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PicoScope 6 User's Guide

1. PicoScope 6 PC Oscilloscope Software User s Guide psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Table of Contents i Table of Contents TIVE ON Es tdi a 1 LN EN SIO NOA 2 SACO UICN A 3 Legal statement ii NAS A O 4 2 Contact information sia SA AAA A AAA 5 3 How touse this Manilal oi il 5 A System requirements iii A AA 6 4 WSING FICOSCOPE TOR ENS MESE a A A A A A 7 gt FICOSCODE ANA OSCINOSCODE PINE iii abia 8 TOsalloscoperba ics sonas fSepeputessteesntassueangeaseusa N 8 DiPCO Bases ia eileen 9 3 PicoScope basico nuts 10 li Capturemades io a ee del 11 2 How do capture modes work With Views cccooooooocononcoooccnncnonananacanononanacnnnnonnnnancnnnnnnnnaconnncnnnnnncnnnno conan nn nnnnnnn cn nnnnnnnnac cn nnnnnnnaancnnos 12 APIO cope WINTOW A A ad 13 PEE EI ia 14 6 Post trigger arrow ii A ENE A EAA 15 7 Tuesermarier sites dia 15 8 Spectrum view ua AA A IA 16 O Persistente mode add dae 17 10 Measurements table sion sunseatanucassozuad vivaaundsounsnes AEE E O EEEN 18 11 Resolutonienhancementinicidasausii dido idea 20 12 Cursor position tool posi laa a de a e a a REE 21 I3 Sie alrulers ei A sth ER 22 Aimar earnen N A AA 23 15 R ler legend dia dto 24 16 Freque ey lege d ar iia 24 17 Properties Sheet iii id A A 25 18 Custom probes tc AS 26 MENUS ds 27 MEL Ct ita TA 28 USaveAsidialog a A A RR AA 29 X Startup Sett
2. Quantifying Resolution Enhancement The table below shows the size of the moving average filter for each resolution enhancement setting A bigger filter size requires a higher sampling rate to represent a given signal without significant side effects as detailed above Resolution Number of enhancement values e bits n 0 5 2 1 0 4 1 5 8 2 0 16 2 5 32 3 0 64 3 5 128 4 0 256 Example Your scope device is a PicoScope 5204 resolution 8 bits You have selected an effective resolution of 9 5 bits The resolution enhancement is therefore e 9 5 8 0 1 5 bits The table shows that this is achieved using a moving average of n 8 samples This number gives a clue to what sort of filtering effect the resolution enhancement will have on the signal The best way of seeing the actual low pass filter effect is to add a spectrum view and look at the shape of the noise floor try dragging the axis offset upwards to see it more clearly Cursor position tool tip The cursor position tool tip is a box that displays the horizontal and vertical axis values at the cursor location It appears temporarily when you click the background of a view 113 In a scope view 14 it shows time and signal values and in a spectrum view 18 it shows frequency and signal values Cursor position tool tip 26 761 fps 30 897 340 897 m Cursor position tool tip in a scope view Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights rese
3. psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 33 The Number of values is a 32 bit integer describing the number of numerical values in the array This value may be 1 for variables that only describe one value but for arrays of samples or times expect this to be a large number Name length The Name length is the length of the name of the variable as a null terminated 1 byte per character ASCII string The last null terminating character 107 is included in the Name length so if the variable name is TStart same as TStart 0 then the name length will be 7 The data block The data block begins with the name of the variable such as A Tinterval and you should read in the number of bytes described by the Name length part of the header not forgetting that the last byte in the string is 10 if your programming language needs to take account of this The remaining part of the data block is the actual data itself so read in the number of values described in the Number of values part of the header Remember to take account of the size of each value as described in the Data format part of the header Channel data such as voltages in variables such as A and B are stored as 32 bit single precision floating point data types Times such as Tstart Tinterval and T are stored as 64 bit double precision floating point data types Tlength is stored
4. y A A A ST to ai Decayed Intensity 0 Custom Line Drawing Phosphor Emula se Color Scheme Phosphor se Background User Preference se Data Hold Decay Timeout se Persistence Mode Time Decay se Close Mode Digital Color This mode uses a range of colors to indicate the frequency of waveform data Red is used for the most frequent data and less frequent data is represented successively by yellow and blue psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 75 Analog Intensity This mode uses color intensity to indicate the age of waveform data The latest data is drawn at full intensity in the selected color for that channel with older data being represented by paler shades of the same color Advanced This mode opens up a Custom Options section at the bottom of the dialog that let you customise the persistence mode display Decay Time The time in milliseconds taken for waveform data to fade from maximum intensity to minimum intensity or from red to blue The longer the decay time the longer the older waveforms will remain on the screen Saturation The intensity or color with which new waveforms are drawn Decayed The intensity or color to which the oldest waveforms decay when the Intensity decay time expires If the decayed intensity is zero then older waveforms will be completely erased from the display after the decay time For non zero values of decayed i
5. Click the Add Measurement button on the measurements toolbar 70 To delete a measurement Select a measurement in the table by clicking once on it and then click the la Delete Measurement button on the measurements toolbar 70 To edit a measurement If the measurement you wish to edit is selected click the lai Edit Measurement button on the measurements toolbar 70 Otherwise double click on the measurement To change the width of a measurement column Drag the vertical separator between columns to create the column width you ay need as shown opposite 248 3 py T 1 775 ps rn 623 my psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 19 To change the update rate of the statistics The statistics Min Max Average Standard Deviation are based on the number of captures shown in the Capture Count column You can change the maximum capture count using the Capture Size control in the General page ss of the Preferences ss dialog Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 20 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 11 Resolution enhancement Resolution enhancement is a technique for increasing the effective vertical resolution of the scope at the expense of high frequency detail Selecting resolution enhancement does not change the scope s sampling rate or the number of samples available For this techniq
6. Restore any missing dialogs that you asked PicoScope not to show again Set all preferences back to their default values Maximum Waveforms This is the maximum number of waveforms that PicoScope will store in the waveform buffer ss The actual number of waveforms stored depends on the available memory and the number of samples in each waveform PicoScope allows up to 1 000 waveforms to be stored Change the mode of the Timebase control in the Capture Setup toolbar 71 Times per division the Timebase control displays time units per division for example 5 ns div Most laboratory oscilloscopes display timebase settings in this way Total collection time the Timebase control displays time units for the entire width of the scope view for example 50 ns Capture Size the number of successive captures that PicoScope uses to calculate the statistics in the Measurements Table 18 A larger number produces more accurate statistics but causes them to be updated less frequently psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 57 6 5 3 2 Power management page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It controls features of the oscilloscope that affect its power consumption Power Management Capture Rate Reduce the number of waveforms per second that the scope will capture to extend battery life or allow other applications to run Faster Unlimited se
