Purpose of an oscilloscope

The most sophisticated oscilloscopes employ computers to process and display waveforms. These computers can use any type of display, including . The main purpose of an oscilloscope is to graph an electrical signal as it varies over time. An example of an oscilloscope display. A signal (the yellow sine wave in this case) is .

This is useful for measuring such things as clock frequencies, duty cycles of pulse-width-modulated signals, propagation delay, or signal rise and fall times.

It can also alert you to the presence of glitches in your logic or bouncing switches.

The magnitude of each sampled point is equal to the amplitude of the input signal at the time the signal is sampled. In this experiment you will learn very basic operations that include displaying two waveforms, determining their amplitude, frequency, and phase. So many of the experiments in the advanced labs make use of oscilloscopes and function generators that it is useful to learn their general operation. The oscilloscope is an electronic time machine!

Learning how to use an oscilloscope means being introduced to an entire lexicon of terms. Key Oscilloscope Specifications. Some scopes are better than others. An easy-to-understand explanation of how we can use oscilloscopes to study and measure all kinds of electrical signals that change with time. The capacitance of the wire in the test probe can cause an oscilloscope to inaccurately display high speed signals.

Essentials of oscilloscope trigger capability including scope triggering, hold-off, trigger level and the overall operation of the trigger function. The basics or instructions of how to use an oscilloscope , and using an oscilloscope to measure and fault find electronics circuits. The function of an oscilloscope is to be able to display waveforms on some form of display. In this way it is possible to see an electronic waveform on an oscilloscope as it may be . Triggering can get fairly complex, there are occasions when people use external trigger sources and specify special trigger . A digital storage oscilloscope (often abbreviated DSO) is an oscilloscope which stores and analyses the signal digitally rather than using analog techniques.

It is now the most common type of oscilloscope in use because of the advanced trigger, storage, display and measurement features which it typically provides. Horizontal: This is the time base. Trigger: This is the triggering of the oscilloscope. Tony and Ian from Tektronix walk through what is an oscilloscope , how to use an oscilloscope , and other oscilloscope basics.

OK these days they have more functions . The XY oscilloscope mode plots one channel against another on the screen. Uses include I–V curves and Lissajous figure to show phase difference.