 data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. data acquisition systems (abbreviated with the acronym das or daq) typically convert analog waveforms into digital values for processing. the components of data acquisition systems include: * sensors that convert physical parameters to electrical signals. * signal conditioning circuitry to convert sensor signals into a form that can be converted to digital values. * analog-to-digital converters, which convert conditioned sensor signals to digital values. data acquisition applications are controlled by software programs developed using various general purpose programming languages such as labview, basic, c, fortran, java, lisp, pascal. there are also open-source software packages providing all the necessary tools to acquire data from different hardware equipment. these tools come from the scientific community where complex experiment requires fast, flexible and adaptable software. those packages are usually custom fit but more general daq package like the maximum integrated data acquisition system can be easily tailored and is used in several physics experiments worldwide. ==history== in 1963, ibm produced computers which specialized in data acquisition. these include the ibm 7700 data acquisition system and its successor, the ibm 1800 data acquisition and control system. these expensive specialized systems were surpassed in 1974 by general purpose s-100 computers and data acquisitions cards produced by tecmar/scientific solutions inc. in 1981 ibm introduced the ibm personal computer and scientific solutions introduced the first pc data acquisition products. comdex fall november 18, 1981 las vegas, nv, "tecmar shows 20 ibm pc option card.. labmaster,labtender,dadio,devicetender,ieee-488.." pc magazine vol1 no.1, "taking the measure" by david bunnell, "tecmar deployed 20 option cards for the ibm pc" pc magazine vol1 no.5, "tecmar triumph" by david bunnell, scientific solutions releases 20 new products for the pc byte vol7 no.1 "scientific solutions â advertisement for data acquisition boards, stepper controllers, ieee-488 products test&meausrement world vol11 no 10&nbsp;decade of progress award: scientific solutions â labmaster first in pc data acquisition ==methodology== ===sources and systems=== data acquisition begins with the physical phenomenon or physical property to be measured. examples of this include temperature, light intensity, gas pressure, fluid flow, and force. regardless of the type of physical property to be measured, the ph
Data Signal_processing