Chapter 2
NI 5450 Overview
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National Instruments Corporation
2-57
NI PXIe-5450 User Manual
Arbitrary Waveform Mode
The NI 5450 supports Arbitrary Waveform output mode. Arbitrary
Waveform mode generates waveforms from user-created/provided
waveform arrays of numeric data. The waveform arrays are downloaded to
the arbitrary waveform generator onboard memory. Arbitrary Waveform
mode also uses memory to store the instructions for generating waveform
sequences in the onboard memory.
Arbitrary Sequence Mode
Arbitrary Sequence output mode allows you to load multiple waveforms in
the onboard memory of the signal generator. A finite number of samples
make a waveform. To generate these downloaded waveforms in a specific
order, you must prepare a sequence, which contains a number of segments
in a specific order. Each segment specifies a downloaded waveform, a
number of loops to repeat the selected waveform, and a numeric offset in
which a marker is generated by the device. The timing and behavior of the
generation of a waveform sequence is dependent on the trigger mode
selected.
The following figures show the concepts of waveforms and segment
sequencing.
Waveform A represents a single cycle of a sine wave that is downloaded to
onboard memory.
Waveform A
Waveform B
