A

• A/D Analogue to Digital
• AA Airport Authority
• AACD Advances in Analogue Circuit Design (An annual workshop)
• AAS American Astronomical Society
• ABET Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (US)
• ABRC Advisory Board for the Research Councils
• ABS acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
• AC Alternating Current
• ACARD Advisory Council on applied Research and Developenent
• ACC Adaptive cruise control
• ACCM Advisory Council on Calibration and Measurement
• ACLR Adjacent channel leakage ratio
• ACPR Adjacent channel power ratio
• ACOST Advisory Council on Science and Technology
• ACSE Application Control Service Element
• AD ISA's Analysis Division

  Asymetric because it pushes signals down the pipe faster than it pushes them up! ie good for browsing not so good for sending large attachments.

• ADC Analogue-to-digital converter
• ADSL Asymmetric DSL
• AFCET Association Francaise pour la Cybernetique Economique et Technique.
• AFRC Agricultural and Food Research Council
• AFT An Foras Talúntais (now subsumed in Teagasc)
• AGA American Gas Association
• AGC Automatic Generation Control
• AGU American Geophysical Union
• AI Artificial Intelligence
• AIA Automated Imaging Association
• AIAI American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• AIChE American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• AICRO Association of Independent Contract Research Organisations
• AIS Italian Instrument Society

  ALM regards the process of delivering software as a continuously repeating cycle of inter-related steps: definition, design, development, testing, deployment and management. Each of these steps needs to be carefully monitored and controlled. (See Wikipedia on this)

• ALM Application Lifecycle Management
• AM Amplitude modulation
• AMC Advanced management control
• AMC Advanced mezzanine card
• AMR Automatic meter reading
• AMS Asset management solutions
• AMT Advanced Manufacturing Technology (also AMT Association organised by Forbairt)
• AnCO An Comhairle Oiliúna (now subsumed in FÁS)
• ANN Artificial Neural Networks
• ANSI American National Standards Institution
• AP Application protocol
• AP Application programming interface
• APC Advanced process control
• API Active pharmaceutical ingredients
• API American Petroleum Institution
• API Application programming interfaces

  Asset Performance Management balances asset availability and utilization to optimize business value. APM uses dynamic performance measures to determine the business value of assets and the true value that they generate; manufacturers need not attempt to optimize availability or utilization independently.

  APM Asset Performance Management
  APS American Physical Society
  ARP Address resolution protocol
  ASE Association for Science Education
  ASI Actuator Sensor Interface
  ASIC Application-specific integrated circuit
  ASM Abnormal situation management
  ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  ASN Abstract Syntax Notation
  ASSP Application-specific standard products
  ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
  AT adaptive technologies
  ATCA Advanced telecom computing architecture
  ATERIS Air Toxics Exposure & Risk Information System
  ATM Asynchronous transfer mode
  AUT Association of University Teachers
  AVS American Vacuum Society
  AWR Applied wave research

  ---

  B

• B2B Business to businesse
• BAAS British Association for the Advancement of Science
• BACT Best Available Control Technology
• baluns Balanced/Unbalanced devices
• BAM Batch activity management
• BAS Building automation system
• BASEEFA British Approvals Service for Electrical Equipment in Flammable Atmospheres
• BAYS British Association of Young Scientists
• BCR European Community Bureau of Reference
• BCS British Calibration Service
• BCS British Computer Society
• BDI Business Directory International - Publishers of the InterNet Directory
• BDM background debug mod
• BEAMA British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association
• BEM Big Emerging Markets
• BEMS Building Energy Management System
• BER Board for Engineers' Registration
• BER Bit-error ratio (or rate)
• BERT Bit error rate tester
• BES Biological Engineering Society
• BETX A mixture of benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylenes
• BFPI British Fluid Power Association
• BGIRA British Glass Industry Research Association
• BHRA British Hydromechanics Research Association (now, formally, BHRA Fluid Engineering)
• BIM British Institute of Management
• BIAS Biennale Internazionale dell'Automazione e Strumentazione. (Exhibition in Milan)
• BIOS Basic Input/output System
• BIPM Bureau International des Poids et Mesures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
• BLEVE Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion
• BQTF Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility
• BM Building Management
• BMCP InstMC's Biomedical Measurement and Control Panel
• BMIS British Medical Informatics Society
• BMIT Biomedical Informatics Today
• BMS Building Management System
• BMS Burner (or Boiler) management system
• BMTA British Measurement and Testing association
• BNCIEA British National Committee for International Engineering Affairs
• BNCNDT British National Committee for Non-Destructive Testing
• BNES British Nuclear Energy Society
• BNP Backpropagation neural network
• BOD Biochemical oxygen demand
• BPCS Basic process control system
• BPON Broadband PON
• BPRA British Pattern Recognition Association
• BPF British Plascics Federation
• BPM Business process management
• BRA British Robot Association
• BSI British Standard Institution
• BSL Bórd Solathair an Leictreachais
• BSSM British Society for Strain Measurement
• BTECH Business and Technician Education Council
• BTG British Technology Group
• BTU British thermal unit
• BTW By the Way

C

• C Capacitance (electrical)
• C Eng Chartered Engineer
• C&GLI City & Guilds of London Institute
• C&I Control & Instrumentation
• CAA Clean Air Act (USA)
• CAAA Clean Air Act Ammendments (USA)
• CAC Computer-Aided Calibration
• CAD Computer Aided Design
• CAE Computer Aided Engineering
• CAGR Compound or cumalative annual growth rate
• CAL CAN application Layer
• CALIT Center for Advanced Learning in Information Technologies
• CAM Compliance assurance monitoring

  CAN - a brief tutorial from Computer Solutions

• CAN Controller Area Network
• CAMS Consolidated alarm management software
• CAO Central Applications Office
• CAP Certified Automation Professional
• CAT Computerised Axial Tomography
• CBE Computer based engineering
• CBM Condition-based maintenance
• CBMPE Confederation of British Manufacturers of Petroleum Equipment (now EIC, qv)
• CCC Co-ordinating Committee: C.Eng
• CCD Charge coupled device
• CCDF Complimentary cumulative distribution function

