/ Glossary · 40+ terms

The vocabulary
of the practice.

A plain-English glossary of the terms our practice uses most often. Designed for architects, developers, owners and operations teams who need a working understanding without becoming an engineer themselves. Updated continuously.

/ Why this exists

A glossary written for the people who specify the systems we install.

Systems integration is a discipline of acronyms — and most of them carry a specific engineering weight that gets lost when they drift through a brochure. RT60, PoE++, cause-and-effect matrix, cause-class IS code — these are the terms a procurement document, a tender or an architect's coordination meeting will turn on, and the difference between knowing them roughly and knowing them precisely tends to be measurable in money.

We wrote this reference for the people who sit on the other side of our table — architects shaping a brief, project managers triangulating a tender response, owners reading a BOQ in good faith and operations teams inheriting a freshly handed-over building. Each entry is short, plain and sourced in the way our engineering pack would source it. If a term is missing, write to us; the page is amended in the same week.

FilterAutomation AV ELV Networking BMS AMC Compliance

/ Automation

Automation · 9 terms

Automation busAutomation: A wired protocol — KNX, DALI, Modbus, BACnet — that allows devices on a building's controls layer to communicate with a controller and with each other. Wired buses are preferred for buildings of >30 zones and for systems expected to last 15+ years.
DALIAutomation+ engineering: Digital Addressable Lighting Interface. An IEC-standard protocol allowing each light fitting to be individually addressed and dimmed. Preferred for premium lighting where each circuit needs scene-level control and tunable-white capability.
FibaroAutomation: Polish Z-Wave home-automation platform. Fast to deploy, polished mobile app, well-suited to residential homes up to ~30 controllable zones. TechnoGuru specifies, supplies, installs and integrates Fibaro where the project fit is right.
GRMSAutomation+ engineering: Guest Room Management System. The hotel-specific automation layer controlling a guest room's lighting, HVAC setback, drapes and do-not-disturb / make-up-room states, typically integrated with door access and the property-management system — so the room welcomes an arriving guest and sheds energy when unsold.
KNXAutomation+ engineering: An ISO-standard wired open-protocol building bus. Multi-vendor, scalable to thousands of devices, designed to last 20+ years. TechnoGuru's preferred bus for buildings that need vendor independence and longevity.
Occupancy sensorAutomation: A sensor that reports whether a space is in use so lighting, HVAC and AV can respond. PIR types detect motion by infrared change, ultrasonic types by Doppler shift, and dual-technology sensors require both before switching in order to reject false triggers. Placement, sensitivity and time-out are what decide whether occupants experience it as intelligent or as lights going out mid-meeting.
PIR sensorAutomation: Passive Infrared. A sensor that detects movement by registering changes in infrared radiation across a segmented field of view; passive because it emits nothing itself. Used for lighting control, intruder detection and occupancy sensing. Its known blind spot is a person walking directly toward the sensor rather than across its segments.
RakoAutomation+ engineering: British wireless lighting and scene-control platform. Unmatched for retrofit residential lighting and shade where wired runs are not possible. TechnoGuru specifies, installs and programs Rako systems where the brief calls for that ecosystem.
Z-WaveAutomation: A low-power wireless mesh-network protocol used in residential automation, particularly by Fibaro and several US-market platforms. Operating in sub-GHz band, less congested than 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi/Zigbee. Best suited to residential up to ~30 zones.

