CompuGen 3250 DynamicSignals High-Speed Digital Output ISA Module

The DynamicSignals / GaGe CompuGen 3250 High-Speed Digital Output ISA Module allows complex test vectors to be generated in a matter of minutes by simply typing them out on a PC. The CompuGen 3250 boasts very deep on-board buffers in which the digital patterns are uploaded by the software and then output at high speeds.

The CompuGen 3250 supports the following generation modes:

The digital pattern entered by the user is seamlessly repeated over and over again by the CG3250 in this mode. This mode is useful when continuous signals, such as system clock or timer simulation, have to be generated.

Single Shot: The digital pattern entered by the user is output only once in the Single Shot Mode. This mode is useful for burst operations. Since the CG3250 is "Hardware Re-Triggerable", One-Shot mode can be used with an external or software trigger to yield a powerful tool which generates a specific pattern each time a trigger is received. This feature is very popular for users doing any kind of pulse-echo measurements, such as radar, ultrasound and disk testing.

Multi Shot: The digital pattern entered by the user is seamlessly generated a specified number of times. Since the CG3250 is "Hardware-Re-Triggerable," Multi-Shot mode can be used with an external or software trigger to yield a powerful tool that generates a specific pattern multiple times each time a trigger is received.

The CompuGen 3250 is controlled by a stable crystal oscillator. This provides temperature stability, long-term stability and precision far better than other methods used to generate test vectors.

Unlike many other generators, the CompuGen 3250 does not use a Phase Locked Loop (PLL)-based clock, which may cause very large phase errors to accumulate over a few million clock cycles. These phase errors are not noticeable in most PLL-based generators, which usually have very short pattern memory so that the errors are not significant.

One of the signals on the CompuGen 3250 output connector is Clock Out. This signal is the one which clocks out the pattern data from the CG3250.

In the case of internal clocking, the Clock Out signal is a continuous clock signal with the internal frequency selected by the user. When External Clocking is used, the Clock Out signal is a copy of the external clock provided by the user.

External and software triggering capability is provided for burst mode operation. A digital pattern will be produced as a single or multiple bursts upon receiving a trigger either through software or upon the rising or falling edge of a TTL/CMOS-level external trigger input.

A very powerful triggering feature that is available on the CG3250 is its ability to do Hardware Re-Triggering.

Once generation of an output pattern has terminated, the trigger circuitry is re-armed in hardware. No software interaction is required.

This feature allows the user to build sophisticated systems that can respond to a system trigger in real-time even if the software environment is non-real time, e.g. Windows.