ADCs to DACs (analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters)

ADCs and DACs are crucial components in the relentless drive to replace analog circuitry with more controllable and less costly digital processing. This paper reviews the technologies available for measurement and control as applied to accelerators. It covers much of the terminology and ‘specmanship’ together with an application-oriented analysis of the performance to be expected of the various types. Finally, some guidance on system integration problems is given.