MATLAB (.mat)

Subtopics

The MATLAB (.mat) data format is a binary format that can be imported into and saved by the MathWorks MATLAB application. The Infiniium application lets you save waveform data to .mat format files.

When saving waveform data to .mat format files, you can exceed the MATLAB limit for number of points (100 Mpts). You may want to lower the acquisition memory depth before saving.

The MATLAB (.mat) format used by this software, which encodes waveform data as single-precision floating-point values, is incompatible with earlier generations of Infiniium software that encoded waveform data as 16-bit integers (and required the InfiniiumWaveform Toolbox add-on in MATLAB for conversion to floating-point values).

Saving Waveforms to .mat Files

You can save a waveform to a .mat file (see Save Waveform Files). The .mat files are saved in version 7.3 format, readable in MATLAB 2006b and newer.

When you save waveform(s) to a .mat file, each waveform is saved to a separate MATLAB workspace variable. These variables are named according to the memory or channel they are saved from with any spaces replaced by underscores (for example: Memory_1).

Waveform data variables have a structured format that contains information about the data (metadata or header information) and then the waveform data itself. Waveform data is encoded as single-precision floating-point values. See MATLAB (.mat) File Format Specifications.

In addition to the waveform data variable(s), one Frame variable per file is also saved. The Frame variable contains general information about the oscilloscope.