exceed the capability of the power supply 24 an out of compliance condition occurs this problem is resolved in the present invention as follows referring to fig8 the voltage waveform 80 represents the voltage vn at the output of the programmable current source 62 it can be seen from the shape of the voltage waveform 80 that the load contains a capacitive component the level vc marks the minimum voltage across the programmable current source 62 at which compliance with the desired current waveforms of fig7 can be maintained the voltage vca is a little higher than vc as shown and is selected to provide a safety margin as seen in fig8 pulse 83 required to generate pulses 78 and 74 of fig7 and 6 respectively starts off at a level above vca but decreases linearly toward a minimum value p which is substantially below level vc and therefore is not attainable when this pulse reaches vca at point 85 the compliance monitor 66 generates a compliance monitor signal indicating an out of compliance condition the signal is encoded by the telemetry encoder 80 and transmitted to the external processor the signal may be the same signal as when vdd drops.