A new architecture is blurring the distinction between successive approximation register (SAR) and ΔΣ ADCs, creating devices that couple high resolution with high throughput, achieving exceptional measurement accuracy and ease of integration.

A general-purpose data acquisition (DA) system has to deal with input signals ranging from millivolts to tens of volts, wide frequency ranges, and a great variety of sensor types. Getting the most out of your analog front-end involves choosing your ADC and amplifier carefully.

As users have benefited from distributed processing to separate tasks and enable higher performance for tasks in computing systems, many are applying similar concepts to test systems. Some applications, such as systems with equipment residing in multiple locations or systems that have limited room such as in-vehicle tests, physically require a distributed system. These systems have the additional benefit of increasing your processing power and I/O bandwidth.

One transducer's desirable response can become another transducer's undesirable response.

Back in the late 1970s comedian Don Novello (a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci) had a routine called the "Five-Minute University," which was supposed to impart to you, in the span of only five minutes, all the knowledge you would retain five years after graduating from a regular university. So, in the same spirit, I offer "Dr. Ed's Five-Minute Analog Filter Design University."