Sweep generators are defined as the circuits which produce a sweep wave form. The sweep wave forms are those that have at least one linear portion in it with respect to time. There are different types of sweep generators like Miller Time base and Bootstrap.
Moreover, sweep generators are also known as a sweep oscillator. This is an electronic circuit which generates a voltage or current, usually recurrent, as a prescribed function of time. The resulting waveform is used as a time base to be applied to the deflection system of an electron-beam device, such as a cathode-ray tube.
In addition, the sweep generators are also recognized as the instruments that used to align IF circuits in older FM radios that used adjustable IF coils in the circuits. The generator “sweeps” the frequencies on either side of a set center frequency. When this signal is applied to the front end of an IF circuit, the response from the IF circuit can be observed at the end of the IF with an oscilloscope allowing the IF coils in the circuit to be adjusted to the desired bandwidth and response of the circuit.
The first example of sweep generators is the G440XE. These are portable powerful wideband general-purpose sources for swept and CW microwave measurements local, remote, manual or automated testing. It incorporates the efficiency of micro-processing control with state-of-the-art BWO oscillator to produce a high performance sweep generator system suited for either manual or automatic measurements. The features of these sweep generators include full waveguide bandwidth, BWO source, high output power, and GPIB, RS232C and USB programmable.
The second example of sweep generators is the BK Precision Sweep Function Generator, 20MHz, W/ Arb. It is full featured direct digital synthesis (DDS) generator with menu-driven front panel interface that includes a large, easy-to-read graphical LCD display. This generator changes waveform parameter and enters data using the rotary knob or via the built-in RS-232C interface. It generates superb quality waveforms with high signal precision and stability. This great example of sweep generators provides sine and square wave outputs over the frequency range from low cost, full featured direct digital synthesis (DDS) generator with menu-driven front panel interface and easy-to-read LCD display.
The third example of sweep generators is the digital sweep generator. This digital sweep generator includes a counter which receives a clock signal to generate a frequency output and an accumulator which sums the outputs of the counter at each clock. The value held by the accumulator is a quadratic function of time which is used as a phase representation to address a wave generator PROM. The PROM may be selectively coupled to different ranges of accumulator output to set the sweep rate.
This type of sweep generators is used for synthesizing a sweep signal of a predetermined periodic waveform swept through a range of frequencies, the generator comprising a counter for counting clock signals and providing a clock signal count. It means for setting the count from the counter to a value representative of an initial frequency of the sweep signal. It also means for stopping the sweep signal after the clock signal count reaches a value representative of a predetermined stop frequency of the sweep signal.
