what is the differance between analogue signals and digital signals in relation to transducers?

Question

explain in lamen terms

Answer 1

Understand that a transducer changes one signal into a second signal of a different type. For instance, a pressure transmitter changes pressure into electrical current.

In an analog transmitter the output is analog and it is an infinite signal. What that means for example, is that between the minimum output (say 4 milliamps) and the maximum output (say 20 milliamps) there are an infinite number of readings. It could be 7.28405730242404 or 7.39040598387393404 etc. You get my drift.

In a digital transmitter, the output is limited to a certain number of points (resolution). The resolution might only be a few decimal points. For instance, 7.226, 7.227, 7.228.......etc. Anything in between two of these numbers (7.2265) cannot be read.

Picture in your mind analog as being a playground slide and digital being stairsteps.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Practically all transducers are analogue devices. Generally, the signal has to be encoded to and from digital form. Speakers, microphones, EKG sensors and just about everything else is analogue. There are a few exceptions, and a lot of that depends on how broadly you define a device as being a transducer. For example, a ball mouse might be considered a digital transducer since it converts kinetic movement into a digital signal by counting the revolutions of a spinning disc inside. A DLP and LCD projector or television may also be thought of as a type of digital transducer. By contrast, CRT technology is analogue.But I have never heard of a true digital speaker or microphone.

Answer 3

Truly, the difference between analog and digital signals is how you treat them in the circuit.

To properly use an analog signal, you need a pretty close to perfect representation of it. For digital signals you are more concerned about the location of energy in the signal. This is one of many reasons why digital signals have a higher SNR (signal to noise ratio) than analog.