Glossary

Terms Used in This Manual

Term Definition
2-wide power/controller carrier Assembly that provides power and communications connections for the DeltaV Controller and the DeltaV System Power Supply.
4-wide I/O interface carrier Assembly that provides power and communication connections for the DeltaV I/O Interface with 4 I/O card slots.
8-wide I/O interface carrier Assembly that provides power and communication connections for the DeltaV I/O Interface with 8 I/O card slots.
10BaseT IEEE standard for a 10-Megabit per second (Mbps) baseband network on twisted-pair wiring.
American Wire Gauge (AWG) Usual system of wire size measurement in the United States. A 14 AWG wire has a cross-sectional area of 2.08 mm; a 000 AWG wire has a cross-sectional area of 85.02 mm. Note that the smaller the AWG value, the larger the wire.
Bit Electrical equivalent of a 0 or a 1 that represents the basic unit of computer communication.
CD-ROM Compact disk used as a computer information storage medium. CD-ROMs can store a large amount of information.
Central processing unit (CPU) Portion of a computer that manipulates and modifies data and carries out software instructions.
Control Network Communications network for the DeltaV system.
Daisy chain To connect one device to another in sequence.
Deutsche Institute für Normung (DIN) The German standards organization.
Device Piece of electronic hardware that performs one or more prescribed functions.
Diagnostics One or more programs in a computer or microprocessor that can detect and pinpoint a hardware fault or a configuration error.
Ethernet Local area network (LAN) specification that uses baseband signaling at 10 Megabits per second (Mbps).
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) A United States government communications standards group.
Fiber-optic cable Thin, transparent fibers of glass or plastic that transmit data through pulses of light from a laser or light-emitting diode (LED).
Hub Device in a network that consolidates wiring connections and routes communications. All communications devices on a hub-based network connect to one or more hubs.
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Independent technical organization that defines standards for the electrical, electronic, and computer industries.
IEEE 802.3 Set of specifications from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for local area networks (LANs). This specification provides standards for media access control.
Input/Output (I/O) Signal reception and transmission or signal interfacing. Input, for an instrument, involves accepting and processing signals from field devices. Output, for an instrument, involves converting commands into electrical signals to field devices.
International Standards Organization (ISO) International organization that defines manufacturing standards.
Instrument Society of America (ISA) Independent organization that defines instrumentation standards.
Intrinsically Safe field circuits Circuits that are designed to limit the amount of energy provided to field devices to levels below those that are required to ignite specific types of hazardous materials under fault and no fault conditions.
Intrinsically Safe I/O Equipment that contains intrinsically safe field circuits.
Light-emitting diode (LED) Electronic component that generates a small focused beam of light in response to a current passing through the component.
Local Area Network (LAN) Communications network within a limited physical area that provide high-speed data transmission.
LocalBus A DeltaV Power/Controller Carrier, its associated DeltaV I/O Interface Carriers, and the cables that connect them.
Megabit (Mb) One million binary bits.
Military standard (MIL) Standard requirements as set by United States military organizations.
Node Communication device, such as a workstation or controller, attached to the Control Network.
Object linking and embedding (OLE) Software standard governing the relationship between software document files.
OLE for Process Control (OPC) Software standard for OLE applications in process control.
Operating range A sensor type's input signal range over which the accuracy is stated.
Port Physical connection between an electronic device and a cable.
Random-access memory (RAM) Type of semiconductor memory. The user can read from and write to RAM as often as desired.
Read-only memory (ROM) Type of semiconductor memory. Information is stored permanently on ROM; the user can examine ROM contents as often as desired but cannot change the contents.
Single in-line memory module (SIMM) Plug-in random-access memory (RAM) unit for a computer.
Underwriters Laboratory (UL) Independent organization that defines electrical standards.
Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) Battery that supplies continuous power to a computer system if there is a failure or an interruption in the AC power source.