Oscilloscope Basics: Cal Out and Aux Out

Fig. 1: Cal Out and Aux Out 
provide many useful outputs.

Oscilloscopes are generally thought of in terms of the signals that are input to them, but even oscilloscopes that are not equipped with function/signal generators can usually output some useful test signals.

Nearly all oscilloscopes have a Cal Out (calibration output) terminal on the front. Most Teledyne LeCroy oscilloscopes also have an Aux Out (auxiliary output) connector on either the front or back, depending on  model. Both outputs provide configurable signals that can assist you to compensate probes and attenuators, test frequency response, trigger waveform acquisition and coordinate multiple test instruments.

Configuring Dynamic Oscilloscope Measurements Using Advanced Customization

Figure 1. The Advanced Customization option
lets you seamlessly and continuously update the
input of one parameter with the output of another.

With the installation of the Advanced Customization (XDEV) option on Teledyne LeCroy MAUI® oscilloscopes, you can create a measurement parameter whose input value is dynamically updated with each new trigger by the output value of another measurement parameter. All that is required is three simple lines of VBScript. 

To demonstrate, we’ll use the example of taking the x@max value measured on each acquisition and using it to dynamically populate the X position used by the measurement parameter lvl@x. However, these principles could be applied to any two parameters that share a logical/mathematical relationship, or to a parameter and a math function (for example, to use the output of a parameter as the multiplier for a Rescale function).