Data Acquisition ICs

A Data Acquisition System, commonly abbreviated to DAS or DAQ, are integrated circuits that measure analogue electrical signals and convert them into digital form. RS offer a wide range of high-quality semiconductor devices from leading brands including Analog Devices, Maxim Integrated, Microchip and Texas Instruments.

What is Data Acquisition IC's used for

Data Acquisition IC's are commonly used to process the signals produced by sensors. Data Acquisition Systems can be used to convert the signal into digital, allowing it to be used by the host system. To provide complete analogue-to-digital conversion functionality a Data Acquisition IC integrates all the required circuity into one compact device, marrying an analogue front-end (AFE) signal conditioning circuit to an analogue-to-digital converter in one package. Signal conditioning circuity prepares the analogue input for processing, as often raw input signals are not suitable for processing by the analogue-to-digital converter. Filtering, amplification, isolation and attenuation are some examples of the conditioning circuity that may be integrated into the device.

Why would you use a Digital Acquisition IC for signal conversion?

A DAS IC provides a complete signal conversion solution. It minimises any additional external circuity required. Component count is less compared to utilising standalone analogue to digital converters with separate signal conditioning circuits.
Product development simplifies the conversion function as it is already designed and provided by the device.
Their compact design takes up less valuable PCB board space. Up to one-third in most applications.