Page 162 - Electrical Engineering Dictionary

confidence interval an interval around nel. It will not be interfered with by a trans-
the estimator. The interval contains the un- mission from another user. One way of
known parameter with this probability. achieving this is to allocate the channel to
the users either statically of dynamically. In
confidence level a probability that indi- static channel allocation schemes the channel
cates the quality of an experiment. can be divided into exclusive sub-channels
in the time domain (TDMA), frequency do-
configuration operation in which a set of main (FDMA), code domain (CDMA), po-
parameters is imposed for defining the oper- larization domain (PDMA), or in the space
ating conditions. The configuration of a per- (SDMA). In the dynamic channel allocation
sonal computer regarding low-level features scheme, the channel is allocated on a demand
is frequently called set-up. At that level, the basis using a reservation scheme or token
memory, the sequence of boot, the disk fea- passing.
tures, etc., are defined. The configuration
of a computer also involves that of its op- conflicting goals objectives of several
erating system. For example, per MS-DOS decision units in charge of given partitioned
see CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. system, for example objectives of local de-
The configuration of applicative software de- cision units in a large-scale system, which
pends on the software under configuration it- would lead to mutually conflicting actions
self. of the decision makers; a conflict may also
arise between the objectives as perceived by
confinement condition according to a supremal unit and the local objectives; con-
which the amplitude of a beam falls to zero flict between local and, eventually, between
at large distances from the beam axis. global and local objectives may or may not
be alleviated by using the coordination in-
confinement condition See confinement. struments.

confocal parameter measure of the waist
confinement diagram diagram show- size of a Gaussian beam, 2 pi times waist spot
ing the values of the mirror curvatures of a size squared divided by wavelength; twice
two-mirror laser such that the electromag- the Rayleigh length.
netic modes are confined (satisfy the confine-
ment condition); sometimes called a stability confocal resonator usually a symmetric
diagram because beam confinement can be laser resonator in which the mirror spacing is
associated with ray stability. equal to the mirror curvature; mirrors have a
common focal point.
conflict miss a cache miss category used
to denote the case where, if the cache is conformal mapping a transformation
direct-mapped or block-set-associative, too w = f(z) defined on a domain D with angle-
many blocks map to a set leading to that preservingproperties. Themethodofconfor-
blocks can be expelled from the cache, even if mal mapping finds application, for example,
the cache is not full, and later retrieved again. in the quasi-static analysis of several trans-
These are also called “collision misses.” See mission lines such as microstrips, coplanar
also capacity miss. waveguides, etc.

conflict-free multiple access protocol confusion matrix a matrix describing the
class of multiple access protocols in which likelihood of misclassification.
any transmission from a given user is guar- Let c i , i = 1,...,n be the classes in
anteed to have exclusive access to the chan- which a given set of patterns can be parti-

c
2000 by CRC Press LLC