7. Simple Edge Advanced Edge LE Window LS Pulse Width UE Interval La Window Pulse Width Wla Level Dropout Ulla Window Dropout a e g ne Logic e Simple Edge Advanced Edge TLA Mitin Source A se Direction Rising Source Direction se Threshold ov LH Rising se 4 simple edge trigger with no advanced features that triggers when a rising edge crosses the specified threshold Help Close Advanced trigger types list This control lists all the available advanced trigger types 83 Click on the condition you require and a diagram and description will appear on the right of the dialog If ETS triggering 112 is enabled in the triggering toolbar so then selecting any trigger type except Simple Edge switches off ETS mode Advanced triggering options The options available depend on the trigger type selected See Advanced trigger types 83 Instructions and diagrams also appear in the dialog psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 83 7 1 2 Advanced trigger types The advanced trigger types can be switched on in the Advanced Triggering dialog s2 For all trigger types the first step is to select which signal the scope should use as the trigger so set Source to either A B Ext or Auxl O These names correspond to the BNC input connectors on the scope device Then choose one of the trigger types below E Simple Edg
8. Tab delimited files store data in the following format Time Channel A Channel B us V V 500 004 SL LA DA DO 4 124 Le LOU 300 mee ee Ayala The files have a tab character after each value on a line to represent a column of data and a carriage return at the end of the line to represent a new row of data These files work in any language and are a good choice for sharing data internationally The 1 million values per channel limit prevents excessively large files being created Binary formats PicoScope 6 can export data 30 in version 4 of the mat binary file format This is an open format and the full specification is freely available from the www mathworks com website PicoScope 6 saves data into the MAT File format in a specific way which is detailed below Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 32 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Importing into Matlab Load the file into your workspace using this syntax load myfile Each channel s data is stored in an array variable named by the channel So the Sampled data for channels A to D would be in four arrays named A B C and D There is only one set of time data for all channels and this is loaded in one of two possible formats 1 A start time an interval and a length The variables are named Tstart Tinterval and Tlength 2 An array of times Sometimes used for ETS data The time array is named T If the times are
9. probe IN Each hardware scope has its own set of Input ranges Select a device from below to consider whilst setting up custom ranges Delete Picoscope 3423 Auto Generate Ranges The bar on the right demonstrates how Scaled Range much of the scope s input range ls being 0 OR utilised by the custom range currently selected from the list a Input Range How to use the dialog If you wish you can click Auto Generate Ranges and the program will create a number of ranges for the selected device This will create the same list of ranges that you would have obtained by selecting Let the software manage my ranges for me automatically in the previous dialog When you select a range a diagram below the list will show its relationship to the scope device s input range this is explained further under Edit range dialog 51 You can then edit the ranges by clicking Edit or you can also add a new range by clicking New Range Both of these buttons take you to the Edit Range dialog 51 Click Next to continue to the Custom Probe Identification dialog 53 Click Back to return to the Range Management dialog 49 How to use a new custom range After you have created oJ File Wiews Measurements Te a custom range it will appear in the drop Channels 1 msfdiv 1985 down list of ranges in toolbar the channels toolbar 67 like this ay custam range psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology A
10. Arbitrary waveform files Some PicoScope PC Oscilloscopes have an arbitrary waveform generator 112 AWG PicoScope can program this with a standard waveform such as a sine or a square wave or can import an arbitrary waveform from a text file A text file for PicoScope 6 is a list of decimal floating point values as in this example E 10 y 0 6 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 2 O45 0 2 04 0 0 041 02 03 04 05 06 07 05 ms O OO O O CO 0110 La O OQ O O OQ OO The file may have between 10 and 8 192 values as many it needs to define the waveform Each line may have more than one value in which case the values must be separated by tabs or commas The values are samples between 1 0 and 1 0 and must be equally spaced in time The output is scaled to the amplitude selected in the Signal Generator dialog 76 and the selected offset is added if necessary For example if the signal generator amplitude is set to 1 V then a sample value of 1 0 corresponds to an output of 1 0 V and a sample of 1 0 corresponds to an output of 1 0 V The file should contain exactly one cycle of the waveform which will then be played back at the speed specified in the Signal Generator dialog 78 In the example above the signal generator was set to 1 kHz so one cycle of the waveform lasts for 1 ms There are 10 samples in the waveform so each sample lasts for 0 1 ms Using files saved from PicoScope 6 As PicoScope 6 can export CSV and TXT files 3
11. 4 Add Measurement dialog 38 Adding a measurement 18 37 38 Address 5 Advanced measurement settings 39 Advanced Options menu 68 Advanced trigger types 83 Advanced triggering 80 82 Analog intensity 74 Arbitrary waveform files 78 Arbitrary waveform generator 76 Automotive measurements Burn time 105 Burn voltage 105 Crank RPM 105 Dwell angle 105 Dwell time 105 Injector duration 105 Peak burn voltage 105 Average statistics 18 Axis horizontal 14 16 vertical 14 16 Axis offset 93 Axis scaling 93 Axis scaling controls 69 B Battery power 5 7 Binary files exporting 31 Buffer Navigation toolbar 66 C Capture count 18 Capture modes 11 12 Capture rate preference 5 7 Capture Setup toolbar 71 Capture Size preference 56 Channel Options button 67 Channel Setup toolbar 67 Channels selecting in a view 35 Clipboard 34 Close file 28 Collection time units 56 Color preferences 62 Column auto width 37 Connect Device dialog 28 64 Contact information 5 Converter how to change 90 Copy as image 34 Copy as text 34 Copyright 4 Coupling control 67 Create New Custom Probe dialog 44 CSV files exporting 31 Cursor position tool tip 21 Custom grid layout dialog 36 Custom Probe wizard 44 Create New Custom Probe dialog 44 Edit Existing Custom Probe dialog 45 Edit Range dialog 51 Finished dialog 54 Lookup table Scaling dialog 48 Manual Ranges Setup dialog 50 Probe ID dialog 53 Probe Output Units
