Waveforms

Toolkit for creating waveforms in Python code

Provides utilities for creating and generating waveform objects for use in stimulus generation and playback.

Availability:

context.Waveforms

Properties

No public readable properties are defined.

Methods

Name Signature Description
Arbitrary Arbitrary(values: Iterable[float]) -> Waveform Creates a waveform from a sequence of sample values.
Zero Zero(length: int) -> Waveform Creates a waveform with all samples set to 0.
Ones Ones(length: int) -> Waveform Creates a waveform with all samples set to 1.
Sin Sin(amplitude: float, frequency: float, phase: float, length: float, rate: float) -> Waveform Creates a sinusoidal waveform and sets its sample rate.
WhiteNoise WhiteNoise(amplitude: float, length: int) -> Waveform Creates white noise in range [-amplitude, amplitude].

Typical usage example

wf = context.Waveforms

w1 = wf.Arbitrary([0.0, 0.5, 1.0])
w2 = wf.Sin(1.0, 5.0, 0.0, 1000, 1000)
w3 = wf.WhiteNoise(0.2, 1000)

w = (w2 + w3).Normalize().SetSampleRate(2000)

Notes / gotchas

  • Arithmetic operations require equal waveform length.
  • Default sample rate is 1000 Hz unless changed.
  • Many operations return new waveform instances.
  • White noise is non-deterministic.

Waveform (Waveform)

Description

Represents a sampled signal with associated timing, metadata, and signal processing operations.

Availability

Waveform objects are created via context.Waveforms or returned from instrument/toolkit operations.

Properties

Name Type Description
Channel int Output channel index.
SampleRate int Samples per second (Hz).
Duration float Total duration in seconds.
Name string Optional identifier.
Signal Signal Signal classification.
Maximum float Maximum value of the waveform.
Minimum float Minimum value of the waveform.
PeakToPeak float Difference between max and min.
StartTime float Start time in seconds.
Unit string Physical unit of the signal.
Enabled bool Whether the waveform is active.
Values float[] Sample values.
Time float[] Time vector corresponding to samples.
Length int Number of samples.

Methods

Name Signature Description
SetChannel SetChannel(channel: int) -> Waveform Assigns output channel.
SetSampleRate SetSampleRate(rate: int) -> Waveform Sets sample rate and recomputes timing.
SetName SetName(name: str) -> Waveform Sets waveform name.
SetSignal SetSignal(signal: Signal) -> Waveform Sets signal type.
SetMaximum SetMaximum(max: float) -> Waveform Sets maximum value manually.
CalculateMaximum CalculateMaximum() -> Waveform Computes max from values.
SetMinimum SetMinimum(min: float) -> Waveform Sets minimum value manually.
CalculateMinimum CalculateMinimum() -> Waveform Computes min from values.
SetStartTime SetStartTime(t0: float, timebase) -> Waveform Sets start time.
SetUnit SetUnit(unit: str) -> Waveform Sets signal unit.
SetEnabled SetEnabled(enabled: bool) -> Waveform Enables/disables waveform.
Clone Clone() -> Waveform Creates a deep copy.
Extract Extract(t1: float, t2: float, timebase) -> Waveform Extracts a time segment.
Detrend Detrend(window: float, timebase) -> Waveform Removes linear trend.
Negate Negate() -> Waveform Inverts signal.
Normalize Normalize() -> Waveform Scales signal to ±1.
Add Add(w: Waveform) -> Waveform Adds another waveform.
Subtract Subtract(w: Waveform) -> Waveform Subtracts another waveform.
Multiply Multiply(w: Waveform) -> Waveform Element-wise multiplication.
Multiply Multiply(x: float) -> Waveform Scalar multiplication.
Divide Divide(w: Waveform) -> Waveform Element-wise division.
Divide Divide(x: float) -> Waveform Scalar division.
Inverse Inverse() -> Waveform Inverts values (1/x).
Add Add(offset: int, w: Waveform) -> Waveform Adds waveform at offset.
Subtract Subtract(offset: int, w: Waveform) -> Waveform Subtracts waveform at offset.
Attenuate Attenuate(dbFS: float) -> Waveform Applies dB attenuation.

Operators

Operator Description
+a Returns waveform unchanged.
-a Negates waveform.
a + b Adds two waveforms.
a - b Subtracts two waveforms.
a * b Element-wise multiplication.
a * x Scalar multiplication.
a / b Element-wise division.
a / x Scalar division.
x / a Scalar divided by waveform (x * inverse(a)).

Typical usage example

wf = context.Waveforms

w1 = wf.Sin(1.0, 10.0, 0.0, 1000, 1000)
w2 = wf.WhiteNoise(0.1, 1000)

w = (w1 + w2).Normalize()

segment = w.Extract(0, 500)
scaled = segment.Attenuate(-6)

Notes / gotchas

  • All element-wise operations require equal waveform length.
  • Extract throws if requested range is outside signal bounds.
  • Inverse will fail if values contain zero.
  • Normalize uses max absolute value; zero signals remain zero.
  • Time is derived from SampleRate and StartTime.
  • Some operations (e.g., Detrend) depend on window size relative to signal length.
  • Arithmetic operators return new waveform instances.
  • Offset operations (Add(offset, ...)) must fit within signal length.
Last modified May 21, 2026: Device server implementation (#1375) (5dd5648d)