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This article presents information on the working of modern, high-performance digital oscilloscopes. Oscilloscopes offer a wealth of features for making users' lives easier--so many features, in fact, that their effect can sometimes be the opposite of what the manufacturer intended. Unlike real-time-sampling scopes, sequential-sampling scopes intentionally undersample their input signals--that is, they sample them at much less than twice the frequency of the highest frequency significant-amplitude component. In many such scopes, the sampling circuit is in a sampling head external to the scope mainframe.

This article presents suggestions in choosing digital oscilloscopes to be used in high-speed serial-bus debugging. For users to avoid outdated procedure, ensure that a new version of the help file or the file that sets up the scope is downloaded and installed. Real-time sampling scopes should sample many times than the highest frequency present in input signals to avoid aliasing. An important thing to be considered is determining how much bandwidth is needed. Another thing to be considered is the appropriate differential active probe.

Describes a tool combination that can be used to solve a range of electronic engineering and digital communication problems. Study on the effects of jitter and wander in computer engineering; Use of Tektronics DTS 700 oscilloscopes and Matlab computer enginnering environment; Ways to meet the challenges of designing and measuring modern high-speed digital systems.

Discusses the capabilities of a digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). Sample rates of DSOs; Characteristics of the DSO's sampling system; Representation of the dead time or the time required to process the DSO's acquired samples; Effect of sample rate and dead time in scope measurements.

The article focuses on automotive service and repair, highlighting digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) tips for industry technicians. Other topics being presented include the use of technicians' scan tools when attempting to diagnose a customer’s drivability concern as well as information about looking at data Parameter Identifiers and accessing stored Diagnostic Trouble Codes.

The article offers information on the Pico Technology PicoScope 9301-25 and 9341-25 model sampling oscilloscope from Saelig Co.Inc.

The article evaluates several optical testing equipment from Tektronix that will be exhibited at the Optical Fiber Conference and Exposition (OFC) exhibition to be held at the Los Angeles, California on March 19-23, 2017 that includes the DSA8300 sampling oscilloscope and the DPO70000SX.

The article offers news briefs related to test instruments in 2010. The scopes of WaveMaster 8Zi-A from LeCroy Corp. are upgradable to a maximum 45 gigahertz (GHz) in bandwidth from 4 GHz. The Infiniium 90000 X-Series oscilloscopes from Agilent Technologies Inc. promises to meet engineers' needs working with emerging wireline communication standards. The National Instruments Corp. NI PXIe-5630 brings support to complete vector analysis of transmission and reflection parameters.

The article evaluates several products related to evaluation engineering, including the Dual Channel Phase Noise Test System noise analyzer from Noise Extended Technologies, the PicoScope 9211A TDR/TDT Sampling Oscilloscope from Pico Technology, and the XL-GPS Time and Frequency Receiver from Symmetricom.

The article explains the coherent interleaved sampling (CIS), a sampling technique that can acquire data faster with more data points than sequential sampling. The architecture of a high-speed real-time oscilloscope is mentioned. The near real-time oscilloscopes is detailed. The advantages of a phase-locked loop and CIS are mentioned.

Presents information on eliminating the dead zone in the scope measurement for oscilloscope users. Actions taken scope manufacturers to produce instruments with shorter refresh rates or dead zones; Advantages of long acquisition memory scopes with all-instance measurements; Limitations of using a short acquisition memory.

Introduces the TDS1000 and TDS2000 series digital sampling oscilloscopes from Tektronix Inc. Features of the oscilloscopes; Price of the products.

Evaluates Emona Instruments' osziFOX oscilloscope. Features of the oscilloscope; Specifications; Price.

Evaluates Tek's TDS220 Digital Phosphor Oscilloscope. Features of the oscilloscope; Price.

The article evaluates the BERTWave MP2110A sampling oscilloscope from company Anritsu, which has been upgraded with the 53Gbaud PAM4 firmware feature.

Features products related to testing and mensuration available in the U.S. as of September 2004. Development of tools that speeds up verification, certification and troubleshooting of fiber optic installations; Functionality of the TDS8200 modular sampling oscilloscope from Tektronix Inc.; Design and specifications of the MACS4000 central monitoring system from Pandatel AG.

Reports on the family of digital phosphor oscilloscopes (DPO) introduced by Tektronix Canada Inc., called the TDS3000s. Color display; Logic and phase triggering to simplify verification phase of design; Three dimensions of signal information.

