That happened on a smaller scale in the 1990s, when manufacturers introduced three incompatible digital sound systems (in addition to the existing analog system).

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In an analog system, all cameras need to be wired directly back to a central recording system using analog cable (typically RG-59 or RG-6 coaxial).

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Digital broadcasting first arrived in the U.S. four years ago, federally mandated as the successor to a fuzzy analog system developed more than half a century ago.

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"As mobile devices like smartphones and tablets get smaller and thinner, the pixel size of image sensors needs to shrink accordingly, " said Andrew Burt, vice president of the Analog and Imaging Business Unit, System LSI Group at TAEC.

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Patriot missile components including advanced radar waveguides, microwave devices, high-speed analog to digital converters, microprocessors, precision gimbals for the missile-seeker system, highly miniaturized radio frequency communications, on-board sensors, advanced signal-processing systems.

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As for output devices, even analog tube-based televisions can display convincing 3D content from 2D films, although the system generates a fair amount of flicker as it struggles to overcome the low refresh rate and interlacing of the once-ubiquitous technology.

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The fork uses a high-end accelerometer from Analog Devices to measure any shocks and jolts, as well as an advanced fluid-control system from Enfield Technologies that allows the fork to stiffen or soften quicker than a tire can deform, typically between 8 and 13 milliseconds.

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Special Stage Systems' Ming Mecca system is built entirely around that concept -- and will definitely appeal to anyone with a fondness for analog electronics.

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