Cables to Go DOCSIS Cable Modem manual Mcns, Mso, Nat

DOCSIS 1.0/ 1.1 Equivalent Cable Modem

MAC (Media Access Control)

Media Access Control (MAC) is the protocol governing access to the network. The MAC device is located between receive and transmit paths. Among its functions are the controlling of ranging, the assignment of frequencies, and the allocation of time slots.

MCNS

Multimedia Cable Network System

Modulation

A controlled variation of any property of a carrier wave for transferring data.

Modulator

Encoding, modulation, frequency conversion, D/A conversion, etc.

MSO

Multiple Service Operator

NAT

Network Address Translation, technique used to share a single IP address to provide internet access to a LAN.

Network Interface Card

A Network Interface Card (NIC) is a plug-in circuit board installed in an expansion slot of the computer. The NIC (also called an Ethernet card) takes parallel data from the computer, converts it to serial data, packets it, and sends it out over a 10BaseT cable.

OS (Operating System)

The basic software that allows application programs to access a computer’s hardware resources.

Packet loss

Number of data packets that are lost in transmission.

Ping

Program to measure network latency.

QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)

QAM is a method of combining two amplitude-modulated signals into a single channel, thereby doubling the effective bandwidth. QAM is used with pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) in digital systems, especially in wireless applications.

In a QAM signal, there are two carriers, each having the same frequency but differing in phase by 90 degrees (one quarter of a cycle, from which the term quadrature arises). One signal is called the I signal, and the other is called the Q signal. Mathematically, one of the signals can be represented by a sin wave, and the other by a cosine wave. The two modulated carriers are combined at the source for transmission. At the destination, the carriers are separated, the data is extracted from each, and then the data is combined into the original modulating information.

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