When realizing the term data acquisition (DAC) it’s important to first know what is being acquisitioned: real world data. And real world data translates directly into the life sciences.

Life science, or biology, is a discipline of science that has, for hundreds of years, formed opinions of scientists, doctors, and thinkers alike. Theories and medications have been created with the study of life science, just as crimes have been solved, and organisms understood. The basic way living organisms interact with one another and their surroundings, how these organisms are structured, how they grow, what their origin may be, and their general evolution, is more or less what the term ‘life science’ encapsulates.

Real world data gets manipulated by a computer, where its signals and waveforms are processed, extracting critical information and storing it digitally in a computer processed machine. The data gets measured by components of data acquisition systems where sensors convert measurements and electrical signals before a computer manipulates the data and its signals and waveforms are processed. Critical information is then obtained and stored digitally in a computer processor, completing the first and second steps of the data acquisition process.

After life science has been converted to wavelength data, it is recorded by a data logger. Data logging is an electronic device that collects data over time, or in a specific radius, and is collected by one of three means, which include: built in instruments and sensors, or external instruments and sensors. After said data is collected, manipulated, and transformed, useful information is highlighted to suggest different types of scientific conclusions.

This process, seemingly lengthy, has allowed many growths in scientific understanding and continues on a number of levels to produce further understanding of organisms, and their relationship to the world at large.



By: Diana Valentine

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