- Isochronous
Isochronous : From Greek iso, "equal" +
chronos , time. It literally means to occur at the same time or at equal time intervals. The term is used in different technical contexts.*In
telecommunication , "isochronous" has the following meanings:
#Of a periodic signal, pertaining to transmission in which thetime interval separating any two corresponding transitions is equal to theunit interval or to a multiple of the unit interval; but phase is arbitrary (and in some systems may change slowly over time)
#Pertaining todata transmission in which corresponding significant instants of two or more sequential signals have a constant phase relationship.
*In power generation, "isochronous" means that the frequency of the electricity generated is 'flat' or constant, and there is zero generator droop.
*In theUniversal Serial Bus used incomputer s, "isochronous" is one of the four data flow types for USB devices (the others being Control, Interrupt and Bulk). It is commonly used for streaming data types such as video or audio sources.
*In dynamical system theory anoscillator is called "isochronous" if the frequency is independent of its amplitude. For instance, inhorology , "isochronous" refers to amechanical clock orwatch which runs at the same rate regardless of changes in its drive force, so it keeps correct time as themainspring unwinds.
*Inparticle accelerator s anisochronous cyclotron is a cyclotron where the field strength increases with radius to compensate for relativistic increase in mass with speedClosely related to the property of being "isochronous" is the term isochrone referring to
contour lines of equal time, for instance, in geological layers, tree rings orwave front s.References
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