Operating Tips

SDG2000X Series

Programmatically selecting a built-in arbitrary waveform with an SDG

January 3, 2019

The SDG series of arbitrary waveform generators have a number of built-in arbitrary waveforms including health-related waveforms like cardiac and math waveforms like sinc. To read the available waveforms, you can send the following string: STL? This will return a list similar to the following (the exact return data depends on the instrument model and firmware … Continued

SDG selection table

December 18, 2018

Here is a table showing the output protection on the SIGLENT SDGThere is the ‘short circuit’ protection in all our generators.(he output of the generator can be connected together, please see the attached pic) Series Channels Max Sine Frequency (MHz) Arbitrary Waveform Data Depth Resolution (Bits) Output Protection SDG800 1 30 16 kpts 14 SC (all), OVP … Continued

Are your instruments FCC compliant?

December 14, 2018

Test and measurement equipment is exempt from FCC emissions limits per CFR 47, Part 15, para 15.103(c): https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2002-title47-vol1/pdf/CFR-2002-title47-vol1-sec15-103.pdf Specifically: “(c) A digital device used exclusively as industrial, commercial, or medical test equipment.”

Create an arbitrary waveform using Coordinate Mode with EasyWave software

August 24, 2018

There are a number of ways to create waveforms for arbitrary generators. The correct method depends on: The number of segments of the waveform? Required precision of the location of each sample? Complexity of the waveform? Is it a number of pulses or a number of complex curves/small details? For sequences of pulses/square waves or to … Continued

USB Connectivity Checklist

April 24, 2018

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is very popular and has added a tremendous level of convenience and flexibility to computer and peripheral controls, including test and measurement instrumentation. As with all technology, it isn’t always sunshine and blue skies. Here are some common troubleshooting steps for USB connection issues: – Is the instrument plugged in … Continued

Potential Solutions to Easy software window rendering/font issues

March 8, 2018

The installation of SIGLENT EasySpectrum and other “Easy” software is typically uneventful. But, there may be an occasional issue. Here are some steps that may help clear up any issues that you may encounter: Here is an example of a mis-rendered window view of EasySpectrum: Here are some steps that may help fix the issue: … Continued

Format for programmatically building an Arbitrary Waveform for SDGs

February 26, 2018

The SDGs require UTF8 formatting for the words used to build an arbitrary waveform. The code may report “UnicodeDecodeError: ‘ascii’ codec can’t decode byte 0x80 in position 77: ordinal not in range(128)” This indicates that the arbitrary waveform data is coded as “ascii” which is not the expected data format “utf8”. Here is the proper … Continued

Smooth output transitions with SDGX series AWGs

December 27, 2017

INTRODUCTION: Many waveform generators are based on the Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) technique. This design has become common primarily because it features great stability and flexibility. But, not all DDS based generators have the same output performance. In some situations, the output waveform will not smoothly transition from one setting to another. This is typically … Continued

US