  CC-Link is an industrial field level network that processes both control and information data at high speed, to provide efficient, integrated factory and process automation. It provides high speed, deterministic communication linking a wide range of multi-vendor automation devices over a single cable. The CC-Link Partner Association (CCLP)

• CC-Link Control & communication link
• CCP CCP
• CCPS Centre for Chemical Proces Safety (AIChE)
• CCST Certified Control Systems Technician (ISA)
• CCT Co-ordinating Committee: TEng, Eng Tech
• CD Commitee draft (IEC)
• CDRA Committee of Directors of Research Associations
• CDV Committee draft voting
• CDVEC City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee
• CE Communauté Européenne (Conformity Europe).
• CE Customer engineer
• CEE Control Engineering Europe - Publication
• CEM Continuous Emission Monitoring
• CEMA Committee of European Promotors of Exhibitions of Measurement and Automation.
• CEMS Continuous emissions-monitoring system
• CEN Comité Européen de Normalisation
• Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation)
• CEPC Committee of Engineering Professors' Conference
• CERL Central Electricity Research Laboratory
• CERN Centre European de Research Nuclear or Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucláire
• CESIO Comité Européen des Agents de Surface et leurs intermeédiaires Organiques
• CET Continuing Education and Training
• CFR Code of Federal Regulations (US)
• CFSAN Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (USA)
• CGMP Current good manufacturing practice.
• CGPM General Conference on Weights and Measures
• CHEMPID ISA's Chemical & Petroleum Division
• CHEMS Ceramic hybrid electromechanical systems
• CiA CAN in Automation
• CIA Chemical Industries Association
• CIBSE Chartered Institute of Building IServices Engineers
• CIE Computer, Electrical and Electrical (Plant functions)
• CIESC Chemical and Engineering Society of China
• CIM Computer Integrated Manufacture
• CIMAH Control of Industrial Major Accident Regulations (GB)
• CIMM Certified Industrial Maintenance Mechanics
• CIN China Instrument and Control Society
• CIP Clean-in-place
• CIS Commonwealth of Independent States (States which formerly made up the Soviet Union)
• CISC Complex Instruction Set Computer
• CLD Chemiluminescence detection
• CLPA CC-Link Partner Association
• CM Configuration management also Condition monitoring
• CMM Computerised Maintenance Management
• CMM Coordinate measuring machine
• CMMI Capability maturity model integration
• CMMS Control Maintenance & Management Systems
• CMMS Computerized Maintenance & Management Systems
• CMOS Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
• CNAA Council for National Academic Awards
• CNC Computer Numerical Controller
• CNG Compressed natural gas
• COD Chemical oxygen demand
• COM Common object model
• ComCentre UK Centre for Communication Standards in the Manufacturing and Process Industries.
• COMMS Customer Oriented Manufacturing Management Systems
• COMPUTEC ISA's Computer Technology Division
• CONCEET National Conference on Engineering and Training
• CoO Common object request broker architecture
• CORBA Common object request broker architecture
• COTS Commercial off-the-shelf (software)
• CORDIS Community Research & Development Information Service.
• cp centipoise
• CPD Continuing Professional Developement
• CPU Central Processing Unit
• CRM Customer relationship management
• CRT Cathode Ray Tube
• CDU Crude distillation unit
• CPM Corporate Performance Management
• CPM Cost per thousand
• CQA Critical to quality atributes
• CQIA Connecticut Quality Improvement Award
• CSA Canadian Standards Association
• CSC News Chemical Sensors Club News
• CSE Control Systems Engineer
• CSMA/CD Carrier sense multiple access/collision detection
• CSO Combined sewer overflow
• CSPRI Cyber Security Policy & Research Institute of GWU
• CSSP Customer specific standard product
• cSt centiStoke
• CST Control Systems Technician in Training (ISA)
• CTA ISA's Control Technology and Application training series
• CTP Capable-to-promise
• CTT Córas Tráchtála now Bórd Tráchtála
• CV Curriculum Vitae (Career Resum&eavute;)
• CVCP Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principles
• CVI C for virtual Instrumentation
• CWA Clean Water Actpat (USA)
• CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

D

• D/A Digital to Analogue
• D/DBP Disinfectants & Disinfection By-Products Rule
• DA Distribution Automation
• DAQ Data acquisition
• DC Direct Current
• DCOM Distrubuted common object model
• DCOM Distrubuted component object model
• DCS Distributed Control System
• DCU Dublin City University
• DD Device description
• DDC Digital downconverter
• DDL Device description language
• DDS Detailed Design Specification
• DES Department of Education and Science
• DFM Design for manufacturing
• DIAS Distributed Intelligent Actuators and Sensors (Esprit 2172)
• DIN The German Standards Institute
• DIT Dublin Institute of Technology
• DLL Dynamic link liberaries
• DMS Distributed Monitoring System
• DMS Document management system
• DMT Dynamic modeling technology
• DNA Distributed interNet Architure
• DO Dissolved Oxygen
• DOE Department of the Environment
• DOE Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Design of Experiments
• dp Differential Pressure
• DPDT Double-pole double-throw
• DPG Digital Pressure Gauge
• DPO Digital phospher oscilloscope
• DPU Distributed Processing Unit
• DSL Digital subscriber line
• DRM Device relationship management
• DRM Digital rights management
• DSM Demand-side Management
• DSP Digital Signal Processing
• DSTP Data socket transfer protocol
• DTEACh Design Technology and Engineering for America's Children
• DTI Department of Trade & Industry
• DTM Difficult to Monitor
• DTM device type monitor (see also FDT)
• dTR Draft technical report (ISA)
• DVC Digital Valve Controller
• DVI Digital visual interface

E

• EAPB The European Association of Pharma Biotechnology
• EAM Enterprise asset management
• EAM Engineering asset management
• EAP InstMC's Educational Activities
• EARB Electronics and Avionics Requirements Board
• EBR Electronic batch report
• EC Engineering Council
• eCos Embedded Configurable Operating System
• ECPD Engineer's Council for Professional Development (now ABET)
• ECROC Engineering Council Regional Organisation Committee
• EDA Electronic design automation

  EDDL is a text-based language for describing the digital communication characteristics of intelligent devices and equipment parameters in an Operating System (OS) and Human Machine Interface (HMI)-neutral environment. EDDL enables a host system manufacturer to create a single engineering environment that can support any device, from any supplier, using any communications protocol, without the need for custom software drivers for each device type.

