Effect of Advances in Electronics upon Instrumentation

Without doubt, however, the greatest difference between the two is that the sophisticated electronics of the newer instrument enable it to be directly connected to an Infrared Data Station , a microcomputer system which can smooth spectra, produce an average spectrum from a number of scans, subtract one spectrum from another, or reformat a spectrum. In addition, it is possible to identify possible structural features of an unknown compound and to match the spectrum against a reference library stored on magnetic disks, to facilitate a rapid identification of unknowns3). It is interesting to note that the basic optical specifications of the two instruments are not all that dissimilar  

It is clear that the growth of electronics in instrumentation has been dramatic, but it has not been linear. By far the greatest advances have occurred within the last five years, and the pace of change appears to. be increasing, making it difficult to make any firm predictions of the likely developments over the next two decades or so. We may be certain, however, that considerable progress will be made in the field of electronics over this period, and that, it will have a substantial impact on the type of instrumentation available to the analyst. 

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