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Samplify FAQ

 

Q:  Is Samplify compression lossless?
A:  Samplify can operate in Lossless, Fixed Rate or Fixed Quality Mode.

 

Q:  How fast is Samplify for Windows?
A:  Samplify for Windows can compress or decompress signals at 10-15Msps on a 2G Pentium 4.

 

Q:  Are Samplify FPGA and Samplify for Windows compatible?
A:  Yes signals can be compressed in an FPGA and decompressed using Samplify for Windows and visa versa. 

 

Q: How well does my signal compress?
A:  Send us your signals and we will analyze them for you. All signals are kept strictly confidential. We accept the following file formats: 
   Text     Signed or Unsigned Decimal or Hex
   Binary  Signed or Unsigned 8-bit or 16-bit 
Email
signals@samplify.com with a brief description of the signal and the attached data file and we will analyze the results and send them to you. 

 

Q:  How do I evaluate Samplify?
E-mail sales@samplify.com with a brief description of the signal to receive a free 30-day evaluation copy of Samplify for Windows.

 

Q:  How can Samplify run so fast?

A:  Samplify is optimized to compress sampled data.  In order to compress at hundreds of Msamp/sec, Samplify reduces the common redundancies in sampled data - sample-to-sample correlations, using just enough dynamic range to represent the samples, and recognizing that a data converter's effective number of bits (ENOB) is always less than its resolution.  Samplify is designed to recognize these common sources of redundancy, and then to remove them in real time.

Q:  Over what range of sample rates does Samplify operate?
A:  Samplify operates from sample rates up to about 1 Msamp/sec (DSP object libraries), 10 Msamp/sec (Pentiums and Power PCs), hundreds of Msamp/sec (FPGAs), and Gsamp/sec (ASICs).  If your system already includes a DSP chip, microprocessor, or FPGA, chances are good that Samplify already has a real-time compression solution for your platform or can quickly develop one for you.

Q:  Why aren’t high-speed signal processing systems already using compression?
A:  High-speed signal processing systems are found in diverse applications - medical imaging, test & measurement, IC test, radar and software radio…the list is long, the signals are quite diverse, and the range of sample rates is broad.  Also, since the signals are varied and NOT of the type that have historically been compressed (speech, audio, and video signals), most people think that these other signals are too different to be compressed effectively with one algorithm.  Also, some users will need lossless compression, while others will want fixed rate or fixed quality compression.  In contrast, Samplify has discovered that many of these signals are bandlimited, and that their dynamic range doesn't need the data converter's full resolution all the time.  Samplify simply offers a useful set of lossless, fixed rate, and fixed quality compression algorithms that work on many of these signals, with good compression ratios.
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