|  | .. include:: <isonum.txt> | 
|  |  | 
|  | ============ | 
|  | Introduction | 
|  | ============ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The main purpose of the Industrial I/O subsystem (IIO) is to provide support | 
|  | for devices that in some sense perform either | 
|  | analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) or digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) | 
|  | or both. The aim is to fill the gap between the somewhat similar hwmon and | 
|  | :doc:`input <../input>` subsystems. Hwmon is directed at low sample rate | 
|  | sensors used to monitor and control the system itself, like fan speed control | 
|  | or temperature measurement. :doc:`Input <../input>` is, as its name suggests, | 
|  | focused on human interaction input devices (keyboard, mouse, touchscreen). | 
|  | In some cases there is considerable overlap between these and IIO. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Devices that fall into this category include: | 
|  |  | 
|  | * analog to digital converters (ADCs) | 
|  | * accelerometers | 
|  | * capacitance to digital converters (CDCs) | 
|  | * digital to analog converters (DACs) | 
|  | * gyroscopes | 
|  | * inertial measurement units (IMUs) | 
|  | * color and light sensors | 
|  | * magnetometers | 
|  | * pressure sensors | 
|  | * proximity sensors | 
|  | * temperature sensors | 
|  |  | 
|  | Usually these sensors are connected via :doc:`SPI <../spi>` or | 
|  | :doc:`I2C <../i2c>`. A common use case of the sensors devices is to have | 
|  | combined functionality (e.g. light plus proximity sensor). |