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AABR (Area Border Router): Routers that belong to multiple areas, called area border routers (ABR), have the duty of disseminating routing information or routing changes between areas. [Common Usage] Abstract Communication Service Interface (ACSI): Virtual interface to an IED providing abstract information modelling methods for Logical-Devices, Logical-Nodes, Data, and DataAttributes, and communication services e.g. connection, variable access, unsolicited data transfer, device control and file transfer services, independent of the actual communication stack and profiles used. [IEC 61850-2] Abstract Syntax: In open systems architecture, the specification of application-layer data or application-protocol control information by using notation rules that are independent of the encoding technique used to represent the information. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1): A standard, flexible method that (a) describes data structures for representing, encoding, transmitting, and decoding data, (b) provides a set of formal rules for describing the structure of objects independent of machine-specific encoding techniques, (c) is a formal network-management Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) language that uses human-readable notation and a compact, encoded representation of the same information used in communications protocols, and (d) is a precise, formal notation that removes ambiguities. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] ACAP (Application Configuration Access
Protocol): ACAP is the Application Configuration Access
Protocol, an internet protocol for accessing client program options,
configurations, and preference information remotely. ACAP is a
solution for the problem of client mobility on the Internet. Almost
all Internet applications currently store user preferences, options,
server locations, and other personal data in local disk files. These
leads to the unpleasant problems of users having to recreate
configuration set-ups, subscription lists, addressbooks, bookmark
files, folder storage locations, and so forth every time they change
physical locations. ACAP was originally derived from the Internet
Message Support Protocol (IMSP). IMSP was fully implemented on both
the server and client level, but as a result of suggestions coming out
of the IETF standards process it has evolved into ACAP. While
originally designed to support Internet mail clients in conjunction
with IMAP4, ACAP can operate completely independently of IMAP and
messaging. [ACAP:
Application Configuration Access Protocol] Access Control: 1. A service feature or technique used to permit or deny use of the components of a communication system. 2. A technique used to define or restrict the rights of individuals or application programs to obtain data from, or place data onto, a storage device. 3. The definition or restriction of the rights of individuals or application programs to obtain data from, or place data into, a storage device. 4. Limiting access to information system resources only to authorized users, programs, processes, or other systems. [INFOSEC-99] 5. That function performed by the resource controller that allocates system resources to satisfy user requests. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Access Control List (ACL): 1. In security, a list of entities, together with their access rights, that are authorized to access a resource. 2. [A] mechanism implementing discretionary and/or mandatory access control between subjects and objects. [INFOSEC-99]. See T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms. An access control list (ACL) is a table that tells a computer operating system which access rights each user has to a particular system object, such as a file directory or individual file. Each object has a security attribute that identifies its access control list. The list has an entry for each system user with access privileges. The most common privileges include the ability to read a file (or all the files in a directory), to write to the file or files, and to execute the file (if it is an executable file, or program). The list is implemented differently by each operating system. [WhatIs.com] Access Point: Communication access point to an IED. This may be a serial port, an Ethernet connection, or a client or server address dependent on the stack being used. Each access point of an IED to a communication bus is uniquely identified. Each Server has only one, logical, access point. [IEC 61850-2] ACSE: Association Control Service Element Active Server Pages (ASP): An Active Server Page (ASP) is an HTML page that includes one or more scripts (small embedded programs) that are processed on a Microsoft Web server before the page is sent to the user. An ASP is somewhat similar to a server-side include or a common gateway interface (CGI) application in that all involve programs that run on the server, usually tailoring a page for the user. Typically, the script in the Web page at the server uses input received as the result of the user's request for the page to access data from a database and then builds or customizes the page on the fly before sending it to the requestor. [WhatIs.com] Active Star Network: A network wired in a star topology with a concentrator or multi-port repeater located at the center of the star. All wiring runs to the concentrator, which is responsible for retransmitting the network signal form one wiring run to the rest of the wiring runs attached to it. [Common Usage] ActiveX: A loosely defined set of technologies developed by Microsoft. ActiveX is an outgrowth of two other Microsoft technologies called OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) and COM (Component Object Model). As a moniker, ActiveX can be very confusing because it applies to a whole set of COM-based technologies. Most people, however, think only of ActiveX controls, which represent a specific way of implementing ActiveX technologies. ActiveX (TM) is a technology and set of programming tools from Microsoft for building interactivity with users into Web pages and application programs. Controls are roughly similar to Java applets, Documents are objects that are viewable and navigable with a viewer. [What is ActiveX? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary] Actor Term used in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to designate the role a human, an application, or a system plays in the function being modeled. A coherent set of roles that users of use cases play when interacting with these use cases. An actor has one role for each use case with which it communicates. From OMG's UML v1.5 Glossary Adaptive Control: Secondary control (of active power): Secondary control whose characteristics are time-variable and result from the optimization of some operational conditions. [IEC 1/1929/CD] Add/Drop Multiplexing (ADM): A multiplexing function offered in connection with SONET that allows lower level signals to be added or dropped from a high-speed optical carrier channel in a wire center. The connection to the add/ drop multiplexer is via a channel to a central office port at a specific digital speed (i.e., DS3, DS1, etc.). [NECA/ FCC-5] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms]. Address: A unique name (or number) identifying a computer user or computer. There are three types of addresses in common use within the Internet. They are; email address; IP, internet or Internet address; and hardware or MAC address. In communications, the coded representation of the source or destination of a message. 2. In data processing, a character or group of characters that identifies a register, a particular part of storage, or some other data source or destination. 3. To assign to a device or item of data a label to identify its location. 4. The part of a selection signal that indicates the destination of a call. 5. To refer to a device or data item by its address. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms]. Address Book: A place to save and access frequently used e-mail addresses. [Common Usage] Address Resolution: Conversion of an Internet address to the corresponding physical address. On an Ethernet, resolution requires broadcasting on the local area network. See ARP, RARP. Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): A Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol that dynamically binds a Network Layer IP address to a Data Link Layer physical hardware address, e.g., Ethernet address. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms]. ADSL: See Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL). Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is an encryption algorithm for securing sensitive but unclassified material by U.S. Government agencies and, as a likely consequence, may eventually become the de facto encryption standard for commercial transactions in the private sector. (Encryption for the US military and other classified communications is handled by separate, secret algorithms.) In January of 1997, a process was initiated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a unit of the U.S. Commerce Department, to find a more robust replacement for the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and to a lesser degree Triple DES. The specification called for a symmetric algorithm (same key for encryption and decryption) using block encryption (see block cipher) of 128 bits in size, supporting key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits, as a minimum. The algorithm was required to be royalty-free for use worldwide and offer security of a sufficient level to protect data for the next 20 to 30 years. It was to be easy to implement in hardware and software, as well as in restricted environments (for example, in a smart card) and offer good defenses against various attack techniques. The end result [of the analysis of 5 algorithms] was that on October 2, 2000, NIST announced that Rijndael had been selected as the proposed standard. On December 6, 2001, the Secretary of Commerce officially approved Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 197, which specifies that all sensitive, unclassified documents will use Rijndael as the Advanced Encryption Standard. [WhatIs.com] AES: See Advanced Encryption Standard Aggregation: In UML, a special form of association that specifies a whole-part relationship between the aggregate (whole) and a component part. See: composition. [OMG's UML v1.5 Glossary] Aggregator: Any marketer, broker,
public agency, city, county, or special district that combines the
loads of multiple end-use customers in facilitating the sale and
purchase of electric energy, transmission, and other services on
behalf of these customers. [DOE