• EDDL Eletronic device description language
• EDI Electronic data interchange
• EDX Energy dispersive X-ray
• EDM Electronic document management
• EELS Electron energy loss spectroscopy
• EEMBC Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium
• EEMUA Engineering Equipment and Materials Users' Association
• EEUA Engineering Equipment Users' Association (now subsumed in EEMUA.)
• EFM Electronic flow measurement
• EFNMS European Federation of National Maintenance Societies
• EGC Executive group of companies (of EC)
• EGS European Geophysical Society
• EHEDG European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group
• EHFS Electronic health fire safety
• EHS Environmental health and safety.
• EHT Electric heat tracing
• EIAMUG European Intelligent Actuation and Measurement User Group (Esprit 8244)
• EIC Energy Industries Council
• EIIA European Information Industry Association
• EIS Enterprise information systems
• EISA Extended Industry Standard Architecture
• EIT Economies in Transition
• EITB Engineering Industry Training Board
• ELEOP ISA's Electro Optics Division
• EMAS Eco-management Audit Scheme (EU Initiative)
• EMC Electromagnetic compatibility
• EMEA Europe, Middle East, Africa
• EMF Electromagnetic Flowmeter
• EMI Electromagnetic Interference
• EMS Energy Management Systems
• EMUG European Map User Group
• EMVA European Machine Vision Association
• EN European Norm (Prefixed to European Standards numbers)
• Eng Tech Engineering Technician
• Eolas (Knowledge) The Irish Science & Technology Agency (Now subsumed in Forbairt)
• EOS European Optical Society
• EPA Environmental Protection Agency
• EPC Engineering Procurement and Construction
• EPIC Exchange Price Information Computer (Code used in Stock Exchange dealings)
• EPON Eterrnet PON
• EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
• EPS European Physical Society
• EPTIS The European Proficiency Testing Information System.
• ERA Electrical Research Association (now, formally ERA Technology Ltd.)
• ERB Engineers' Registration Board (Formally part of CEI)
• ERP Enterprise resource planning
• ERM Enterprise resource management
• ERO Engineering Regional Organisation
• ERP Enterprise resource planning
• ESA Environmental Services Association
• ESAC Electrical Systems and Controls
• ESB Electricity Supply Board
• ESD Emergency shutdown
• ESF European Science Foundation

  ESL: As system-on-chip (SoC) designs grow ever more complex, developers are turning to electronic-system-level (ESL) solutions. Designed to improve productivity, reduce risk and tackle growing design complexity, ESL methodologies support mixed-language descriptions and IP reuse, and are targeted at very complex SoC and heterogeneous designs. With ESL, hardware and software can be developed and verified in parallel, problems can be identified and resolved much earlier in the design flow, and tasks that used to consume years of time and effort can now be completed in months. Under the "ESL Now!" banner, more than twenty companies representing a wide variety of ESL modeling, verification, software tools generation and synthesis solutions, services and standards are banding together to spread awareness of ESL.

• ESL Electronic system-level (see note on right)
• ESRC Economic and Social Research Council
• ESRI Economic and Social Research Institute
• ESTA Energy Systems Trade Association
• ETCI The Electro-Technical Council of Ireland
• ETQ Inst MC's Education, Training and Qualifications Committee
• ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
• EU European Union
• EVM Error vector management
• EVOH Ethylene vinyl alcahol
• EWT Embedded web technology
• EWW Enterprise-Wide Web

F

• F Fellow ( as FInstMC, FRSA etc)
• FAO Fab Owners Association
• FÁS Foras Áiseanna Saothair (Irish traing board)
• FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN)
• FAT Factory Acceptance Test
• FBD Function Block Logic
• FCC Federal communications commission
• FCS Functional Companion Standard
• FCU Field Control Unit
• FD Failed dangerous
• FD Functional Diagram (implementation dependant)
• FDA Food and Drug Administration (USA)
• FDD Frequency division duplexing
• FDDI Fibre distributed data interface

  The FDT (Field Device Tool) technique has been developed by a workgroup attended by representatives of more than 20 major process automation companies. The target was to find a solution (open interface) for instrument configuration and mangement by a central system engineering tool, no matter which communication protocol used. The result is a vendor and protocol independent FDT specification defining interfaces on the basis of internet technologies (ActiveX/COM, XML, ...). With this, instruments can be seamlessly integrated into engineering or stand-alone tools by using a software component, which is called DTM (Device Type Manager). The DTM is provided by the device vendor, holds the entire information of the instrument and provides means to fully configure, maintain and manage the instrument via a comfortable, standardised graphical interface. FIRST: Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, NH, FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. With the support of many of the world's most well-known companies, the non-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition for high school students and the FIRST LEGO League for children 9 to 14 years old. FISCO compliance enables more power to be made available in each fieldbus segment, allowing the connection of further devices in the hazardous area. The advantage to the plant engineer is a simplified installation and less documentation needed to show the safety of the installation.