12. Setup toolbar 7 It is available only when a spectrum view 16 is open It contains controls that determine how PicoScope converts the source waveform in the current scope view to a spectrum view Spectrum Bins 16384 se Window Function Blackman se Display Mode Magnitude se Scale 2 Logarithmic J Linear Logarithmic unit dBErn se BOO 2 Apply l Close psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 73 Spectrum The number of frequency bins into which the spectrum ts divided This Bins control sets the maximum number of frequency bins which the software may or may not be able to provide depending on other settings The main constraint is that the number of bins cannot greatly exceed half the number of samples in the source waveform If the source waveform contains fewer samples than required that is fewer than twice the number of frequency bins then PicoScope zero pads the waveform up to the next power of two For example if the scope view contains 10 000 samples and you set Spectrum Bins to 16384 then PicoScope zero pads the waveform to 16 384 samples which is the nearest power of two above 10 000 It then uses these 16 384 samples to provide 8 192 frequency bins not the 16 384 requested If the source waveform contains more samples than required then PicoScope uses aS many samples as necessary starting from the beginning of the waveform buff
13. User s Guide 6 5 271 1 Lookup table Scaling dialog This dialog allows you to enter a look up table to calibrate a custom probe You can get here by clicking the Create a Look up Table button or Edit the Lookup Table button in the Scaling Method dialog 47 Lookup table Scaling Input units Scaled units Ok nts n 600 600 _ 300 350 Hep D D 300 350 600 600 Click to add a new row i Add Row LI Insert Row Above bl a Insert Row Below Delete Row WY Redo Import Export Copy ees Paste Delete a Select All Editing the Look up Table First select suitable values in the Input units and Scaled units drop down boxes For example if your probe is a current clamp that outputs one millivolt per ampere over the range 600 to 600 amperes select Input units of millivolts and Output units of amperes Next enter some data in the scaling table Click the first empty cell at the top of the table and type 600 then hit the Tab key and type 600 When you are ready to enter the next pair of values press the Tab key again to start a new row You can also right click on the table to obtain a more detailed menu of options as shown in the picture In the example above we have entered a slightly nonlinear response if the response had been linear then it would have been easier to use the linear option in the Scaling Method Dialog 47 I mport
14. area To display the Notes area click the Edit s menu and select Notes PicoScope 6 Sel Hotes mes are the waveforms from my sine wave square Wave experiment A Notes area can be displayed at the bottom of the PicoScope window You can enter any text you wish in this area You can also copy text from another program and paste it here psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 35 6 3 Views menu Click Views on the Menu bar 27 or right click on a view 113 Add view Rename view Close view Channels Grid Layout Arrange Grid Layout Reset View Sizes Move view To H Reset view Layout This menu controls the layout of PicoScope views 113 If you have more than one view then they are arranged in a grid Each location or viewport in this grid may contain a view or may be empty The contents of the Views menu may vary depending on where you click and how many views are open The menu is sometimes combined with the Measurements menu 37 Add View Rename View Close View Channels Grid Layout Arrange Grid Layout Add a view of the selected type scope 14 or spectrum 16 In automatic grid layout mode the default PicoScope rearranges the grid to make room for the new view up to a limit of four views Any further views will be added as tabs in existing viewports 13 If you have selected a fixed grid layout PicoScope will not chan
15. as a 32 bit integer startup Settings menu Go to the File menu 2s and click Startup Settings Save Startup Settings Load Startup Settings Reset Startup Settings The Startup Settings menu allows you to load save and restore the PicoScope 6 Startup settings Save Startup Settings Saves your current settings ready for when you next select Load Startup Settings These settings are remembered from one session of PicoScope 6 to the next Load Startup Settings Returns to the settings you created with the Save Startup Settings command Reset Startup Settings Deletes the startup settings you created with the Save Startup Settings command and restores the installation default settings Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 34 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 2 Edit menu Click Edit on the Menu bar 27 Copy as Image Copy as Text Motes Copy as Image Copies the active view to the clipboard as a bitmap You can then paste the image into any application that accepts bitmap images Copy as Text Copies the data in the active view to the clipboard as text You can paste the data into a spreadsheet or other application The text format is the same as that used by the Save As dialog 22 when you select the txt format Notes Opens a Notes area 34 at the bottom of the PicoScope window You can type or paste your own notes in this area 6 2 1 Notes
16. dialog 46 Range Management dialog 49 Scaling Method dialog 4 7 Custom probes 26 42 Custom Probes dialog 42 D Default Print Settings 61 Deleting a measurement 18 37 Demonstration mode 87 88 Demonstration Signals dialog 88 Demonstration Signals toolbar 87 Digital color 74 Display elements 8 Dropout trigger 83 E Edge trigger 83 Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 116 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Edit Existing Custom Probe dialog 45 Edit menu 34 Edit Range dialog 51 Editing a measurement 18 37 Effective resolution 20 Email addresses 5 Equivalent time sampling 80 Escape key 111 ETS 80 and Advanced Triggering 82 Exit 28 Exporting data 30 binary format 31 text format 31 F Fall time threshold 39 Falling edge button 80 Fax number 5 File menu 28 File menu preferences 59 Filter control for statistics 39 Filtering of measurements 18 Fitness for purpose 4 Frequency difference how to measure 91 Frequency legend 23 24 Frequency rulers 23 G General preferences 56 Glitches finding 83 Glossary 112 Graticule 14 16 Grid custom layout 36 layout 35 H Hand tool 86 Harmonic control for measurements 39 Help menu 63 Horizontal axis 14 16 Hysteresis 85 Image saving as 29 Interpolation linear 58 sin x x 58 Interval trigger 82 83 Introduction 3 K Keyboard shortcuts 86 111 L Language preferences 60 Legal statement 4 L
17. in a new place See How to move a view 92 Arrange Views Redistribute the views to fill the existing grid Reset View Layout Reset the scale factor and offset of the selected view to their default values 6 3 1 Custom grid layout dialog Right click on the PicoScope window to get the Views menu 35 then select the Grid Layout submenu and then the Custom layout command You can also find the View menu on the Menu bar 27 Custom grid layout Columns Ly If the Grid Layout section of the Views menu ss does not contain the layout you want this dialog allows you to lay out the view 113 grid with any number of rows and columns up to 4 by 4 You can then drag the views to different locations in the grid psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 37 6 4 Measurements menu Click Measurements on the Menu bar 27 4dd Measurement Edit Measurement Delet Grid Font Size 8 25 r Column Auto width Measurement 1 Add measurement Adds a row to the measurements table 18 and opens the Edit Measurement Dialog 3s You can also find this button on the Measurements toolbar 70 Edit measurement This takes you to the Edit Measurement Dialog ss You can find this button on the Measurements toolbar 70 or you can edit a measurement by double clicking on a row of the measurements Table 187 Delete measurement Removes the selected row f
