AnalogComputers

Analogcomputersareusedtoprocessanalogdata.Analogdataisofcontinuousnatureandwhichisnot
discreteorseparate.Suchtypeofdataincludestemperature,pressure,speedweight,voltage,depth
etc.Thesequantitiesarecontinuousandhavinganinfinitevarietyofvalues.
Itmeasurescontinuouschangesinsomephysicalquantitye.g.TheSpeedometerofacarmeasures
speed,thechangeoftemperature
ismeasuredbyaThermometer,theweightismeasuredbyWeightsmachine.Thesecomputersareideal
insituationswheredatacanbeaccepteddirectlyfrommeasuringinstrumentwithouthavingtoconvert
itintonumbersorcodes.
Analogcomputersarethefirstcomputersbeingdevelopedandprovidedthebasisforthedevelopment
ofthemoderndigitalcomputers.Analogcomputersarewidelyusedforcertainspecializedengineering
andscientificapplications,forcalculationandmeasurementofanalogquantities.Theyarefrequently
usedtocontrolprocesssuchasthosefoundinoilrefinerywhereflowandtemperaturemeasurements
areimportant.Theyareusedforexampleinpapermakingandinchemicalindustry.Analogcomputers
donotrequireanystoragecapabilitybecausetheymeasureandcomparequantitiesinasingle
operation.Outputfromananalogcomputerisgenerallyintheformofreadingsonaseriesofdial
(Speedometerofacar)oragraphonstripchart.
DigitalComputers
ADigitalComputer,asitsnameimplies,workswithdigitstorepresentnumerals,lettersorotherspecial
symbols.DigitalComputersoperateoninputswhichareONOFFtypeanditsoutputisalsointheform
ofONOFFsignal.Normally,anONisrepresentedbya1andanOFFisrepresentedbya0.Sowecansay
thatdigitalcomputersprocessinformationwhichisbasedonthepresenceortheabsenceofan
electricalchargeorweprefertosayabinary1or0.
Adigitalcomputercanbeusedtoprocessnumericaswellasnonnumericdata.Itcanperform
arithmeticoperationslikeaddition,subtraction,multiplicationanddivisionandalsologicaloperations.
Mostofthecomputersavailabletodayaredigitalcomputers.Themostcommonexamplesofdigital
computersareaccountingmachinesandcalculators.
Theresultsofdigitalcomputersaremoreaccuratethantheresultsofanalogcomputers.Analog
computersarefasterthandigital.Analogcomputerslackmemorywhereasdigitalcomputersstore
information.Wecansaythatdigitalcomputerscountandanalogcomputersmeasures.
HybridComputers
Ahybridisacombinationofdigitalandanalogcomputers.Itcombinesthebestfeaturesofbothtypesof
computers,ie.Ithasthespeedofanalogcomputerandthememoryandaccuracyofdigitalcomputer.
Hybridcomputersareusedmainlyinspecializedapplicationswherebothkindsofdataneedtobe
processed.Therefore,theyhelptheuser,toprocessbothcontinuousanddiscretedata.Forexamplea
petrolpumpcontainsaprocessorthatconvertsfuelflowmeasurementsintoquantityandpricevalues.
InhospitalIntensiveCareUnit(ICU),ananalogdeviceisusedwhichmeasurespatient'sbloodpressure
andtemperatureetc,whicharethenconvertedanddisplayedintheformofdigits.Hybridcomputers
forexampleareusedforscientificcalculations,indefenseandradarsystems.