User Guide

Glossary
NI 5911 User Manual G-2 ni.com
AC coupled the passing of a signal through a filter network that removes the
DC component of the signal
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 with16 bits
has a higher resolution, and thus a higher degree of accuracy, than a 12-bit
ADC.
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
amplitude flatness a measure of how close to constant the gain of a circuit remains over a range
of frequencies
attenuate to reduce in magnitude
B
bbit—one binary digit, either 0 or 1
Bbyte—eight related bits of data, an eight-bit binary number. Also used
to denote the amount of memory required to store one byte of data.
bandwidth the range of frequencies present in a signal, or the range of frequencies to
which a measuring device can respond
buffer temporary storage for acquired or generated data (software)
bus the group of conductors that interconnect individual circuitry in a computer.
Typically, a bus is the expansion vehicle to which I/O or other devices are
connected. Examples of PC buses are the PCI and ISA bus.
C
CCelsius
channel pin or wire lead to which you apply or from which you read the analog or
digital signal