Hey all,
I've been trying to generate a series of 10ns-width pulses that have precise delays from each other from the 81160A for a while now. In general, the signal is:
1. One 10 ns width pulse
2. Wait [(2304 ns * M) + N] (M is just an integer, N is a delay that should have at least 1 nanosecond resolution, ideally higher)
3. Repeat 1 and 2
The issue i'm facing is not getting a high enough time resolution for these delays from 81160A. The two options I've tried are:
1. Store and output an arbitrary signal
While I only have around 200 pulses total, the entire length of the signal is 3.73 ms. With an equally sampled signal at 1 ns, this requires 3.73 million points in memory, but my 81160A only can store 131,072 points. 3.73 ms / 131,072 points gives me a time resolution of 28.4 nanoseconds, which is too coarse for my application.
2. Store and output a pulse pattern signal
I have tried representing each part of the signal by a bit, and the device has enough memory for this representation (2M bits), but the smallest timescale is 3.03 nanoseconds which is again just above what I need.
For context: these are signals to test a LIDAR sensor, which is why the time resolution is important. I can also sacrifice the accuracy of the pulse width if necessary (e.g., by generating a much longer / more jitter-y pulse) as long as the start of the pulse is timed correctly.
I'm guessing this is more a user error than a device limitation since the 81160A can do 2.5 GSa/s, and I'm pretty new to this. Does anyone have any idea how I can get the signal I need?
Thank you very much in advance.