Saving and Recalling Recordings
Sharing Data With Other Applications

Menu Path: File > Save > Save Recording

File > Recall > Recall Recording

The 89600 VSA software lets you record time data from your measurement hardware directly to your PC's disk drive. You can play the data back at a later time or import it into other applications. You can also create and play your own recording. To learn about recordings (including: Creating, Playing, Saving, Recalling and using the Player), see the About Recordings topic in the Reference > Recordings book.

File Structure

All recording files contain a header and one or more arrays of captured data. The header contains a list of variables that describe the recording. For information about the data header and the individual header variables, see About the Data Header.

The header in a recording file contains some of the same variable found in a trace file. To see the header variables used in a recording file, follow these steps:

1. Save the recording as an ASCII file (*.txt or *.csv). See Saving a Recording for details.
2. View the recording file with an ASCII editor.

Supported File Formats

You can save recordings in any of the formats listed in Supported File Formats.

• SDF and HDF5 file size limits:

  • Recall Recording: VSA supports recalling SDF/HDF5 files with up to 2⁶³ samples per channel.

  • Save Recording:

    • If current data is from a recording, VSA supports saving up to 2⁶³ samples per channel.

    • If current data is from real hardware, file size is limited by the hardware.

    • If current data is from user input, VSA supports saving <4G samples per channel.

• SDF available formats:

  • The SDF (Fast) format uses cardinal spans, and the data may not be corrected. (Internal correction information is saved with the recording, but corrections are not applied to the data until you play it back.)

    Trigger corrections (delay and phase) are not currently applied to the exported data when exporting a file to a non-SDF (Fast) format.

  • The SDF (Export) format resamples to user spans and the data is corrected.

    In general, you should use the SDF (Export) format only if you will be importing the recording into another application. This is especially useful for exporting data to ADS.

    You can recall files that were saved in SDF (Export) format into an 89600 VSA, but saving the recording in SDF (Fast) format is faster. If you only plan to recall the recording into an 89600 VSA, it is best to save it in the SDF (Fast) format.

• Keysight E3238S Snapshot Files

  You can recall time snapshot files from the Keysight E3238S as recordings.

• Keysight Baseband Studio

  You can exchange waveform files containing zoom I/Q time samples with the Keysight N5110A or recall recordings from the Keysight N5120 Baseband Studio for CPRI RE Test using the Keysight N5110 Waveform format.

• Keysight 89400-Series Analyzer Recordings

  When recalling a recording from an 89400-series analyzer, make sure the recording was created using a cardinal span. If the recording was created using a non-cardinal span, the 89600 VSA software cannot accurately recreate and apply time corrections.