Glossary of Electricity Terms] AM (Amplitude Modulation): Modulation in which the amplitude of a carrier wave is varied in accordance with some characteristic of the modulating signal. Note: Amplitude modulation implies the modulation of a coherent carrier wave by mixing it in a nonlinear device with the modulating signal to produce discrete upper and lower sidebands, which are the sum and difference frequencies of the carrier and signal. The envelope of the resultant modulated wave is an analog of the modulating signal. The instantaneous value of the resultant modulated wave is the vector sum of the corresponding instantaneous values of the carrier wave, upper sideband, and lower sideband. Recovery of the modulating signal may be by direct detection or by heterodyning. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] AM/FM (Automatic Mapping and Facilities Management): system comprising a graphical database of geographical maps of the power system, and a database of asset information. [Common Usage] AMR (Automatic Meter Reading): systems for accessing meter information electronically from the customer sites. AMR systems range from hand-held devices, to drive-by van systems, to fixed network systems, to Internet-based systems. [Common Usage] Analog Data: Data represented by a physical quantity that is considered to be continuously variable and has a magnitude directly proportional to the data or to a suitable function of the data. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Ancillary Services - Ancillary services are those functions performed by the equipment and people that generate, control, and transmit electricity in support of the basic services of generating capacity, energy supply, and power delivery. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) defined such services as those "necessary to support the transmission of electric power from seller to purchaser given the obligations of control areas and transmitting utilities within those control areas to maintain reliable operations of the interconnected transmission system." The most common ancillary services are:
[Eric Hirst: Ancillary Services, based on FERC definitions] Anonymous FTP: Anonymous FTP is a method for giving users access to files so that they don't need to identify themselves to the server. Using an FTP program or the FTP command interface, the user enters "anonymous" as a user ID. Usually, the password is defaulted or furnished by the FTP server. Anonymous FTP is a common way to get access to a server in order to view or download files that are publicly available. [WhatIs.com] ANSI: The American National Standards Institute disseminates basic standards like ASCII, and acts as the United States' delegate to the ISO. http://www.ansi.org API (Application Programming Interface): A formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting network services. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] APOP: 1) Authenticated Post Office Protocol is an MD5-based login command that does not send passwords in clear text over the network. See also POP3. Applet: An applet is a "little application" written in the JavaTM programming language that can be included in an HTML Web page, much in the same way an image is included. An applet can be sent along with a Web page to a user. Java applets can perform interactive animations, immediate calculations, or other simple tasks without having to send a user request back to the server. [WhatIs.com] AppleTalk: AppleTalk is a set of local area network communication protocols originally created for Apple computers. An AppleTalk network can support up to 32 devices and data can be exchanged at a speed of 230.4 kilobits per second (Kbps). Devices can be as much as 1,000 feet apart. AppleTalk's Datagram Delivery Protocol corresponds closely to the Network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication model. [WhatIs.com] Application: 1) In information technology, an application is the use of a technology, system, or product. 2) The term application is a shorter form of application program. An application program is a program designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application program. Examples of applications include word processors, database programs, Web browsers, development tools, drawing, paint, image editing programs, and communication programs. Applications use the services of the computer's operating system and other supporting applications. The formal requests and means of communicating with other programs that an application program uses is called the application program interface (API). [WhatIs.com] Application Layer: Layer 7 in the OSI model; This layer interfaces directly to and performs common application services for the application processes; it also issues requests to the Presentation Layer. The common application services provide semantic conversion between associated application processes. Note: Examples of common application services of general interest include the virtual file, virtual terminal, and job transfer and manipulation protocols. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Application Level Gateway: A firewall system in which service is provided by processes that maintain complete TCP connection state and sequencing. Application level firewalls often re-address traffic so that outgoing traffic appears to have originated from the firewall, rather than the internal host. [Common Usage] Architecture: the structure of components, their relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time. [DoD Integrated Architecture Panel, 1995, based on IEEE STD 610.12] Architecture Description: An architecture description is a representation of a defined domain (or Environment), as of a current or future point in time, in terms of its component parts, what those parts do, how the parts relate to each other, and the rules and constraints under which the parts function. What constitutes each of the elements of this definition depends on the degree of detail of interest. [DoD Integrated Architecture Panel, 1995, based on IEEE STD 610.12] Archive: 1) An archive is a collection of computer files that have been packaged together for backup, to transport to some other location, for saving away from the computer so that more hard disk storage can be made available, or for some other purpose. An archive can include a simple list of files or files organized under a directory or catalog structure (depending on how a particular program supports archiving). [WhatIs.com] Archive File: A software file that has been set aside, often in a redundant storage medium, as a security measure or for later retrieval, e.g., for research or verification. