Patent Abstract:
An improved arbitrary waveform generator has a waveform memory for storing digitized waveforms, a waveform playout for playing out desired ones of the digitized waveforms as analog waveforms and a sequencer for controlling the waveform playout, the sequencer providing indications of the desired waveform for playout and a desired starting sample position for the desired waveform. The sequencer includes a tracking mechanism for the desired waveform so that the desired waveform is phase coherent when playout is interrupted and restarted later according to programming of the sequencer.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The current invention relates to arbitrary waveform generators for playing back stored waveforms, and more particularly to phase coherent playbacks of stored waveforms when switching between different stored waveforms. 
     Arbitrary waveform generators (AWG), such as the AWG7000 series manufactured by Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton, Oreg., use a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to play out waveforms that are stored digitally in a memory. The AWG provides various methods for switching playout on and off, and for switching between waveforms. 
       FIG. 1  shows a block diagram view of a portion of an AWG according to the prior art. A waveform memory stores information for a plurality of waveforms. For each waveform the waveform memory stores an ordered set of digitized samples that correspond to that particular waveform. A waveform playout system reads portions of the ordered sets of digitized samples from the waveform memory over a memory access connection. The waveform playout system uses techniques, which are well known to those skilled in the art, for reading efficiently from the waveform memory, such as reading several digitized samples in a single parallel operation. The waveform memory is organized in a special way to support such efficient reading, as is well known in the art. 
     The waveform playout system produces an output analog voltage from a D/A converter on a waveform output line by repeatedly converting the digitized samples into output analog voltage levels. The rate of this conversion is given by an output sample rate, R, which is a number measured in samples per second, and which is a parameter of operation of the waveform playout system. The parameter, R, typically may be altered by a user of the AWG. The rate at which the waveform playout system uses the memory access connection to access the waveform memory is not necessarily the same as R. All that is required is that, on average, the waveform playout system obtains digitized samples from the memory at a higher rate than the rate needed to produce the waveform output, as is well known in the art. 
     The operation of the waveform playout system is further governed by a sequencer, as described below.  FIG. 2  shows a timing diagram for the AWG of  FIG. 1  to illustrate a typical operation of the AWG. The sequencer interacts with the waveform playout system by activating a step indication at a moment in time, t0. At time, t0, the sequencer also sends to the waveform playout system two additional items of information: (1) a waveform selection which selects the waveform to begin playing next; and (2) a delay indicator which specifies a time delay, Td. From these three items of information, the waveform playout system is instructed to begin playing the selected waveform starting at time Td after t0. In this typical example, the first three digitized samples of the selected waveform are w0, w1 and w2. At time t1, which equals time t0 plus Td, the waveform playout system produces an analog voltage level on the waveform output by converting the digitized sample, w0, to the corresponding voltage value. The reciprocal of the output sample rate, R, is a time Tout, which is the waveform output sample period. Time t2 is time t1 plus the output sample period Tout. At time t2 the waveform playout system produces an analog voltage level at the waveform output corresponding to digitized sample w1, etc. Continuing in this manner, the waveform playout system produces a time varying voltage on the waveform output line by converting the digitized samples of the selected waveform in sequence to the corresponding voltages at the output sample rate, R. 
     The time delay, Td, is provided because the mechanism by which the waveform playout system accesses the waveform memory requires time to adjust from one waveform to another after receiving the step indication from the sequencer. The time delay also allows the sequencer to align with greater resolution the time of playout change with the detailed timing behaviors of event inputs supplied to the sequencer. 
     As a result of the mechanism described above, the sequencer is able to instruct the waveform playout system to begin playout of the waveforms that the sequencer selects, such playouts beginning at times which the sequencer selects. In a typical AWG the sequencer may be controlled by a user-supplied program, and may engage in behaviors such as (1) selecting particular waveforms in a user-specified order, (2) repeating a waveform for a user-specified number of cycles, (3) making decisions based on the behavior of event inputs, (4) making decisions based on moments in time when the behaviors of the event inputs occur, and (5) various combinations of these behaviors, as is well known in the art and represented in commercially available products. 
