The term wire gauge refers to a measurement of what the diameter of a wire is. This measure can then be used to determine what the electrical resistance, weight per unit of length, and the amount of current that can safely be carried by the wire. There are two internationally accepted measures for wire gauge, …
FCC ID stands for Federal Communications Commission Identification. An FCC ID is the number found in all computer hardware components. FCC ID numbers, usually found on the circuit boards, are helpful in finding information about the manufacturers of the hardware devices. An FCC ID has 2 elements. The first is a three-character Grantee Code which …
Satellite images were initially the exclusive realm of military and government agencies. They then became commercially available at very steep prices. Technology has now improved to the point where satellite images are available so inexpensively that they are now provided for free online. Free Satellite Images on the Web The best and by far the …
An integrated circuit (IC), also called a microchip, is an electronic circuit etched onto a silicon chip. Their main advantages are low cost, low power, high performance, and very small size. History The integrated circuit was invented in 1958 by Jack Kirby (1923-2005), an American engineer. In 2000, he won the Nobel prize in physics …
A ground loop isolator prevents interference in a ground loop circuit. A ground loop circuit is one in which two or more circuits are connected to the same ground wire. Ideally, all circuits in a ground loop circuit have the same voltage potential. However, if the ground wire has significant resistance and current, the voltage …
DVB-RCS stands for Digital Video Broadcast – Return Channel Satellite. DVB-RCS is part of the DVB standards for satellite communication, DVB-S and DVB-S2. The purpose of DVB-RCS is to provide a return channel to enable Internet and other data services over satellite. ViaSat’s LinkStar system is one of the VSAT satellite broadband implementations which support …
Voltage is the measurement for the electrical force between two points that drives the current. More specifically, voltage is the measure of the energy per unit charge that is equal to the electrical potential difference between two measured points. Volts are normally measured by a voltmeter. Voltage drop is the reduction in voltage in an …
Geostationary satellites are located exactly above the earth’s equator and revolve around the earth in a circular orbit. Their revolving speed and direction (west to east) are exactly same as that of the earth, which makes it look stationary from the earth’s surface. The exact altitude of these satellites above the equator is approximately 36,000 …
Round Trip Time, or RTT, also known as “round-trip delay time” is the time it takes for a signal to be sent from a transmitter to a receiver plus the time it takes to verify that the signal has been received; therefore, Round Trip Time is the time it takes for a signal to be …
A transponder is an automatic electronic monitoring or control device that receives, cross-examines, amplifies and retransmits the arriving signal. It is primarily implemented in wireless communication. The word ‘Transponder’ itself is a combination of two words; transmitter and responder (occasionally abbreviated to TPDR, TR, XPNDR, and XPDR). A transponder works by receiving a signal on …