Serial-Bus Testing Added to Eight-Channel Oscilloscopes

The eight channels on the original instrument could be allocated as eight analogue channels or seven analogue channels plus one 8-bit digital input. The new L16 option adds 16 more channels of logic to give seven channels of analogue plus a 24-bit digital input, allowing more detailed analysis of embedded electronics and serial-bus based systems.

Upgraded firmware on the /G4 option for power measurements gives the DLM4000 enhanced power capabilities in line with the Yokogawa family of precision power analysers. In particular, the oscilloscope can be used as a fully featured 3-phase power meter, with the eight channels allowing voltages and currents to be individually measured and displayed alongside derived values. With this option, the instrument offers automated measurement of power parameters for up to four pairs of voltage and current waveforms. These values can then be statistically processed and calculated to provide peak, average and root-mean-square values, along with many other parameters such as power factor and q-factor.

On the /F1 to /F6 options for serial-bus testing, new firmware doubles the number of buses that can be simultaneously tested. It now becomes possible to test four CAN, LIN or I2C buses or two SPI buses plus one other such as a UART interface. Exploiting the full 8-channel capability of the DLM4000 allows more combinations of buses to be tested, and adding the dual-zoom facility means that different buses can be viewed and debugged alongside one another.

The DLM4000 Series comprises two models, with bandwidths of 350 and 500 MHz and a sampling rate of 1.25 GS/s (gigasamples per second), expandable to 2.5 GS/s with interleaving. The instruments feature exceptionally long memory (up to 125 M points), allowing both long recordings and multiple waveforms to be acquired. A history memory function allows up to 20,000 previously captured waveforms to be saved in the acquisition memory, with any one or all of them displayed on screen for cursor measurements to be carried out. Waveforms can be displayed one at a time, in order, or automatically played back, paused, fast-forwarded or rewound.

Launched in October 2012, the new Yokogawa DLM4000 is the industry’s first mixed-signal oscilloscope to feature eight channels. Combining the large screen and 8-channel capability of Yokogawa’s earlier 8-channel DL7480 oscilloscope with the mixed-signal technology of the company’s pioneering DLM2000 Series, the instrument is ideally suited to test and debugging applications in the embedded systems, power electronics, mechatronics and automotive sectors.