Mask Menu
Mask testing allows you to compare a waveform against a template.
Waveforms within the template pass the test, while waveforms outside
the template fail the test. Basically a mask is a way of defining
portions of the graticule area as failure regions. If any portion of an
acquired waveform enters one or more of the failure regions, the mask
tests considers that waveform as failing the test.
The oscilloscope allows you to build a mask using either polygons or a
reference waveform. With the polygon method, you use polygons to
mask off failure regions on the graticule area. You can position up to
eight polygons on the graticule area, and each polygon can have from
3 to 512 sides. Because of the flexibility polygons give you to design a
mask, the polygon method is typically used for telecommunications,
data communication, and general purpose digital design and test. For
example, you can construct very complicated masks with polygons, or
you can place polygons within polygons. Placing polygons within
polygons allows you to test waveform failure rates to different
tolerances because failure results are listed separately for each
polygon. For example, an outer polygon could represent a 1%
tolerance, and two inner polygons could represent a 5% tolerance and
10% tolerance respectively.
With the reference waveform method, you construct a mask by adding
a
∆
X and
∆
Y tolerance around your reference waveform. The
reference waveform method is simpler to use, but less flexible for
designing masks, than the polygon method.
23–2
To Next Page
Loading...
