data acquisition

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

data logging
data acquisition
data logger

   <data> (data acquisition) Storing a series of measurements
   over time, usually from a sensor that converts a physical
   quantity such as temperature, pressure, relative humidity,
   light, resistance, current, power, speed, vibration into a
   voltage that is then converted by a {digital to analog
   converter} (DAC) into a binary number.  Data logging hardware
   may have several DACs for multiple simultaneous measurements.
   The hardware usually connects to a {parallel port}, {serial
   port} or {USB} port on a {PC}.

   (2004-11-15)