From Analog Signals to Digits

From Analog Signals to Digits In general, information entered into the computer can vary drastically, it may be light, sound, heat, etc. The properties of these physical phenomena change smoothly in time. Therefore, before you enter the information into the computer with its discrete "brains", it should be conveyed into other forms, namely electric signals of the respective frequencies, using a transducer. Analog signals of alternating voltage correspond to the changes in real characteristics of the measured values. An analog signal is, however, only the first step as digital devices use binary logic. It means that their circuits operate according to the principle: on or off. The signal can consequently undergo some more changes. Or, in other words, should be translated into binary representation language. This translation is achieved by a so-called analog-to-digital converter. An ADC converts an analog signal voltage into the "zero"-"one" pulse sequence. These pulses correspond to a binary code which can represent any digit in the form of ones and zeroes. Ones and zeroes in digital devices are represented by two states of circuits on which a central processing unit, internal memory and other computer units are based. In order to transform an analog signal into a digital code, an ADC measures the amplitude of an analog signal at strictly defined intervals. The intervals are defined in such a way that the sampling rate could be twice as a high as a high-frequency component of the measured signal. As an ADC takes measurements, a certain digit is assigned to each interval. The measured value is directly proportional to the digit.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ADC
• automation
• sensor
• transformation