Multichannel data acquisition/distribution systems have been the backbone of industrial and instrumentation applications for many years. While it is possible to use one DAC and one ADC per channel as in (A), there are many applications where it is more economical to use analog multiplexers as shown in (B), thereby minimizing the number of ADCs and DACs required. In some cases, combinations of (A) and (B) are appropriate. A wide variety of IC components exist to implement either option or a combination of these options.

