Asynchronous Signal Properties

Use the Asynchronous Signal type to see the capture from a single channel decoded and displayed as serial characters or frames of characters with a specific bit count and baud rate.

Signal Name

Change the text displayed here to help you identify this signal definition. If the name has already been used, it will automatically be appended with a numerical value in brackets (i.e. [2]). The name displayed here will be used in the Waveform Views, Searches, Tables, Lists, Exports and all menu references.

Color Selection & Examples

An example is displayed in the current color scheme, followed by a listing of any items that allow custom colors (i.e. Signal Color, Signal Background). Click on an item in the list to select a new color.

Data

Selects which physical channel to assign to the DATA bus.

Baud Rate:

Selects from a list of standard BAUD rates or 'use custom'.

Custom Baud (bits/sec):

The BAUD rate to use if BAUD RATE is set to 'use custom'.

Data Bits

Selects the number of data bits in a character.

Parity/9bit Address flag

Selects from odd,even,one,zero,non standard parity settings.

Also allows selection of 9bit addressing mode with and address

field flagged with a '1' or with a '0'.

Glitch Filter (% of bit)

Select noise filter setting of none-10% of a bit width.

Sync (skip transitions)

Specifies how many transitions to ignore at the start of the buffer.

Useful for syncing up when capture starts mid-character.

MSB First:

Specifies that bits are received in MSB first order (VERY rare).

Frame Length (Characters)

Number of characters in a frame. Set to 0 to disable.

Frame IDLE TIMEOUT (0 to ignore):

A new frame is started if no characters are seen for more than the specified time.

Set to 0 to disable. This can be useful if there are none of the other frame methods

apply, but you can see a consistent pause before each frame starts.

Frame on 9bit Address flag

Start a new frame when a 9bit address byte is detected (if parity set to 9bit mode).

Re-Frame on BREAK

Terminate and start a new frame when BREAK detected.

Show Field Idles

Specifies whether idle time between fields should be shown as a hashed field

or if the current field should just extend to the next field.

Show Frame Idles

Specifies whether idle time between frames should be shown as a single center line

or if the current frame should just extend to the start of the next frame.

Disable Signal Channels

Check this item to completely disable the Signal Definition. It is recommended to disable any signals that use channels that are not connected to a physical device. When a capture takes place ("Run"), any channels that are assigned to disabled signals will be ignored instead of using valuable capture space.

Channel Selection

This is where you will associate a signal definition with the physical channels or connections to the outside world. Each signal definition type will have one or more channel selection groups and will allow one or more channels to be selected for each group. Each channel selection group will be identified on its left if more than one group is available for the signal type.

To select a channel, click on the " - " below the proper color (and channel number) that corresponds to the physical connection of the DigiView Cable (see: Connecting the Data Lines). Channels that are selected for this signal will replace the " - " with a blue "dot" as shown above. Channels that are already defined in other signal definitions will have a darker color around the selection area for the channel (as channels 0, 1, 2 and 5 do in the graphic above).

Reset Colors - This button will reset the colors for this signal so that they will match the currently selected color theme (see: Color Themes).

Display Fields

DATA

Field type used for most characters.  Shows the received data

Address

Field type used for 9 bit address bytes. Shows the received data

BREAK

Field type used for break events.  Prints the word BREAK

ParityError

Field type used to display parity errors.  Shows ' P '

FrameError

Field type used to display character framing errors.  Shows ' F '

NOTE: Multiple framing methods can be used at the same time.  For example, you could use a frame length specifier and the frames will be broken into the specified lengths. If a timeout is specified, it will override and terminate a frame if the specified time is exceeded.