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| Tek AWG2041 how to generate short waveforms? |
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| AlexI:
Hi all - I recently got a Tektronix AWG2041 arbitrary waveform generator, it's the first AWG I've ever used. Everything works pretty good, I figured out how to edit the waveforms using the on-board editor, and mostly how to program it using GPIB. Only trouble is, it refuses to use any waveform shorter than 1024 points! I can't find any mention of this in the manual either. The manual does say the waveforms have to be a length which is a multiple of 32, and of course this supports really, really long waveforms (tested with 2M points), but short waveforms are a no-go. I need to generate a signal that has 500 points and repeats a few hundred times. That doesn't seem possible, unless I'm missing something. Is there some way in the AWG200 series to make it use just a portion of a longer waveform, so that it outputs less than 1024 points? Is there some way to make it output a repeated signal where the length of the repeat is not a multiple of 32? I'm pretty bummed out because the output waveforms don't seem all that "arbitrary"... producing this exact signal was the only reason I got this piece of gear. Is this a common kind of limitation for AWGs? Do I need a different AWG? P.S. One other thing I tried is to make a long waveform which contains multiple back to back copies of the 500 point signal I want. I had to write some code to load this over GPIB. This worked - kinda! - the transfer works and looks ok in the onboard editor but the actual output glitches when the waveform is longer than 25k points. |
| joeqsmith:
--- Quote from: AlexI on January 01, 2018, 09:35:46 pm ---Hi all - I recently got a Tektronix AWG2041 arbitrary waveform generator, it's the first AWG I've ever used. Everything works pretty good, I figured out how to edit the waveforms using the on-board editor, and mostly how to program it using GPIB. Only trouble is, it refuses to use any waveform shorter than 1024 points! I can't find any mention of this in the manual either. The manual does say the waveforms have to be a length which is a multiple of 32, and of course this supports really, really long waveforms (tested with 2M points), but short waveforms are a no-go. I need to generate a signal that has 500 points and repeats a few hundred times. That doesn't seem possible, unless I'm missing something. Is there some way in the AWG200 series to make it use just a portion of a longer waveform, so that it outputs less than 1024 points? Is there some way to make it output a repeated signal where the length of the repeat is not a multiple of 32? I'm pretty bummed out because the output waveforms don't seem all that "arbitrary"... producing this exact signal was the only reason I got this piece of gear. Is this a common kind of limitation for AWGs? Do I need a different AWG? P.S. One other thing I tried is to make a long waveform which contains multiple back to back copies of the 500 point signal I want. I had to write some code to load this over GPIB. This worked - kinda! - the transfer works and looks ok in the onboard editor but the actual output glitches when the waveform is longer than 25k points. --- End quote --- I have one and the sub 1K does not ring a bell. Let me fire it up. |
| joeqsmith:
Ok, I checked the manual and then tried mine out. Mine has code and format version 91.1 and firmware version 2.10. I am able to go below 1024 with no problems. I normally use the sequencer so the minimum is 640 points. I tried this out and indeed, below 640 I the ARB throws an error. This limit may be found under the Memory Control. According to the manual, even if you do not use the sequencer, you are still limited to the multiple of 32. |
| joeqsmith:
I am not sure what the problem would be at 25K. I commonly will use well over this and don't have any problems with the output glitching. |
| joeqsmith:
If I disable the hardware sequencer, I can go below the 640 limit at the manual suggests. Setting for example 500 points the error message : --- Quote ---Not multiple of 32 points. 12 added --- End quote --- is displayed. Shown below with sequencer disabled and using 32 points. Normally if I need to synchronize an ARB with my hardware, I will provide a single clock and trigger. I think with the 2040, you can drive it direct where the newer ones it gets a bit more difficult as I think they limit them to a 5GHz or something clock. |
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