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WaveCAD Fea-
tures
The Control
Panels
3-6 ArbConnection
The Panels bar provides direct access to instrument control panels.
The individual control panels are explained later in this chapter. The
MAIN, STD, ARB, TRIG, MOD and UTIL buttons will bring up to the
screen panels that are associated with these names. The WAVE and
FM buttons open the waveform and FM waveform composers. The
opening screen has two panels – MAIN and STD so the two buttons
on the Panels bar are depressed. Click on other buttons and interac-
tively get the feel how WaveCAD opens and cascades panels.
In general, WaveCAD has one basic purpose – controlling 3155
functions and parameters. On the other hand, the 3155 has three
main features: 1) Generating standard waveforms, 2) Generating ar-
bitrary waveforms and 3) Generating modulated waveforms. So,
WaveCAD had to be constructed in such a way to provide complete
control capability from the computer screen.
WaveCAD has three main screen types: 1) Control panels, 2) the
Waveform composer and 3) the FM waveform composer. The vari-
ous screens along with instructions how to access and use them are
described below in detail.
The control panels simulate the operation of an instrument from its
front panel. They even look like the front panel of an instrument, so
operation is very intuitive. Lets look at the first panel that appears at
the opening screen. This panel, as shown in Figure 3-3, is called the
Main Panel.
Looking at the panel you can identify the following controls: Push
buttons, LED's, radio buttons, a Dial and a Digital display. The func-
tion of each control is described below.
Push Buttons – These are used for two functions: a) For selecting
an active parameter and b) for toggling a function on and off. For ex-
ample, the button in the Parameters group (see Figure 3-4) selects
between the Amplitude and Offset LED's. The selection buttons have
momentary push action, so pressing (clicking a mouse on) this button
will change the reading on the display. The State button in the Output
group (see Figure 3-3) toggles the output on and off. The first mouse
click will push on the button and turns on a red light at the center of
the button, indicating that the function is on. The second mouse click
toggles the function off.
Radio Buttons – These buttons are used for changing operating
modes, or selecting between mode options. One of the radio buttons
is always on with a red dot in its center, indicating the selected mode.
Some radio buttons can cause a new panel to be displayed. For ex-
ample, if you press the Triggered button in the Operating Mode group
(see Figure 3-3), triggered operation will be enabled and the Trigger
User Manual 3155
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