Nowadays (with the exception of high-frequency measurements) the tendency is to increase the sampling rate of the ADC in order to digitize the input signal allowing RMS and a whole range of other functions to be carried out by a digital processor. However, blindly digitizing the signal as early in the signal path as possible costs unreasonable amounts of power due to the need for high-speed ADCs. A much more efficient solution involves analog preprocessing to condition the signal and reduce its bandwidth so that energy is spent to digitize only the bandwidth that contains useful information.