The Making of 12-Bit Scope Hardware

In many applications, the accuracy of a true 12-bit oscilloscope is not only desirable, but necessary. Going forward, this will become the case more and more often. When choosing one, it's a good idea to peek under the covers and gain a little insight into how the instrument operates. Having discussed in an earlier post the advantages of oscilloscopes with 12-bit vertical resolution, let's look at the ways in which that resolution is accomplished in hardware.

Oscilloscope Basics: Oscilloscope Bandwidth

Among the most important basic specifications of a digital oscilloscope is its bandwidth. Knowing a bit about bandwidth and the influences on the specification can be very helpful in selecting the right oscilloscope for your application. This post will cover some fundamental aspects of oscilloscope bandwidth.

Zero in on Power Analysis

Given the emphasis on "green" initiatives, in which anything and everything is touted as "energy efficient," there's been lots of chatter about low-power design. Naturally, much attention is focused on switched-mode power supplies, power devices, and power-conversion circuitry of all kinds. This is where a lot of power efficiency is either lost or gained, depending on how carefully you approach the design task. You know, a milliohm here, a milliohm there, and pretty soon you're talking about real voltage drops that are going to affect the performance of a power-distribution system.

Spectrogram Display Is Another Tool in the SI Shed

An oscilloscope with spectrum-analysis capability marries the best that both instruments offer in one package. You get the traditional oscilloscope view of signals in the time domain, but you also get the spectrum analyzer’s ability to take the same signal and look at it from the frequency perspective.

Check Constellation Diagrams for Digital Data Integrity

Data-communication systems that rely on quadrature signal generation to phase-encode data can run into a number of signal-corrupting snags. These can include things like Gaussian noise, non-coherent single-frequency interference, phase noise, and attenuation in the channel and/or receiver, to name a few. But did you know that you can use your digital oscilloscope to diagnose problems like these?

You Can’t Eliminate Noise You Can’t Measure

Noise within a circuit or system is, by most anyone’s definition, the bane of the engineer’s existence. It can be maddening to track down and even more so to solve. It can come from many different sources, from thermal problems to cold solder joints to grounding issues, and often from more than one at the same time. On top of that, it’s a random phenomenon by nature. Noise detection and analysis is a matter of having the right tool(s). It’s especially helpful if those tools span the time, frequency, and statistical domains. Naturally, an oscilloscope is the go-to tool for noise measurement and analysis.