Source for .arb waveforms? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2014, 07:56:28 am
content: Just got a new DS1074Z-S, noticing that the arb waveform can be 16kpts I am wondering if anyone knows a good resource to find per-existing arb waveforms? Maybe even start a little thread to keep a repo of them if there isn't already a good source for them.

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2014, 09:29:38 am
content: Wow, 24 hours and nothing! Does anyone even know of any software that can read / edit them even?

author: KedasProbe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2014, 09:43:12 am
content: For the DG series there is Ultra Signal Studio.http://www.rigol.com/prodserv/DG4000/software/(advanced function are time limited)screenshothttp://www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/136072/rigol-ultra-signal-studio-1.pngI don't know if the format is the same, but I can upload some that I made.

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2014, 10:22:11 am
content: This software makes no sense, it supports my DS1074Z-S so it says, however the software does not see my scope, no problems I can save it, of course it wants to use extension .raf which makes no sense but if I rename it to .arb my scope will see it however it has no data.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2014, 12:06:23 pm
content: Yeah, I can't figure it out either.

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2014, 04:19:36 am
content: Seeing how I couldn't find a solution I made one! Thanks to ktempkin poking around the binary the file format was figured out and I made a simple C command line to convert from .csv to .arb, it currently expects a value from -1 to 1 (Based on ArbExpress output), though I do plan to add a way to specify the min and max values.You can find the source here:https://github.com/MatCat/csv2arbAnd a screenshot of a waveform I created in ArbExpress and converted:

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2014, 04:25:39 am
content: Oh one thing to note, for now the input has to be exactly 16,384 sample points, I plan to add interpolation support.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2014, 01:18:51 pm
content: Excellent, thank you.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2014, 12:31:36 am
content: At first I couldn't figure out how to compile that on Windows, so I ported it to C#.Then, I wanted something to compare the output of my program against, so I figured out how to compile yours on Windows in Visual Studio.They produce the same output, if you ignore a difference in rounding, but the output from my .csv file apparently fails to produce a valid .arb file, while .csv files created by ArbExpress work fine. They're both full of values between -1 and 1, inclusive, and they're both 16384 points. Not sure what's up.Anyway, I was able to get the siggen in the DS1000Z-S to go well beyond 25MHz this way, which is what I wanted.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2014, 12:56:50 am
content: The -3db point for the siggen on my DS1074Z-S is about 44MHz. Verified on two 100MHz scopes, but I guess it could be the BNC cable coming out of the Rigol.The trick is to load a .arb file with 2 or more full cycles of whatever waveform you wish to play, then multiply the configured frequency by the number of cycles in the .arb file you've loaded. I loaded a .arb file with 10 sine wave cycles. When I turn the frequency up to 4.4MHz, it's actually playing 10x that, 44MHz.I'm a bit disappointed that the hardware can't go higher than that, but for the price it's not bad at all, I guess. Can't complain much.At 7MHz the amplitude REALLY drops off, and at 9.33MHz the waveform starts to alias with the 10-cycle .arb file I loaded.FYI.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2014, 01:40:57 am
content: Does this help?http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/E4400-90627.pdfLook for example at page 31.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2014, 03:56:02 am
content: Quote from: zapta on March 02, 2014, 01:40:57 amthat tells how to create files for Agilent signal sources, doesn't really help me with my Rigol. I understand the .arb format well enough, at least when the whole file is one waveform, but I don't know yet why my data fails to create a valid .arb file. Time to dig out Excel and formula up some tests.

author: 1.21gigawatts
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 06, 2014, 03:45:20 am
content: Quote from: MatCat on February 26, 2014, 10:22:11 amYou need to install "Ultra Sigma" from Rigol and a driver from NI to make this work. Having been down this road (success with a DS1074Z-S, not so much with an MSO2072A-S - see my thread about this), I'm currently cobbling together a c# program that takes a .csv and sends it directly to the scope.

author: Sparky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2018, 03:16:38 am
content: Just wanted to post that Rigol did provide a specification of the Arb. Wave Gen format across the DG1000/4000/5000 series. It was written in Jan 2015 but probably came out much later than that. I just found it when looking for info on the .RAF file format and though this thread is many years old, it's still searchable and has relevant information, so I thought it's worthwhile to reply and upload the document here. See attachment.Sparky

author: hanakp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2024, 04:53:08 pm
content: Sorry about resurrecting 10 years old thread, but has there been some development with *.ARB waveforms? Did Rigol develop some GUI editor and loader software like Agilent's "IntuiLink Waveform Editor" or "BenchVue Function Generator Control" in the meantime? I thought it would be part of Rigol's Ultra Sigma software, but apparently not. Unfortunately, built-in generators in MSO5074 scope support only the *.ARB format...