ddS

DDS is an acronym with several distinct meanings across different domains. It commonly refers to a dental professional degree, a data-centric real-time middleware standard, a digital waveform synthesis method, or a legacy tape data format.

Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) is a professional degree awarded by dental schools in many countries. In the United States, DDS and Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry (DMD) are historically used by different schools but are generally considered equivalent qualifications. Graduates complete undergraduate prerequisites, professional-level dental training, and must pass national and/or state licensure examinations to practice. The degree focuses on dental science, clinical practice, and patient care.

Data Distribution Service (DDS) is a standard from the Object Management Group for real-time, data-centric distributed applications. It defines a publish-subscribe model in which data is the primary communication construct, enabling scalable, low-latency exchange among heterogeneous systems. DDS supports quality-of-service settings, automatic discovery, and various transport implementations, and is used in sectors such as aerospace, defense, healthcare, and industrial automation.

Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) is a method for synthesizing arbitrary waveforms by digitally controlling a phase accumulator that drives a numerically controlled oscillator and a digital-to-analog converter. It offers fine frequency resolution, fast switching, and stable phase continuity, making it common in RF signal generators, instrumentation, and software-defined radios.

Digital Data Storage (DDS) is a tape data format used with 4 mm DAT drives. The DDS family includes formats such as DDS-1, DDS-2, and newer variants, designed for backup and archival storage. While increasingly superseded by newer media and compression formats, DDS media and devices remain in use in some legacy systems and archival contexts.