Receive values while block mode is running

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daniel.ketel
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Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:38 am

Receive values while block mode is running

Post by daniel.ketel »

Greetings,

I do have a question regarding the rapid block mode.

I currently am trying to capture a series of signals (few thousand, a few ms apart from each other, I only am interested in the first 200 microseconds or so). For this I am using the rapid block mode of my 5244B in 8 Bit mode with a sampling period of approximately 80ns.

I want to split the memory of the scope into a few thousand segments and put the samples (2500) of each signal into one segment. If I understand correctly, that is what the rapid block mode does automatically, given the setup is done right. Each waveform is stored inside one memory segment (that is, if it fits into it).

I do need to start evaluating the gathered data, while the measurement is still ongoing. Is there any possibility to retrieve the already gathered data from the scope's memory without stopping the measurement in rapid block mode?

Here is how it should ideally work from the view of my software on the PC:
Start the measurement, wait a few ms, receive the first segment's data while the scope is gathering data for the second segment, wait a few ms again, receive the second memory segment's data while the scope fetches the third segment's data and so on. I think you get the idea.

Basically: Is it possible to transfer the data from the scope's already filled memory segments while the measurement for the still empty segments is still running?

Thanks in advance!

Best Regards,
Daniel

Hitesh

Re: Receive values while block mode is running

Post by Hitesh »

Hi Daniel,

What is the time between the waveforms in milliseconds? You can check this using PicoScope 6.

With rapid block mode, you have to wait until all the data is collected before it is transferred to the PC via the ps5000aGetValuesBulk call.

If the gap is sufficiently large enough (around 40 - 50ms), then you might be able to capture data using block mode while still segmenting the memory as long as the device settings do not change. To avoid using rapid block mode, comment out the line to call the ps5000aSetNoOfCaptures function.

You would then have to call ps5000aRunBlock on each run, and subsequently call ps5000aGetValues when the device is ready using the correct segment index value for both function calls.

Regards,

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