Meaning & use
telemetry
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Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
The automatic collecting of measurements from a distant device and sending them by radio or cable to a place where they can be watched.
Grammar: Uncountable: we receive telemetry, not 'a telemetry'.
Patterns
- telemetry from something
- telemetry data
Engineers watched the telemetry from the satellite for signs of trouble.
The race team reads telemetry from the car in real time.
Telemetry showed that the probe's temperature was rising.
noununcountablecomputing
Data that a program or device sends back to its maker about how it is being used.
Grammar: Computing use, often discussed with privacy.
Patterns
- telemetry data
- turn off telemetry
You can turn off telemetry in the software's settings.
The app collects telemetry to find crashes.
Some users worry that telemetry reveals too much about them.
Common combinations
- telemetry data
- Telemetry data from the rocket was stored for later review.
- real-time telemetry
- Real-time telemetry helps the team respond quickly.
- collect telemetry
- The program collects telemetry about errors.
- patient telemetry
- Nurses watch patient telemetry on a central screen.
- telemetry system
- The telemetry system failed during the test.
Synonyms and how they differ
- remote monitoring
- Remote monitoring is the plain-language description, while telemetry is the technical term for the whole data stream.
- data logging
- Data logging records measurements at the device, but it need not send them anywhere.
- remote sensing
- Remote sensing refers to gathering information about the earth from a distance, usually by satellite.
- tracking
- Tracking follows position or movement, whereas telemetry can include any measured quantity.
Word family
- telemeter noun
- a device that measures and sends data over a distance
- telemetric adjective
- relating to telemetry
- telemetered adjective
- sent by telemetry
- telemetrically adverb
- by means of telemetry
Commonly confused: telemetry or telematics? telemetry or telepathy?
telemetry vs telematics
Telematics combines telecommunications and information systems, mostly for vehicles, while telemetry focuses on remote measurement.
telemetry vs telepathy
Telepathy is supposedly sensing thoughts without speech, and has no technical meaning.
Practice
What does mission control mainly use telemetry for?
Choose one answer.
Telemetry is the stream of measurements that a remote vehicle sends back automatically. The other options do not describe that data.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “telemetry”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.