18. modes When you first start PicoScope 6 it is in hidden mode Hidden All you can see is a tab labelled Properties at the right hand edge of the window Quick view To use quick view move the pointer over the tab but do not click on it The sheet will then slide into view and will disappear when you move the pointer away from it Focused view To enter this mode click on the Properties tab The Properties sheet will then remain in view until you click elsewhere on the PicoScope 6 window Fixed view Click the pin icon L in the title bar of the Properties sheet The icon changes to pinned e and the sheet remains visible while you use the other functions of PicoScope In this mode you can also move the sheet to any part of the window by dragging its title bar To hide the sheet click the pin icon again to return to quick view mode The sheet then disappears when you move the pointer away Glossary Window The window function 10 applied to the data before computing the spectrum This is selected in the Spectrum options dialog 72 Time gate The number of samples that PicoScope uses to compute a spectrum is equal to half the number of bins This number of samples is expressed as a time interval called the time gate It is measured from the start of the capture Accumulated Captures Size The number of captures used to produce each measurement in the measurements table 18 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology
19. on the Zooming and Scrolling toolbar se Ctrl O Zoom out tool Click on the waveform to zoom out Equivalent to the Zoom out tool button on the Zooming and Scrolling toolbar se Ctrl S Cancel a zoom or pan mode and restore the pointer to a standard or selection tool Equivalent to the Normal selection tool button on the Esc Zooming and Scrolling toolbar se Ctrl U Zoom to 100 scale Restores a view to its normal state Equivalent to the Zoom to 100 scale button on the Zooming and Scrolling toolbar 86 Page Up Load the previous waveform file psdata in the same directory as the currently loaded file Page Down Load the next waveform file psdata in the same directory as the currently loaded file Space Starts and stops the scope device Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 112 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 9 6 Glossary AC coupling In this mode the scope device rejects very low signal frequencies below about 1 hertz This allows you to use the full resolution of the scope to measure a c signals accurately ignoring any d c offset You cannot measure the signal level with respect to ground in this mode AWG An arbitrary waveform generator AWG is a circuit that can generate a waveform of almost any shape It is programmed with a data file supplied by the user which defines the output voltage at a number of equally spaced points in time The circuit use
20. psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 47 6 5 2 4 Scaling Method dialog This dialog follows the Probe Output Units dialog 4s It allows you to define the characteristic that PicoScope will use to convert the probe s voltage output to a measurement on the display Custom Probe Wizard Scaling Method A Custom Probe can apply scaling to the data before it is displayed Use a linear equation to scale the data y mx c Gradient m 100 Offset c 50 vols Use a look up table linearly interpolates between points on the table Dont apply any scaling to the data Cancel How to use the dialog If you do not require any scaling or offset click the Don t apply any scaling button gt If the probe requires linear scaling click the Use a linear equation button and enter the gradient or scale factor m and the offset c in the equation y mx c where y is the displayed value and x is the probe s voltage output If you wish to apply a nonlinear function to the probe s output choose Use a look up table then click the Create a Lookup Table button to create a new lookup table This will take you to the Lookup table Scaling dialog 48 Click Next to continue to the Range Management dialog 49 Click Back to return to the Probe Output Units dialog 46 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 48 PicoScope 6
21. the reset button La to return to an offset of 0 00 ARIS dragging cursor Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 70 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 3 Measurements toolbar The Measurements toolbar controls the measurements table 18 It contains the following buttons Add Measurement Adds a row to the table and then opens the Add Measurement dialog 38 Edit Measurement Opens the Edit Measurement dialog 38 for the currently selected measurement You can also edit a measurement by double clicking on a row of the measurements table 18 Delete Measurement Deletes the currently selected row from the measurements table 1s psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 71 4 Capture Setup toolbar The Capture Setup toolbar controls the time related or frequency related settings of your oscilloscope Scope Mode In scope mode 11 the toolbar looks like this As NL du F Soopsidie x x1 J s jim E See below for different versions of the toolbar in spectrum mode 72 and persistence mode 17 Pu Scope Mode Sets up PicoScope to operate as an oscilloscope 11 Use the Auto Setup button to optimise the settings If you wish you can add a secondary spectrum view 18 from the context menu by right clicking on the scope view TL Persistence Mode Toggles persistence mode 17 which allows old traces t
22. the start frequency of the sweep Signal Type Select the type of signal to be generated The list of options depends on the capabilities of the scope device Import Arbitrary For scope units that support arbitrary waveforms click to import an arbitrary waveform file 78 Sweep Mode Active Tick this box to enable sweep mode Otherwise the generator will operate at a fixed frequency set by the Start Frequency box Repeat Signal Tick this box to generate a repetitive sweep Otherwise the generator will reach Stop Frequency and then remain there Dual Slope In normal mode the generator increases the frequency linearly from Start Frequency to Stop Frequency and then immediately begins again at Start Frequency In Dual Slope mode it reaches Stop Frequency and then decreases the frequency linearly to Start Frequency before beginning again Sweep Type Specifies the direction in which the frequency Sweeps Stop Frequency In Sweep Mode the generator stops increasing the frequency when it reaches Stop Frequency Frequency Increment In Sweep Mode the generator increases or decreases the frequency by this amount every Increment Time Interval Increment Time Interval In Sweep Mode the generator increases or decreases the frequency by Frequency Increment once every time interval of this duration Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 78 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 5 2
23. to enable the demonstration signal generator Frequency Type your desired frequency in hertz or use the spin buttons Amplitude Type your desired amplitude in millivolts or use the spin buttons Offset Enter a number to add a d c offset to the demo signal By default the demo signals have a mean value of zero volts psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 89 8 How to This chapter explains how to perform some common tasks Change to a different scope device 90 Use rulers to measure a signal so Measure a time difference 91 Move a view 92 How to scale and offset a signal 93 How to set up the spectrum view ss Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 90 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 8 1 8 2 How to change to a different scope device Close PicoScope Unplug the old scope device 113 Plug in the new scope device Restart PicoScope PicoScope detects that the scope device has changed and immediately starts using the new device If there is more than one scope device connected PicoScope continues to use the device that was last selected How to use rulers to measure a signal Using a single ruler for signal to ground measurements Look at the Channels toolbar 67 to find the color code for the channel 112 you wish to measure Find the ruler handle the small colored square in the
