Originally Posted by
Superpilot
It is possible to daisy chain data. There does not need to be a one to one relationship between sensor and input. You simply offset the values from one sensor by a known constant so it can be decoded later (in software) as coming from a separate source. This would be a major weight saving too. Acceptable to the FAA? Who knows...
The sensor is a resolver which itself is has multiple transformers. They have a precision circuit to drive them and a complicated circuit to read them. They aren't capable of being daisy chained as the processing is done in the ADIRU, which has one input for that resolver. Look up how a position resolver is operated; they are a nearly ideal sensor with no wear components required and no friction from making measurements, unlike potentiometers, and continuous readings, unlike encoders. They make up for it in the support electronics, though they can be used in a selsyn configuration, which can be useful for remote analog sensing, though synchros are more likely to be used as selsyns..