This was one of the plots showing the glitch problem using my software. The Gigawave software did not allow for min/max detection and I had not noticed the problem until I started writing my own. I assumed it was a bug in my code, but I was eventually able to capture a few glitches using the released software. SJL was then able to replicate the problem with one of their units.
As it stands, glitches appear more often towards the start of the sweep and are negative going. I have seen positive glitches throughout the sweep but these seem less prevalent.
While I have tried their latest software, there is no min/max function and I have to watch the screen looking for a glitch. It appears to correct it but until we get some way to track these kinds of problems, I am not certain.
I had thought about implementing their error checking/recovery but I wasn't sure how to interpret the manual. Using their example in 4.3.2, where they show 15 pairs, I would assume they run through all four conditions for 14 sets. This assume "either of" meant to "OR" the two "ANDed" checks. An example would have helped remove any ambiguity.
the issue can be circumvented by discarding and retaking CDF data that meets either of the following two criteria:
• Two neighboring voltages V1, V2 satisfy V2−V1 >5 mV and F(V2;Δt)−F(V1;Δt) < −0.1.
• Two neighboring voltages V1, V2 satisfy V2 > V1 and F(V2;Δt) − F(V1;Δt) > 0.9.
For the review, I plan to use their software and decided to wait for them to solve it. While they seem confident the problem is firmware, it seems the have not yet found the root cause and I would not rule out hardware. It will be interesting to hear what they find.
There are a few other minor problems I ran into. High offset voltage for example. The plan is to add a way to correct for this in the software. The one concern I have raised was how they plan to de-skew the channels. While they have made a lot of progress, it's a new product. Based on how responsive they've been, I'm confident any concerns I have will be addressed as the product matures.