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] ARP (Address Resolution Protocol): is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Is used to obtain the physical address of a node when the Internet address is known. Defined for Ethernet in RFC0826 See also RFC2834, RFC2835, RFC1390, RFC2225, RFC2320, RFC2625. ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency): The government agency that funded ARPAnet and later the DARPA internet. Now known as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). [Common Usage] ARPAnet: Advanced Research Projects Agency, a U.S. government organization. The granddaddy of the Internet, ARPAnet was an experimental network, established in the 1970s, where pretty much everything on which the Internet is based were created and tested. No longer in existence. [Common Usage] ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange): Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The standard code used for information interchange among data processing systems, data communications systems, and associated equipment in the United States. Note 1: The ASCII character set contains 128 coded characters. Note 2: Each ASCII character is a 7-bit coded unique character; 8 bits when a parity check bit is included. Note 3: The ASCII character set consists of control characters and graphic characters. Note 4: When considered simply as a set of 128 unique bit patterns, or 256 with a parity bit, disassociated from the character equivalences in national implementations, the ASCII may be considered as an alphabet used in machine languages. Note 5: The ASCII is the U.S. version of International Reference Alphabet (IRA) No. 5 (formerly International Alphabet No. 5, or "IA5") as specified in ITU-T Recommendation T.50. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation One): an ISO standard describing a message (a unit of application data) that can be sent or received in a network. ASN.1 is divided into two parts: (1) the rules of syntax for describing the contents of a message in terms of data type and content sequence or structure. Defined in ISO/IEC 8824 and ITU-T X.208 (2) how you actually encode each data item in a message. Defined in ISO/IEC 8825 and ITU-T X.209. Association: In UML, the semantic relationship between two or more classifiers that specifies connections among their instances. [OMG's UML v1.5 Glossary] Association Control Service Element (ACSE): The ISO Association Control Service Element (ACSE), an application layer protocol in the OSI model, is to establish and release an application-association between two AEIs and to determine the application context of that association. The ACSE supports two modes of communication: connection-oriented and connectionless. For the connection-oriented mode, the application-association is established and released by the reference of ACSE connection oriented services. For the connectionless mode, the application-association exists during the invocation of the single ACSE connectionless mode service, A-UNIT-DATA . [ISO (www.iso.org) documents 8650 and 8649] and [ITU (www.itu.org) documents X.217, X.227, X.237]. Asymmetric Encryption: An encryption system that utilizes two keys, one called a public key (which is known to both the sender and the recipient of encrypted data), and the other, called a private key (known only to the individual sending the data). Note: Data are encrypted with the private key and decrypted with the public key. Asymmetric encryption allows for the secure transfer of data. [After Bahorsky]. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Asynchronous Communication System: A data communications system that uses asynchronous operation. Note: The time spacing between successive data characters or blocks may be of arbitrary duration. Synonym start-stop system. [T1.X1], basically a method for transmitting data with start and stop bits and a variable time between data units. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): A high-speed multiplexing and switching method utilizing fixed-length cells of 53 octets to support multiple types of traffic. Note: ATM, specified in international standards, is asynchronous in the sense that cells carrying user data need not be periodic. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Asset: 1. In security, a resource or information that is to be protected. [After CC-99] 2. Any system or component (e.g., subsystem, hardware, firmware, software, database, or interconnection communications network or facility) that is part of a communications system or an information system. [After FAA] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Association: a conveyance path established between a client and a server for the exchange of messages. [IEC61850-2] Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL): 1. An access technology that allows voice and high-speed data to be sent simultaneously over local exchange service copper facilities; the technology supports data rates of up to 1.544 Mb/s when receiving data (downstream rate) and up to 256 kb/s when sending data (upstream rate). 