See also: Passthrough (electronics)
For analog signals, connections usually consist of a simple electrical bus and, especially in the case of a chain of many devices, may require the use of one or more repeaters or amplifiers within the chain to counteract attenuation (the natural loss of energy in such a system). Digital signals between devices may also travel on a simple electrical bus, in which case a bus terminator may be needed on the last device in the chain. However, unlike analog signals, because digital signals are discrete, they may also be electrically regenerated, but not modified, by any device in the chain.
Some hardware can be attached to a computing system in a daisy chain configuration by connecting each component to another similar component, rather than directly to the computing system that uses the component. Only the last component in the chain directly connects to the computing system. For example, chaining multiple components that each have a UART port to each other. The components must also behave cooperatively. e.g., only one seizes the communications bus at a time.
Main article: Network topology § Daisy chain
Any particular daisy chain forms one of two network topologies:
See also: Jump server
Users can daisy chain computing sessions together. Using services such as Telnet or SSH, the user creates a session on a second computer via Telnet, and from the second session, Telnets to a third and so on. Another typical example is the "terminal session inside a terminal session" using Remote Desktop Protocol. Reasons to create daisy chains include connecting to a system on a non-routed network via a gateway system, preserving sessions on the initial computer while working on a second computer, to save bandwidth or improve connectivity on an unstable network by first connecting to a better connected machine. Another reason for creating a daisy chain is to camouflage activity while engaged in cybercrime.
maxim-ic.com - Electrical Engineering Glossary Definition for Daisy Chain http://www.maxim-ic.com/glossary/index.cfm/Ac/V/ID/71/Tm/Daisy_Chain ↩
"ViaTAP user's manual, chapter Design guidelines for use with ViaTAP" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2009-01-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20170222084446/http://jtagtest.com/downloads/viatap.pdf ↩
"Thunderbolt™ for Developers". Intel. Retrieved 2020-04-02. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/io/thunderbolt/thunderbolt-technology-developer.html ↩
IR3508Z data sheet (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03, The last phase IC is connected back to ... the control IC to complete the daisy chain loop https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230442/http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/ir3508zmpbf.pdf ↩
Joel Konicek; Karen Little (1997). Security, ID Systems and Locks: The Book on Electronic Access Control. p. 170: daisy chain loop illustration. https://books.google.com/books?id=9ffCiw9fUncC&dq=%22daisy+chain+loop%22&pg=PA170 ↩