User manual

Toolbars and buttons132

7.7.3

Arbitrary waveform files

Some PicoScope PC Oscilloscopes have an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), which

is enabled using the Signal Generator dialog. PicoScope can program the AWG with

a standard waveform, such as a sine or square wave, or an arbitrary waveform that

you create or import from a text file.

A text file for PicoScope 6 is a list of decimal floating-point values, as in this example:

0.0

0.3

0.9

0.6

0.0

-0.3

0.0

The file may have between 10 and 8,192 values, as many it needs to define the

waveform. Each line may have more than one value, in which case the values must be

separated by tabs or commas.

The values are samples between -1.0 and +1.0 and must be equally spaced in time.

The output is scaled to the amplitude selected in the Signal Generator dialog. and the

selected offset is added if necessary. For example, if the signal generator amplitude is

set to "1 V" and the offset to "0 V", then a sample value of -1.0 corresponds to an

output of -1.0V and a sample of +1.0 corresponds to an output of +1.0V.

The file should contain exactly one cycle of the waveform, which will then be played

back at the speed specified in the Signal Generator dialog. In the example above, the

signal generator was set to 1 kHz, so one cycle of the waveform lasts for 1 ms. There

are 10 samples in the waveform, so each sample lasts for 0.1 ms.