Wireless Glossary – P

P2P technically stands for “peer-to-peer.” A peer-to-peer architecture allows hardware or software to function on a network without the need for central servers.

A basic message unit for communication across a network. A packet usually includes routing information, data, and (sometimes) error detection information.

Packet is an information unit identified by a label at layer 3 of the OSI reference model.

Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across a computer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss is distinguished as one of the three main error types encountered in digital communications; the other two being bit error and spurious packets caused due to noise.

This type of WAN connection creates connections using virtual circuits. Some connection types that fall under this category are ATM, Frame Relay, and X.25.

Paging is the act of seeking an user equipment.

Used with PPP encapsulation, this password authentication type is considered weak. Usernames and passwords are transmitted a single time in clear-text format.

Peak-to-Average Power Ratio is a related measure that is defined as the peak amplitude squared (giving the peak power) divided by the RMS value squared (giving the average power).

A concave or dish-shaped object. Often refers to dish antennas. Peer-to-Peer Network: A network design in which each computer shares and uses devices on an equal basis.

A parameter is fundamental value that can be displayed and changed. For example, the unit must have a unique IP address and the PC Cards must know which channels to use. You can view and change parameters with the Web Interface, command line interface, and SNMP.

This network topology has direct connections between some of the network devices. In a full mesh topology, all devices have direct connectivity between them.

Private Broadband Network

Paging Channel is a downlink channel used to transport paging information to user equipments. The channel is also used to inform UEs about updates of the system information.

Physical Cell Identifier is the identity of the LTE cell and is included in the LTE X2 setup procedure. The eNodeB can select the PCI within a list of possible identity values. There are 504 unique physical layer cell identities, grouped into 168 groups of three identities in LTE. The Primary Synchronization Sequence (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Sequence (SSS) in a given cell are used to indicate the PCI to the UE.

Protocol Configuration Optionsis a protocol that used to transfer parameters between User Equipment and the Packet Data Network Gateway. They are sent transparently through the Mobility Management Entity and the Serving GW.

Physical Downlink Control CHannel carries between others the downlink allocation information, uplink allocation grants for the terminal.

Packet Data Convergence Protocol is one of the layers of the Radio Traffic Stack in UMTS and performs IP header compression and decompression, transfer of user data and maintenance of sequence numbers for Radio Bearers which are configured for lossless serving radio network subsystem (SRNS) relocation.

Power Delay Profile gives the intensity of a signal received through a multipath channel as a function of time delay. The time delay is the difference in travel time between multipath arrivals. The abscissa is in units of time and the ordinate is usually in decibels. It is easily measured empirically and can be used to extract certain channel’s parameters such as the delay spread.

Protocol Data Unit is the 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.

A data unit that includes both the message and the protocol/control information from the forwarding OSI Model layer.

Power Headroom Report is the index reported by the user equipment to show the estimated power headroom. The reporting range is from -23 to +40 dB.

Physical Layer or layer 1 is the first (lowest) layer. The physical layer consists of the basic networking hardware transmission technologies of a network. It is a fundamental layer underlying the logical data structures of the higher level functions in a network. Due to the plethora of available hardware technologies with widely varying characteristics, this is perhaps the most complex layer in the OSI architecture.

Provides for the transmission of data through a communications channel by defining the electrical, mechanical and procedural specifications for IEEE 802 local area networks. Protocol: Rules for communicating, particularly for the format and transmission of data.

Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement or most commonly PICS is a structured document which asserts which specific requirements are met by a given implementation of a protocol standard. It is often completed as a record of formal protocol conformance test results, and some automated testing systems machine-author a PICS as output.

Short length of optical fiber with a connector at one end.

A device that uses ICMP at the Network Layer sends this echo request to validate that an IP address exists and can receive requests. The response is known as an echo response.

Public Land Mobile Network is a regulatory term in telecommunications. A PLMN is a network that is established and operated by an administration or by a recognized operating agency (ROA) for the specific purpose of providing land mobile telecommunications services to the public.

Physical Multicast Channel is a multicasting channel where data is addressed to a group of subscribing users.

