PC-Based Oscilloscope Competes on Price, Portability

The PC-based sequential sampling oscilloscopes offer a unique combination of portability, price and performance. Their small size allows positioning next to the device under test, minimising cable losses and removing the need for expensive active probes or pull-out sampling modules. There is a built-in signal generator with 4ns minimum bit interval in PRBS mode and 8ns minimum period in pulse mode. The devices have LAN and USB interfaces, and advanced display features such as colour and density profiling, multiple trace windows, histograms and statistics.

Specification highlights include: over 15TS/s effective sampling rate, 17.5ps input rise time, dual 16-bit, 60dB dynamic range inputs, 5ps/div dual timebase, 14GHz prescaled trigger bandwidth, clock recovery up to 11.3Gb/s and time interval resolution of 64fs. The sampling rate of 1MHz builds waveforms and persistence displays faster than any other sampling scope. Signal quality offers typical noise of 1.5mV RMS at full bandwidth, external trigger jitter of 1.8ps RMS, and recovered clock jitter of only 1ps RMS.

The PicoSample software has been comprehensively updated for the new oscilloscopes. The range of controls has been revised and extended, with intuitive graphics, click-and-drag operations and measurement labels to simplify and speed up operation. A flexible layout enables the user to devote as much of the screen as possible to the signal while displaying the necessary controls and menus. The software includes a comprehensive suite of measurement and analysis functions including : 61 math functions, 138 automatic measurements and 167 standard comms masks from 1.54Mb/s to 12.5Gb/s. The software is compatible with all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows XP to Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit versions).