How to pick the right oscilloscope for your needs

Oscilloscope is a widely used electronic measuring instrument. It can transform invisible electrical signals into visible images, which is helpful for people to study the change process of various electrical phenomena. The oscilloscope uses a narrow electron beam composed of high-speed electrons to hit the screen coated with fluorescent materials to produce small light spots (this is the working principle of traditional analog oscilloscopes).

Oscilloscope is an instrument used to measure the shape of alternating current or pulse current wave, which is composed of electron tube amplifier, scanning oscillator, cathode ray tube, etc. In addition to observing the current waveform, it can also measure the frequency, voltage intensity, etc. Any periodic physical process that can be changed into an electrical effect can be observed with an oscilloscope.

Classification according to different signals
The analog oscilloscope uses an analog circuit (oscilloscope tube, electron gun is the basis). The electron gun emits electrons to the screen. The emitted electrons are focused to form an electron beam, which is directly hit on the screen. The inner surface of the screen is coated with fluorescent material, so that the point hit by the electron beam will emit light.

Digital oscilloscope is a high-performance oscilloscope manufactured by a series of technologies such as data acquisition, A/D conversion, and software programming. The digital oscilloscope converts the measured voltage into digital information through analog converter (ADC). The digital oscilloscope captures a series of sample values of the waveform, and stores the sample values. The storage limit is to judge whether the accumulated sample values can describe the waveform, and then the digital oscilloscope reconstructs the waveform. Digital oscilloscope can be divided into digital storage oscilloscope (DSO), digital fluorescence oscilloscope (DPO) and sampling oscilloscope.

In order to improve the bandwidth of analog oscilloscope, oscilloscope tube, vertical amplification and horizontal scanning should be comprehensively promoted. To improve the bandwidth of digital oscilloscope, only the performance of the front-end A/D converter needs to be improved, and there is no special requirement for oscilloscope and scanning circuit. In addition, digital oscilloscope tube can make full use of memory, storage and processing, as well as a variety of trigger and advance trigger capabilities. In the 1980s, digital oscilloscopes emerged as a new force with numerous achievements. They are likely to replace analog oscilloscopes in an all-round way. Analog oscilloscopes have indeed retreated from the foreground to the background.

Classification according to structure and performance
1. Ordinary oscilloscope. The circuit structure is very simple, the frequency band is relatively narrow, and the scanning linearity is somewhat poor, so it is only suitable for observing waveforms.

2. Multi purpose oscilloscope. The frequency band is wide, the scanning linearity is good, and the quantitative test of DC, low-frequency, high-frequency, ultra-high frequency signals and pulse signals can be carried out. With the help of amplitude calibrator and time calibrator, the measurement accuracy can reach ± 5%.

3. Multi line oscilloscope. The multi beam oscilloscope tube is used to display more than two waveforms of signals with the same frequency on the fluorescent screen at the same time, without time difference and accurate timing relationship.

4. Multi trace oscilloscope. With the structure of electronic switch and gating circuit, it can simultaneously display more than two waveforms of signals with the same frequency on the fluorescent screen of a single beam oscilloscope tube. However, there is time difference and the timing relationship is inaccurate.

5. Sampling oscilloscope. The sampling technology is used to convert high frequency signal into analog low frequency signal for display, and the effective frequency band can reach GHz level.

6. Memory oscilloscope. Using the storage oscilloscope tube or digital storage technology, the single electrical signal transient process, non periodic phenomena and ultra-low frequency signals are kept on the fluorescent screen of the oscilloscope tube or stored in the circuit for repeated testing.

7. Digital oscilloscope. There is a microprocessor inside and a digital display outside. Some products can display both waveforms and characters on the oscilloscope screen. The measured signal is sent into the data memory through the analog digital converter (A/D converter). Through keyboard operation, the data of the captured waveform parameters can be added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, averaged, square root, root mean square, etc., and the answer number is displayed.

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