The two major components in a high-speed digitizer's analog front end are the analog input path and the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The analog input path attenuates, amplifies, filters, and/or couples the signal to optimize the digitization by the ADC. The ADC samples the conditioned waveform and converts the analog input signal to digital values that represent the conditioned input signal. Bandwidth describes the analog front end's ability to get a signal from the outside world to the ADC with minimal amplitude loss. Sample rate is the frequency at which the ADC converts the analog input waveform to digital data. The Nyquist Theorem explains the relationship between the sample rate and the frequency of the measured signal. Each of these terms is discussed in more detail below.

The NI 6534 is a 32-bit, parallel, high-speed digital I/O device that uses the DAQ-DIO ASIC, a high-performance digital I/O interface designed by National Instruments. In addition to the DAQ-DIO, the NI 6534 also has large onboard memory buffers that allow pattern I/O operations to be carried out at high deterministic rates.

During the process of debugging and validating a digital system, a common task is the acquisition of digital waveforms. A logic analyzer is a tool that allows numerous digital waveforms to be acquired simultaneously. The acquisition can be clocked internally, or the System Under Test (SUT) can provide the sample clock. A logic analyzer also supports multiple triggering schemes to determine when data is acquired. The NI 655x has many features that make it ideal for digital waveform acquisitions. These include flexible memory sizes, voltage levels, and input impedances, advanced acquisition timing options, diverse acquisition triggering choices, powerful data visualization programming features, and extensive expansion and integration capabilities.

This document describes how to use the xx93 in custom configurations: Unterminated 3x1, 17x1, and 35x1 Terminated 4x1, 8x1, and 16x1 Dimensionally Flexible Sparse Matrix The NI PXI-2593 and NI SCXI-1193 (collectively xx93) 50 Ohm switch modules are designed to carry high frequency signals in excess of 500 MHz. They can be configured into various sizes of multiplexer or sparse matrix while maintaining RF signal integrity and without the need for additional external cabling. Below is a list of configurations for the xx93.