/ AV

AV · 17 terms

AV-over-IPAV+ engineering: Audio-visual signal distribution over a standard IP network rather than dedicated cabling. Reduces matrix-switcher cost, allows large-scale routing, and integrates cleanly with the building's IT layer. Most premium boardrooms, video walls and houses of worship are now AV-over-IP.
CEDIAAV: Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. International body for residential AV and home-cinema integration. TechnoGuru is a CEDIA member and logs continuing-education hours annually.
DanteAV: Audinate's audio-over-IP networking technology — uncompressed multichannel audio over standard managed ethernet with sample-accurate synchronisation. The interoperability layer of modern professional audio: consoles, amplifiers and DSPs from different manufacturers exchange audio over one network instead of point-to-point analogue runs.
Digital signageAV: Networked displays driven by a scheduling and content-management platform rather than by a local media player. The engineering questions are display brightness against ambient light, mounting and serviceability, media-player class, network path and content governance — who is allowed to publish to which screen, and what happens when the network drops.
DSPAV: Digital Signal Processor. In AV systems, the configurable processing brain between microphones or sources and the amplifiers — routing, equalisation, delay, echo cancellation, speaker management and level logic all live here. Every serious conference room, auditorium and PA system has one; its configuration file is part of the commissioning baseline.
EASEAV: Enhanced Acoustic Simulator for Engineers. The industry-standard software for acoustic and electro-acoustic modelling of auditoria, concert halls and large rooms. Predicts SPL coverage, STI (Speech Transmission Index) and reverberation behaviour ahead of build.
FOHAV: Front of House. The mixing-console position in an auditorium or concert venue, typically located in the rear-centre of the audience area. The FOH engineer balances sound for the listening audience as opposed to monitor mixes for performers.
HDBaseTAV+ engineering: An AV signal-distribution standard sending uncompressed video, audio, ethernet, controls and PoE up to 100 m on a single Cat6 cable. Workhorse format for boardrooms, classrooms and most commercial AV.
LED P0.9AV: Direct-view LED display with 0.9 mm pixel pitch. Pixel pitch is the distance between adjacent LEDs; closer viewers need finer pitch. Premium boardrooms typically specify P0.9 to P1.5; large lobbies P1.5 to P2.5; outdoor signage P3 to P10.
Lens shiftAV: The projector's ability to move the projected image up, down, left or right of its optical axis optically, without geometric distortion — unlike keystone correction, which distorts pixels to fake the same result. The shift envelope is projector-specific and bounded, so a mount that needs more offset than the lens provides is a mount that has to move, not a setting that can be dialled in.
Line-arrayAV: A vertical array of speaker cabinets behaving as a single source. Provides smoother SPL coverage across distance compared to point-source clusters, and is the default topology for medium-and-large auditoria, concert halls and houses of worship.
RT60AV+ engineering: Reverberation Time at 60 dB decay. The time taken for sound energy in a room to decay by 60 dB after the source stops. Target RT60 is set by room VOLUME, not by the room’s name: 0.4–0.6 s for a boardroom under 50 m³, 0.7–1.0 s for a conference room of 150–400 m³, and 1.6–2.2 s for a concert hall over 1,000 m³ — rising to several seconds in large stone churches.
Smart classroomAV: A teaching space where display, audio, capture and control are integrated so a lecturer can start a session without technical help. The decisive details are sightlines from the back row, speech intelligibility, microphone strategy for hybrid teaching, and a control layer simple enough that it survives a substitute teacher.
STIAV+ engineering: Speech Transmission Index — a 0-1 scale measuring intelligibility of speech in a space. STI ≥ 0.5 is acceptable, ≥ 0.6 is good, ≥ 0.75 is excellent. Mandatory measurement for evacuation-PA systems under EN 54-16; designed-to target for boardrooms and lecture theatres.
Throw distanceAV: The distance from the projector's lens to the screen surface. It is the number a mount position is actually set from, and it follows from the throw ratio and the image width rather than being chosen freely: throw distance = throw ratio × image width. A zoom lens gives a usable range, so the room's constraints usually pick a point inside that band rather than a single answer.
Throw ratioAV: The projector's throw distance divided by the projected image WIDTH: throw ratio = throw distance ÷ image width. It is defined against width, never the diagonal, which is why a screen quoted by its diagonal has to be resolved to a width before the distance means anything. A zoom lens has a throw-ratio RANGE rather than a single figure, so the same projector and the same screen give a band of valid mounting distances.
Video conferencingAV: Two-way audio and video between rooms and remote participants. Room outcomes are decided by microphone coverage, acoustic echo cancellation, camera framing and display legibility at the far end — not by the codec brand. A room that sounds poor is judged as a bad meeting; a room that looks poor is usually forgiven.

