Glossary
©
National Instruments Corporation
G-13
RSE
Referenced Single-Ended mode—All meas
u
rements are made with respect
to a common reference meas
u
rement system or a gro
u
nd. Also called a
gro
u
nded meas
u
rement system.
S
s
Seconds.
S
Samples.
sample co
u
nter
The clock that co
u
nts the o
u
tp
u
t of the channel clock, in other words, the
n
u
mber of samples taken. On devices with sim
u
ltaneo
u
s sampling, this
co
u
nter co
u
nts the o
u
tp
u
t of the scan clock and hence the n
u
mber of scans.
scan
One or more analog or digital inp
u
t samples. Typically, the n
u
mber of inp
u
t
samples in a scan is eq
u
al to the n
u
mber of channels in the inp
u
t gro
u
p. For
example, one p
u
lse from the scan clock prod
u
ces one scan which acq
u
ires
one new sample from every analog inp
u
t channel in the gro
u
p.
scan interval
Controls how often a scan is initialized; is reg
u
lated by the AI Sample
Clock signal.
scan rate
Reciprocal of the scan interval.
sensor
A device that responds to a physical stim
u
l
u
s (heat, light, so
u
nd, press
u
re,
motion, flow, and so on), and prod
u
ces a corresponding electrical signal.
Primary characteristics of sensors are sensitivity, freq
u
ency range, and
linearity.
signal conditioning
1. Electronic eq
u
ipment that makes transd
u
cer or other signals s
u
itable in
level and range to be transmitted over a distance, or to interface with
voltage inp
u
t instr
u
ments.
2. The manip
u
lation of signals to prepare them for digitizing.
signal so
u
rce
A generic term for any instr
u
ment in the family of signal generators.
signals
Signals are waveforms containing information. Altho
u
gh physical signals
can be in the form of mechanical, electromagnetic, or other forms, they are
most often converted to electronic form for meas
u
rement.
single trigger mode
When the arbitrary waveform generator goes thro
u
gh the staging list only
once.