24. to zoom PicoScope 6 File Edit Views Measurements Tools Help F soopsidiv x 5 007ks fF Ki 32 of 32 key 00 aceasta eta A 45V y oc 3 a y oc y 3 clv moc MR lol E EE Yo mv 0 075 111 0 0 925 88 82 1 925 666 2925 44 38 3825 22 15 5 0 0 069 22 29 44 51 566 74 2 Draw rectangle around area of interest PF so0ysidiv v 5 005 k5 3 Selected area is zoomed to fill view 0 087 111 0 osa 88 75 a 913 66 53 293 44 31 13 913 22 08 50 0138 22 36 44 58 0 319 0 348 1 0 1342 55 76 1249 1941 263 3 3325 401 7 4709 5404 609 3 Qla Era Y lla os ov Sls EVA We can of course use the scrollbars or the hand tool to navigate around this zoomed view without ever changing our carefully arranged signals Clicking the Zoom 100 button will take us back to the full view of our data and again this happens without affecting our axis scaling and offset set up psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 97 How is this different from scaling my data with a Custom Probe New Probe l You can create a Custom Probe 2 to apply scaling to the raw data A Custom Probe may change the scale and position of data on the graph but it has a few important differences from the other scaling methods Custom Probe scaling is a permanent transformation The scaling is applied when the
25. triggers on pulses wider than the specified time Less than triggers on pulses that are narrower useful for finding glitches Inside time range triggers on pulses that are wider than Time 1 but no wider than Time 2 useful for finding pulses that meet a specification Outside time range does the opposite it triggers on pulses that are either narrower than Time 1 or wider than Time 2 useful for finding pulses that violate a specification Next set the trigger Threshold in volts or other units or drag the Trigger marker 15 on the scope view Finally set up Time 1 and Time 2 if present to define the pulse width Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 84 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Uae Interval This type lets you search for two successive edges of the same polarity that are separated by a specified interval of time First set the Starting edge to either Rising or Falling according to the polarity of the edges you are interested in Next select one of the four Condition options Greater than triggers when the second edge occurs later than Time 1 after the first edge useful for detecting missing events Less than triggers when the second edge occurs earlier than Time 1 after the first edge useful for detecting timing violations and spurious edges Inside time range triggers when the second edge is later than Time 1 after the first edge and earlier than Time 2 usef
26. values difference S 1 E Time or frequency ruler e 0 Signal rulers 1 001me For a reminder of which row refers to which signal point using the mouse to one of the color coded boxes in the left hand margin and a label will appear like this Channel 4 See also freguency legend 24 5 16 Frequency legend O 126 32 kHz The frequency legend appears when you have placed two time rulers 23 on a scope view 14 It shows 1 A in hertz the SI unit of frequency equal to cycles per second where A Is the time difference between the two rulers You can use this to estimate the frequency of a periodic waveform but you will get more accurate results by creating a frequency measurement using the Add Measurements button on the Measurements toolbar 70 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 25 5 17 Properties sheet The Properties sheet is a summary of the settings that PicoScope 6 is using It normally appears to the right of the waveforms in the PicoScope window but you can move it if you wish Properties Sample interval ang Sample rate 125 M5s No samples 625006 window Blackman No bins 16304 Bin width 3 815 kHz Time gate Signal type Signal generator Frequency settings Amplitude Offset Accumulated Captures Size Positioning the Properties sheet Preferences The Properties sheet has a number of
27. width trigger 82 83 R Range Management dialog 49 Recent files list 59 Reference manual 63 Reset Don t show this again dialogs 56 Resolution enhancement 20 68 Rise time threshold 39 Rising edge button 80 Ruler legend 24 Rulers handles 14 16 time 14 16 voltage 14 16 S Sales email address 5 Sampling preferences 58 Sampling rate 71 Save As 28 dialog 29 Save file 28 Scale control 67 Scaling 10 93 Scaling Method dialog 47 Scope measurements AC volts 104 Cycle time 104 DC volts 104 Duty cycle 104 Fall time 104 Falling rate 104 Frequency 104 High pulse width 104 Low pulse width 104 Maximum 104 Minimum 104 Peak to peak 104 Rise time 104 Rising rate 104 Scope mode 11 Scope Mode button 71 Scope view 12 14 Scrolling 93 Selection tool normal 86 Signal difference how to measure 90 Signal Generator dialog 76 toolbar 76 Signal rulers 14 16 22 Sinx x x preferences 58 Slow sampling transition 58 Smoothing 58 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 118 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Software version 1 Space bar 79 111 Spectrum measurements Amplitude at peak 106 Frequency at peak 106 Intermodulation Distortion IMD Signal to Noise Ratio SNR 106 Spurious free Dynamic Range SFDR Total Harmonic Distortion THD 106 Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise THD N 106 Total power 106 106 106 Spectrum mode 11 Spectrum Mode butto
28. 1 you can capture a waveform and then play it back using the arbitrary waveform generator You must first modify the file by removing the header rows and time values so that its format matches the example above psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 79 7 6 Start Stop toolbar The Start Stop toolbar allows you to start and stop the scope device 113 the scope device whose view 113 is currently in focus 112 The Start button is highlighted if the scope device is sampling otherwise the Stop button is highlighted oO Start button Click to start sampling Stop button Click to stop sampling You can also use the space bar to start and stop sampling Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 80 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 _ Triggering toolbar The Triggering toolbar tells the scope device when to start capturing data See also Trigger 113 auto wv a a se 1 180 78 m4 EH 44 256 EJ 58 Trigger Mode None PicoScope acquires waveforms repeatedly without waiting for a signal Auto PicoScope waits for a trigger event before capturing data If there is no trigger event within a specified time it captures data anyway It repeats this process until you click the Stop button 79 Auto mode does not set up the trigger level automatically you still need to do this yourself Repeat PicoSco
29. 18 often used for audio work Gaussian 1 33 to 1 79 42 to 69 6 gives minimal time and frequency errors Triangular 1 28 27 12 also called Bartlett window Hamming 1 30 41 9 6 also called raised sine squared used in speech analysis Hann 1 20 to 1 86 23 to 47 12 to 30 also called sine squared used for audio amp vibration Blackman Harris 1 90 92 6 general purpose Flat top 2 94 44 6 negligible pass band ripple used mainly for calibration Rectangular 0 89 13 2 6 maximal sharpness used for Short transients psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 109 9 3 Trigger timing part 1 The pre trigger time control and post trigger delay control functions are described individually under Triggering toolbar so but the interaction between the two controls is also important to understand Here is a screen shot of a scope view 14 with post trigger delay enabled PicoScope 6 a File views Measurements Tools Automotive Window Help 2 0 mE Bol e Ellas ere E 0 A a E Pre trigger Post trigger Post trigger reference y b control l control button control point _ Note 1 The trigger reference point does not lie on the waveform This is because the post trigger delay is set to 3 3 ms which means that the trigger occurred 3 3 ms before the reference point somewhere off the left hand edge of the scope view 14 The time axis is aligned so that the trigger r
