Glossary

FDM - See frequency division multiplexing. fiber optics. Thin strands of ultrapure glass or plastic that can be used to carry light waves from one location to another.

fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTCab) - network architecture where an optical fiber connects the telephone switch to a street-side cabinet where the signal is converted to feed the subscriber over a twisted copper pair.

fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) - The deployment of fiber optic cable from a central office to a platform serving numerous homes. The home is linked to this platform with coaxial cable or twisted pair (copper wire). Each fiber carries signals for more than one residence, lowering the cost of installing the network versus fiber to the home.

fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) - The deployment of fiber optic cable from a central office to an individual home. This is the most expensive broadband network design, with every home needing a separate fiber optic cable to link it with the central office.

frame relay - A high-speed packet switching protocol used in wide area networks (WANs), often to connect local area networks (LANs) to each other, with a maximum bandwidth of 44.725 megabits per second.

frequency - The number of oscillations in an alternating current that occur within one second, measured in Hertz (Hz).

frequency division multiplexing (FDM) - The transmission of multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path by dividing the available bandwidth into multiple channels that each cover a different range of frequencies.

FTTC - See fiber-to-the-curb.

FTTH - See fiber-to-the-home.

full-motion video - The projection of 20 or more frames (or still images) per second to give the eye the perception of movement. Broadcast video in the United States uses 30 frames per second, and most film technologies use 24 frames per second.