Precoding Matrix Indicator. is a signal sent back by the UE to support MIMO operation.

A technology that permits an end device such as wireless access points, video cameras, or card scanners, to receive power over a copper Ethernet cable.

Point to Point Tunneling Protocol. One of several virtual private network implementations. With the Network Address Translation (NAT) feature enabled, Subscriber Modules do not support VPNs that are based on this protocol. With NAT disabled, they do support VPNs that are based on this protocol.

point-to-point topology

An expression of the orientation of the lines of electric flux in an electromagnetic field. Polarization is important in wireless communications systems. The physical orientation of a wireless antenna corresponds to the polarization of the radio waves received or transmitted by that antenna.

Network for FITL (see FITL) with passive components, such as couplers, (passive optical network) splitters and connectors.

Portability refers to the ability to access services while at a home location, at multiple other locations. Portability generally does not include roaming or handoff, and typically does not allow the access while moving on big distance.

Ported number is the MSISDN that has undergone the porting process.

Ported subscriber is the subscriber of a ported number.

Feature in Release 4.1 and later that allows the module to operate at less than 18 dB less than full power to reduce self-interference.

Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes.

A WAN encapsulation type that offers a diverse set of features such as connection authentication, transmission encryption privacy, and compression, and is supported by virtually all router vendors. It is commonly used to establish a direct connection between two networking nodes.

An industry-standard feature that enables the bundling of multiple connections into a single, logical connection between two network locations.

An encapsulation typically used by DSL service providers on an ATM based network. Compared with PPPoE. it can reduce overhead slightly (around 0.58%). PPoA avoids some PPPoE issues due to having a MTU lower than that of standard Ethernet transmission protocols. It also supports the VC-MUX and LLC based encapsulation types.

PPPoE is a network protocol for encapsulating Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) frames inside Ethernet frames. This technology is often used by DSL providers for which users can virtually “dial” from one device to another over an Ethernet network, set up a point to point connection between the two, and securely transport data packets over the network connection.

OSI Model, Layer 6. Operates as a data format translator and presents data to the Application layer.

A type of ISDN connection that provides bandwidth equal to that of a T1 line. It uses 23 B channels and a single D channel.

The Motorola Canopy software product that allows users to partition their entire Canopy networks into criteria-based subsets and independently monitor and manage those subsets. Prizm Release 1.0 and later includes a Northbound Interface to higher-level systems. Prizm Release 2.0 and later integrates Canopy Bandwidth and Authentication Manager (BAM) functionality and supports simple migration of a pre-existing authentication, bandwidth, and VLAN settings into the Prizm database.

Any number between 1 and 65535 that stands for a unique instance of an OSPF process. The process ID is locally significant, meaning that it does not have to match in all routers in the OSPF autonomous system.

Connection to earth (which has a charge of 0 volts). Also known as ground.

Network computer that isolates another from the Internet. The proxy server communicates for the other computer, and sends replies to only the appropriate computer, which has an IP address that is not unique or not registered.

Public Safety Answering Point, sometimes called “public-safety access point”, is a call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for police, firefighting, and ambulance services.

Power Spectral Density or energy spectral density (ESD) is a positive real function of a frequency variable associated with a stationary stochastic process, or a deterministic function of time, which has dimensions of power per hertz (Hz), or energy per hertz. Intuitively, the spectral density measures the frequency content of a stochastic process and helps identify periodicities.

Primary Synchronization Signal is a sequence transmitted by every LTE cell every 5 ms, and allows the user equipment to get slot synchronization and part of the physical layer cell IDentifier.

Procedure Transaction Identity is an identity which is allocated by the user equipment for the UE-requested bearer resource activation, modification and deactivation procedures.

Point-to-Multipoint Protocol defined in RFC 2178, which specifies that data that originates from a central network element can be received by all other network elements, but data that originates from a non central network element can be received by only the central network element.

Through a service provider network, PVC is a software-defined, logical connection in a network. The features, such as logical connections and bandwidth, are user-defined. One example is frame relay network.