Aviation Glossary

At Dauntless, our editorial staff maintains the web's largest unified glossary of aviation terms. This glossary is built from a combination of official, quasi-official, and proprietary sources (including original material that we develop oursselves). Uniquely, we often provide multiple definitions of a given term so that you can find that which best applies to you. In order to maximize your learning efficiency, this glossary (and similar ones for our international users) is incresingly fully integrated into our aviation learning apps, including our FAA written test prep and FAA practical test prep software and apps. If you like this glossary, you'll love them with their polished learning environments and world's best and clearest content (please do give them a try.).

Analog

A system in which an electrical value (usually voltage or current, but sometimes frequency, phase, etc.) represents something in the physical world. The electrical signal can then be processed, transmitted, amplified, and finally, transformed back into a physical quality.

For example: A microphone produces a current that is proportional to sound pressure. Various stages amplify, process, modulate, etc. Ultimately, a varying voltage is presented to a speaker which converts it back to sound waves.

By contrast, a digital system handles a signal as a stream of numbers.

source: Electrical Engineering Glossary

technology based on continuous variables rather than digital binary inputs: Most analog(ue) instruments have been replaced by digital displays.

source: ICAO English Pro Aviation Glossary

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Disclaimer: While this glossary in most cases is likely to be highly accurate and useful, sometimes, for any number of editorial, transcription, technical, and other reasons, it might not be. Additionally, as somtimes you may have found yourself brought to this page through an automated term matching system, you may find definitions here that do not match the cotext or application in which you saw the original term. Please use your good judgement when using this resource.