/ ELV

ELV · 29 terms

Access controlELV: Electronic control of who can pass through which door, gate or barrier, and when. Card, fob, PIN, mobile-credential or biometric readers feed door controllers that check a permissions database and drive electric locks. Fail-safe locks release on power loss (escape routes); fail-secure locks stay locked. Integrated with the fire alarm so evacuation routes release on alarm — a cause-and-effect line, not an afterthought.
Addressable fire alarmELV+ engineering: A fire-detection architecture where every detector and call point on a loop carries a unique address, so the panel reports the exact device in alarm — not just a zone. Enables per-device cause-and-effect programming, faster incident localisation and cleaner maintenance records.
ANPRELV: Automatic Number Plate Recognition. A camera-and-software pairing that captures a vehicle's registration plate, parses it via optical character recognition, and looks it up against an authorised-vehicle database in real time. Used at gates, parking entries and toll points; pairs naturally with UVSS for high-security vehicle screening.
Aspirating smoke detectorELV: An air-sampling detector that continuously draws room air through a pipe network to a central detection chamber, sensing smoke at concentrations far below what a point detector registers. Specified where the earliest possible warning matters or where point detectors are impractical: server rooms, atria, cold stores, heritage interiors and high-ceiling halls. Sampling-hole layout and pipe transport time are the design variables.
Beam detectorELV: An optical smoke detector that projects an infrared beam across an open space to a receiver or retro-reflector and alarms when smoke attenuates the beam. Covers long spans that point detectors cannot reach economically — atria, warehouses, auditoria, sports halls. Beam alignment stability and the building structural movement are the practical constraints.
Boom barrierELV: A high-speed motorised gate arm at vehicle entry points, typically interlocked with ANPR, UVSS and the access-control system. Speed targets (1.5-3.5 seconds full open) and MTBF (mean cycles between failure) are key procurement variables.
Cause-and-effect matrixELV+ engineering: A written specification — typically a table or matrix — that documents what each life-safety event triggers across all connected systems. On a fire-alarm event from detector AD-031: lifts home to ground, magnetic door-holders release, PA announces affected floor, BMS shuts AHU dampers, CCTV pre-records, access-control switches to evacuation. The matrix is programmed once and tested at commissioning.
CCTV retentionELV: How long surveillance footage is kept before automatic overwrite. Regulated by sector and risk: 30 days for most commercial, 60 days hospitality, 90 days healthcare and government, 180 days where regulated. Retention × bitrate × camera-count drives storage sizing.
Command and control centreELV: A staffed room where CCTV, access control, fire, PA, BMS and communications are brought onto one operator surface. Design drivers are sightlines to the video wall, operator ergonomics over long shifts, acoustic separation, redundant power and a documented escalation procedure. The technology is the straightforward part; the written operating procedure is what makes it work.
Conventional fire alarmELV: A fire-detection architecture where detectors are wired in zones and the panel can only report which zone is in alarm, not which device. Lower equipment cost for very small buildings; weaker for localisation, cause-and-effect programming and maintenance. The addressable-versus-conventional choice is one of the first decisions in any fire-alarm brief.
DFMDELV: Door-Frame Metal Detector. A walk-through scanner used at hospitality, government, and event venue entry points. Multi-zone DFMDs (typically 12–33 detection zones) localise the metallic object's height for faster handheld follow-up.
DORIELV: Detection, Observation, Recognition, Identification — the IEC 62676-4 scale of minimum horizontal pixel densities for each investigative outcome: Detect 25, Observe 62.5, Recognise 125 and Identify 250 pixels per metre, with Inspect at 1000 px/m as the forensic tier. It is a DENSITY scale, so widening the scene drops px/m linearly: the same camera covering more metres delivers a lower tier.
DVRELV: Digital Video Recorder. The recording platform for analogue and HDCVI/TVI/AHD camera systems: coaxial video arrives at the recorder, which digitises, encodes and stores it. Largely superseded by NVRs on new work, but still common on retrofits where existing coaxial cabling is retained. Channel count, codec support and retention window are the sizing variables.
ELVELV+ engineering: Extra-Low Voltage — every safety and security service running at less than 50 V AC: fire alarm, CCTV, access control, PA, nurse call, intercom, structured cabling, gate barriers and screening. Grouped because they share installation pathways and need to be coordinated as one cause-and-effect system.
