The term synchronizer may refer to: * In

automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

, a synchronizer is part of a

synchromesh A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...

manual transmission that allows the smooth engagement of gears. * In

aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control o ...

, a synchronizer is a device that permits an automatic weapon to fire between the blades of a revolving propeller. * In

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, an arbiter helps order signals in

asynchronous circuit Asynchronous circuit (clockless or self-timed circuit) is a sequential digital logic circuit that does not use a global clock circuit or signal generator to synchronize its components. Instead, the components are driven by a handshaking circuit ...

s. There are also electronic digital circuits called ''synchronizers'' that attempt to perform arbitration in one clock cycle. Synchronizers, unlike arbiters, are prone to failure. (See

metastability in electronics In electronics, metastability is the ability of a digital electronic system to persist for an unbounded time in an unstable equilibrium or metastable state. In digital logic circuits, a digital signal is required to be within certain voltag ...

.) * In

, whenever there is signal transfer between two systems operating at different frequencies or same frequency with different phases, synchronizer block is used as an interface so that signal from transmitter block is reliably interpreted by the receiver. The block usually uses metastable hardened flops offering single or double latency delays at the output. This block ensures that there is no

metastability In chemistry and physics, metastability denotes an intermediate Energy level, energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system's ground state, state of least energy. A ball resting in a hollow on a slope is a simple example of me ...

for a target MTBF i.e., Mean Time Between Failures * In

film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

, a synchronizer is a device for aligning multiple film strips in a replay or editing device. * In

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, a synchronizer is an algorithm that can be applied to a synchronous distributed algorithm to produce a version that operates in asynchronous networks.

See also