As many of the posts on this page address, digitization of human technology has brought about significant advancements in what we are capable of. Two major parts of this process are analog to digital (A/D) and digital to analog (D/A) converters.
Normally, analog signals are not able to be used and computed by digital hardware/systems. However, A/D and D/A converters join the worlds of analog and digital so that devices can utilize and translate both digital and analog signals. Like their names imply, A/D converters turn analog signals into digital data, and D/A converters turn digital data into analog signals.Â
ADC’s:
Most of the technology that we use today contain digital systems. However, the signals they receive are analog (sound, light, temperature, pressure, movement, etc…). Digital systems are unable to process nor computer them without turning those signals into digital data first, which is where ADC’s come in. ADC’s work by measuring the analog value at regular intervals (samples per second AKA Hertz). Then, these values are encoded into binary code (0s and 1s) based on bit depth, at which point the data is now digital and can be worked with by digital systems.Â
DAC’s:
Once the digital data has been process or computed, it will need to be converted back to an analog signal so that us humans can see the resulting information, which can be accomplished by DAC’s. DAC’s translate each number of the code into a corresponding voltage or current, Then, the voltage or current is run through a filter to smooth it into a clean analog signal that can be perceived by humans.Â