Integration time

nounStandard termElectronics

The duration over which a sensor or measuring instrument accumulates a signal to average out random noise.

Integration time is the window during which an analog-to-digital converter or sensor collects data before outputting a single reading. A longer integration time improves the signal-to-noise ratio by averaging out high-frequency fluctuations, but it reduces the overall sampling rate and can blur fast-changing signals.

Heard on the job

Increase the integration time on the multimeter to 10 PLC to get a stable reading on that noisy rail.