Acquisition Mode         GO BACK  Previous: Save Averaged Data   Next: Trigger Source 

Acquisition Mode defines how the device responds when a trigger event is detected and includes the following options.

Free Run displays block data acquired from the time stream as fast as possible or at the overlap rate by the user. Free Run is commonly used to analyze the random or irregular signals.

Continuous after Trigger waits until a trigger event is detected.  After the first trigger event, averaging is reset and the system runs in Free Run mode. 

Single Shot with Trigger waits until a trigger event is detected.   After the trigger event, the spectral analysis, if there is any, will reset its average back to 1, and waiting for the next trigger. This mode is the best if you want to observe the time signal block by block at a certain trigger event.

Single Shot without Trigger waits until you press the Run button, then acquires one block of data and returns to the wait condition.  This mode is the best if you simply want to observe a time signal block by block at an arbitrary time.

Auto-Arm Trigger waits until a trigger event is detected, then a block is acquired and the system returns to the wait condition.  If another trigger event is then detected the new block of data will be acquired.  This processes will continue indefinitely with no user interaction.  Averaging is reset after each trigger event.  This mode is the best for repetitive data capture and spectral analysis if you have confidence in the signal quality.  Caution should be used because a desired captured block of data can be replaced by a new undesired block of data if an addition trigger event occurs.  Use Manual-Arm Trigger to ensure that the last block is not automatically replaced by a new triggered signal.

Manual-Arm Trigger waits until a trigger event is detected, then a block is acquired and the system changes to a hold condition.  After the data capture, you will be prompted with an Accept/Reject dialog box. If you accept the new data capture then the block will be included into the average and the system will return to the wait mode.  If you reject the new data capture, the new block will be discarded and the system will return to the wait for trigger mode.  This mode is the best for applications such as impact hammer testing where you may not have confidence in the signal quality of some of the data blocks.