Evaluation Engineering - 8

OSCILLOSCOPES

SIGLENT SDS5000X oscilloscope in poweranalysis application.

Analog Discovery 1 and 2, the Digital
Discovery, and most recently, the Analog
Discovery Studio, which has been adapted to be breadboardable."
The Discovery family's "...versatility and
flexibility are second to none," she continued. "With the Analog Discovery 2, you're
getting 12 benchtop instruments packed
into a single 3-in. x 3-in. tool, including
an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, spectrum
analyzer, waveform generator, and more.
With the Analog Discovery Studio, you
also get a convenient, replaceable, and
breadboardable interface."

Added functionality
Steve Sandler, founder and CEO of
Picotest, said, "We have introduced many
new measurement functions for oscilloscopes. Tektronix 5/6 Series oscilloscopes
now have the ability to perform the 2-port
shunt-through PDN impedance measurements, component impedance measurement, TDR measurements, noise-density
measurements, VNA and FRA measurements to 8 GHz, DC-biased inductor
measurements, DC/DC negative-resistance measurements, and clock
power-supply modulation-ratio

measurements (PSMR). These were all
introduced in 2019." He added that many
of the company's capabilities are unique,
citing in particular that the Picotest
NISM closed-loop stability
assessment will soon be
available for the 5/6 Series
oscilloscopes.
Asked about software, Schulze at
Rohde & Schwarz cited a special signal-integrity bundle to provide customers with
unique functions for an attractive price.
He also cited complete test solutions for
debugging and compliance testing of
serial protocols. "These include special
software, fixtures, and probes for industrial, embedded, and automotive buses
such as USB, SPI, DDR, and Automotive
as well as industrial Ethernet." Finally,
he mentioned special spectrum-analysis
software, frequency zone triggering, and
signal analysis capabilities.
Smith commented that PicoScope 6 PC
software is regularly updated and offered
free to customers, as new capabilities and
functionality are developed. As an example, he said the company last year added
decoders for Manchester/DALI as well as
a BroadR-Reach solution. "BroadR-Reach
is a full-duplex protocol operating on a
single unshielded twisted pair (UTP), so
users need a tool to separate the traffic in
each direction," he said. "The PicoScope
BroadR-Reach decoder/analyzer includes
an innovative nonintrusive software-directional-coupler math-channel function
that utilizes two probing points a known
distance apart and a velocity-of-propagation algorithm to separate the transmitted data waveforms in each direction."
Rizzo at RIGOL cited
integrated power-analysis software as
usef u l for

Digilent Analog Discovery 2, with 12
instruments in a 3 in. x 3-in. tool.

EVALUATION ENGINEERING FEBRUARY 2020

customers implementing switch-mode
supplies. In addition, "Our Jitter and
Real-time Eye application is a powerful
tool for those characterizing serial communications," he continued. "Protocol
Analysis allows complete embedded debug, and a web-browser interface allows
for simple remote instrument monitoring
and control.
SIGLENT also supports power analysis.
Chonko said, "The Power Analysis option
for the SDS5000X Series provides multiple
measurements that are critical for powersupply designers trying to get the most
out of their products.
According to Franz at Digilent,
"WaveForms is our powerful multi-instrument software application. It seamlessly connects to our USB portable oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and function
generator products such as both versions
of the Analog Discovery, the Digital
Discovery, and the Electronics Explorer
board, with full Windows, Mac OS X, and
Linux support. This software, coupled
with the hardware instrumentation,
brings a powerful suite of instruments to
enable analog and digital design on your
personal computer. Designed with a clean,
easy-to-use graphical interface for each
instrument, WaveForms makes it easy to
acquire, visualize, store, analyze, produce,
and reuse analog and digital signals. And
the best part? It's free."

Applications
With respect to applications, Keysight
cited RF technologies that have pushed
frequencies above 100 GHz with bandwidth needs reaching tens of GHz, including technologies such as 802.11ay (WiGig),
802.11ad (gigabit wireless), satellite communications, radar, and 5G. "Keysight recognized the growing need for a cost-effective oscilloscope that supported today's
emerging mmWave-technology widebandwidth measurement requirements,"
said Brad Doerr, vice president and general manager of digital and photonics R&D
for Keysight's Communications Solutions
Group, in a press release. "Keysight's UXR
is the first oscilloscope on the market to
address mmWave technologies and advanced applications such multiple input,
multiple output (MIMO) with up to four

http://www.rsleads.com/002ee-198 http://www.rsleads.com/002ee-218 http://www.rsleads.com/002ee-218 http://www.rsleads.com/002ee-218

Evaluation Engineering

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Evaluation Engineering