Capable of producing up to four waveforms, fully independent or linked using simple or complex relationships including full inter-channel triggering, summing and phase control
The TGA1242 and TGA1244, from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments), are UK-designed and manufactured multichannel arbitrary waveform generators with a maximum waveform clock speed of 40MS/s.
Both two- and four-channel versions are available.
All waveforms are available as a triggered burst or as a gated signal.
Both triggered and gated modes can be operated from the other channels, from the internal trigger generator, from an external source, or by a key press or remote command.
The channels can be phase-locked with user-defined phase angles, allowing the generation of multi-phase waveforms or locked waveforms of different frequencies.
The TGA1242 and 1244 use a true variable-clock architecture with a maximum clock rate of 40MS/s. They can also operate in direct digital synthesis (DDS) mode and can generate signals within the frequency range 0.001Hz to 16MHz. Arbitrary waveforms may be defined with 12-bit vertical resolution and from four to 65,536 horizontal points.
In addition, a number of standard waveforms are available including sine, square, triangle, ramp and pulse.
Waveforms may be replayed at a user-specified waveform frequency or period, or the sample rate may be defined.
The total amount of non-volatile waveform store is 256K words.
Up to 100 waveforms may be stored with the length and name specified by the user.
Waveforms may be strung together to form a sequence of up to 16 steps.
Each waveform may have a user-defined repeat count from 1 to 32,768, allowing highly complex waveforms to be created.
All waveforms can be swept over their full frequency range at a variable rate. Amplitude modulation and signal summing are available for all waveforms and are controlled from another channel or from an external generator.
Extensive waveform editing features between defined start and end points are incorporated, including waveform insert, point edit, line draw, amplitude adjust and invert.
More comprehensive features are available using the Waveform Manager Plus arbitrary waveform creation software supplied.
This is a powerful Windows-based design tool that enables the user to create waveforms from mathematical expressions, from combinations of other waveforms, by freehand drawing, or by using a combination of all three techniques.
Waveforms created in this way are downloaded via the digital interface.
The TGA1242 and 1244 use an 80-character backlit LCD display with soft keys.
All parameters can be entered directly from the numeric keypad or can be incremented and decremented using the rotary control.
RS-232 and GPIB interfaces are fitted as standard, and can be used for the remote control of all instrument functions and for the downloading of arbitrary waveforms.
The two-channel TGA1242 costs £1995 (plus VAT), and the four-channel TGA1244 costs £2995 (plus VAT) in the UK.
