Glossary
G-14
www.natinst.com
sensor
a device that responds to a physical stimulus (heat, light, sound, pressure,
motion, flow, and so on), and produces a corresponding electrical signal
settling time
the amount of time required for a voltage to reach its final value within
specified limits
Shannon Sampling
Theorem
a law of sampling theory stating that if a continuous bandwidth-limited
signal contains no frequency components higher than half the frequency
at which it is sampled, then the original signal can be recovered without
distortion
signal conditioning
the manipulation of signals to prepare them for digitizing
SISOURCE
SI counter clock signal
SNR
signal-to-noise ratio—the ratio of the overall rms signal level to the rms
noise level, expressed in decibels
software trigger
a programmed event that triggers an event such as data acquisition
software triggering
a method of triggering in which you simulate an analog trigger using
software. Also called conditional retrieval.
SOURCE
source signal
SS
simultaneous sampling—a property of a system in which each input or
output channel is digitized or updated at the same instant
STARTSCAN
start scan signal
STC
system timing controller
synchronous
(1) hardware—a property of an event that is synchronized to a reference
clock (2) software—a property of a function that begins an operation and
returns only when the operation is complete
T
TC
terminal count—the highest value of a counter
T/H
track-and-hold—a circuit that tracks an analog voltage and holds the value
on command