AMAZON multi-meters discounts AMAZON oscilloscope discounts Sensors are designed to detect the smallest amount of change in motion, light, pressure, temperature, magnetic force, or chemical reaction. The change of energy that the sensor detects must be converted into an electrical signal that is useful to an amplifier so that the final electrical signal is in one of the traditional formats. The more typical electrical signal formats are voltage, current, resistance, frequency, capacitance, and inductance. Some formats can be defined in a second form, such as resistance can be defined in terms of conductance (1/R), frequency can be defined in terms of the period (1/P), resistance, capacitance, and inductance can be defined in terms of impedance. The unit for conductance is siemen (S) or Mhos, the unit for frequency is hertz (Hz), and the unit for impedance (Z) is ohms (Ω). In some cases a transmitter will provide additional signal conditioning, such as from voltage to current, or from current to voltage. Another common form of signal conditioning is from frequency to voltage. Over the years the electronic industry has standardized several signal types. These signal types are listed in the table below.
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