30. 2 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 6 5 3 55 Preferences dialog Click the Preferences command in the Tools menu 41 on the Menu bar 27 Preferences Files Languages Printing Colors General Power Management Sampling Reset Dont show this again dialogs Reset preferences E AAA ee A An nn ll a y y de This dialog allows you to set miscellaneous options for the PicoScope software Click one of the tabs on the screen shot above to learn more Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 56 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 3 1 General page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It contains general controls for PicoScope Pa General Pa a Reset Dont show this again dialogs Reset preferences Sets the maximum number of waveforms that can be stored in the waveform buffer The actual number will depend on how many samples are collected in each waveform Maximum Waveforms Collection Time Units 2 Times per Division 32 8 C Total collection time Measurement Statistics Sets the number of captures over which measurements statistics are calculated Capture Size 2 1000 20 3 Reset Don t show this again dialogs Reset preferences Waveform Buffer Collection Time Units Measurement Statistics
31. All rights reserved psw en 26 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 18 Custom probes A probe is any connector transducer or measuring device that you connect to an input channel of your scope device 113 PicoScope has a built in library of common probe types such as the x1 and x10 voltage probes used with most oscilloscopes but if your probe is not included in this list you can use the Custom Probes dialog 42 to define a new one Custom probes can have any voltage range within the capabilities of the oscilloscope display in any units and have either linear or nonlinear characteristics Custom probe definitions are particularly useful when you wish to display the probe s output in units other than volts or to apply linear or nonlinear corrections to the data psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 27 6 Menus Menus are the quickest way to get to PicoScope s main features The Menu bar is always present at the top of the PicoScope main window just below the window s title bar You can click any of the menu items or press the Alt key and then navigate to the menu using the cursor keys or press the Alt key followed by the underlined letter in one of the menu items Click a menu now for more information Fie Edit Views Measurements Tools Help The list of items in the menu bar may vary depending on the windows that you have open in PicoScope Copyrig
32. Current power mode Mains Capture Rate This control limits the speed at which PicoScope captures data from the scope device The other PicoScope settings the type of scope device 113 and the speed of the computer will all affect whether this limit can actually be reached PicoScope automatically selects the appropriate limit according to whether your computer is running on batteries or on mains line power The settings are in captures per second By default the capture rate is set to Unlimited when your computer is running on Mains AC power for maximum performance If other applications run too slowly on your PC whilst PicoScope is capturing then reduce the capture rate limit When your computer is running on Battery power PicoScope imposes a performance limit to save the battery You can increase this limit manually but this will cause the battery power to drain very quickly Probe Light Some PicoScope oscilloscopes have a built in probe tip light which is switched on by default You can switch it off here to save power Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 58 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 3 3 Sampling page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It controls the sampling behaviour of the oscilloscope Sampling Slow Sampling Transition Sets the collection time at which PicoScope will try to go into slow sampling mode This is the mode where PicoScop
33. Export Using the Import and Export buttons you can fill the look up table from data in a comma separated or tab delimited text file and save the look up table to new file Finishing Clicking OK or Cancel will return you to the Scaling Method dialog 47 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 49 6 5 2 5 Range Management dialog This dialog follows the Scaling Method dialog 47 It allows you to override PicoScope s automatic range creation feature for custom probes In most cases the automatic procedure will be ideal Custom Probe Wizard Range Management Choose whether the ranges available on this probe will be managed automatically Each probe must have one or more ranges that refer to any of the input ranges on the scope the same input range can be refered to more than once Recommended Let the software manage my ranges for me automatically This will directly map as many Custom Probe Ranges to scope Input Ranges as possible This method haz the advantages of giving your Custom Probe the best chance of being compatible with other scope hardware and also allowing auto ranging to work Enable auto ranging on this probe hat is Auto ranging Advanced will manage the Custom Probe Ranges manually Use this option if you want to limit the number of ranges available to the user maybe because the physical probe you are using has a very specific f
34. Reference 103 section For step by step tutorials see the How to 29 section Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en PicoScope 6 User s Guide 3 1 Legal statement The material contained in this release is licensed not sold Pico Technology grants a licence to the person who installs this software subject to the conditions listed below Access The licensee agrees to allow access to this software only to persons who have been informed of these conditions and agree to abide by them Usage The software in this release is for use only with Pico products or with data collected using Pico products Copyright Pico Technology claims the copyright of and retains the rights to all material software documents etc contained in this release You may copy and distribute the entire release in its original state but must not copy individual items within the release other than for backup purposes Liability Pico Technology and its agents shall not be liable for any loss damage or Injury howsoever caused related to the use of Pico Technology equipment or software unless excluded by statute Fitness for purpose No two applications are the same Pico Technology cannot guarantee that its equipment or software is suitable for a given application It is your responsibility therefore to ensure that the product is suitable for your application Mission critical applications This sof
35. Scope opens with a scope view but you can add a spectrum view by using the views menu 35 Similar to the screen of a conventional spectrum analyser a spectrum view shows you one or more spectra with a common frequency axis Each view can have as many spectra as the scope device has channels Click on one of the labels below to learn more about a feature Fuler Graticule legend ler Spectrum 2 210 0 E 16 0dbu ae 11 0 a Channel O 7 0 MHz A a 32 0 42 5 Signal axis 530 for Channel A ha 5 Frequency iMa ruler 84 5 95 0 0 0 EEE mz 10 0 2D 30 0 40 0 50 0 60 0 easurements table MM Frequency at Peak A At Peak 999 5 kHz Amplitude at Peak A At Peak 1 117 dBu Frequency axis Unlike in the scope view in the spectrum view the data is not clipped at the limits of the range displayed on the vertical axis so you can apply axis scaling or offset to see more data Vertical axis labels are not provided for data outside what is considered to be the useful range but rulers will still work outside this range Spectrum views are available regardless of which mode Scope Mode 11 or Spectrum Mode 11 is active For more information see How to set up the spectrum view 98 and Spectrum Options dialog 72 psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 17 5 9 Persistence mode Persistence mode superimp
