Attenuation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Attenuation \At*ten`u*a"tion\, n. [L. attenuatio: cf. F.
     att['e]nuation.]
     1. The act or process of making slender, or the state of
        being slender; emaciation.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. The act of attenuating; the act of making thin or less
        dense, or of rarefying, as fluids or gases.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The process of weakening in intensity; diminution of
        virulence; as, the attenuation of virus.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  attenuation
       n 1: weakening in force or intensity; "attenuation in the volume
            of the sound" [syn: {fading}]
       2: the property of something that has been weakened or reduced
          in thickness or density

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  attenuation
       
           The progressive reduction in {amplitude} of a
          signal as it travels farther from the point of origin.
       
          For example, an electric signal's amplitude reduces with
          distance due to electrical {impedance}.  Attenuation is
          usually measured in {decibels} [per metre?].
       
          Attenuation does not imply appreciable modification of the
          shape of the waveform (distortion), though as the signal
          amplitude falls the {signal-to-noise ratio} will also fall
          unless the channel itself is noise free or the signal is
          amplified at some intermediate point(s) along the channel.
       
          ["Networking Essentials, second edition",
          Microsoft Corporation, pub. Microsoft Press 1997].
       
          (2003-07-29)