Overview

The purpose of this standard is to facilitate accurate and precise communication concerning parameters of transition, pulse, and related waveforms and to establish the techniques and procedures for measuring them. Because of the broad applicability of electrical pulse technology in the electronics industries (such as computer, telecommunication, and test instrumentation industries), the development of unambiguous definitions for pulse terms and the presentation of methods and/or algorithms for their calculation is important for communication between manufacturers and consumers within the electronics industry. The availability of standard terms, definitions, and methods for their computation helps improve the quality of products and helps the consumer better compare the performance of different products. Improvements to digital waveform recorders (including oscilloscopes) have facilitated the capture, sharing, and processing of waveforms. Frequently these waveform recorders have the ability to process the waveform internally and provide pulse parameters. This process is done automatically and without operator intervention. This standard can be applied in many more scientific and engineering applications than mentioned above, such as optics, cosmology, seismology, medicine, etcetera, and ranging from single events to highly repetitive signals and from signals with bandwidths less than 1 Hz to those exceeding 1 THz. Consequently, a standard is needed to ensure that the definitions and methods of computation for pulse parameters are consistent. IEC 60469-1 dealt with terms and definitions for describing waveform parameters and IEC 60469-2 described the waveform measurement process. The purpose of this standard is to combine the contents of IEC 60469-1 and IEC 60469-2, update terminology, correct errors, add algorithms for computing values of pulse parameters, and add a newly-developed method for computing state levels. This standard reflects two major changes compared to IEC 60469-1 and IEC 60469-2, which are the parameter definitions and algorithms. Changes to the definitions included adding new terms and definitions, deleting unused terms and definitions, expanding the list of deprecated terms, and updating and modifying existing definitions. This standard contains definitions for approximately 100 terms commonly used to describe the waveform measurement and analysis process and waveform parameters. Many of the terms in standards IEC 60469-1 and IEC 60469-2 have been deleted entirely or deprecated. Deprecated terms were kept in this standard to provide continuity between this standard and IEC 60469-1 and IEC 60469-2. Terms are deprecated whenever they cannot be defined unambiguously or precisely. Development of a set of agreed-upon terms and definitions presented the greatest difficulty because of the pervasive misuse, misrepresentation, and misunderstanding of terms. Legacy issues for instrumentation manufacturers and terms of common use also had to be addressed. The responsible committee is DKE/UK 964 "Messgeräte für elektrische bzw. elektromagnetische Größen" ("Measuring equipment for electrical or electromagnetic quantities") of the DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies) at DIN and VDE.

Document: references other documents

Document: referenced in other documents

Responsible national committee

DKE/K 964 - Messgeräte für elektrische bzw. elektromagnetische Größen