36. Types 103 for details Section Measure the whole trace just the section between rulers 113 or where appropriate a single cycle marked by one of the rulers Advanced Gives access to advanced measurement settings 39 psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 39 6 4 2 Advanced measurement settings This dialog appears when you click the Advanced button in the Add Measurement 38 or Edit Measurement dialog Add Measurement Select the channel to measure A Cancel Select the type of measurement Help Choose which section of the graph will be measured Whole trace Advanced F General Filter Harmonic Detector 1 Threshold Threshold 80 20 Spectrum Span Spectrum Peak Span Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 40 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Threshold Some measurements such as Rise Time and Fall Time can be made Spectrum span Filter control Control using different thresholds Select the appropriate ones here When comparing rise and fall times with manufacturers specifications it is important to use the same thresholds for all measurements When measuring peak related parameters such as Freguency at Peak 106 in a spectrum view 18 PicoScope can search for a peak near to the specified ruler 23 location This option tells PicoScope how many frequency bins to searc
37. ae e e e a ce ieee i ee ee Be 25 617 E Y 11 8 m Ly Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en How to 101 Now that we have found some glitches we will turn the Saturation control down to minimum Click the Persistence options button to open the Persistence Options dialog 7 and then use the slider to adjust the saturation The display then appears as below The waveforms are now darker but have a wider range of colors and shades The most frequently occurring waveform is shown in red and is the normal shape of the pulse A second waveform is drawn in light blue to shows that it occurs less frequently and it shows us that there is an occasional jitter of about 10 ns in the pulse width The third waveform is drawn in dark blue because it occurs less frequently than the other two and indicates that there is an occasional runt pulse about 300 mV lower in amplitude than normal Persistence Options button PicoScope 6 File Edit Views Tools Help Ac I du A zons x1 EI r I I I E I I I E I I I L I I I l Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 102 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Persistence mode has done its job We have found our glitches and now we want to examine them in more detail The best way to do this is to switch back to normal scope mode 11 so that we can use the advanc
38. age Select a language from the drop down box psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 61 6 5 3 6 Printing page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It lets you enter the details that will appear at the bottom of printed output Printing Default Print Settings Set the default contact information For printing Company Name Pico Technology it Telephone Number 44 1480 396395 l Reset Default Print When you print a view from the File menu 2 these details will be Settings added to the bottom of the page Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 62 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 3 7 Colors page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It lets you set the colors for various parts of the user interface Colors Custom Colors M Channel E mM Channel A Channel C O Live Trigger a Trigger E Horizontal Axis E Rulers HS Digital Color 4 EA Digital Color E HE Digital Color E E Digital Color D E Default Custom Item Color Line Thickness Grid Lines Line Thickness Markers 1 pt Reset Colors to Default Custom Colors These controls let you specify the colors for various parts of the PicoScope screen Channel A the waveform for the first scope channel 14 and so on Grid lines the horizontal and vertical lines on the graticule 112 Background the
39. and edit existing ones E Preferences Opens the Preferences dialog ss which contains various options that control PicoScope s behaviour Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 42 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 1 Custom Probes dialog Choose Custom Probes in the Tools menu 41 or click the Y Channel Advanced Options button Custom Probes Select a probe Ed Built in Ed Standard x 10 420 100 Duplicate Y Automotive ane 20 1 Attenuator Import 6008 Current Clamp oo 200048 Current Clamp Ed Library 0 204 Frequency to voltage converter Ed Loaded Explain what Built in Library and Loaded probes are This dialog allows you to define your own probes and set up custom probes 26 Understanding the probe list All the probes that PicoScope knows about are listed under three main headings Built in Library and Loaded The probe list is preserved between sessions so that PicoScope will never forget your custom probes unless you delete them Built in probes The built in probes are supplied by Pico Technology and do not change unless you download an authorised update from us As a safeguard PicoScope does not allow you to edit or delete these probes If you want to modify one of them you can copy it to your library by clicking Duplicate and then edit the copy in your library Library probes These are the probes that you have created using any of the metho
40. area behind the waveforms and graticule In persistence mode 17 this setting can be overridden by the Persistence Options dialog 7 Live trigger the trigger marker 15 for the current trigger position Trigger secondary trigger marker appears when the live trigger has moved since the last waveform capture Horizontal axis the numbers across the bottom of each view 14 which usually indicate time measurements Rulers the horizontal and vertical rulers 113 that you can drag into position to help measure features on the waveform Digital Color A the three colors to use for digital color persistence mode 17 The top color is for hot data new or more frequent depending on the mode the middle color for intermediate data and the bottom color for cold data old or intermittent depending on the mode Line Thickness These controls let you specify the thickness of the lines drawn on the scope 14 and spectrum 16 views Channel the waveforms and spectrum traces for all scope channels Grid Lines aS above Markers aS above Reset Colors Default Resets all of the color and line thickness settings to their default values psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 63 6 6 Help menu Click Help on the Menu bar 27 EF User s Guide A Contents 2 Index da Search About PicosScope Reference Manual This is the main help manual containing compl
41. co Technology s scope devices with the convenience of the PC that s already on your desk tas Su E PC scope device PCO Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 10 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 3 PicoScope basics PicoScope can display simple waveforms such as the example we saw in the Oscilloscope basics 8 topic but has many advanced features The screen shot below shows the PicoScope window Click on any of the underlined labels to learn more See PicoScope window 13 for an explanation of these important concepts Property Capture Setup Buffer Navigation Zooming and sheet Scrolling toolbar tab toolbar toolbar PicoScope 6 Menu bar File Edit Views Measuraments Tools Help Channel Be du F 200 usidiv 9 x1 Setup toolbar Time Ruler handle Scale indicator Stop Start Triggering Trigger Measurements toolbar toolbar marker toolbar psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 11 5 3 1 Capture modes PicoScope can operate in three capture modes scope mode spectrum mode and persistence mode The mode is selected by buttons in the Capture Setup Toolbar 71 Capture mode buttons F soousidiv x xt HEEE im E ne In scope mode PicoScope displays a main scope view 14 optimises its settings for use as a PC Oscilloscope and allows you to direct