Evaluates a six-member family of digital storage oscilloscopes (DSO) by LeCroy Corp. Specifics on the 9374L, the flagship member; Features; Prices; Contact point.

Features Tektronix Inc.'s introduction of TDS 700C and TDS500C Insta VU oscilloscopes for communications engineers. Use for signal-characterization and design-verification activities; Impact of time-to-market pressures; Prices; Contact information.

The article features the Bessel linear-phase filter in audio applications in which it is necessary to remove out-of-band noise without degrading the phase relationships of a multifrequency in-band signal. Bessel filters are also useful for analyzing the outputs of Class D amplifiers and for eliminating switching noise in other applications to improve accuracy of distortion and oscilloscope-waveform measurements. Connecting the amplifiers as inverting- gain stages maintains constant input-common-mode voltage and helps minimize distortion.

This article discusses the latest trend in designing electronic instruments. Traditional instruments are being tailored to meet different market needs. Oscilloscopes that address the test requirements of the industrial power market are the latest rage. Handheld multimeters, temperature instruments, and infrared (IR) instruments for use in industrial settings are hot too. PC-based instruments are being used more with software development programs to better handle cost-effective testing as well as meet demands from new market applications.

This article focuses on the testing equipment used for measuring audio and video analog signals. Testing video was easy when the scope represented the same thing that was on the wire. There was no need to decode for display. A simple special purpose oscilloscope was created that locked to the repetition of the line or vertical frequency of the picture. Once created, the sensible display allowed operators to see any defect in the signal and the displayed picture. With digital video, SMPTE 259 resembles wideband noise on an oscilloscope, and that is no mistake.

Provides information on several products in engineering. Information on a dual-range synthesizer that offer low phase noise from Programmed Test Sources; Features of a chassis configurable for channel systems from Acqiris USA; Functions of the Optical Sampling Oscilloscope from Anritsu; Availability of the Personal Measurement Device line of products from Measurement Computing.

Features the 54830 series Infinitum mixed-signal oscilloscopes of Agilent company. Power capacity of the equipment; Availability of product options; Details of the product design.

The article previews the PicoScope 9300 Series TDR/TDT sampling oscilloscopes from Pico Technology Ltd.

The article offers brief information on the GDS-3000 Series of sampling oscilloscopes from GW Instruments Inc.

The article offers brief information on the PicoScope 9000 Series personal computer (PC)-based sampling oscilloscopes from Pico Technology.

The article features the digital-phosphor-oscilloscope (DPO) digital-signal analyzer (DSA) and mixed-signal-oscilloscope (MSO) 70000C series from Tektronix.

The article discusses the results of a test done to validate the theory that the waveforms of digital outputs generally conform to the Gaussian profile. A custom-made test board with a DL10044T low-voltage-differential-signaling (LVDS) driver and a LeCroy SDA6000 oscilloscope was used. The author uses graphs to illustrate the similarity between the step response of the driver and a Gaussian template.

The article evaluates the 600 Megahertz (MHz) Infiniium 9000 oscilloscopes from Agilent Technologies.

The article provides information on data measurement and analysis of Nyquist sampling theorem. To obtain useful data, an engineer must sample a sine wave at more than twice its frequency. Further, for a more precise interpretation of the Nyquist theorem, he or she must sample at more than twice the frequency of the signal's bandwidth.

The article evaluates the 12 gigahertz sampling oscilloscope from Pico Technology.

This article introduces the WaveRunner Xi line of oscilloscopes developed by LeCroy Corp. The oscilloscopes has a compact package with a benchtop footprint no larger than that of oscilloscopes that offer much lower performance. A sampling rate of as high as 10G samples per second on the 600-MHz unit with pairs of channels interleaved is offered by the oscilloscopes. Several options for the WaveRunner Xi are offered by LeCroy. A brightness-graded intensity with a decay time similar to that of the phosphor on an analog screen is provided by the WaveStream fast-viewing mode.

The article provides information on the DPO 7000 series oscilloscope from Tektronix. The technology has 500-megahertz, 1-gigahertz, and 2.5 gigahertz bandwidths, and two of the units capture 40G samples/second on one channel. Prices of the series start at $14,000. Equally revolutionary is the 2.5-GHz unit's optional 400M-sample memory depth. The technology marks the introduction of the TekVPI or Versatile Probing Interface probing system. It enables intelligent bidirectional communication between the scope and the probe.

