Sampling Method Mainstreams Precision Logic Analysis

The innovative MagniVu signal-acquisition and sampling technique is featured in Tektronix's TLA5000 series logic analyzers: models TLA5201, TLA5202, TLA5203, and TLA5204, with 34 to 136 channels. They deliver the same timing acquisition and resolution performance as the TLA7000 series. The 2-GHz instruments feature 500-ps/320-Mbyte deep memory timing with simultaneous 125-ps MagniVu high resolution per channel. Each provides 500-ps memory timing on quarter channels, 1-ns timing on half channels, and 2- to 50-ms timing on all channels. State acquisition is 235 MHz with up to 32 Mbytes of memory depth.

With MagniVu, incoming data is sampled once every 125 ps. A small local memory keeps an independent, continuously updated record of the time. Users can even move this memory around, applying it where it's most needed. Simultaneously, the main memory accumulates multiple milliseconds worth of data at rates up to 500 ps. The two memories are automatically time-correlated at each sample point, allowing a designer to view an event's placement (such as a glitch or clock edge) with 125-ps resolution.

The instruments include iView (Integrated View) capability to view, trigger on, and characterize digital and analog characteristics of signals. Users can integrate a TLA5000 with over 40 TDS scope models, from the high-performance Tektronix TDS6000 and TDS7000 series to the mid-range TDS5000 series and to the 1000, 2000, and 3000B value oscilloscope series. TLA5000 pricing starts at $9200, with availabity in eight weeks.

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