AN INTRODUCTION TO PC OSCILLOSCOPES

TOOLS
PICOSCOPE SOFTWARE IS
SUPPLIED WITH EVERY
PERSISTENCE SPECTRUM AUTO SETUP
Custom probes,
TIMEBASE BUFFER CONTROLS FLEXIBLE
RESOLUTION
TRIGGER
MARKER
ZOOM BUTTONS SIGNAL MIXED SIGNAL
OSCILLOSCOPES
THE
MODE MODE Click this first CONTROLS PicoScope stores the Click to pan and GENERATOR
PICO TECHNOLOGY Switches to digital Switches to to find your
math channels,
Set the time most recent waveforms in The PicoScope Shows the channel, zoom around the For oscilloscopes PicoScope MSOs can measure 2 or PICOSCOPE ®
reference
REAL-TIME color or analog spectrum signal, then waveforms, interval across the a buffer. Use these 5000 Series allows signal level and entire view. (To with a built-in signal 4 analog and 16 digital channels at RANGE
OSCILLOSCOPE. intensity mode. Both analysis mode. adjust using the serial decoding, screen, zoom controls to scan you to select time of the trigger zoom a single generator, this once. Dual logic thresholds allow
modes are fully other controls. alarms, masks and backwards and forwards hardware vertical event. Drag to channel, use the button lets you set up you to operate with mixed logic
factor, and record
macro recorder. resolution.
SAMPLING RATE configurable. length. through the buffer. adjust. scaling buttons). the output signal. families, and advanced triggering
can be activated for analog or
PC oscilloscopes work by
“sampling” the input digital inputs or a combination of
SCOPE MODE both. This icon will only apppear if
signal—measuring its value at
Click to return to the normal you have a MSO plugged in. PicoScope 2000 Series
regular intervals and storing
oscilloscope display mode. Power & performance in your
those values in its memory. Any
hand
changes in the signal between
RULER LEGEND
one sample and the next are
lost. So, to avoid losing CHANNEL CONTROLS Shows measurements of all rulers on
important details, the sampling In “Auto” mode PicoScope screen. Also shows difference
rate must be fast enough for the adjusts the input range to fit between two rulers.
type of signal being measured. the signal. You can override
PicoScope devices are available this to set your own range for PicoScope 2000 Series
with a wide range of sampling SERIAL DECODING Benchtop performance in a
each channel. "DC" admits all
rates from 10 million to 5 billion PicoScope has support for a total of pocket sized scope
frequencies, while "AC" filters
samples per second (10 MS/s to sixteen protocols:
out frequencies below about
5 GS/s). CAN, LIN, FlexRay,
1 hertz. "Lowpass filtering"
SENT (Fast and Slow), ARINC 429,
preserves the underlying shape
RS-232/UART,
PERSISTENCE MODE of the signal while eliminating
USB (LS, FS, HS), PS/2,
high-frequency noise.
Ethernet 100BASE-TX,
Ethernet 10BASE-T, I²C, I²S, SPI, PicoScope 3000 Series
1-Wire, DMX 512 and DCC. Deep memory
CHANNEL RULERS 2 or 4 channel and MSO
Drag a colored handle from
the top of the window to the CHANNEL AXIS
Digital color mode is useful for level you want to measure. The There is a color-coded axis for each
estimating noise and jitter, and ruler legend shows the channel. Drag it up or down to
for spotting glitches.
measurement. position the channel.

CHANNELS A TO D REFERENCE WAVEFORM PicoScope 4824

These are linked to the channel Waveforms can be saved for 8 channels
controls above. Each channel comparison with live data.
corresponds to one of the BNC
Analog intensity mode shows connectors on the PicoScope.
SCALE AND OFFSET
the high-frequency content of a
signal at slow timebases. There is a color-coded button for
each channel. Click it to reveal the
MATH CHANNEL
scale and offset controls.
Choose from basic operations
RECORD LENGTH or advanced equations.
PicoScope 5000 Series
PC oscilloscopes usually store Flexible resolution
MEASUREMENTS TABLE
more data on each waveform Lists all your dynamically updated
than they can display on the
automatic measurements.
screen. You can zoom in to see TIME RULERS
Choose from dozens of time-domain
the extra data. PicoScopes have Drag a white ruler handle from
high-performance “always-on” and frequency-domain
left to right to mark a point on
memory that operates at full measurement types.
the axis. The ruler legend shows
speed regardless of record the time at each ruler and the
length. This frees you from time difference between
PHASE RULERS PicoScope 6000 Series
having to worry about the TRIGGER SOURCE MEASUREMENTS
two rulers. TRIGGER MODE ADVANCED TRIGGERS PRETRIGGER Highest performance PC scope
memory settings and lets you Choose which channel to trigger on. Display phase in degrees or percent,
AUTO displays a stable How much of the waveform Click to add an
capture high-resolution data Simple Level Window with adjustable partitions.
waveform when possible. is captured before the automatic
every time. edge dropout pulse width
NONE always displays EDGE SELECT trigger event. measurement
STOP/START CONTROL regardless of the waveform. to the
Window Advanced Window Trigger on rising or falling edges. UPDATES TO PICOSCOPE
PICOSCOPE Click to start displaying SINGLE displays a single waveform. measurements
waveforms. Click again to
edge dropout
TRIGGER DELAY CAN BE DOWNLOADED
runs on Windows 7 to 10, REPEAT displays only stable waveforms. table, or to delete
32-bit and 64-bit. Plus beta
versions for Mac OS X and
Linux.
stop. The space bar on the
keyboard has the same
function.
RAPID captures a sequence
of waveforms.
ETS for repetitive waveforms.
Interval Pulse
width
Runt
and logic
THRESHOLD
Set the voltage at which the trigger
operates, or drag the trigger marker.
How long to wait after the
trigger event before
capturing the waveform.
or edit one.
FREE PicoScope 9000 Series
Sampling oscilloscope

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