The article evaluates the PicoScope PS3224 two channel PC oscilloscope adapter introduced by Saelig Co. and informs that twelve bit resolution gives the instrument a 72 dB dynamic range for detection of low-level harmonics.

Evaluates the 100-megahertz mixed-signal oscilloscopes and digital storage oscilloscopes from Agilent Technologies. Product features; Advantages of the product; Price.

This article reports that LeCroy Corp. has reached the 10M sample/sec acquisition rate milestone with the introduction of its WaveExpert 9000 and SDA 100G sampling oscilloscopes. LeCroy prefers to call the new units simply sampling scopes, even though that description can lead to confusion with real-time-sampling scopes. The new instruments feature optional industry leading, 100-GHz bandwidth and a patent-applied-for coherent-interleaved-sampling (CIS) mode, which enables capturing and displaying of long serial-data waveforms with no need for an external pattern trigger. In addition, the scopes can produce time-domain reflectometry (TDR) pulses that have 20-psec incident rise times, which LeCroy says are 50% faster than those of other instruments. Traditional samplers produce an approximately gaussian sampling aperture. Unlike those units, the monolithic sampling head, whose sampling-strobe-generation circuit employs a patented nonlinear-transmission line (NLTL), creates a rectangular aperture. This approach enables the 100-GHz bandwidth. The CIS timebase derives the sampling gate by phase-locking to the clock signal, a technique that allows high sampling rates and precise tracking of the signal bit rate. The coherent nature of the sampling gate allows the system to lock to the data pattern simply by knowing its length.

This article presents information on the launch of the 83496A clock-recovery module for the 86100 series of digital communication analyzers by Agilent Technologies in the U.S. in 2005. The 83496A measures the instability of the output clock signal in femtoseconds, which effectively reduces the scope's internal jitter. It also accepts inputs in a more broader frequency ranges. For a 50-Megabyte per second to 7.1-Gigabyte per second unit with electrical inputs is being sold for $18,000. For a unit with similar frequency range but with multimode optical inputs is being sold for $22,000.

Features the portable digital oscilloscopes DL1700E Series from Yokogawa introduced in the British market in December 2004. Resolution bandwidth of the oscilloscopes; Points of memory per channel; Size of the oscilloscopes.

This article introduces the TDS-8200 modular sampling oscilloscope and 82A04 phase-reference module from Tektronix Inc. The company claims that the products incorporate single-ended and differential clock-recovery system that covers all current and emerging serial-data standards that transmit at bit rates of 50 megabits per second to 12.6 gigabits per second. When measuring in the low-jitter-timebase phase-reference mode, the TDS8200 acquires data faster than its competing instruments. Using its proprietary FrameScan acquisition mode, the TDS-8200 can also quantify random and deterministic jitter. The acquisition module permits users to specify custom bit rates to test devices, modules and systems that run at emerging and nonstandard rates.

Tektronix Inc. has introduced a modular sampling oscilloscope--the TDS8200. The company also introduced the 82A04 phase reference module. The oscilloscope can be configured to provide bandwidth to 70GHz, and has a single-ended and differential clock recovery system covering all current and emerging serial data standards between 50Mbit/s and 12.6Gbit/s. System jitter is less than 200 femtoseconds at these data rates. The TDS8200 also provides the ability to measure random and deterministic jitter.

Agilent Technologies Inc. is offering a four-channel, 2GHz digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) with lOGsample/s performance for the price of a 5Gsample/s system. The 54852A Infiniium 2GHz DSO, which with its companion 1130A Infini-iMax probing system has been certified by the USB Implementers Forum as USB 2.0 compliance Lest tools, has an acquisition memory depth of up to 1 megapoints per channel and sampling rates up to lOGsample/s on all four channels.

Atmel Corp. has announced an interleavable dual 8-bit analogue-to-digital (ADC) converter for applications including digital sampling oscilloscopes, automatic test equipment and direct RFI/Q down-conversion. The AT84AD001 operates at IGsample/s/channel or 2Gsample/s total in interleaved mode. SFDR (spurious free dynamic range) is typically 60dBFS at 500 MHz.

Provides information on electronic test-and-measurement company Agilent Technologies Inc. Business losses incurred by the company in 2002; Goal of the company to be number one in the high-end oscilloscope market; Competitors of Agilent.