Pico Technology has released beta drivers for its oscilloscope and data logging devices to run on the ARM-based BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi development boards. The new drivers give programmers access to a wide range of compact, economical USB oscilloscopes and data loggers.

Established in 1991, Pico Technology produces high quality PC- based oscilloscopes and offer a modern alternative to traditional and costly bench-top test and measurement equipment. PicoScope’s are used in a wide range of applications across many different industries due to their portability, connectivity and outstanding value for money.  

The redesigned PicoScope 3000D Series Mixed-Signal Oscilloscopes (MSOs) form a complete test system aimed at engineers working on a diverse range of embedded systems. The compact USB-connected devices boast two or four analogue channels and sixteen digital channels as well as a built-in arbitrary waveform generator.

The new 8-channel PC oscilloscope from Pico Technology targets advanced multi-channel applications. Housed in a compact and rugged enclosure, the PicoScope 4824 features 12-bit resolution, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, and an integrated 14-bit arbitrary waveform generator (AWG).

Pico Technology has released a beta version of the PicoScope 6 oscilloscope software for Linux in response to requests from users in the scientific and educational fields where Linux is widely used. PicoScope 6 is a powerful application that converts your PC into an oscilloscope, FFT spectrum analyser and measuring device.

Pico Technology has joined the MathWorks Connections Program. The PicoScope 3000 Series oscilloscopes now have an instrument driver for the Instrument Control Toolbox. This includes all models apart from the Mixed Signal and Differential Oscilloscopes, with drivers for other product ranges to be provided in the future.

A passport sized, 19m thick series of oscilloscopes from Pico Technology offer bandwidths up to 200MHz and an arbitrary waveform generator. ThePicoScope 2000 series instruments are connected to and powered from a USB port and are almost 80% smaller than the previous generation of PicoScopes.

The PicoScope 9300 Series TDR/TDT Sampling Oscilloscopes can perform time-domain reflectometry and transmission mismatch and network analysis on high-frequency cables, PCBs, backplanes and interconnections.

Hot on the heels of the 20 GHz bandwidth and TDR/TDT models, the new PicoScope 9321 Sampling Oscilloscope integrates a 9.5 GHz optical fiber-to-electrical converter with a high-performance, two-channel, 20 GHz PC Sampling Oscilloscope. This extends Pico Technology’s comprehensive serial data and eye diagram visualization to fibre optic data systems with bit rates up to 11 Gb/s and includes clock recovery.

Pico Technology’s PicoScope 6000 Series oscilloscopes now boast 500MHz bandwidth on four channels, and an industry-leading 2 Gsamples of buffer memory. The new oscilloscopes offer both the performance and the advanced analysis capability to speed debug of today’s complex electronic designs.

The PicoScope 9300 Series Sampling Oscilloscopes can perform pre-compliance tests, fault-finding, design, debug and margin testing on serial communications signals such as 10 Gb Ethernet, SONET/SDH STM64 and FEC1071, 10x Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand and PCI Express. These two-channel oscilloscopes will replace traditional, full-sized bench-top instruments without compromising on usability, analysis features or accuracy.

For the first time in an oscilloscope, Pico Technology has used reconfigurable ADC technology to offer a choice of resolutions from 8 to 16 bits in a single product. Most digital oscilloscopes gain their high sampling rates by interleaving multiple 8-bit ADCs. Despite careful design, the interleaving process introduces errors that always make the dynamic performance worse than the performance of the individual ADC cores.

The PicoScope 6 oscilloscope software can now decode I2S data thanks to the latest software update from Pico Technology. The I2S (Inter-IC Sound) standard is a common serial data format used in audio equipment such as CD players and DACs. All PicoScope users can download the new beta release free of charge. As well as I2S, the software can decode I2C, RS-232/UART, SPI, CAN, LIN and FlexRay serial data.

Pico Technology have today announced the release of the first PC oscilloscopes with a USB 3.0 interface. “USB 3.0 ports are appearing on most new computers and laptops,” explained Managing Director Alan Tong, “so buyers of USB oscilloscopes will expect to benefit from the higher data transfer rate. With the new USB 3.0 PicoScopes, large data captures and streaming of large data sets are now much faster.”

The new range of mixed-signal oscilloscopes from Pico Technology combines the deep memory and high performance of the PicoScope 3000 Series with a powerful 16 channel logic analyzer. With a built-in function generator and arbitrary waveform generator also included, these oscilloscopes offer a complete test bench in one compact, USB-powered device.

Now it’s even easier to get started with PicoScope, the world’s most popular automotive oscilloscope. Pico Technology has just released two new starter kits to give you the perfect introduction to oscilloscope diagnostics.

Pico Technology’s DrDAQ compact single-board data logger adds 17 I/O channels to your Raspberry Pi. Now your Linux application can have access to a 100 kHz oscilloscope, arbitrary waveform generator, 4 digital I/Os (2 with pulse-counting input and PWM output), 24-bit RGB LED, built-in light sensor, temperature sensor, microphone and sound level sensor, resistance measuring input and pH/redox sensor input.

Expansion of the PicoScope 3000 Series of high-performance oscilloscopes gives designers six new 4-channel models. The new oscilloscopes offer a maximum sampling rate of 1 GS/s (up to 10 GS/s effective for repetitive signals), a range of input bandwidths from 60 MHz to 200 MHz, and buffer memory depths from 4 M to 128 M samples.

Thursday 15th December saw the Elektra 2011 European Electronics Industry Awards at the glamorous Park Plaza Hotel in London. Hosted this year by the comedian Greg Davies, the enthusiastic audience represented all sectors of the industry.

The PicoScope 2205 MSO gives you a two-channel oscilloscope combined with a 16 channel logic analyzer, all in one compact, portable USB instrument. Now you can view analog waveforms and digital data on the same screen with the efficient and easy-to-use PicoScope software.