific island communications

ALT

Alternate

ALT

Altitude

ALU

Arithmetic Logic Unit

AM

Air Mass

AM

Amplitude Modulation

AM

Apogee Motor

AMA

Automatic Message Accounting

AMC

Assistant Maneuver Coordinator

AMDS

Automated Earth Station Monitor & Diagnostics System

AMDS

Automated Monitor and Diagnostic System

AMF

Apogee Motor Fire/Firing

AMI

Alternate Mark Inversion (signal); (bipolar signal)

AMI

Amplitude Probability Distribution

AMS

Attitude Measurement Sensor

AMSAT

Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (USA)

AMSL

Above Mean Sea Level

AMSS

Automatic Message Switching System

AMVFT

Amplitude-Modulated Voice Frequency Telegraphy

AMVFT

Analog to Digital Converter

ANC

Active/Automatic Nutation Control

ANC

Automatic Nutation Control

ANCS

Active Nutation Control(ler) System

AND

Type of logic circuit

ANDS

Active Nutation Damping System

ANG

Angle

ANI

Automatic Number Identification

ANIK

Domestic satellite network (owned by Telesat - Canada)

ANL

Automatic Noise Limiter

ANOD

Anode

ANS

Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (Netherlands/USA)

ANSI

American National Standards Institute (USA)

ANT

Antenna

ANTEL

Administraci n Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (El Salvador)

ANTELCO

Administraci n Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Paraguay)

AOCS

Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem

AOR

Atlantic Ocean Region

AOS

Acquistion of Signal

AP

Access Point

APC

Automatic Phase Control

APC

Autonomous Payload Controller

APCS

Autonomous Payload Control System

APD

Acquisition Phase Unique Word Detection

APD

Avalanche Photodiode Detector

APD

Amplitude Probability Distribution

APE

Antenna Positioning Electronics

API

Application Program Interface

APK

Amplitude-Phase Keying

APKS

Amplitude-Phase-Keyed System

APL

Average Picture Level

APM

Antenna Positioning Mechanism

APM

Apogee Boost Maneuvers

APM

Apogee Motor

APM

Combined Amplitude and Phase Modulation

APR

Asia Pacific Region

APS

Antennal Position Data Select Switch

APT

Asian Pacific Telecommunity

APT

Automatic Picture Transmission

APTU

African Postal and Telecommunications Union

ARA

Angular Rate Assembly

ARABSAT

Arab Satellite Communication Organization

ARAEN

Reference system for the determination of the articulation reference equivalents

ARC

Atlantic Resotration Committee

ARE

Automatic Reconfiguration Electronics

ARENTO

Telecommunications organization (Arab Republic of Egypt)

ARIANE

Commercial European launch vehicle

ARIANESPACE

European Organization which operates ARIANE launch vehicle systems

ARIEL

Ionospheric satellite (UK)

ARM

Armed

ARP

Apparent Radiated Power

ARPA

Advanced Research Projects Agency (USA)

ARQ

Automatic Repeat Request

ARRL

American Radio Relay League (USA)

ART

Additional Reference Carrier Transmission

ARTI

Arab Regional Telecommunications Institute

ARTI

Articulation Index

ARTI

Articulation Reference Equivalent (UK)

AS

Articulation Score

ASA

American Standards Association

ASB

Anti-sideband

ASBU

Arab States Broadcasting Union

ASC

American Satellite Company (USA)

ASC

American Security Carrier

ASC

Automatic Selectivity Control

ASCII

American National Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASE

Airborne Support Equipment

ASE

Auxilliary State Estimator

ASEAN

Association of South East Asian Nations

ASETA

Asociacion de Empresas Estataless de Tellecomunicacion del Acuerdo Subregional Andino (Association of State-owned Telecommunications of Subregional Andean Agreement)

ASI

Asynchronous Serial Interface

ASIASAT

Asian satellite system supported by UK

ASK

Amplitude Shift Keying

ASL

Above Sea Level

ASP

Acquisition and Synchronization Processor

ASP

Aspect

ASP

Attitude System Processor

ASR

Automatic Send and Receive

ASSR

Acquisition and Steady State Reception

AST

American Society for Testing Materials

ASTRA

Application of Space Techniques Relating to Aviation

ASTRA

Satellite network (Luxembourg)

ASU

Acknowledgement Signal Unit

ASU

Acquisition and Synchronization Unit

ASWA

Adjustable Solar Wing Actuator

AT

Acceptance Test

AT

Acquiring Terminal

AT&T

American Telephone and Telegraph Company (USA)

ATA

Aeronautical Telecommunications Agency (USA)

ATAA

Air Transport Association of America (USA)

ATB

All Trunks Busy

ATDA

Augmented Target Docking Adaptor

ATECO

Automatic Telegram Transmission with Computers

Atlas/Centaur

Launcher (General Dynamics - USA)

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode

ATME

Automatic Telegram Transmission with Computers

ATME

Automatic Transmission Measuring Equipment

ATMS

Automatic Transmission Measuring System

ATN

Attenuation, attenuator

ATP

Abbreviated Test Plan

ATR

Answering Time Recorder

ATS

Advanced Technology Satellite

ATT

Attenuation, attenuator

ATTN

Attenuation, attenuator

ATU

Arab Telecommunication Union

AURA

Astronomy research satellite (France)

AUTO

Automatic

AUTOMOON

Automatic Moon Correction

AUTON

Autonomous commanding

AUTOON

Automatic Ace Turn On

AUX EST

Auxiliary Estimator for Earth Chord

AVC

Automatic Volume Control

AVD

Alternate Voice/Data

AVRG

Average

AX

Axial

AYAME

Experimental Telecommunication Satellite (Japan)

AZ / Az

Azimuth