Remote Input

the automatic supply to a calculating and problem-solving system (computer) of data received from a remote object (source) and transmitted over a communications channel. The data sources may be various sensing devices, computing units, or automatic control and monitoring devices. Before being fed into the communications channel the data are coded—that is, they are converted into signals that are convenient for transmission. At the input of the computing unit the signals received are automatically decoded.

Remote data input can be performed either as the data arrive or with preliminary accumulation and storage. If the data are being fed from several sources, a parallel or cyclical remote input system is used. In a parallel system each source has an autonomous channel for simultaneous and independent remote data input, but this system is complex and requires large equipment expenditures. With a cyclical system the communications channels are connected in turn to one general input circuit by a switching device.