• FDT Field device tool (right)
• FEA Finite Element Analysis
• FEANI Federation Europenne Associations National des Ingenieurs.
• FEED Front end engineering design
• FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (right)
• FOEL Front-end-of-line
• FF Fieldbus Foundation
• FFB Flexible function block
• FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• FIACC Five International Associations Coordinatig Committee
• FIP Fieldbus internet protocol
• FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
• FISCO Fieldbus intrinsic safety concept (right)
• FLAI Flexible air interface
• flops Floating-point operations per second
• FM Frequency modulation
• FMCW Frequency modulated continuous wave
• FMEDA Failure mode, effect and diagnostic analysis
• FMS Facility Management Systems
• FPAA Field programmable analog arrays
• FPD Flat panel display
• FPGA Field programmable gate array
• FPSO Floating production, storage and offloading vessels)
• FRD Functional Requirement Diagram (implementation dependant)
• FRNT Fast recovery of network topology
• FRS Functional Requirements Specification
• FS Failed safe
• FSO Full-scale output
• FT-IR Fourier transform infrared
• FT-NIR Fourier transform near infrared
• FTD Federal Trade Commission (US)
• FTP File Transfer Protocol
• FTTH Fibre to the home
• FWHM Full Width at Half Maximum (a measure of image) sharpness
• FWTM Full width thousandth maximum

G

• G&C ISA's Glass & Ceramic Division
• GAMBICA Group of Association of Manufacturers of British, Instruments, Control and Automation.
• GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
• GC Gas chromatography
• GC General Council (as in IMEKO)
• GCIIG InstMC's Glass and Ceramics Industry Instrumentation Group
• GDP Gross Domestic Product
• GEO Geostationary earth orbiter
• GEP Good engineering practice
• GHz GigaHertz
• GLP Good Laboratory Practice
• GMP Good Manufacturing Practice
• GPA Gas Processors Association
• GPC Geometric Process Control
• GPL General public license
• gpm Gallons per minute
• GPR Ground penetrating radar
• GPRS General packet radio service
• GPS Global positioning satellite
• GSM Global system for mobile (communications)
• GUI Graphical User Interface

H

• H&A ISA's Honours and Awards
• HACCP Hazard analysis and critical control points
• HAZOP Hazard & Operability Study
• HART Highway addressable remote transducer
• HCF HART Communication Foundation
• HCl Hydrochloric acid
• HDA Historical Data Access
• HDT Heat deflection temperature
• HDT Heat distortion temperature
• HDTV High Definition Television
• HEA Higher Education Authority
• HEA Higher Education Awards
• HFT Hardware fault tolerance
• HeNe Helium neon
• HIPS high integrity protection system
• HIST Host interoperability support test
• HMI Human machine inteface (see also MMI)
• HNC/D Higher National Certificate/Diploma
• HON Hazardous organic national emission standard for hazardous air pollutants
• hp Horsepower
• HPLC High performance liquid chromatography
• HSE Health and Safety Executive (GB)
• HSE High-speed Ethernet
• HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access
• html Hypertext meta-language
• http Hypertext transfer protocol
• HUMS Health and usage monitoring systems

I

• I Current (electric)
• I&C Instrumentation & Control
• I&S ISA's Industries & Science Dept.
• I/O Input/Output
• I/P Current to Pressure (Electropneumatic)
• IA Intelligent Actuatot (or Actuation)
• IAGS Irish Assessment & Guidence Service
• IAIA Indian Analytical Instruments Association
• IAIG InstMC's Industrial Analytical Instrumentation Group
• IAM Intelligent Actuation & Measurement
• IAONA Industrial Automation Open Networking Alliance
• IAS Interface activity schedule
• IAT Intelligent Actuators & Transmitters
• IBC Intermediate bus converters
• IBETA Irish Business Equipment Trade Association
• IBM International Business Machines
• IC Integrated circuit
• ICA Independant computing architecture
• ICCD Intensified charge-coupled device
• ICE Institution of Civil Engineers
• IChemE Institution of Chemical Engineers
• ICR Information Collection Rule
• ICS Industrial Computing Society
• ICSA Information and Computing Services Association.
• ICTP International Centre for Theoretical Physics
• ICTU Irish Congress of Trade Unions
• IDA Industrial Development Authority (now part of Forfás which also includes Forbairt)
• IDBMS Instrumentation database management system
• IDE Integrated development environment
• IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
• IEE Institution of Electrical Engineers
• IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• IEEIE Institution of Electrical and Electronics Incorporated Engineers
• IEHS Instrumentation in ecology and human safety
• IEI Institution of Engineers of Ireland
• IEng Incorporate Engineer
• IERE Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers
• IETC Initial Education and Training Committee (of EC)
• IEU Industrial Ethernet University (IEU)
• IF Intermediate frequency
• IFAC International Federation of Automatic Control (Member of FIACC)
• IFD Intelligent Field Device
• IFIP International Federation of Information Processing (Member of FIACC)
• IFORS International Federation of Operational Research (Member of FIACC)
• IFSA International Frequency Sensor Association.
• IGC Irish Goods Council
• IGE Institution of Gas Engineers
• IGMP Internet Group Management Protocol
• IICA Institute of Instrumentation and Control Australia
• IICI The Industrial Interoperability Compliance Institute
• IIRS Institute for Industrial Research & Standards (now part of Forbairt)
• IL Instruction List
• ILAB Irish Laboratory Accreditation Board (Now INAB)
• ILAC International Laboratory Accreditation Conference
• ILD Instrument loop diagram
• ILM Independent Learning Modules (ISA Book Series)
• ILM ISA's Industrial Learning Modules
• IM Intelligent Measurement (function)
• IMA Institute of Mathamatics and its Application
• IMACS International Association for Mathamatics and Computers in Simulation (Member of
• IMarE Institute of Marine Engineers
• IMC Institute of Management Consultants
• IMechE Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• IMEKO International Measurement Confederation (Member of FIACC)
• IMI Irish Management Institute
• IMT Industrial & Materials Technologies
• IMV Integrated machine vision
• INAB The Irish National Accreditation Board

  INCOTERMS 2000 are internationally accepted commercial terms defining the respective roles of the buyer and seller in the arrangement of transportation and other responsibilities and clarify when the ownership of the merchandise takes place. They are used in conjunction with a sales agreement or other method of transacting the sale.

