What does the frequency sweep feature in generators do?

Frequency sweep feature allows for generation of waveform having certain parameters. One of these parameters – that is, frequency – changes cyclically.

Users define:

• shape of generated signal (e.g. sinusoidal, rectangular),
• an amplitude of this signal and
• additional parameters, such as duty cycle.

Then, they indicate the way in which signal frequency is supposed to be changing.

They choose:

• limit frequencies and full sweep time,
• direction (e.g. ascending or ascending-descending) and
• frequency ramp-up type (e.g. linear, logarithmic).

The signal generated this way is used mainly for examining frequency characteristics of devices and components. Moreover, it can be used to control other devices for which frequency of input signal constitutes information about way of operation.