     AWGs are used in the test and measurement environment to simulate a real life situation for testing various devices. For example, a test signal from an AWG, such as a wireless communication signal, may be used to test the operation of a cellular telephone. In a real environment the wireless communication signal may be interrupted by some form of interference, such as electrical or physical interference. Electrical interference may take the form of a radiated signal that swamps the wireless communication signal. Physical interference may take the form of a building or terrain that temporarily blocks the wireless communication signal. However, the wireless communication signal continues to transmit even though the signal is not being received. When the interference is removed, the received wireless communication signal has phase coherence with the wireless communication signal prior to the interference.  FIG. 3  illustrates this where the signal generator provides the wireless communication signal, represented by a sine wave, and a zero level voltage source which represents interference. The switch determines when interference occurs, and the waveforms show how the sine signal continues during the period that the zero level is being transmitted so that, when the zero level is removed, the sine signal has phase coherence with the sine signal that existed prior to the “interference.” 
     When switching between waveforms in the waveform memory, current practice is for the AWG to start at the beginning of each new waveform, i.e., the waveform playout system always starts the waveform playout with digitized sample w0. However, sometimes the user wants the switching to be phase coherent to simulate a wireless communication signal, as discussed above, which means that the output waveforms should behave as though the waveform is being switched between generators that are synchronized with each other, i.e., the generators are always playing, rather than as though the switching operation resets the generator.  FIG. 4  is a timing diagram illustrating the difference between a desired phase coherent waveform output and a waveform output according to the prior art. 
     What is desired is a phase coherent playback in an arbitrary waveform generator when switching between waveforms to a previously selected waveform. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention provides for phase coherent playback in an arbitrary waveform generator when switching between waveforms to a previously selected waveform. The arbitrary waveform generator has a waveform memory for storing data samples representing multiple waveforms, a waveform playout for playing out the multiple waveforms from the waveform memory as analog waveforms, and a sequencer for controlling the waveform playout by providing a waveform selection indication, a step indication and a delay indication so the waveform playout plays out a selected one of the multiple waveforms from the waveform memory according to a desired event. Additionally the arbitrary waveform generator provides a waveform starting position indication from the sequencer to the waveform playout, the waveform starting position indication tracking a conceptual data sample position within the data samples for the selected one of the multiple waveforms, the data samples for the selected one of the multiple waveforms being tracked by the sequencer to produce phase coherence of the selected one of the multiple waveforms when played out again by the waveform playout according to the desired event. To generate the waveform starting position indication, the sequencer has a clock generator for providing a clock signal at a desired playout rate, and a counter having as inputs the clock signal from the clock generator and a modulus representing a number of data samples for the selected one of the multiple waveforms. The counter continuously counts pulses of the clock signal from zero to (modulus−1) to produce an offset signal to the sequencer that tracks the conceptual data sample position within the selected one of the multiple waveforms. The sequencer generates the waveform starting position indication from the offset signal when the selected one of the multiple waveforms is played out by the waveform playout again according to the desired event. 
     The objects, advantages and other special features of the present invention are apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the attached drawing figures and appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram view of an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) according to the prior art. 
         FIG. 2  is a timing diagram view illustrating the operation of the AWG of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram/timing diagram view illustrating phase coherence of a test signal in a real environment. 
