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National Instruments Corporation
G-1
Glossary
Prefix
Meaning
Value
m-
milli-
10
–3
k-
kilo-
10
3
A
action
See
method.
actuator
A device that uses electrical, mechanical, or other signals to change the
value of an external, real-world variable. In the context of device networks,
actuators are devices that receive their primary data value from over the
network; examples include valves and motor starters. Also known as
final
control element.
Application
Programming
Interface (API)
A collection of functions used by a user application to access hardware.
Within NI-CAN, you use API functions to make calls into the NI-CAN
driver.
arbitration ID
An 11- or 29-bit ID transmitted as the first field of a CAN frame. The
arbitration ID determines the priority of the frame, and is normally used to
identify the data transmitted in the frame.
attribute
The externally visible qualities of an object; for example, an instance Mike
of class Human could have the attributes Sex and Age, with the values Male
and 31. Also known as
property
.
B
b
Bits.
bus off
A CAN node goes into the bus off state when its transmit error counter
increments above 255. The node does not participate in network traffic,
because it assumes that a defect exists that must be corrected.
