Concentrator

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

In telecommunication, the term concentrator has the following meanings:

1. In data transmission, a functional unit that permits a common path to handle more data sources than there are channels currently available within the path. A concentrator usually provides communication capability between many low-speed, usually asynchronous channels and one or more high-speed, usually synchronous channels. Usually different speeds, codes, and protocols can be accommodated on the low-speed side. The low-speed channels usually operate in contention and require buffering.
2. A device that connects a number of circuits, which are not all used at once, to a smaller group of circuits for economy.

ISP usually use concentrators to enable modem dialing, this kind of concentrator is sometimes called a modem concentrator or a remote access concentrator.

Source: Federal Standard 1037C in support of MIL-STD-188

See also

Look up Concentrator in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Oxygen concentrator (Medical application)
• Remote concentrator

This article related to telecommunication is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Article keywords: access concentrator,