This SAE Recommended Practice outlines a series of performance recommendations which concern the whole data channel. These recommendations are not subject to any variation and all of them should be adhered to by any agency conducting tests to this practice. However, the method of demonstrating compliance with the recommendations is flexible and can be adapted to suit the needs of the particular equipment the agency is using.

It is not intended that each recommendation be taken in a literal sense, as necessitating a single test to demonstrate that the recommendation is met. Rather, it is intended that any agency proposing to conduct tests to this document should be able to demonstrate that if such a single test could be and were carried out, then their equipment would meet the recommendations. This demonstration should be undertaken on the basis of reasonable deductions from evidence in their possession, such as the results of partial tests.

In some systems it may be necessary to divide the whole channel into subsystems for calibration and checking purposes. The recommendations have been written only for the whole channel, as this is the sole route by which subsystem performances affect the quality of the output. If it is difficult to measure the whole channel performance, which is usually the case, the test agency may treat the channel as two or more convenient subsystems. The whole channel performance could then be demonstrated on the basis of subsystem results, together with a rationale for combining the subsystem results together.

SAE J211-1 covers electronic instrumentation and SAE J211-2 covers photographic instrumentation.