• INCOTERMS Internationally accepted commercial terms
• InstMC Institute of Measurement and Control
• INTECH Instrument Technology - Journal of ISA
• IOC Instrument-on-a-chip.
• IoP Institute of Physics
• IP Internet protocol
• IP Institute of Petroleum
• IPC Integrated pollution control
• IPC Irish Prouductivity Council
• IPP Integrated product policy
• IPPC Integrated pollution prevention and control
• IProdE Institution of Production Engineers
• IPS Integrated plant system
• IPTS International Practical Temperature Scale
• IQ Installation Qualification
• IQA Irish Quality Association
• IQPC The International Quality and Productivity Centre
• IR Infrared
• IRP ISA's Instructional Resource Package
• IRIS International Railway Industry Standard
• IS Intrinsically safe
• ISA Instruments, Systems and Automation
• ISA Integraded systems architecture
• ISA Irish Safety Association
• ISA Irish Software Association
• ISA The Instruments, Systems, and Automation Society (initials originally stood for Instrument Society of America).
• ISACA Information Systems Audit and Control Association.
• ISAI ISA International (now reintegrated into ISA
• ISEB Information Systems Examination Board
• ISE Integral of the Squared Error
• ISF ISA's Instrument Standards Foundation
• ISO International Organization for Standardization
• IT Information technology
• IT Integrated technician
• IT Intelligent Transmitter
• ITB Industry Training Board
• ITER International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
• ITK Interoperability test kit
• ITRU Industrial Training and Research Unit
• ITS International Temperature Scale
• ITTP ISA's Instrument Technician Training Program
• ITU International Telecommunications Union
• IVP Implied Valve Position
• IWEM The Institution of Water and Environmental Management

J

• JEC InstMC's Journal Editorial Committee
• JEMIMA The Japan Electrical Measurements Manufacturers' Association
• JIG Joint interest group
• JIMS Joint Industrial Measurement Programme (a DTI/SERC Scheme)
• JIT Just in Time
• JUSE Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers

  JWST is NASA's next-generation successor to the Hubble Space Telescope - scheduled for launch in 2013

• JWST James Webb Space Telescope

K

• Kbps Kilobits per second
• kg/d kilograms per day
• kHz kilohertz
• KIVI Koninklijk Instituut van Inginieurs (Netherlands)
• KPI Key performance indicators

L

• L Inductance (electric)
• LAMP Large account management process
• LAN Local Area Network
• LAP Light-addressable potentiometric
• LAS Link Active Scheduler
• LASER Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
• LDAR Leak Detection and Repair
• LEP Life extension programme
• LFRA Leatherhead Food Research Association
• LGC Laboratory of the Government Chemist
• LIBS Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
• LIMS Laboratory Information Management Systems
• LNG Liquified Natural Gas
• LOPA Layers of protection analysis
• lpm Litres per minute
• LSB InstMC's Learned Society Board
• LTA Logic tree analysis
• LTE Long term evolution
• LUT Loughborough University of Technology
• LV Low Voltage
• LVDT Linear variable differential transformer

M

• M2M Machine-to-machine (also the name of a trade journal)
• M&A Mergers and acquisitions
• M&C Measurement and Control - The Journal of InstMC
• M&M ISA's Mining & Metallurgy Divisions
• M&S ISA's Marketing & Sales Division
• Ma Milliampere
• MAC Media access control
• MAC Main automation contractor
• MACT Maximum Available Control Technology
• MAINT ISA's Maintenance Division
• MAP Manufacturing Automation Protocol (cf EMUG)
• MAU Media attachment unit
• MB InstMC's Management Board
• MBA Master of Business Administration
• Mbps magabits per second
• MCC Motor control centre
• MEMS Microelectro-mechanical systems
• MEMS Microelectro-mechanical sensors
• MES Manufacturing execution systems
• MES Manufacturing enterprise solution
• MESA Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association International
• mg/l Milligrams per litre
• mgd Million gallons per day
• MID Measuring Instruments Directive
• MIMO Multi input multi output
• MIPS million instructions per second
• MIRA Motor Industry Research Association
• MIS Management Information Systems
• MITP InstMC's Measurement and Instrumentation Technology Panel
• MMF Multi-mode fibre
• MMI Man-machine Interface (see also HMI Human-machine interface)
• MMS Manufacturing Message Specification
• MMS Multimedia message service
• MMU Memory mangement unit
• MO Member Organisation (of IMEKO)
• MOSFET Metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor
• MPFF Maintenance preventable function failure
• MPM Manufacturing process management
• MPN Most probable number
• MRC Medical Research Council
• MRDE Mining Research and Development Establishment
• MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• MRO Maintenance, repair & operations
• MRP Material Resource Planning
• MRPII Manufacturing Resource Planning
• MRS Materials Research Society
• MS Maintenance System
• MS Mass spectroscopy
• MS-MUG Microsoft-Manufacturing User Group
• MSD Machinery Safety Directive
• MsMUG The Microsoft Manufacturing Users Group
• MSRB Metrology Standards Requirements Board
• MTAC Mid-Atlatic Technology Applications Centre (part of NASA)
• MTBF Mean time between failures
• MTBR Mean time between repair
• MTC Microelectronics Training Center
• MTF Modulation Transfer Function
• MTIE Maximum time interval
• MTIRA Machine Tool Industry Research Association
• MTTA Machine Tool Trades Association
• MTTR Mean time to repair
• MUSIC Mu Security Industrial Control
• MW Megawatts
• MW-NIR Multiwavelength near wavelength near infrared

