Minimum Waveform Size and Quantum

The memory architecture of the NI signal generators imposes certain requirements on the waveform size and quantum. If these requirements are not met, NI-FGEN returns an error. The specific values for minimum waveform size and quantum depend on the specific NI signal generator being used.

Minimum Waveform Size

Every waveform downloaded to the device memory must be at least a minimum size in terms of the number of samples.

Quantum

The size in samples of the waveform downloaded to the device memory must be an integer multiple of a certain number or quantum.

For example, if the minimum waveform size for a particular signal generator is 256 samples, the quantum is eight samples, and you request to load a waveform of 255 samples, NI-FGEN returns an error because the waveform size is too small. If you request to load a waveform of 257 samples, NI-FGEN also returns an error because even though the size is larger than the minimum waveform size, the waveform is not an integer multiple of the quantum size (8).

Waveform sizes that meet the restrictions for this example include 256, 264, 272, and 280 samples, and so on—up to the actual device memory size.