Saturation (telecommunications)
Encyclopedia
In telecommunication
s, the term saturation has the following meanings:
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s, the term saturation has the following meanings:
- In a communications systemCommunications systemIn telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole...
, the condition at which a componentElectronic componentAn electronic component is a basic electronic element and may be available in a discrete form having two or more electrical terminals . These are intended to be connected together, usually by soldering to a printed circuit board, in order to create an electronic circuit with a particular function...
of the system has reached its maximum trafficTrafficTraffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...
-handling capacity. Note: Saturation is equivalent to one erlangErlang unitThe erlang is a dimensionless unit that is used in telephony as a statistical measure of offered load or carried load on service-providing elements such as telephone circuits or telephone switching equipment. It is named after the Danish telephone engineer A. K...
per circuitTelecommunication circuitA telecommunication circuit is any line, conductor, or other conduit by which information is transmitted.A dedicated circuit, private circuit, or leased line is a line that is dedicated to only one use...
.
- The point at which the outputOutputOutput is the term denoting either an exit or changes which exit a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the modeling, system design and system exploitation.-In control theory:...
of a linear device, such as a linear amplifierLinear amplifierA linear amplifier is an electronic circuit whose output is proportional to its input, but capable of delivering more power into a load. The term usually refers to a type of radio-frequency power amplifier, some of which have output power measured in kilowatts, and are used in amateur radio...
, deviates significantly from being a linear function of the input when the input signal is increased. Note: ModulationModulationIn electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...
often requires that amplifiers operate below saturation.