N

• NAB National Advisory Board
• NACE National Association of Corrosion Engineers
• NAES Naval Air Engineering Station
• NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
• NAMAS National Measurement Accreditation Service
• NATFHE National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
• NATLAS National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme
• NBO Networked business object
• NBS National Bureau of Standards
• NCAP Network capable application processor
• NCC National Computing Centre
• NCEA National Council for Educational Awards
• NCMS National Centre for Manufacturing Sciences (US)
• NCSL National Conference of Standards Laboratories
• NCVQ National Council for Vocational Qualifications
• NDIR Nondispersive infrared
• NIRSpec Near Infrared Spectrograph
• NEB National Enterprise Board (now subsumed in BTG)
• NEB Nuclear Energy Board
• NEC National Electrical Code
• NEC National Exhibition Centre (Britain)
• NEL National Engineering Laboratory
• NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association
• NERC North American Electric Reliability Corporation
• NETT Network for Environmental Technology Transfer
• NFPA National Fire Protection Association
• NIFAST National Industrial Fire and Safety Centre
• NIHE National Institute for Higher Education (obsolete as these bodies are now Universities)
• NIMR National Institute for Medical Research
• NIR Near infrared
• NISO National Industrial Safety Organisation
• NIST National Institute of Standards & Technology
• NITEC National Information Technology in Education Centre

  Comprised of current students and alumni of Lee College, the Nexus of Instrumentation Women (NIW) was formed with the expressed goal of increasing the presence of women in the instrumentation workforce.

• NIW Nexus of Instrumentation Women
• nm nanometer
• NML National Metrology Laboratory
• NMO National Medical Organisation (as in IFAC)
• NMS Network monitoring station
• NOM Natural Organic Material
• NPL National Physical Laboratory
• NPRA National Petrochemical and Refiners Association
• NRDC National Research Developement Corporation (noe subsumed in BTG)
• NSAI National Standards Authority of Ireland
• NSF National Science Foundation
• NSPS National Standards of Performance for Stationary Sources
• NSWC Naval surface warfare center Naval surface warfare center
• NTDB National Trade Database
• NTU nephelometric turbidity unit
• NUI National University of Ireland
• NUI Normally unattended installation
• NUMA Non-Uniforn-Memory-Access

O

• O&M Operations and Maintenance
• OA Open architecture
• OAGi Open Application Group, Inc
• OAGIS Open Applications Group Integration Specification
• OASIS Open access same time information system
• OCMA Oil Companies' Materials Association (now subsumed in EEMUA)
• OCR Optical charicter recognition
• OCS Operator control station
• OCS Open control system
• ODAA Open data acquisition association
• ODBC Open data base connectivity
• ODTR Optical time domain reflectometer
• ODVA Open DeviceNet Vendors Association
• OEE Overall equipment efficiency or Overall equipment effectiveness
• OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer
• OES Optical emission spectroscopy
• OFGEM Office for Gas and Electrical Metering (GB)
• OI Operator interface
• OIML International Organisation of Legal Metrology
• OLE Object Linking and Embedding
• OLED Organic light-emitting diode
• OMAC Open modular architecture controller
• OMAC The Open Modular Architecture Controls Users' Group changed to Organization for Manufacturing Automation and Control in 2008.
• OMG Object management group
• ONC/D Ordinary National Certificate/Diploma
• OOT Object oriented technology

  OPC Unified Architecture (UA) defines secure, reliable interoperability for exchanging data and information between the factory floor and the enterprise. The open, cross platform, service-oriented architecture builds on and unifies existing, successfully-adopted OPC Foundation interfaces. See also: OPC Foundation

• OPC Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for Process Control
• OPC Openness, Productivity, Connectivity
• OQ Operational Qualification
• ORP Oxidation Reduction Potential
• ORSociety Operational Research Society
• OPW The OMAC Packaging Workgroup
• OPW Office of Public Works (Ireland)
• OS Operating System
• OSA Optical Society of America
• OSHA Occupational Health and Safety Administration (US)
• OSI Open systems interconnect
• OSICOM ISA's Open Systems Interconnections Division (now OSID)
• OSID ISA's Open Systems Interconnection Division
• OU Open University

P

• P&A InstMC's Prizes and Awards Committee
• P&ID Piping and instrumentation diagram
• pa Pascal
• PAM Plant asset management
• PAS Publicly available specification (IEC)
• PAT Process Analytical Technology
• PC Personal Computer
• PC Programmable Controller (especially before IBM used the term PC for their computer)
• PCFC Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council
• PCI Perpheral component interconnect
• PCL Polytechnics of Central London
• PCM Process-control module
• PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
• PCS Process Control System
• PD Proportional-Derivative
• PDH Plesiochronous digital hierarchy (i.e. Practically synchronous digital hierarchy)
• PDM Product data management
• PE Professional Engineer
• PED Pressure equipment directive
• PEMS Predictive emissions-monitoring system
• PER Packed Encoding Rules
• PERA Production Engineering Research Association
• PES Programmable Electronic Systems
• PET Process engineering tools
• PFD Probability of Failure on Demand
• PFD Process flow diagram
• PGS Practical Guide Series (ISA Book Sieries)
• pH Hydrogen Ion Concentration (measure of acidity)
• PHA Process hazards analysis
• PHU Powder handling unit
• PI Proportional-Integral
• PIC prior informed consent
• PID Process & Instrument Design (US)
• PID Proportional-Integral-Derivative
• PIN Plant information network
• PIRS Process infrared system
• PLC Programmable Logic Controller
• PLM Product lifecycle management
• PXISA PXI Systems Alliance

  Glossary of PLM-related terms Selected by Active Sensing Inc, one of our advertisers.