         FIG. 4  is a timing diagram view illustrating the difference between phase coherent and non-phase coherent playback of waveforms. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram view of an AWG according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a table view of the operation of the AWG of  FIG. 5  according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram view of the AWG of  FIG. 5  including means for tracking sample position within a stored waveform according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram view of a portion of the AWG of  FIG. 7  illustrating setting of initial phase according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a block/waveform diagram view illustrating utility of the initial phase setting mechanism of  FIG. 8  according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram view illustrating an extension of  FIG. 8  for using a single counter for tracking phase coherency of multiple waveforms according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has two parts: (1) adding an indication of a waveform starting position that is provided by a sequencer to a waveform playout in an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG); and (2) adding to the sequencer a means of tracking the phase of a previously output waveform to achieve phase coherence when the waveform playout returns to the previously output waveform. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5  an AWG  10 , as modified by the present invention, is shown. A waveform memory  12  provides digitized sets of waveform data over a memory access connection  14  to a waveform playout  16 , which provides an analog waveform output  18 . A sequencer  20  is modified to add a waveform starting position indicator  22  together with a waveform selection indicator  24 , a step indication  26  and a delay indication  28 , all of which are provided to the waveform playout  16  by the sequencer  20 . The sequencer  20  is controlled according to event inputs  30 , as in the prior art. The waveform starting position indicator  22  indicates the starting position within the waveform that is to be played out by the waveform playout  16 . 
     Instead of beginning with a digitized sample, w0, of a selected waveform as in the prior art described above, the waveform playout  16  begins with a sample, Wn, where “n” is the content of the waveform starting position indicator  22  provided to the waveform playout by the sequencer  20 . In other words, the waveform playout  16  does not begin playing the waveform from the waveform memory  12  at the waveform&#39;s beginning, but at an offset from the beginning of the waveform as indicated by the waveform starting position indicator  22 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 3 , the usefulness of the present invention is illustrated. A signal generator  40  generates a signal, as shown by the graph to the right, which is multiple iterations of one cycle of the waveform  41  output by the signal generator. An output signal  42  is derived from a switch  44  that selects between the output of the signal generator  40  and the output of a zero volt reference level source  46  (which may be another signal generator or another waveform within the signal generator representing, for example, interference in a wireless communication signal as discussed above). The switch  44  is controlled by events from a source of events  48 . Initially the switch  44  is set to select the signal generator  40 . At time t1 the source of events  48  generates an event that changes the switch  44  to select the zero volt reference level source  46 . At time t2 another event from the source of events  48  causes the switch  44  to again select the output from the signal generator  40 , which output is phase coherent since the signal generator is running constantly, as shown in the graph representing the output signal  42 . 
     It is desired to use the AWG  10  of  FIG. 5  to generate the output response illustrated in  FIG. 4  in response to events input to the sequencer  20 . The tables of  FIG. 6  show a method for doing so. Table E1 shows two waveforms, E3 and E4, which are stored in the waveform memory  12 , while table E2 shows a program to control the behavior of the sequencer  20 . The waveform E3 corresponds to the output of the signal generator  40  of  FIG. 3 , while the waveform E4 corresponds to the output of the zero volt reference level source  46 . By continuously looping through each of the stored waveforms, the output from the waveform playout  16  is either a continuous sine wave or a zero voltage level. The program for the sequencer  20  has three steps, E5, E6, E7. At step E5 the sequencer  20  instructs the waveform playout  16  to play waveform E3. This step remains in effect until an event at time t1 in  FIG. 3 . At time t1 the sequencer  20  instructs the waveform playout  16  to play waveform E4 until another event at time t2 causes the sequencer to instruct the waveform playout to again play waveform E3 as described below, i.e., starting phase coherently. 
     The operation of starting phase coherently is achieved by the sequencer  20  sending an appropriate waveform starting position indicator  22  to the waveform playout  16 . As a result of the waveform starting position indicator  22 , in step E7 the waveform playout  16  does not start playback of the waveform E3 at its beginning, but instead the waveform playout starts playback of waveform E3 in such a way that the graph of the output in  FIG. 3  matches the graph of the signal generator  40  output after time t2. 
     In order for the sequencer  20  to support the operation of re-starting a waveform phase coherently, as described above, the sequencer requires some means for computing an appropriate value of the waveform starting position indicator  22 . The output of the signal generator  40  of  FIG. 3 , or the waveform E3, may be represented mathematically by a function h1 of time:
 
