Globalisation, coupled with the accessibility of the Internet in the modern world, can result in things meaning very different things to different people. Common terms can be misused too; we have seen some very interesting interpretations of meanings in our various lifetimes! We have decided to put a lexicon on the website so we can keep the pages tight to the usually defined and abbreviated form. Apologies if that makes them a little awkward to read. Rather than a straight glossary, herein is a lexicon to aid better the background as often a little more context is needed in this highly specialist field and easily stated, yet difficult to actually do set of technologies and problems.

This is not going to be exhaustive, but will list many of the acronyms and areas where an explanation is best served. We will assume most of the common Telecommunications and Military Signals terms are standard, for the avoidance of doubt we will always use the UK meaning. If we choose to alter that to a NATO or other jurisdiction then it will be listed below. Feel free to Contact Us to ask us to update this page with something we haven't yet put on here.

The common Electronic Warfare acronyms are excluded.

The following links are the various pages in alphabetic order for our site's use of various abbreviations and our intended meaning, {use the links to relevant pages}:

OFCOM - Office of Communications {UK Regulator}.

PA - Personal Assistant. The role has morphed over the years as greater use of IT and other systems has evolved. We consider the position to be a vital executive assistant-type role which uses these tools and engages with the organisation in a way that is delegated and complimentary to the senior staff they support.

PAYE - Pay-As-You-Earn. UK Income Tax {often associated with a further taxation called National Insurance}, that is deducted through the company payroll and paid to the UK Treasury {sic: Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs]. 

pbdR - Programming with Big Data in R.

PCB - Printed Circuit Board. This can be composite, metal-backed, flexible, polymer, fibreglass and a whole host of other materials. It is essentially an insulating wiring board that interconnects electronic components using etched copper tracks of various sizes and geometries to effect an electronic or electrical circuit. This can be three-dimensional as the PCB can comprise of various layers.

PMED - See FMED.

PMQs - The Palace of Westminster weekly accountability session for the Prime Minister of the UK by the Leader(s) of the Opposition and all others so representing their local regions as MPs; A lively session otherwise known as Prime Minister's Questions.

PPE - Personal Protective Equipment. This is anything to prevent injury or infection. Typically this is clothing and other barriers such as helmets, glasses, hearing plugs, goggles, gloves, overalls, boots, pads etc.