Fire hydrant systemELV: The manual firefighting water infrastructure of a building — fire pumps, wet risers, landing valves, hose reels and courtyard hydrants that the fire service and trained staff operate. Distinct from sprinklers, which discharge automatically: NBC 2016 commonly requires both above defined height and occupancy thresholds, fed from the same fire-water reserve.
Heat detectorELV: A fire detector that responds to temperature rather than smoke, either at a fixed threshold or on rate-of-rise. Specified where smoke detection would false-alarm: kitchens, boiler rooms, car parks, dusty plant areas and laundries. Slower to respond than smoke detection, so it is a placement decision driven by the environment rather than a cost decision.
Manual call pointELV: Also written MCP. The break-glass or resettable-element device that lets a person raise a fire alarm by hand. Positioned on escape routes and at final exits so no occupant travels more than the code-permitted distance to reach one, and mounted at a consistent height. On an addressable loop each call point reports its own address, so the panel names the exact point operated.
Nurse call systemELV: The call-and-response system in healthcare and assisted-living buildings: bedhead and washroom call points, corridor indicator lamps, staff-console annunciation and, increasingly, handover to mobile nursing devices. Design turns on zoning by ward, escalation timing when a call goes unanswered, and infection-control-compatible device selection.
NVRELV+ engineering: Network Video Recorder — a purpose-built appliance that records IP camera streams to its own storage. The right answer for single-site systems up to a few dozen cameras; larger or multi-site estates step up to a VMS, where recording, analytics and operator workflow run as software on server hardware.
ONVIFELV: An open industry forum whose profiles standardise how IP cameras, recorders and VMS platforms interoperate — Profile S for streaming, Profile T for advanced video handling, Profile G for recording. Specifying ONVIF conformance keeps a camera estate replaceable and multi-vendor rather than locked to one manufacturer's ecosystem.
Parking management systemELV: The combination of entry and exit control, vehicle detection, space counting and driver guidance that governs a car park. Typically pairs boom barriers and ANPR with counting loops or bay sensors and variable-message displays. Throughput at the busiest minute, not average occupancy, is what sizes the lane count.
PAVAELV+ engineering: Public Address with Voice Alarm — an integrated PA system with EN 54-16-compliant voice-evacuation capability. Mandatory under NBC 2016 for many commercial, hospitality, healthcare and educational occupancies above defined thresholds.
PTZ cameraELV: Pan-Tilt-Zoom. A camera on a motorised mount with an optical zoom lens, able to survey a wide area and then close in on detail. Best specified alongside fixed cameras rather than instead of them: while a PTZ is looking one way it is not recording the rest of its field, so evidential coverage still depends on the fixed array behind it.
Smoke detectorELV: A point fire detector sensing the products of combustion. Optical or photoelectric types respond earlier to smouldering fires and are the general-purpose choice; ionisation types respond earlier to fast flaming fires; multi-criteria detectors combine optical sensing with heat, and sometimes carbon monoxide, to reject false alarms. Selection follows the fire risk and the environment.
Sprinkler systemELV: Automatic water-based fire suppression — a piped network of heat-activated sprinkler heads that discharge individually over the fire, fed by dedicated pumps and monitored by flow switches per zone. Complements, never replaces, the manual hydrant system; NBC 2016 sets the height and occupancy thresholds where sprinklers become mandatory.
UVSSELV: Under-Vehicle Surveillance System. A flush-with-road or surface-mounted scanner that captures a high-resolution stitched image of a vehicle's underside as it passes over. Used at high-security vehicle entries; typically pairs with ANPR for plate-and-chassis difference checks.
VESDAELV: Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus. Originally a product name and now used loosely across the industry for aspirating smoke detection in general. Where a specification says VESDA, read it as a performance requirement for air-sampling detection and confirm the intended sensitivity class before selecting equipment.
Video door phoneELV: An intercom with a camera at the entrance and an indoor answering station — see the visitor, talk, then release the door from inside. Modern IP video door phones forward calls to mobile apps and integrate with access control and home automation; multi-apartment systems scale the same idea through a lobby panel and per-flat stations.
VMSELV: Video Management System. The software platform that aggregates IP camera feeds, manages recording and retention, performs analytics and provides operator search. Honeywell Pro-Watch and Bosch BVMS are our reference VMS platforms across surveillance deployments.

