Simplify Testing with Waveform Summing Capability

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In a variety of applications, if you want to properly test a device, product, or system, you need a signal that consists of the sum of two waveforms. For example:

Telephones produce dual-tone sine wave signals that are deciphered by receiving electronics and appropriately acted upon. You can test the receivers in these telephony systems by subjecting them to various dual-tone input signals.
Audio amplifiers cause small amounts of distortion of their input waveforms. You can evaluate the distortion introduced by the amplifier using an input signal consisting of the sum of a square wave and a sine wave.
Clock signals with noise on them can cause timing errors. You can test immunity to noise on a clock signal by creating a signal that adds noise to a square wave.

The testing required in each of these examples makes use of a signal consisting of the sum of two waveforms. This measurement brief discusses these three examples and provides a simple method for creating summed waveforms using a single channel on the Keysight Technologies, Inc. 33521A/22A function/arbitrary waveform generator.