Computer-based digital data acquisition systems (DAs) are used to measure physical variables such as pressure, temperature, force, and flow. With such systems, the input measure is first converted to an electrical parameter such as resistance, voltage or current using a sensor which is external to the data acquisition system where it is conditioned and converted to a digital word that is equivalent to the analog signal. The digital word is then transmitted to a computer where conversion to engineering units and analysis/display functions are performed.