Transient Signal Recorder

The transient signal recorder is designed to record up to two signals for either a predetermined period or the entire length of the simulation run and save the data to a file.

Setting up the Transient Recorder is as simple as specifying the Trace node(s) and reference node(s) and then setting up the capture window.

The Traces tab is where you set up the signal(s) to record. For each trace, make sure that the Show Trace box is checked. By default, Trace 1 is always showing, but if you wish to display Trace 2, you need to check the box. Select an input node and Reference node using the drop down box or using the probe tool , which will allow you to "sample" a node in the circuit and have that node number automatically entered into the respective field. If the circuit's node numbers are not showing, you can display them by clicking on the Show Node Names button in the toolbar. Additionally, you can select the Gain and Vertical Offset and Width of the trace can be set here. Keep in mind that wider widths can slow down the drawing of the signal and simulation.

The most important thing to understand is the difference between the Data Capture Interval and Interactive Viewing Interval. The Data Capture Interval specifies what length of data to save. The Interactive Viewing Interval specifies what the instrument window displays.

The Data Capture's All setting captures and saves the data for the entire length of the simulation run until you stop the simulation. The Most Recent button activates the Duration box and allows you to specify a certain period of data to save. If you specify the most recent 5 seconds to capture, and the simulation runs for 23 seconds, only the data from seconds 18-23 are captured. Everything else is discarded. The Fixed button activates both the Start and Duration boxes and allows you to specify that a certain time interval's data is kept. If you specify a start of 1 second and a duration of 5 seconds, then only the data from seconds 1 to 6 are kept. Note that the Duration is not the same as a stop time. It specifies the LENGTH of time, not a fixed time.

Again, the Interactive Viewing settings are independent of the Data Capture settings. The All, Most Recent, and Fixed boxes function like the Data Captures settings, but this only affects the graph display. Note that even data that is not displayed in the graph can be retained for saving to a file. If a Most Recent viewing interval of 50ms is specified and the Data Capture setting is set to All, then only the most recent 50ms of data is shown, but ALL the data is being stored in memory and can be saved to a file.