NI PXI/PCI-5411/5431
Waveform Staging

The following figure shows waveform staging in hardware. The instruction FIFO contains the staging list, which the NI PXI/PCI-5411/5431 sequencer reads for waveform generation.

Each stage is made up of four steps:

• Buffer number—Specifies the buffer number to generate.
• Buffer size—Specifies the total count of the buffer to generate. The total count may not be the actual size of the buffer. If the count is less than the actual size of the buffer, only a part of that buffer is used for that stage. If the count is more than the actual size of that buffer, part of the next sequential buffer is also used. If the buffer size is set to zero, the software automatically uses the true size of that buffer.
• Buffer loops—Specifies the number of times that the buffer loops. The maximum number of loops possible is 65,535.
• Marker offset—Specifies where the marker must generate within that buffer. For more information about markers, refer to Marker Output Signal.

Note  The maximum number of waveform stages the instruction FIFO can store for Arbitrary Waveform Generation mode is 292.