analog-to-digital conversion
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Related to analog-to-digital conversion: A/D converter, A/D conversion
analog-to-digital or A/D conversion,
the process of changing continuously varying data, such as voltage, current, or shaft rotation, into discrete digital quantities that represent the magnitude of the data compared to a standard or reference at the moment the conversion is made. There are two types of converters: electromechanical—also called shaft- or position-to-digital—and electronic. The most common use is to change analog signals into a form that can be manipulated by a digital computercomputer,device capable of performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations. A computer is distinguished from a calculating machine, such as an electronic calculator, by being able to store a computer program (so that it can repeat its operations and make logical
..... Click the link for more information. , as in data communications; a modemmodem
[modulator/demodulator], an external device or internal electronic circuitry used to transmit and receive digital data over a communications line normally used for analog signals.
..... Click the link for more information. , or data set, is a device that converts the digital signals produced by computers and terminals into analog signals that telephone circuits are designed to carry and then back to digital signals at the other end of the communication link. Similarly, in digital sound recording, audio signals are transformed into digital data, which are then recorded on a magnetic or optical disk or tape; the digitized data on the recording medium then must be changed back into the analog sound signals that can be used by a stereophonic sound system. See also digital-to-analog conversiondigital-to-analog or D/A conversion,
the process of changing discrete digital data into a continuously varying signal in relation to a standard or reference.
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Bibliography
See M. J. Demler, High-Speed Analog-to-Digital Conversion (1991); K. M. Daugherty, Analog-to-Digital Conversion: A Practical Approach (1995).