Virtual Signal Generator

GUI with all the functionality of a standard signal generator, but without expensive equipment.

Virtual Signal Generator is a GUI that produces (1) periodic functions (including sinusoidal, triangle, sawtooth, and square waves) of varying amplitudes, frequencies, and phases; (2) square pulse trains of varying amplitudes, frequencies, phases, and duty cycles; (3) two-parameter exponential functions; (4) Gaussian curves of varying bounded areas, standard deviations, and means; and (5) Gaussian noise of varying amplitude. One can also add an offset or Gaussian noise to any of the first four functions above. The GUI also enables the user to add the designated signal to (or multiply it by) a previously defined signal.

This program was created by Tom Reid (MS Physics, CWRU, 2010) using MATLAB's "GUIDE" functionality. It was designed for use in the sophomore physics instrumentation laboratory at Case Western Reserve University and is thus ideal for courses in which students do not have the time to learn (or instructors do not have the patience to teach) a lot of MATLAB coding. That said, it also saves advanced users from having to hard code triangle, sawtooth, and square waves, as well as pulse trains and Gaussian functions; none of which seem to have easy, built-in MATLAB solutions.