2. A modem technology that provides enhanced and affordable access to the Internet, live video, and a wide variety of other multimedia broadband services over existing copper twisted-pair wirelines; usually the ADSL operates with different data rates in the two directions. [After NCS TIP 99-1] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] ATC (Available Transmission Capacity): ATC is calculated as the Total Transmission Capacity (TTC) less existing transmission schedules. The FERC requires ATC to be offered over the OASIS system by Transmission Providers for Transmission Customers to bid on, in order for them to transport energy over the intervening transmission system from a generation point to a load point. [NERC] ATM Forum: - A worldwide organization that promotes and sets standards for ATM networks and equipment. [http://www.atmforum.com]Attachment: A file that is sent (attached) with an e-mail message. [Common Usage] Attack: 1. An attempt to violate computer security. Note: An example of an attack is malicious logic. [2382-pt.8] 2. [An] intentional act of attempting to bypass one or more of the following security controls of an information system (IS): nonrepudiation, authentication, integrity, availability, or confidentiality. [INFOSEC-99] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Attribute: 1. In database management, a property inherent in an entity or associated with that entity for database purposes. 2. In network management, a property of a managed object that has a value. Note 1: Mandatory initial values for attributes can be specified as part of the managed object class definition. Note 2: Attributes may be either mandatory or conditional. [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Audit:: 1. To conduct an independent review and examination of system records and activities in order to test the adequacy and effectiveness of data security and data integrity procedures, to ensure compliance with established policy and operational procedures, and to recommend any necessary changes. 2. Independent review and examination of records and activities to assess the adequacy of system controls, to ensure compliance with established policies and operational procedures, and to recommend necessary changes in controls, policies, or procedures. [INFOSEC-99] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Authentication: 1. [Any] Security measure designed to establish the validity of a transmission, message, or originator, or a means of verifying an individual's authorization to receive specific categories of information. [INFOSEC-99] [After JP 1-02] 2. A security measure designed to protect a communications system against acceptance of a fraudulent transmission or simulation by establishing the validity of a transmission, message, or originator. [JP 1-02] 3. Evidence by proper signature or seal that a document is genuine and official. [JP 1-02] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Authentication Token: A portable device used for authenticating a user. Authentication tokens operate by challenge/response, time-based code sequences, or other techniques. This may include paper-based lists of one-time passwords. [Common Usage] Authentication Tool: Software or hand-held hardware "key" or "token" utilized during the user authentication process. See key and token. [Common Usage] Authorization: 1. The rights granted to a user to access, read, modify, insert, or delete certain data, or to execute certain programs. 2. Access privileges granted to a user, program, or process. [INFOSEC-99] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] Auto-Magic: Something that happens pseudo-automatically, and is usually too complex to go into any further than to say it happens "automagically." [Common Usage] Automatic Generation Control (AGC): The automatic control of generation based on Load Frequency Control for immediate responses and on a dispatch algorithm for long term movement of generation. In the past, Economic Dispatch was used; more frequently in the deregulated environment, Merit Order Dispatch according to market energy schedules. [Common Usage] Automatic Load Frequency Control - Automatic control system found in the connected power systems, taking into account at the same time the criteria that provide for maintenance of the power exchange balance and the frequency according to the specific algorithm. [Common Usage] Automatic Transformer Tap- Changer Control - Automatic transformer ratio control circuit that operates according to a program which is made depend on time and match the changing load or voltage of the transformers. [Common Usage] Automatic Voltage Control System - Voltage control system at the generation node. [Common Usage] Autonomous System Number (ASN): The globally unique number of the AS. Auxiliary Power - Power consumed by the equipment and installations that are necessary in the energy generation process by generating unit. [Common Usage] Availability: 1. The degree to which a system, subsystem, or equipment is operable and in a committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at an unknown, i.e., a random, time. Note 1: The conditions determining operability and committability must be specified. Note 2: Expressed mathematically, availability is 1 minus the unavailability. 2. The ratio of (a) the total time a functional unit is capable of being used during a given interval to (b) the length of the interval. Note 1: An example of availability is 100/168 if the unit is capable of being used for 100 hours in a week. Note 2: Typical availability objectives are specified in decimal fractions, such as 0.9998. 3. Timely, reliable access to data and information services for authorized users. [INFOSEC-99] [T1 Glossary 2000: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms] AWG: The American Wire Gauge system, which specifies wire width. [American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits] |
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IntelliGrid
Architecture
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