Dictionary of Electrical Engineering

Commonly used terms in the Electrical industry.

GPS

See global positioning system
ground fault interrupter
a protective device used in commercial and residential wiring which monitors equipment connected to an electrical outlet and shuts off the power when a ground fault in the equipment is detected.
ground lamp
indicator lamp on electrical distribution switchboards that darkens when a ground condition exists on one (or more) of the busses.
ground loop
an undesired conductive path between two conductive bodies in a radial grounding system that are connected to a common ground.
ground plane
a perfectly or highly conducting half space beneath an antenna. Also, an unetched layer of metal on a printed circuit board over which microstriplines and printed antennas are formed.
ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI)
a device designed to detect ground-fault current above a threshold value (several milliamperes) and then interrupt the source of electrical power by opening a circuit breaker or a set of contacts. GFCIs are designed for personnel protection and are generally available in the form of circuit breakers and receptacles.
half-power point
The two-sided half-power bandwidth is twice the half-power point.
harmonic component
a Fourier component of order greater than one of a periodic waveform.
harmonic load-pull measurement
a measurement method where transfer characteristics of a device at the fundamental
frequency can be measured by electrically changing the load impedance at harmonic frequencies.
high pass filter
filter exhibiting frequency selective characteristic that allows high-frequency components of an input signal to pass from filter input to output unattenuated; all lower frequency components are attenuated.
high phase order (HPO)
polyphase systems that contain 6, 9, or more phases ather than the standard three-phase system.

HPO systems may be used to provide a means of transmitting more electrical power down existing right-of-ways than three-phase systems, without an increase in transmission voltage, and without an increase in EMF levels at the edge of the right-of-way.
high rupturing capacity (HRC)
a term used to denote fuses having a high interrupting rating. Most low-voltage HRC-type fuses have an interrupting rating of 200 kA RMS symmetrical.
high-pass filter
a filter that has a transfer function, or frequency response, whose values are small for frequencies lower than some intermediate frequency. A filter whose impulse response is a high-pass signal.
holograph

See hologram
holographic data storage
a technique used to store multiple images, or 2-D arrays of digital information, as multiplexed holograms in an optically sensitive material. Multiplexing techniques include angle, frequency, and spatial position. Angle and frequency multiplexing techniques are based on Bragg selectivity where angle multiplexing favors transmission geometries and frequency multiplexing favors reflection geometries.
holographic interconnect
free-space interconnect that uses holograms to control optical paths from sources to detectors. The hologram provides the interconnection by forming the intentionally distorted image of the source array on the detector array. A hologram can be viewed as a combination of gratings. Each grating directs a light beam passing through it to a new direction. The hologram can be displayed by a spatial light modulator to achieve dynamic reconfiguration.
holography
the science of making and reading holograms.
homopolar generator
an electromagnetic generator in which the magnetic flux passes in the same direction from one magnetic member to the other over the whole of a single air gap area. Such generators have been built to supply very large pulsed currents.
homopolar machine

See homopolar generator
homopolar magnetic bearing
a magnetic bearing in which the rotating member always experiences a magnetic field of the same polarity.
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