When the signals that matter are scattered across multiple instruments, the measurement problem becomes much larger than bandwidth alone. Correlation, trigger alignment, channel-to-channel skew, memory depth, probe loading, and the physical complexity of the bench all become part of the experiment.

Tektronix’s new DPO718AX is designed to collapse much of that complexity into one 8U rack instrument. Announced as an expansion of the company’s premium 7 Series DPO oscilloscope line (reading about the internal details and engineering of the core of this new machine, here, is highly advised), the model provides eight synchronized 50-Ω inputs with up to 25 GHz of bandwidth per channel (Fig. 1). The result is a scope intended not simply to observe one very fast waveform, but to capture how many fast signals behave together at the same moment.

The DPO718AX extends the architecture of the 7 Series platform into applications where engineers commonly divide the work across two high-end oscilloscopes or accept compromises in simultaneous bandwidth, sampling rate, correlation, or physical test setup. It targets advanced sensing, photon Doppler velocimetry, laser-ranging, spectroscopy, phased-array RF, electronic-warfare development, radar, and high-speed serial validation.

The key proposition is visibility: Capture more of the system before deciding which signal deserves attention.

That distinction matters in high-speed work. A conventional workflow might place one scope on a clock or trigger and another on data lanes or sensor outputs, and then you must rely on carefully managed triggering and postprocessing to reconstruct system behavior.

Even when that approach works, it increases setup time and introduces opportunities for missed interactions. A transient that occurs across power, timing, RF, optical systems, sensors, and data paths may be difficult to isolate if the channels aren’t captured synchronously.

With the DPO718AX, Tektronix said users can choose between two acquisition configurations:

• Four channels at 125 GSPS when maximum sample rate and minimum noise are the priority.
• Eight channels at 62.5 GSPS when simultaneous sensor, RF-path, or serial-lane coverage is more valuable.

The numbers reflect an engineering trade: More channels expose more of the system, while a smaller channel count concentrates acquisition resources on the selected inputs. In either mode, the instrument is positioned as a synchronized platform rather than a collection of independently operating measurement paths.

For multi-lane serial systems, eight single-ended channels correspond to four differential pairs. That allows concurrent capture of four differential lanes — useful for evaluating crosstalk, lane-to-lane timing behavior, equalization effects, and intermittent protocol- or channel-dependent impairments. In RF systems, those same eight channels can instead support coherent observation of multiple paths in a phased-array, radar, or other wideband architecture.

The practical benefit isn’t merely a larger channel count. It’s the ability to preserve timing relationships during the occurrence of a complex event.

The 7 Series platform was introduced as a modular high-performance oscilloscope architecture, emphasizing signal fidelity, scalability, and fast acquisition. The DPO718AX retains that platform’s core characteristics while extending the number of high-bandwidth inputs available at the front panel.

The expanded configuration is enabled by a rework of the front-panel arrangement to accommodate the existing five plug-in modules along with four additional Planar Crown modules (Fig. 2). Collectively, the added module positions provide eight 50-Ω inputs, each with as much as 25 GHz of bandwidth.

That approach is notable because it extends the machine without turning it into a two-box solution. High-performance oscilloscopes often consume substantial rack space once users add a second instrument, external synchronization hardware, switching infrastructure, and the cable management needed to bring related signals into a common measurement workflow.

According to the company, the DPO718AX consolidates eight synchronized channels in a single 8U configuration, avoiding an increase in rack footprint for teams that might otherwise deploy two instruments.

Of course, front-panel density is only part of the challenge. At 25 GHz, connector interfaces, cable behavior, fixture design, probe selection, signal-path loss, and channel matching all influence what’s ultimately seen by an engineer. A brief tour of the U.S. factory in Beaverton, Ore., revealed the meticulous efforts in measurement and calibration of each instrument and every one of its eight signal channels, taking no shortcuts to ensure fully matched behavior across all eight channels.

