What is the role of signal conditioning in telemetry?

• A. It prepares raw sensor signals for ADC, including amplification, filtering, and level shifting to match input ranges, improve SNR, and remove noise.
• B. It stores data in the ground server.
• C. It transmits data wirelessly to the ground.
• D. It encodes payload into frames for transmission.

Answer: (C)

Signal conditioning is the stage that makes sensor signals suitable for the analog-to-digital converter. Sensors often output tiny, noisy, or impedance-mismatched voltages that aren’t ready for precise digitization. Conditioning handles amplification to use the ADC’s dynamic range, filtering to remove noise and prevent aliasing, and level shifting or biasing to place the signal within the ADC’s input window. Impedance matching helps preserve signal integrity and reduces loading effects. Anti-aliasing filters prevent high-frequency noise from corrupting the measurement during sampling. By cleaning, scaling, and stabilizing the signal before conversion, you get more accurate, higher-SNR telemetry data. Storage, wireless transmission, and payload framing come after digitization, not during signal conditioning.