/ Networking

Networking · 9 terms

Cable containmentNetworking: The trays, baskets, trunking and conduit that carry cabling through a building. Fill ratio is the governing constraint — overfilled containment traps heat, makes future changes destructive and breaches segregation between ELV and power. Containment is designed once and lived with for the building life, so it is sized for the cable count expected at end of life, not at handover.
Cat6ANetworking+ engineering: Augmented Category 6 structured cabling. Supports 10 Gbps over the full 100 m channel without compromise, rated for 25 years of service. Premium over Cat6 is now <10%; Cat6A is the default for any new commercial or premium-residential cabling.
EPABXNetworking: Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange. The on-premise telephone switch that routes internal extensions and connects them to external trunks. Modern deployments are IP-based and converge onto the structured cabling and data network rather than dedicated telephony cable, which makes extension planning a networking exercise rather than a separate trade.
Plenum and riser cableNetworking: Cable jacket classifications for fire performance in building voids. Plenum-rated cable is specified where runs share air-handling spaces and riser-rated where cable runs vertically between floors, because a burning jacket in either path carries smoke through the building. The jacket rating is a life-safety decision, not a cable-performance one.
PoENetworking+ engineering: Power over Ethernet. Delivers low-voltage DC power to network devices over the same Cat-class cable that carries data. 802.3at (PoE+) supplies up to 30 W at the switch port and 25.5 W at the device; 802.3bt Type 4 supplies up to 90 W at the port and 71.3 W at the device — enough for IP cameras, AP, VOIP phones, occupancy sensors and small displays.
PoE budgetNetworking+ engineering: The total power a PoE switch can supply across all its ports simultaneously — usually less than every port drawing its maximum. A 24-port switch may deliver 30 W on any single port yet carry only a 370 W aggregate budget. Sizing the budget against the real camera, access-point and phone load — with headroom for growth — is a standard network-design step, not an afterthought.
Rack unit (U)Networking: The standard vertical unit of rack-mounted equipment: 1U = 44.45 mm (1.75 inches). Racks are described by their height in U — 42U for a full-height server rack, 9U–12U for wall cabinets. Planning U-height means counting the equipment plus PDUs, cable managers, shelves and the spare capacity the next five years of the building will consume.
Structured cablingNetworking+ engineering: A building's standards-based cabling plant — horizontal runs from patch panels to outlets, backbone links between floors and buildings, all documented, labelled and channel-tested. Category ratings (Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6A) set the bandwidth ceiling. Done properly it outlives two or three generations of the electronics plugged into it.
Wi-Fi 7Networking+ engineering: IEEE 802.11be. The current generation of Wi-Fi as of 2026, adding 6 GHz band, MLO multi-link operation and 320 MHz channels. Real-world capacity gains over Wi-Fi 6E in dense rooms (boardrooms, classrooms, lobbies). Default for new premium deployments.

