The real-time scope BW bar has just been raised from 30 GHz GHz to 60 GHz by end of 2011 and 45 GHz by end of 2010. The maximum sample rate on 4 channels has been raised from 50 GS/s to 80 GS/s. The new BW and sample rate values ushers in abilities to look at 224 Gb and 100 Gb serial data signals with real time scopes.
Real-time medium to high BW scopes are now hardware BW and sample rate upgradeable. Users that need more performance can potentially access it without having to purchase a new scope. New users can purchase just the performance they need.
Scope software continues to improve and evolve with several new releases each year that can be downloaded and installed off the web for free. Similar to Software Defined Radios, more and more of what scopes can do is being defined with software more than custom hardware circuitry.
Most medium to high bandwidth models have at least 10 M of acquisition memory per channel. Every trigger and sweep can represent a very large amount of data to process. Zoomed down to a few cycles viewed, more than 10 miles of contiguous signal data is being acquired and displayed each sweep. Add the processing load of measurements, DSP, and maintaining a brisk trigger and update rate is a significant scope design challenge.
Scope CPU performance now comes from the integration of very fast personal computer (PC) motherboards embedded in the scope hardware. 64 bit Quad Core processors now address up to 8 G of RAM and support fast I/Os. DSOs have integrated the benefits of PC networking (printing, remote control, and data storage) at a reduced cost. Scope's graphical user interfaces (GUIs) have pull-down menus, Legacy Knobs and Touch Screens for flexible control. Latest DSO models have introduced 64 bit Windows OS and process data up to 20 times faster.
All of today's high end and mid-range DSOs run Windows. The most sophisticated scopes are running as many as 5 Million lines of C code for the scope application. Windows has also increased the scope maintenance realities with anti-virus, service packs, IT department involvements, security sanitization procedures, and hard disk drives. Low end portable scopes in the 200 MHz to 1 GHz models may run proprietary OS or Windows. Most other stand alone portables below 200 MHz use a non-Windows, proprietary OS.
Deep memory (10 M or more per channel) has become a useful new standard with Serial Decoding and Triggering. I2C, SPI, CANBUS, FlexRay, and RS-232 can be seen decoded right on the scope. Now timing measurements can be easily triggered and time referenced to specific packets and addresses.
Modern scope models have tools that enable millions of measurements to be taken with
Statistics. Measurement statistics reveal the edges of each measurement as being in, out,
or too close to specification. This is a powerful method to determine signal integrity and circuit
system qualifications. When values measured are problematic, the modern DSO helps find the
anomalies and then their root causes.
To detect and measure changes or variances. This is often the most needed scope capability.
Features such as
are new tools that with deep memory to show how, when, and where a signal changes over time.
Modern scopes are PCs that can be viewed and controlled from anywhere on the net. Scope apps talk with third party apps (LabView, MatLAB, C++, VB, Excel, etc.) for custom measurements, DSP, and sequencing. Test results flow easily to server side databases.
Perhaps the most important evolvement is Virtual Probing. It is now possible to remove (de-embed) the effects of cable, probe, fixture, vias, backplane, and measure at a targeted end point. That could be at the pads of a chip buried in a ball grid array - physically not available for probing - but now accessible with virtual probing.
The link below is a 5 minute video with audio tutorial on how this new technology works.
Scopes remain the most powerful waveform measuring instrument. The opportunity is to fully quantify and map the real causes and effects that are present in all signals and circuits. Keep asking questions and get the right answers.