Oscilloscope features need not be proportional to bandwidth
Giving users of mid-range oscilloscope the software tools typically found on only high-end scopes is the goal of LeCroy, which has introduced six new full-featured M-Type scopes in the 200-MHz to 2-GHz range. The scopes, reported product marketing manager Dan Monopoli at Lecroy’s booth at the Embedded Systems Conference, come standard with features such as WaveScan, a search and analysis feature; WaveStream, a fast viewing mode; and LabNotebook, a documentation and report-generation tool.
These tools, said Monopoli, have traditionally been included on high-end scopes with bandwidths beyond 2 GHz, but he said many users with modest bandwidth requirements still need advanced tools to look at the frequency spectrum, analyze jitter, or perform mixed-signal measurements. Specifically, the new scopes include the WaveRunner MXi models, which ship standard with a variety of analysis tools and application programs that can generate histograms, support long-memory FFTs, facilitate user-defined functions, perform mixed-signal measurements, and provide for power -device analysis as well as jitter and timing analysis. In addition, the new WaveSurfer MXs oscilloscopes help an engineer find rare events and glitches; they include a built-in HDTV trigger come with an advanced math package that supports 1 million point FFTs.
LeCroy has a protocol-analysis division, which is a natural fit for the Embedded Systems Conference (and that division did indeed have a presence at the show, announcing support for PCI Express 2.0 and I/O virtualization-based applications). Monopoli pointed out that the M-Type oscilloscopes, too, support embedded applications because of their mixed-signal support and their ability to provide protocol analysis for bused like I2C, SPI, CAN, LIN, and FlexRay.
In a sense, the engineers designing LeCroy’s scopes are benefiting from the embedded systems they are helping others test. Monopoli said the scopes’ embedded processors have become sufficiently powerful to perform functions like 1 million point FFTs without adding a lot of cost to the instrument.