Tektronix specifies 12-bit ADC resolution, high effective number of bits (ENOB), and ultra-low random noise for the DPO718AX. Its QuietChannel technology actively compensates for high-speed signal loss, a capability intended to improve measurement fidelity when the signal path itself would otherwise obscure the device-under-test behavior.

Bandwidth and channel count receive most of the attention in a product announcement like this one. But sustained usefulness in a system-debug instrument also depends on record length and the ability to move through large datasets without turning analysis into a waiting exercise.

The DPO718AX provides 500 Mpoints of standard record length, expandable to 2 Gpoints, in both four- and eight-channel operation. That’s important for measurements where a brief high-frequency event must be understood in the context of a longer operating cycle. A rare pulse anomaly, for example, may only make sense when viewed alongside a preceding control event, a power transient, or a gradual change in system state.

The scope also includes 96 GB of memory and GPU-assisted processing. For moving large captures to external computing resources, it supports 10-GbE SFP+ LAN and Tektronix’s TekHSI library. The company’s TekScope PC environment can display and compare data from as many as four oscilloscopes on one screen, allowing teams to review results off-instrument and compare multiple systems or test conditions.

Tek’s user interface has been a common platform across all of its high-end scopes. It creates familiar controls and operation for engineers and scientists looking to increase their accuracy, bandwidth, channel count, and/or signal processing capabilities in the lab or field.

The DPO718AX isn’t intended to eliminate all multi-instrument test configurations. Rather, it gives users the option to put more tightly related channels into a single coherent acquisition domain before expanding outward to a broader test system.

The new added-channels configuration aligns with several classes of measurement problems where correlation is often as critical as waveform shape.

In photon Doppler velocimetry and other advanced optical measurements, multiple sensors may observe different locations or aspects of an event. Synchronized acquisition helps identify timing differences, spatial variation, signal loss, and propagation effects without relying on separate captures that may not reproduce an event in exactly the same way.

For phased-array RF and radar developers, the instrument’s eight channels can support coherent multi-channel analysis using the SignalVu PC. The software supports spectral, advanced vector-signal, pulse, and radar measurements. In such systems, relationships among paths, including timing, phase, amplitude, pulse characteristics, and modulation behavior, often matter more than any one channel in isolation.

In high-speed digital validation, the ability to capture four differential lanes simultaneously can simplify a test setup while exposing interactions that are inherently system level. Crosstalk, coupled noise, lane-dependent jitter, equalization behavior, and simultaneous switching effects become easier to investigate when the relevant waveforms share one trigger and one acquisition timeline.

The 7 Series also supports multi-signal jitter and eye-diagram analysis for non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM) signaling, along with signal-integrity modeling intended to de-embed the signal path to the device-under-test (DUT) pin, model actual interconnect behavior, and apply equalization.

For existing 7 Series users, the company plans to offer an upgrade kit to move qualifying instruments to the expanded DPO718AX configuration. That path could be particularly significant for laboratories that adopted the earlier platform for its fidelity and modularity but now face a growing need for simultaneous high-bandwidth capture.

The DPO718AX is available immediately. Several systems were visible on the Tektronix shop floor during a brief site visit this week by Electronic Design. This suggests that the eight-channel configuration is being announced with the instrument in production, rather than remaining future roadmap vaporware.

Tektronix also plans to introduce its P7725 TriMode probe this fall. The probe is designed for the 7 Series and specified for high-speed serial measurements with up to 25 GHz of bandwidth. That addition matters because a high-bandwidth oscilloscope is only as capable as the probe, fixture, cabling, and signal-integrity workflow connected to it.

In the end, the DPO718AX represents a familiar direction for high-end oscilloscopes: more speed, more bandwidth, and more compute. But the more consequential change may be simpler. By putting eight synchronized 25-GHz channels into one instrument, which Tektronix claims as being unprecedented, this new scope gives engineers a better way to look at the intricate details within complex high-bandwidth systems.

For Electronic Design readers’ convenience, we’re appending this PDF of the Tek product brief on the DPO718AX: