National Instruments PCI-6023E - Manual (Page 109)

Glossary
PCI-6023E/6024E/6025E User Manual G-2 © National Instruments Corporation
A/D analog-to-digital
ADC analog-to-digital converter—an electronic device, often an integrated
circuit, that converts an analog voltage to a digital number
ADC resolution the resolution of the ADC, which is measured in bits. An ADC with 16 bits
has a higher resolution, and thus a higher degree of accuracy, than a 12-bit
ADC.
AI analog input
AIGATE analog input gate signal
AIGND analog input ground signal
AISENSE analog input sense signal
alias a false lower frequency component that appears in sampled data acquired
at too low a sampling rate
amplification a type of signal conditioning that improves accuracy in the resulting
digitized signal and reduces noise
ANSI American National Standards Institute
AO analog output
AOGND analog output ground signal
ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit—a proprietary semiconductor
component designed and manufactured to perform a set of specific
functions for a specific customer
asynchronous (1) hardware—a property of an event that occurs at an arbitrary time,
without synchronization to a reference clock (2) software—a property of a
function that begins an operation and returns prior to the completion or
termination of the operation
attenuate to decrease the amplitude of a signal
B
bandwidth the range of frequencies present in a signal, or the range of frequencies to
which a measuring device can respond
PCI.book Page 2 Wednesday, September 16, 1998 9:09 AM