Thurlby Thandar Instruments (TTi) collaborated with a local university in the development of a new function generator which operates between 1µHz and 50MHz.
To achieve this performance at a £900 price tag, the Huntingdon-based company decided to use an FPGA for the necessary signal processing.
It worked with the University of Hertfordshire on the development of the DSP algorithms for digital modulation and noise generation.
Based on a DDS (direct digital synthesis) design, the resulting function-arbitrary-pulse generator, the TG5011, will produce square waves with a rise time of less than 8ns.
These waveforms can be set with up to 14 digits, using a TCXO timebase oscillator with a stability of 1ppm.
The resolution of the DDS design means that a low frequency of 1mHz can be set with a resolution of 0.1% and a stability of 1ppm.
In pulse generator mode, pulse period can be set between 2000 seconds and 80ns (0.5mHz to 12.5MHz) and the duty cycle can be as low as one in two billion.
Arbitrary waveforms of up to 128k words can be generated at 14 bits vertical resolution and a sampling speed of 125Msample/s.
Digital modulations available include AM, FM, PM, PWM and FSK.
USB and LXI class C interfaces are available as standard.