An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is a hardware device that converts a continuous-time analog signal into a discrete-time, discrete-amplitude digital representation. Parameters: sampling rate (samples per second, determining the maximum reconstructible frequency via the Nyquist criterion), bit depth (number of quantization levels, 2^n, determining signal-to-quantization-noise ratio), and anti-aliasing filter bandwidth (low-pass filter before sampling). The device operates via three stages: (1) anti-aliasing filtering to band-limit the input, (2) sampling via a track-and-hold circuit, and (3) quantization and encoding via an ADC architecture (successive-approximation register, flash, sigma-delta, or pipelined). The persistence mechanism is electronic circuitry — silicon-integrated ADC chips or discrete components — that continuously maps instantaneous analog voltage to binary codes. The output is a stream of digital words representing the input waveform at each sampling instant. [formal: analogicus-digitalis-convertor | substrate: matter | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
analog-to-digital-converter
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is a hardware device that converts a continuous-time analog signal into a discrete-time, discrete-amplitude digital representation. Parameters: sampling rate (samples per second, determining the maximum…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A hardware device that converts continuous analog signals into discrete digital data for recording, processing, and transmission in digital systems, using sampling and quantization.
Names and aliases
- analog-to-digital-converteren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrsb393a00miollhxpcc7bkzDEPENDS_ON →
ADC's object-level domain of operation IS the signal — it converts analog signal to digital representation. Removing signal as a concept would not stop the ADC from physically operating, but the ADC's function IS signal conversion: its purpose and operation are constitutively about transforming signals from one form to another. This is object-level dependency (signal as material medium), not meta-level (signal as description). Consistent with DAC→signal and mixer→signal.
- cmstidkhm016p13a416eaddtdSERVES →
An analog-to-digital-converter is built and maintained for the sake of audio engineering practice: it digitizes microphone and instrument signals for recording, editing, and processing within the studio workflow. Servant points at master per Law 8d.
- converterINSTANCE_OF →
Law 9 specific-to-general, nearest kind: ADC's accepted carve is 'a hardware device that converts a continuous-time analog signal into a discrete-time, discrete-amplitude digital representation' — input form: continuous-time analog signal, output form: discrete-time/discrete-amplitude digital representation, transformation law: sampling plus quantization. Precisely converter's carve. No more specific kind node exists, so converter is the nearest accepted kind.
Relations to this entry
- sample-and-hold← SERVES
Law 8d servant→master device: the sample-and-hold exists to hold a stable value for the ADC's conversion stage — the accepted ADC definition names 'sampling via a track-and-hold circuit' as its own stage 2, and the S/H's accepted definition says it persists through implementation in analog-to-digital converters. Built for whose sake? The converter: without the hold, the (slower) quantization stage would measure a moving voltage. Pinned sense: S/H as the ADC's sampling stage, servant pointing at its master device (not the discipline, which is already covered by the ADC's own SERVES audio-engineering edge). Distinct from its accepted INSTANCE_OF sampling and DEPENDS_ON signal.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 14, 2026, 2:45 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 3923e0568cb0a605494a208dbd752c8a05cf1f6fe2de55ba9f08a368963fbb7a