• PM Particulate matter
• PM Preventive maintenance
• PMA Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association
• PMBC Process-Model Based Controller
• PMCD ISA's Process Measurement & Control Division
• PMIS++ Process Management Information System
• PMM Process monitoring modules
• PoE Power over Ethernet
• POL Point of load
• PON Passive-optical-network
• ppb Parts per billion
• PPBB PCI-to PCI bridge board
• PPE Personal protection equipment
• ppm Parts per million
• PQ Performance Qualification
• PRIAM Pre-Normative Requirements foor Intelligent Actuation & Measurements (Esprit 6188)
• PRT Platinum resistance thermometer
• PSI Pounds per Square Inch
• PSIG Pounds per Square Inch, Gauge
• PSM Process Safety Management
• PT Pressure transmitter
• PTB Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt
• PTS Proficiency testing scheme
• PUC Public Utility Commission
• PUPID Pulp & Paper Industries Division
• PV Process variable
• PWGSC Public Works and Government Services Canada

Q

• QA Quality Assurance
• QAD Quarter Amplitude Damped
• QAP Quality assurance plan
• QbD Quality by design
• QC Quality Control
• QIP Quality Improvement Program
• QM Quartz Manometer
• QMC Queen Mary College, University of London
• QPAT Quad Pulse Output Module
• QUB Queen's University Belfast

R

• R Resistance (electric)
• R&D Research & Development
• RAC Regional Advisory Council
• RAeS Royal Aeronautical Society
• RAPS Remote Applications Protocol Suite
• RBC Rotating biological contactor
• RBUPC Compendium of Research in British universities, poly technics and colleges \(published
• RCM Reliability-centred Maintenance
• RDBMS Relational database management system
• RDS Royal Dublin Society
• REACH Registration, Evaluation & Authorisation of Chemicals
• REMAP Rehabilitation Engineering Movement Advisory Panel
• RF Radio Frequency
• RF/EMI Radio frequency and electromagnetic interference
• RFC Reuseable software component
• RFI Radio Frequency Interference
• RFID Radio frequency identification (What Wikipedia says!)
• RGB Red-Green-Blue (Pixels)
• RGS Reference Guides Series (ISA Book Series)
• RIA Robotic Industries Association
• RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computing
• RKE Remote keyless entry
• RLL Relay Ladder Logic
• RMC ISA's series Resources in Measurement & Control
• RMC Resources for Measurement & Control (ISA Book Series)
• RMP Risk management plan
• RoHS Restriction of hazardous substances
• ROI Return on investment
• ROM Rigorous online modeling
• ROMEO Rigorous online modeling and equation-based optimisation
• RONA Return on net assets
• ROV Remotely operated vehicle
• RPG Report Program Generator
• RPM Rules-driven Project Management
• RPO Real-time process optimisation & training
• RPP Recovery pilot plant
• RS Royal Society
• RSA Royal Society of Arts
• RSC Royal Society of Chemistry
• RSS Really simple syndication (originally rich site summary)
• RTAP Real-time application platform
• RTC Regional Technical College
• RTD Resistance Thermometer Device or detector
• RTU Remote terminal or telemetry unit

S

• S&P ISA's Standards & Practices Division
• SIAC Science Applications International Corporation
• SAMB UK Liaison Committee for Sciences Allied to Medicine and Biology
• SARA Superfund Amendments & Re-authorisation Act (USA)
• SARTOR Standards and Routs to Registration EC Poluicy Statement)
• SAT Site Aceptance Test
• SATRO Science and Technology Regional Organisation
• SAW Surface acoustic wave
• SBC Single board computers
• SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems
• SCCR Short-circuit current ratings
• SCEM Supply chain event management
• SCET Standing Committee on Education and Training (of EC)
• SCFH Standard cubic feet per hour
• SCM Supply-chain management
• SCOTVEC Scottish Technician and Vocational Educational Council
• SCPI Standing Committee on Professional Institutions (of EC)
• SCPI Standard Commands for Programmable Controllers
• SCPM Supply chain process management
• SCSST Standing Conference on Schools' Science and Technology
• SCTP InstMC's Systems and Control Technology Panel
• SDH Synchronous digital hierarchy
• SDS Smart Distributed Systems
• SDR Software-defined radio (as in FLAI-SDR)
• SEFE Societe Europenne pour la Formation des Ingenieurs
• SER Sequential Event Recorder
• SERC Science and Engineering Research Council
• SFADCO Shannon Free Airport Developement Company
• SFC Sequential Function Chart
• SFF Safe failure fraction
• SFF Small-form-factor
• SGT Society of Glass Technology
• SHDSL Symmetric high-bitrate digital subscriber loop
• SHDSL Symetric high speed digital subscriber line
• SHE Safety, Health and Environment
• SI International System of Units
• SIC Standard Industry Classification
• SICE Society of Instrument and Control Engineers
• SIG Special Interest Group
• SIF Safety instrumented function
• SIL Safety Integrity Level
• SIRA Scientific Inetrument Research Association (now SIRA Ltd)
• SIRCH ISA's Scientific Instrumentation & Research Division
• SIREP SIREP - International Instrument Users' Association
• SIS Safety Instrumented System
• SIU System interface units
• SLC Single-loop controller
• SLDC Single-loop digital controller
• SLPM Standard litres per minute
• SMDS Switched multimegabit data service
• SME Society of Manufacturing Engineers
• SMF Single-mode fibre
• SMP InstMC's Systems and Management Panel
• SMP Symmetric Multiprocessing
• SMS Short message service (Text messaging)
• SMV Smart multivariable transmitter
• SNMP Simple network management protocol
• SNTP Simple network time protocol
• SOC Systems on chip
• SOCMI Synthetic Organic Chemicals and Manufacturing Industry
• SOFC Solid oxide fuel cells
• SONET Synchronous optical network
• SOP Standard Operating Procedure
• SP ISA's designation for Standards and Practices sup committies (EG SP75.01 Terminology)
• sp gr sp.gr Specific gravity
• SPC Statistical Process Control
• SPDT Single-pole double-throw
• SPI Serial peripheral interconnect
• SPIE Society of Photo-Optical Instrumental Engineers (now the International Society for Optical Engineering)
• SPP InstMC's Standards Policy Panel
• SPP Special Promoted Programme (as od SERC)
• SPR Stretegic petroleum reserve
• SPR Surface plasmon resonance
• SPRINT Strategic Programnme for Innovation and Technology Transfer
• SPRT Standard platinum resistance thermometer
• SQC Statistical quality control
• SQL Structured query language
• SRD Short range radio devices
• SRCM Streamlined reliability-centred maintenance
• SRS Safety requirement specification
• SSR Spread-spectrm radio
• ST Structured text
• STEM Scanning transmission electron microscope
• STEP Standard for exchange of product model data
• STP Structural Test Plan
• SUT Society for Underwater Technology
• SVGA Super video graphics array
• SWR SWR Standing wave ratio

