FlexRes scopes deliver flexible resolution, deep capture memory, and mixed-signal capability
Pico Technology today introduced the PicoScope 5000D Series FlexRes oscilloscopes and MSOs that feature up to 16 bits of vertical resolution with up to 200-MHz bandwidth and 1-GS/s sampling speed. FlexRes hardware employs multiple high-resolution ADCs at the input channels in different time-interleaved and parallel combinations to optimize either the sampling rate to 1 GS/s at 8 bits, the resolution to 16 bits at 62.5 MS/s, or other combinations in between.
PicoScope 5000D MSO models add 16 digital channels, providing the ability to accurately time-correlate analog and digital channels. Digital channels may be grouped and displayed as a bus with each bus value displayed in binary, hex, decimal, or level (for DAC testing). Advanced triggers can be set across both the analog and digital channels.
PicoScope 5000D Series oscilloscopes have waveform capture memory up to 512 MS. Deep memory enables the capture of long-duration waveforms at maximum sampling speed. PicoScope’s DeepMeasure tool uses the deep memory to analyze every cycle contained in each triggered waveform acquisition. It displays results in a table, with the parameter fields shown in columns and waveform cycles shown in rows. The current version of the tool includes twelve parameters per cycle and can display up to a million cycles.
Serial decoding and analysis is included as standard. Decoding helps users to see what is happening in their design to identify programming errors and check for signal integrity issues. Key applications are addressed with support for 18 protocols in automotive (CAN, CAN-FD, FlexRay, LIN, SENT), embedded (1-Wire, I2C, I2S, SPI), avionics (ARINC 429), computer (100BASE-T, PS/2, UART/RS-232, USB), industrial (MODBUS RTU and ASCII), lighting (DMX512), and hobby (DCC) applications.
PicoScope 5000D Series oscilloscopes feature a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connection, providing fast saving of waveforms while retaining compatibility with older USB standards. The PicoSDK software development kit supports continuous streaming to the host computer at rates up to 125 MS/s.
“The 5000D builds on the success of PicoScope 5000A/B Series flexible resolution oscilloscopes that were introduced back in 2013. The 5000D gives designers and test engineers the versatility they need to make measurements on the wide range of waveforms encountered in today’s embedded systems,” said Trevor Smith, business development manager, test and measurement, at Pico Technology. “This allows users to capture and decode fast digital signals and to look for distortion in sensitive analog signals, all using the same oscilloscope.”
PicoScope software takes advantage of modern PC processing power with an equation editor that allows users to define complex waveform mathematical functions. These include filters (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, and bandstop), trigonometry, exponentials, logarithms, statistics, integrals, and derivatives. Waveform maths can also be used to plot live signals alongside historic peak, averaged or filtered waveforms.
The PicoSDK software development kit enables users to write their own applications for the PicoScope 5000D hardware. Drivers for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac (macOS), and Linux (including Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone) are included. Sample code, hosted on the Pico Technology GitHub pages, shows how to interface to third-party software packages such as Microsoft Excel, National Instruments LabVIEW, and MathWorks MATLAB and programming languages like C, C#, C++, and Visual Basic .NET.
PicoScope 5000D Series oscilloscopes are priced from $1,155 to $3,025.