©NationalInstruments Corporation 2-1 NI5620 User Manual
2
Hardware Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the features and functionality of the
NI5 620.

How the NI 5620 Works

A signal follows this path through the NI 5620 to your host computer:
1. The signal enters the NI 5620 through the analog front panel
connector,INPUT. To find more about the front panel, see the
Connecting Signals section later in this chapter.
2. The signal is filteredand condit ioned. Gain and dither are applied to
thesignal. See the Conditioning the Signal—Impedance, Dither, Gain,
and AC Coupling section for more information.
3. The ADC convertsthe signal from analog to digital. Refer to the
Digitizing the Signal—The ADC section for more information.
4. (Optional) The digital downconverter(DDC) digitally “zooms in”
on data. See the Incorporating the DDC section.
5. Thedata is sent to onboard memory (the buffer). See the Storing Data
in Memory section for additional information.
6. The data ist ransferred to your host computer.
Figure2-1. BasicSignal Flow
DDC
(Optional)
Filtering/
Conditioning ADC
Analog
Input
Onboard
Memory
P
X
I
B
u
s