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3152B User Manual
Publication No. 980935 Rev. A
3-18
Operation
EADS North America Test and Services
What Are
Arbitrary
Waveforms?
Arbitrary waveforms are generated from digital data points which
are stored in memory. Each data point (waveform sample) has a
vertical resolution of 16 bits (65,536 levels). Another way to express
this is that each sample has an amplitude resolution of one part in
65,536. For legacy emulation, 12 bit waveform data is converted
into 16 bit data with a four position shift.
The standard 3152B has a waveform memory capacity of 1 M
points (4 M is available as an option in some configurations). Each
point has a unique address. The address of the first point is zero,
and the address of the last point depends upon the waveform
memory size. If a waveform does not require the entire waveform
memory, then you may divide the memory into smaller segments,
each of which may store a separate waveform.
When the instrument is set to output arbitrary waveforms, the clock
samples the data points one at a time, starting with address 0 and
continuing to the last data point of the waveform. The rate at which
each sample is retrieved is defined as the sample clock rate.
The 3152B provides programmable sample clock rates from 100
mS/s to 250 MS/s.
Unlike waveforms contained in the built-in library, arbitrary
waveforms must first be downloaded into waveform memory. One
of the easiest ways to calculate the waveform samples is to use
ArbConnection. It provides an on-screen editor, called Wave
Composer, for creating and editing waveforms. Figure 3 -1 shows a
complex waveform from the Wave Composer editor. Chapter 4
provides instructions for using ArbConnection and its Wave
Composer editor.
Managing
Arbitrary
Waveform
Memory
You may divide the 3152B waveform memory into segments, and
use each segment to contain a separate waveform. This is useful in
applications that require multiple waveforms and can benefit from
changing quickly from one waveform to another.
The memory can be partitioned into as many as 16k segments (with
up to 16,384 different waveforms), but the higher the number of
segments, the smaller the number of sample points that are
available to each.
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