Glossary
© National Instruments Corporation G-7 NI 5620 User Manual
random interleaved
sampling
method of increasing sample rate by repetitively sampling a repeated
waveform
real-time sampling sampling that occurs immediately
record length the size of a chunk (or record) of data that can be or has been acquired by a
device
resolution the smallest signal increment that can be detected by a measurement
system. Resolution can be expressed in bits, in proportions, or in percent
of full scale. For example, a system has 12-bit resolution, one part in
4,096 resolution, and 0.0244% of full scale.
rms root mean square—a measure of signal amplitude; the square root of the
average value of the square of the instantaneous signal amplitude
ROM read-only memory
S
s seconds
S samples
S/s samples per second—used to express the rate at which an instrument
samples an analog signal
sample rate the speed that a device can acquire data
sense in four-wire resistance the sense measures the voltage across the resistor
being excited by the excitation current
settling time the amount of time required for a voltage to reach its final value within
specified limits
Shannon Sampling
Theorem
a theorem stating that a signal must be sampled at least twice as fast as the
bandwidth of the signal to accurately reconstruct the signal as a waveform
source impedance a parameter of signal sources that reflects current-driving ability of voltage
sources (lower is better) and the voltage-driving ability of current sources
(higher is better)
system noise a measure of the amount of noise seen by an analogcircuit or an ADC when
the analog inputs are grounded