Data Acquisition

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC)

An electronic device that converts analog signals to an equivalent digital form. The analog-to-digital converter is the heart of most data acquisition systems.

Digital-to-Analog Converter (D/A)

An electronic component found in many data acquistion devices that produce an analog output signal.

Digital Input/Output (DIO)

Refers to a type of data acquistion signal. Digital I/O are discrete signals which are either one of two states. These states may be on/off, high/low, 1/0, etc. Digital I/O are also referred to as binary I/O.

Differential Input

Refers to the way a signal is wired to a data acquisition device. Differential inputs have a unique high and unique low connection for each channel. Data acquisition devices have either single-ended or differential inputs, many devices support both configurations.

General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB)

Synonymous with HPIB (for Hewlett-Packard), the standard bus used for controlling electronic instruments with a computer. Also called IEEE 488 in reference to defining ANSI/IEEE standards.

Resolution

The smallest signal increment that can be detected by a data acquisition system. Resolution can be expressed in bits, in proportions, or in percent of full scale. For example, a system has 12-bit resolution, one part in 4,096 resolution, and 0.0244 percent of full scale.

RS232

A standard for serial communications found in many data acquistion systems. RS232 is the most common serial communication, however, it is somewhat limited in that it only supports communication to one device connected to the bus at a time and it only supports transmission distances up to 50 feet.

RS485

A standard for serial communications found in many data acquistion systems. RS485 is not as popular as RS232, however, it is more flexible in that it supports communication to more than one device on the bus at a time and supports transmission distances of approximately 5,000 feet.

Sample Rate

The speed at which a data acquisition system collects data. The speed is normally expressed in samples per second. For multi-channel data acquisition devices the sample rate is typically given as the speed of the analog-to-digital converter(A/D). To obtain individual channel sample rate, you need to divide the speed of the A/D by the number of channels being sampled.

Single-ended Input (SE)

Refers to the way a signal is wired to a data acquisition device. In single-ended wiring, each analog input has a unique high connection but all channels share a common ground connection. Data acquisition devices have either single-ended or differential inputs. Many support both configurations.