For many years people have been watching movies in their spare time. Since 70’s people use to watch movies in their homes using Video Cassette Recorders (VCR’s) but a few years ago they started to use Digital Video Discs (DVD’s). These electronic components use to do the same job bringing entertainment to our homes but, they have different technology. VCR’s are analog electronic systems and DVD’s are digital electronic systems. People think that VCR’s were replacing for DVD’s but is not true. Digital and analog systems are two different technologies one with more advantages than the other. But analog technology can not be replaced for digital technology.
Analog technology is natural technology is how temperatures, sounds or others natural phenomena are converted into electrical voltages following exactly the variations; the variations produce very complex waveforms on an oscilloscope or chart recorder as nature itself. Waveforms are a plot or graph of voltage against time. The waveforms are often deriving directly from nature with help of a traducer. Analog waveforms are infinitely complex but he human learns to interpret it. Humans have been used graphs to represent all this waveforms because graphs are easy to understand.
Digital technology has revolutionized everything, we divide everything into equal parts for example: a day into 24 hour, a twenty four hours day into two equal parts day and night, a year into 12 equal parts even though in the last example a year is no exactly 12 equal parts the human use to add a day every four years to adjust the calendar and make everything simple. Digital technology is an example of this human behavior the humans use a special two-digit number system, called binary system to represent natural phenomena such as temperatures, sounds or other phenomena. The purpose to digitizing all this phenomena is to reduce an infinite range of natural possibilities to a limited range of useful values.
An example of how analog signal is processed is a public address system. A public address system is used to amplify sound so that it can be heard by a large group of people. The sound waves which are analog in nature are picked up by a microphone and converted to a small analog voltage called the audio signal; this signal varies continuously as the volume of the sound change. Then this signal is applied to the input of a linear amplifier, the output of the amplifier which is an increased reproduction of input voltage goes to the speakers. The speakers change the amplified audio signal back to sound waves that have much volume that the original sound waves picked up by the microphone. Digital signal is totally different an example of this is a compact disc (CD) the sound from the CD comes in series of numbers “10100101010001001111” digital data then this series are converted in audio signal by a digital converter. The audio signal is applied to the input of a linear amplifier, and then this signal makes an analog process.
Digital technology has certain advantage over analog technology these advantages are represented in electronic applications. First, digital signal can be processed and transmitted more efficiently and reliably than analog signal. Second, digital signal is easy to storage and handle it. For example, when music is converted to digital form can be stored more compactly and reproduced with good clarity. Noise can not affect digital signal like affect analog signal. This noise is voltage fluctuations when the analog signal is stored or reproduced.
➢ Analog technology is a natural technology because all of nature is analog, it is nonlinear and complex. ➢ Humans like things linear and simples as digital technology is. ➢ How analog signal or information is processed. ➢ How digital signal or information is processed. ➢ The two big advantages of digital technology. ➢ People can not interact with the real world without analog technology.
Since years ago digital technology are called the ultimate technology and analog technology were expect to disappear. Although for all these reasons this didn’t happen and can’t happen.