 h 1( t )= A  cos(2π Ft +θ)
 
where A, F and θ are numerical values chosen according to the characteristics of the signal generator  40 . The effect is to switch between the waveform h1(t) and a different function h2(t) of time, where h(2)=0. At the moment t2 the output is switched from waveform h2 back to h1, where the desired output is h1(t2) rather than h1(0). The quantity 2πFt+θ is called the “phase”, and the value of h1 at time t2 is substituted by the sequencer  20  rather than another value, such as t=0. This is the origin of the term “phase coherent.”
 
     Therefore the sequencer  20  has to “track the phase”, i.e., be able to provide a starting position that corresponds to the desired phase at h1(t2).  FIG. 7  provides a complete block diagram of the AWG  10  according to the present invention in which a means for tracking the phase is added to the sequencer  20 . An offset input  52  and a reset output  54  are added to the sequencer  20 . The sequencer  20  references the offset input  52  when the sequencer intends to start playing a waveform coherently. In order to provide phase coherent playout, conceptually a sample position travels through the waveform E3 over and over again, looping back to the beginning of the waveform whenever it reaches the end. The sample position indicates the position from which the waveform playout  16  obtains output sample points, and the position travels through the waveform as a function of elapsed time. 
     At time t1 of  FIG. 3  the waveform playout  16  starts playing a constant level at zero volts. To achieve a phase coherent output at time t2 when the waveform playout  16  switches back to waveform E3, it is as though the waveform E3 continued to play without letting the waveform get to the output, i.e., the sample position in waveform E3 maintains a notion of what that waveform would be if it were playing, and enables the waveform playout  16  to start phase coherently at time t2. The function of the offset input  52  is to track the sample position, even though the waveform is not necessarily playing out at all times. The desired behavior of the offset input  52  is that it should start at the beginning of the waveform, move through the waveform at the output sample rate, R, and loop back to the beginning whenever it reaches the end of the waveform. 
     A clock generator  50 , a counter  56 , a rate parameter source  58  and a modulus parameter source  59  together create the desired behavior of the offset input  52 . The counter  56  holds a value whose meaning is the sample position that travels through the waveform. The clock generator  50  applies its clock output to the counter  56  in order to increment the counter. The rate parameter source  58  is adjusted to apply the output sample rate R to the clock generator  50  so that the counter  56  increments at the output sample rate R. To achieve looping through the waveform, the modulus source  59  applies a modulus to the counter  56  so that, whenever the counter reaches the modulus, the counter returns to zero. As a result the counter  56  counts from 0 to (modulus−1) and then repeats. The modulus parameter source  59  is set to the number of data points in the stored waveform. Thus the behavior of the counter  56  is just what is needed to represent the conceptual sample position that loops back to the beginning of the waveform when it reaches the end of the waveform. 
     When the sequencer  20  asserts the reset signal to the counter  56 , the counter is reset to zero, which has the effect of moving the concpetual sample position to the beginning of the stored waveform, i.e., the reset signal establishes a point in time at which the sample position is at the beginning of the stored waveform. The reset signal is asserted at the beginning of the execution of the sequencer program, as shown in the Table E2 of  FIG. 6 . The sequencer  20  may assert the reset signal at other times when it is desired to reposition the sample position, as determined by the sequencer program. 
     To start playing a waveform phase coherently, the rate parameter source  58  is set to the output sample rate, R, and the modulus parameter source  59  is set to the data length of the stored waveform. The sequencer  20  asserts the reset signal at a moment when the sample position within the waveform should be aligned to zero, such as at the beginning of a sequencer program. Then, when the sequencer  20  desires to switch back to the waveform and start its playback coherently, the sequencer consults the offset input  52  to determine the current conceptual sample position of the waveform. The sequencer  20  uses this information, together with the value of the delay indication  28  that the sequencer intends to apply to the waveform playout  16 , to determine the appropriate value of the waveform starting position indicator  22  to use when the sequencer asserts the step indication  26 . 
     More specifically, if the sequencer  20  intends to assert the step indication  26  at a time that is Tstep after the moment the sequencer samples the offset input  52 , if the sequencer intends to send Tdelay as the value of the delay indication  28  along with the step indication, if the value sampled for the offset input is Noffset, if the output sample rate is R, and if the data length of the stored waveform to be started phase coherently is Nwfmlength, then the appropriate value of the waveform starting position indicator  22  is computed as
 
( N offset+round(( T step+ T delay)* R ))mod  Nwfm length
 
The design of a high speed counter, such as counter  56 , in a modern digital system may use a variety of implementation techniques, such as pipelining, that are well known to those skilled in the art.
 
