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Glossary Terms and Definitions Beginning with the Letter W

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W	Watt (W) is the unit for measuring power. In physics terms, one watt is one Joule of energy transferred or dissipated in one second. Electrical power is calculated as: Watts = Volts x Amps x Power Factor The power factor can be disregarded for DC circuits or for AC circuits with a resistive load (it is 1 in those situations).
W-CDMA	See WB-CDMA
W/Dog O/P Flag	Watchdog output flag
Wafer	Semiconductor manufacturing begins with a thin disk of semiconductor material, called a "wafer." A series of processes defines transistors and other structures, interconnected by conductors to build the desired circuit. The wafer is then sliced into "dice" which are mounted in packages, creating the IC.
Wafer Fab	Semiconductor processing facility which turns wafers into integrated circuits. A typical wafer fab employs a series of complex steps to define conductors, transistors, resistors, and other electronic components on the the semiconductor wafer. Imaging steps define what areas will be affected by subsequent physical and chemical processes.
Wafer Fabrication	See Wafer Fab
Wafer Foundry	See Wafer Fab
WAN	Wide Area Network: Any Internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building.
Watchdog	A feature of a microprocessor supervisory circuit that monitors software execution in a microprocessor or microcontroller. It takes appropriate action (assert a reset or nonmaskable interrupt) if the processor gets stuck in an infinite execution loop.
Watchdog Circuit	See Watchdog
Watchdog Output	See Watchdog
Watchdog Time-Out	See Watchdog
Watchdog Timer	See Watchdog
Watt	See W
Wb	Weber: A measure of magnetic flux.
WB-CDMA	Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, a standard derived from the original CDMA. WB-CDMA is the third-generation (3G) mobile wireless technology capable of supporting voice, video, and data communications up to 2Mbps.
WCDMA	See WB-CDMA
WCDMA Converter	See WB-CDMA
WCDMA-FDD	See WB-CDMA
WCDMA-TDD	See WB-CDMA
WDI	Watchdog input
WDO	See Watchdog
WDPO	Watchdog pulse output
WE	Write enable
Weber	See Wb
Wi-Fi	See 802.11g
Wide Area Network	See WAN
Wideband	A classification of the information capacity or bandwidth of a communication channel. Wideband is generally understood to mean a bandwidth between 64kbits/s and 2Mbit/s.
WiFi	See 802.11a
WiMax	WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a "last mile," broadband, wireless access mechanism which can potentially replace DSL and Cable Modem. Defined by the IEEE 802.16 standards. While Wi-Fi (802.11) covers a small area with a radius of a few hundred meters, WiMax (802.16) can cover up to 6 miles with only one base station. Also known as WirelessMAN, for "Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks."
Window Comparator	A device, usually consisting of a pair of voltage comparators, in which output indicates whether the measured signal is within the voltage range bounded by two different thresholds (an "upper" threshold and a "lower" threshold).
Window Comparators	See Window Comparator
Window Watchdog	A special subset of the watchdog timer feature found on microprocessor supervisory circuits. It is used to monitor software execution and assert a reset or an NMI if the processor gets stuck in a loop. This feature not only looks for periodic transitions on its input within a preprogrammed timeout period, but it also looks to see if there are "too many" transitions within its timeout period (window).
Windowed Watchdog	See Window Watchdog
Wired-OR	See OR
wired-OR	See Tri-State
Wireless	See RF
Wireless Local Loop	See WLL
Wireless Sensor Network	Wireless Sensor Network, or WSN, is a network of RF transceivers, sensors, machine controllers, microcontrollers, and user interface devices with at least two nodes communicating by means of wireless transmissions.
Wireless Telephony Application	See WTA
Wireless/RF	See Wireless
WirelessMAN	See WiMax
WLAN	Wireless Local Area Network
WLANs	See WLAN
WLL	Wireless Local Loop: Any method of using wireless communication in place of a wired connection to provide subscribers with standard telephone service.
WR-RD	Write-read
Write Protect	Any method that keeps data from being over-written. It may be a physical obstacle or a file attribute choice that prevents overwriting.
WSN	See Wireless Sensor Network
WTA	Wireless Telephony Application: A collection of telephony-specific extensions for call- and feature-control mechanisms that make advanced mobile network services available to end users. WTA essentially merges the features and services of data networks with the services of voice networks.