T

• T&D Transmission & Distribution
• TAPI Telephony application programming interface
• TC Technical Committee (as in IMEKO)
• TCD Trinity College Dublin
• TCI Tool Calling Interface
• TCO Total cost of ownership
• TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/internet protocol
• TCSPC Time correlated single photon counting
• TDD Time division duplexing
• TDEV Time deviation
• TDL Tunable diode laser
• Teagasc (Teaching) Agricultura and Food Developement Authority
• TEEC InstMC's Transactions Editorial Executive Committee
• TEFC Totally enclosed fan cooled
• TELCOM ISA's Telemetry & Communications Division
• TEM Transmission electron microscope
• TENV Totally enclosed non-ventilated
• teraflops 1 trillion floating-point operations per second
• TFT Thin film transistor
• TIFF Time to first fix
• TMD ISA's Test & Measurement Division
• TMR Triple Modular Redundant
• TOC Total Organic Carbon
• TOX Total Organic Halide
• tpaML Trading-partner agreement Mark-up Language
• TPED Transportable pressure equipment directive
• TPN Technical and professional network
• TT Temperature transmitter
• TUR Test uncertainity ratio
• TUTU Topside umbilical termination units

U

The OPC UA standard upgrades OPC communications from Microsoft COM/DCOM technology and features enhanced reliability, security and robustness while maintaining a common data model. It will offer best-of-breed integration and also provide the framework for platform neutrality, enabling real-time and historical information interoperability between systems. Moreover, the OPC UA will offer integration with Microsoft Web Services and plant management technologies.

• UA Unified Architecture (right)
• UART Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter
• UCC University College Cork
• UCCA Universities' Cenbtral Council on Admission
• UCD University College Dublin
• UCG University College Galway
• UDC Urban District Council
• UFC Universities Funding Council
• UHF Ultra high frequency
• UI User interface
• UK OSCA United Kingdom Optical Sensors Collaborative Association
• UKAC United Kingdom Automatic Control Council
• UKAPE United Kingdom Association of Professional Engineers
• UKIVA UK Industrial Vision Association
• UKAS United Kingdom Accreditation Service
• ULP - Ultra low power
• UMIST University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
• UML Unified modelling language
• UMS Utilities Management Services
• UNCTAD UN Conference on Trade and Development
• UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
• UPS Uninterruptable power supply
• URL Universal Resource Locator

  Embedded USB - a brief tutorial - If you need your embedded application to talk to a PC then increasingly the way to go is USB. Unlike the good old parallel or serial cables these interfaces are far from simple to implement, debug or program.(Computer Solutions)

• USB Universal serial bus
• UTM Unsafe to Monitor
• UUC Ulster University College
• UWB Ultra Wide Band
• UWIST University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology

V

• V Volts
• VAC AC Voltage
• VAM Variable-aware modeling
• VAR Value added resellers
• VBA Visual Basic for Applications
• VCM Vibration Conditioning Monitoring
• VDC DC Voltage
• VDE Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker
• VDI Verein Deutscher Ingenieure
• VDMA Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau
• VDSL Very digital subscriber line
• VEC Vocational Education Committee
• VESA Video Electronics Standards Association
• VFD Virtual field device
• VHAPS Volitile Hazardous Air Pollutants
• VHLL Very High-level Language
• VIP Vigilant Integration Partners
• VITA VMEbus International Trade Association
• VME Validation master plan
• VMP Computer Numerical Controller
• VOC Volatile organic compound
• VoIP Voice over IP
• VPN Virtual Private Network
• VPS Virtual plant simulator
• VPS Virtual private server
• VPSEM Variable pressure scanning electron microscope
• VRML Virtual-reality modeling language
• VSAT Very small aperature terminal
• VSS Visual system simulator

W

• W-CDMA Wideband code division multiple access
• W&D Weigh and dispense
• WAP Wireless application protocol
• WBF World Batch Forum
• WDM Wavelength division multiplexing
• WECC Western European Calibration Cooperation
• WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive
• WELAC Western European Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation
• WEP Wired equivalent privacy
• WES Womens Engineering Society
• WETO Western Environmental Technology Office (US)
• WFEO World Federation of Engineering Organisations
• WIMP Windows, icons, mouse, pointers
• WINA Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance
• WISE Women in Science and Engineering
• WLAN Wireless local area network
• WLC Wireless logic controller
• WLR Wafer level reliability
• WRC Water Research Centre
• WSL Warren Spring Laboratory
• WSN Wireless sensor network
• WWID ISA's Water & Wastewater Division
• WWW World Wide Web
• WYSIWYG What you see is what you get!

X

The ABCs of XML, Parts 1, 2 & 3 This three-part series for CONTROL introduces readers to the basic rules of XML, its terminology and related standards, and discusses what you'll need to know to survive in the world of connected data.

• XML Extensible markup language

Y

• YAG yttrium-aluminium-garnet
• YEB Young Engineers for Britain (a competition run by the EC)

Z

• ZVEI Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie e.V. (Electrical & Electronic Manufacturers' Association)