     The essence of the present invention is that the sequencer  20  keeps track of conceptual sample position that loops through the samples of a stored waveform, by means of the modulo counter  56 , and uses this information to choose the sample position within the stored waveform at which the waveform&#39;s playback starts phase coherently. The sequencer  20  may use a multiplicity of counters  56  to track the sample positions of a multiplicity of waveforms. The sequencer  20  may control a multiplicity of waveform playouts  16 , thereby achieving phase coherency between waveforms that are played out on different channels of the AWG  10 . Two sequencers  20  may share the use of a single counter  56  to establish a common notion of the conceptual sample position of the stored waveform, thereby achieving phase coherence between waveforms that are played out on different channels of the AWG  10 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 8 , an extension to  FIG. 7  is shown, to with the addition of an initial phase parameter source  60 . The behavior of the counter  56  is altered such that, when the reset input is asserted by the sequencer  20  to the counter, the counter does not reset to zero, but rather loads the initial phase from the initial phase parameter source  60  instead. In this way the waveform is aligned to the sample given by the initial phase parameter instead of to the beginning of the stored waveform. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates the utility of the initial phase parameter. The problem is to use the AWG  10  to simulate an output signal that is switched by a switch  62  between two signal generators  64 ,  66 . The first signal generator  64  plays a triangular waveform, as illustrated, while the second signal generator  66  plays a different triangular waveform, as illustrated. The two signal generators  64 ,  66  are not aligned in time, rather the output of the first generator  64  is related to the output of the second generator  66  as shown in the associated graphs of  FIG. 9 . The first generator  64  reaches the beginning of its waveform at a different moment in time than that at which the second generator  66  reaches the beginning of its waveform. To solve this problem the sequencer  20  uses two counters  56  with an initial phase parameter. The first counter  56  is associated with the playout of the first waveform, and the second counter is associated with the playout of the second waveform. The sequencer  20  asserts the reset input to both counters at the same time. If the initial phase parameter for the first counter  56  is zero, then the initial phase parameter for the second counter is chosen to achieve the alignment of both waveforms at a specific time, t0. As a result, the two counters  56  maintain the alignment of the two waveforms as shown in  FIG. 9 , as the sequencer  20  uses the technique shown in  FIG. 7  to simulate switching of the switch  62  between the two generators  64 ,  66 . 
     Another extension of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 10 . The offset input  52  is coupled to an offset adjustment source  70 , which produces a derived offset output. The derived offset output is a conceptual sample position for a second stored waveform in order to keep track of the sample position of two different stored waveforms using only a single counter  56 . For this technique, the second stored waveform has a length that evenly divides the modulus parameter. The length, M2, of the second stored waveform is stored in a derived modulus parameter source  72 , while the length, M1, of the first stored waveform is stored in the modulus parameter source  59 . The sample position of the second stored waveform travels through that waveform multiple Nderived times as the offset input  52  travels once though its range, where Nderived is
 
 N derived=( M 1 /M 2)
 
Therefore the sample position of the second waveform may be obtained as:
 
(Offset)/ M 2
 
And the number so calculated travels from zero to M2−1, repeating this loop Nderived times as the offset input travels once through its range.
 
     It might be desirable to establish a more general relationship in time between the first and second stored waveforms, so the offset adjustment source  70  also accepts as an input a phase, PH, from a derived phase parameter source  74 , which is a number between 0 and M−1 inclusive. The offset adjustment source  70  computes the derived offset as:
 
(Derived Offset)=(Offset mod  M )+ PH  
 
     As shown in  FIG. 10 , a single counter  56  keeps track of the sample positions of two different stored waveforms, provided that the data length of the second stored waveform evenly divides the data length of the first stored waveform. This concept may be extended to keep track of the sample positions of a multiplicity of different stored waveforms, provided that the data length of each derived stored waveform evenly divides the data length of the first stored waveform. For multiple stored waveforms the offset adjustment source  70 , derived modulus parameter source  72  and derived phase parameter source  74  occur once for each derived stored waveform. 
     Thus the present invention provides an arbitrary waveform generator that produces phase coherent waveforms when switching back to a prior waveform by tracking sample position within the prior waveform when the waveform is not being played out.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6