/ BMS

BMS · 9 terms

BACnetBMS+ engineering: Building Automation and Control Networks — an ISO-standard data-communication protocol for building-management systems. Most modern HVAC, lighting and BMS controllers speak BACnet natively, allowing multi-vendor integration.
BESSBMS+ engineering: Battery Energy Storage System. Lithium-ion (typically LFP) battery banks paired with online UPS or stand-alone inverters, used for peak-shave, demand-response, ride-through and tariff-arbitrage. Above ~20 kVA, lithium has displaced VRLA as the default choice.
BMSBMS+ engineering: Building Management System. The supervisory control layer that orchestrates HVAC, lighting, energy, life-safety and access-control into one operating picture. Sets chiller schedules, adjusts AHU dampers based on CO₂, dims lighting on daylight harvesting, and surfaces deviations as alarms.
Honeywell BMSBMS: Our default BMS for premium commercial and hospitality buildings, integrating HVAC, lighting, energy and life-safety into a single operating picture. The right answer for buildings that need a documented, well-supported BMS framework.
IBMSBMS: Integrated Building Management System. A BMS extended to supervise the ELV and life-safety layers alongside HVAC and energy — fire, access, CCTV, lighting and utilities presented on one operator interface with cross-system cause-and-effect. The integration value sits in the interfaces and the tested event logic, not in the head-end software.
ModbusBMS+ engineering: An industrial serial and TCP protocol used by energy meters, VFDs and legacy controllers. Modbus RTU runs over RS-485; Modbus TCP runs over ethernet. Bridges legacy plant into modern BMS supervisory layers.
Online UPSBMS+ engineering: A double-conversion uninterruptible power supply that continuously rectifies AC to DC and inverts back to clean AC, isolating the load from grid disturbances. Default choice for mission-critical IT, fire-pump rooms and life-safety equipment.
UPSBMS: Uninterruptible Power Supply. Generic term for any device that provides backup electrical power; in our practice always refers to online double-conversion UPS unless explicitly noted otherwise.
VRFBMS: Variable Refrigerant Flow — a HVAC architecture where multiple indoor units share a single outdoor compressor with refrigerant volume modulated electronically. Default for premium commercial and hospitality cooling because of zone-level control and energy efficiency.

/ AMC

AMC · 2 terms

AMCAMC+ engineering: Annual Maintenance Contract. A documented support programme covering preventive maintenance schedules, response and resolution targets, spares pool, firmware-and-config baselines, and lifecycle planning for installed systems. A TechnoGuru AMC is scoped to the systems and support expectations and priced in writing after review.
TurnkeyAMC: A single-contract delivery model where one accountable contractor takes on design, procurement, installation, commissioning, training and handover for the entire integrated systems stack. Distinguished from item-by-item procurement by accountability for the seams between disciplines.

/ Compliance

Compliance · 9 terms

GeMCompliance: Government e-Marketplace. India's online procurement platform for Central and State Government buyers. TechnoGuru is an active GeM-empanelled vendor for systems-integration services.
IECCompliance: Import Export Code. A 10-character identifier issued by India's Director General of Foreign Trade, mandatory for any import or export of goods or services. TechnoGuru holds an active IEC and handles cross-border procurement under it.
IK ratingCompliance: The IEC 62262 code for an enclosure resistance to mechanical impact, written IK00 to IK10, where IK10 withstands a 20-joule strike. The companion to IP rating: IP describes ingress, IK describes impact. Relevant for cameras, luminaires and call points in car parks, platforms, schools and public circulation.
IP ratingCompliance+ engineering: Ingress Protection rating under IEC 60529 — two digits scoring protection against solids and water. First digit 0–6 covers dust; second digit covers water, from dripping to immersion. IP65/IP66 is the usual floor for outdoor cameras and loudspeakers; IP67 survives temporary immersion. The specification line that decides whether outdoor equipment survives a Northeast monsoon.
IS codeCompliance: Indian Standards — the technical specifications published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). For systems-integration work the most-cited are IS 2189 (fire alarm) and the various IS codes referenced under NBC 2016.
Lux levelCompliance: Illuminance measured in lux — lumens per square metre — at the working plane. Design targets are set by task and space type and are the starting point for lighting layouts, and for camera scenes too, since a camera usable image depends on scene illuminance as much as on sensor specification.
MSME / UdyamCompliance: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises registration under India's MSME Development Act 2006, recently replaced by the Udyam Registration framework. TechnoGuru is an MSME-registered enterprise eligible for procurement preferences and statutory MSME provisions.
NBC 2016Compliance+ engineering: National Building Code of India, 2016. The umbrella code covering fire and life-safety, structural design, building services and accessibility. TechnoGuru's ELV designs cite NBC requirements line-by-line in the engineering pack.
Shop drawingCompliance: A drawing produced by the integrator showing the actual fabrication, installation and routing of a system as it will be built — distinct from the architect's design drawing. Cabling pathways, panel layouts, rack elevations, conduit routes, mounting details. The document a site engineer builds against.

