The following table describes the triggers supported by digital waveform generator/analyzers. The Used In column indicates which types of operations can use a trigger type. The Supported Types column denotes which trigger types are valid for a given trigger.

Note Using DDR mode has certain implications for using some acquisition triggers.
Trigger Name Used In Supported Types Description
Start Acquisition, Generation Digital Edge, Pattern Match, Software The Start trigger transitions a device into a state where the device can respond to Sample clocks.
  • For an acquisition session, this trigger transitions the device from a nonsampling state into a sampling state—the device starts sampling and storing data.
  • For a generation session, this trigger transitions the device from an Idle state to a sample generation state—the device starts generating samples.
Reference Acquisition Digital Edge, Pattern Match, Software The Reference trigger transitions a device from the Wait for Reference Trigger sampling state into the Post Reference trigger sampling state. In the Post Reference Trigger sampling state, a counter begins counting Sample clock cycles. When the configured number of samples is acquired, the device transitions into a Done state. In other words, the arrival of this trigger establishes the reference point that separates pretrigger and posttrigger samples.
Advance Acquisition Digital Edge, Pattern match, Software The Advance trigger initiates the acquisition of the additional records in a multirecord acquisition.
Pause Acquisition, Generation Digital Level, Pattern Match The Pause trigger indicates to the device that it should pause the acquisition or generation. Therefore, the Pause trigger is only effective when received during an active acquisition or generation session. For generation operations, the Data Active event indicates when the operation is paused.
Script Generation Digital Edge, Digital Level, Software The Script trigger is a general-purpose trigger with a role that is entirely determined by the context of the dynamic generation script. A script allows you to create sophisticated dynamic generation operations. For example, the script could configure the device to generate waveform A, then wait for the Script trigger, then generate waveform B. You can create multiple Script triggers for use in your application.
Stop Generation Digital Edge, Software The Stop Trigger stops active generation regardless of the the current state of the generation. The stop trigger is a request to stop, not an immediate synchronized trigger; therefore, it will take some clock cycles for the device to actually stop. The Stop Trigger is only valid for generation sessions and only available on the PXIe-6544/6545/6547/6548/6555/6556.
Note Pattern match triggers are valid only for acquisition sessions.