/ A – Z index

Every term, alphabetised.

The categorised lists above group terms by discipline. The same terms below are alphabetised — useful when you know the term you need but not the discipline.

Access controlELV
Addressable fire alarmELV
AMCAMC
ANPRELV
Aspirating smoke detectorELV
Automation busAutomation
AV-over-IPAV

BACnetBMS
Beam detectorELV
BESSBMS
BMSBMS
Boom barrierELV

Cable containmentNetworking
Cat6ANetworking
Cause-and-effect matrixELV
CCTV retentionELV
CEDIAAV
Command and control centreELV
Conventional fire alarmELV

DALIAutomation
DanteAV
DFMDELV
Digital signageAV
DORIELV
DSPAV
DVRELV

EASEAV
ELVELV
EPABXNetworking

FibaroAutomation
Fire hydrant systemELV
FOHAV

GeMCompliance
GRMSAutomation

HDBaseTAV
Heat detectorELV
Honeywell BMSBMS

IBMSBMS
IECCompliance
IK ratingCompliance
IP ratingCompliance
IS codeCompliance

KNXAutomation

LED P0.9AV
Lens shiftAV
Line-arrayAV
Lux levelCompliance

Manual call pointELV
ModbusBMS
MSME / UdyamCompliance

NBC 2016Compliance
Nurse call systemELV
NVRELV

Occupancy sensorAutomation
Online UPSBMS
ONVIFELV

Parking management systemELV
PAVAELV
PIR sensorAutomation
Plenum and riser cableNetworking
PoENetworking
PoE budgetNetworking
PTZ cameraELV

Rack unit (U)Networking
RakoAutomation
RT60AV

Shop drawingCompliance
Smart classroomAV
Smoke detectorELV
Sprinkler systemELV
STIAV
Structured cablingNetworking

Throw distanceAV
Throw ratioAV
TurnkeyAMC

UPSBMS
UVSSELV

VESDAELV
Video conferencingAV
Video door phoneELV
VMSELV
VRFBMS

Wi-Fi 7Networking

Z-WaveAutomation

/ Beyond the glossary

Each term is also a doorway into the engineering practice.

A glossary tells you what a word means. The engineering portal tells you how the word is engineered against — protocols, standards, interoperability, deployment patterns and the methodology underneath.

Engineering portal Engineering entities Interoperability matrices Methodology

The terms, in the field.

BMS dashboards, Wi-Fi heat-maps and structured cabling are not abstractions — they are the daily tools of the practice. The glossary attempts to keep both halves visible.

· Term we missed?

Tell us what to add.
We update continuously.

Suggest a term →

Seven disciplines, held by one hand.

Smart Automation

Where the work actually goes.10 sectors · one practice

Residential

Hospitality

Commercial & Corporate

Education & Institutions

Healthcare

Government & Public Safety

Retail & Malls

Places of Worship

Restaurants, Bars & Clubs

Industrial & Warehousing

Tools we use ourselves.56 live · free · no signup

The vocabulary
of the practice.

A glossary written for the people who specify the systems we install.

Automation · 9 terms

AV · 17 terms

ELV · 29 terms

Networking · 9 terms

BMS · 9 terms

AMC · 2 terms

Compliance · 9 terms

Every term, alphabetised.

Each term is also a doorway into the engineering practice.

The terms, in the field.

Tell us what to add.
We update continuously.

The vocabularyof the practice.

A glossary written for the people who specify the systems we install.

Automation · 9 terms

AV · 17 terms

ELV · 29 terms

Networking · 9 terms

BMS · 9 terms

AMC · 2 terms

Compliance · 9 terms

Every term, alphabetised.

Each term is also a doorway into the engineering practice.

The terms, in the field.

Tell us what to add.We update continuously.

The vocabulary
of the practice.

Tell us what to add.
We update continuously.