42. coScope may store more than one waveform in its waveform buffer When you click the Start 79 button or change a capture setting 71 PicoScope clears the buffer and then adds a new waveform to it each time the scope device captures data This continues until the buffer is full or you click the Stop 79 button You can limit the number of waveforms in the buffer to a number between 1 and 1 000 using the General preferences 5 page You can review the waveforms stored in the buffer using these buttons K First waveform button Display waveform 1 H Previous waveform button Display the previous waveform in the buffer Waveform number indicator Show which waveform is currently displayed and how many waveforms the buffer holds You can edit the number in the box and press Enter and PicoScope will jump to the specified waveform Next waveform button Display the next waveform in the buffer DI Last waveform button Display the last waveform in the buffer psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 67 7 2 Channel Setup toolbar The Channel Setup toolbar controls the settings for each vertical input channel 112 The screen shot below shows the toolbar for a two channel scope device 113 but different scope devices may have different numbers of channels E oc e SR B or Each channel has its own set of buttons joa ha Scale Control Determines the maximum and minimum signal l
43. coScope processes the entire contents of the waveform buffer which may contain many waveforms to build up the initial display If this occurs a progress bar appears at the bottom of the window to show that PicoScope is busy Scale Specifies the labelling and scaling of the vertical signal axis This can be one of the following Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 74 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Linear The vertical axis is scaled in volts Logarith The vertical axis is scaled in decibels referred to the level mic selected below in the Logarithmic unit control dBV Reference level is 1 volt dBu Reference level is 1 milliwatt with a load resistance of 600 ohms This corresponds to a voltage of about 775 mV dBm Reference level is one milliwatt into the specified load impedance You can enter the load impedance in the box below the Logarithmic unit control Arbitrary dB Reference level is an arbitrary voltage which you can specify in the box below the Logarithmic unit control 7 4 2 Persistence Options dialog This dialog appears when you click the Persistence Options button Ny in the Capture Setup toolbar 7 It is available only when persistence mode 17 is selected It controls the colors and fading algorithm used to distinguish new or frequent data from old or intermittent data in the persistence view Mode Advanced i se Decay Time ms S000 E Saturation 00 4
44. cs Text Tab delimited files txt Bitmap images bmp 30 PE My Pictures Save as type GIF images git PNG images pra Matlab 4 files The Save As dialog allows you to save your waveforms and settings to a file in various formats 30 Type your chosen file name in the File name box and then select a file format in the Save as type box You can save data in the following formats Data files psdata Stores waveforms and settings from the current scope device Can be opened on any computer running PicoScope Settings files ossettings Stores all settings but not waveforms from the current scope device Can be opened on any computer running PicoScope Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 30 PicoScope 6 User s Guide CSV Comma delimited files csv Stores waveforms as a text file with comma separated values This format is suitable for importing into spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel The first value on each line is the time stamp and it is followed by one value for each active channel Details 31 Text Tab delimited files txt Stores waveforms as a text file with tab separated values The values are the same as those in the CSV format Details 31 Bitmap images bmp Stores a picture of the waveforms graticule 412 and rulers 113 in Windows BMP format The image is 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high in 16 mi
45. cs s for more on these concepts PicoScope opens with a single view but you can add more views by using the views menu 35 Similar to the screen of a conventional oscilloscope a scope view shows you one or more waveforms with a common horizontal time axis with signal level shown on one or more vertical axes Each view can have as many waveforms as the scope device has channels Click on one of the labels below to learn more about a feature Graticule Trigger Signal Ruler diamond ruler legend Scope 1 Scope 2 tacon 0 O a a A e O6 Vertical axis DA for channel B Vertical axis for channel A Time ruler Channel B Puler handle g4kHz TE Scale indicator ns k ET seis EEN Measurements table MM Peak ToPeak A Between rulers 1 602 MM Duty Cycle A Whole trace AO OS Time Frequency axis legend Scope views are available regardless of which mode scope mode 11 or spectrum mode 11 is active psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 15 5 6 Post trigger arrow The post trigger arrow is a modified form of the trigger marker 15 that appears temporarily on a scope view 14 while you are setting up a post trigger delay or dragging the trigger marker after setting up a post trigger delay What is a post trigger delay 110 Live trigger The left hand end of the arrow indicates the trigger point and is aligned wi
46. data is captured and cannot be changed afterwards The actual data values themselves are changed so the graph axes may no longer display the voltage range of the device Custom Probe scaling can be nonlinear and so may alter the shape of the signal Custom Probes are useful when you want to represent the characteristics of a physical probe or transducer that you plug into your scope device All of the zooming scrolling scaling and offset tools still apply to data that has been scaled with a Custom Probe in exactly the same way that they would apply to the raw data Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 98 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 8 6 How to set up the spectrum view Creating a spectrum view First ensure that the trigger mode so is not set to ETS 112 as it is not possible to open a spectrum view in ETS trigger mode There are three ways to open a spectrum view 16 Click the Spectrum Mode button in the Capture Setup toolbar 7 We recommend using this method to get the best spectrum analysis performance from your scope Once in Spectrum Mode you can still open a scope view to see your data in the time domain but PicoScope optimizes the settings for the spectrum view Go to the Views menu 35 select Add view then select Spectrum File Edit Measurements Tools Help Close view Grid Layout Arrange Grid Layout Reset view Sizes Move View To P Arrange Views Reset View Layout This
47. de 71 will be saved Save Current Waveform As Opens the Save As dialog 29 which allows you to save the settings and waveforms for all views in various formats Only the waveforms for the mode currently in use Scope Mode 71 or Spectrum Mode 71 will be saved In persistence mode 17 this command is called Save Persistence As and saves only the data for this mode Startup Settings Opens the Startup Settings menu 33 Print Preview Opens the Print Preview window which allows you to see how your workspace will be printed when you select the Print command psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 29 6 1 1 Print Opens a standard Windows Print dialog which allows you to choose a printer set printing options and then print the selected view 1 2 Recently opened or saved files This list is compiled automatically but you can clear it using the Files page of the Preferences ss dialog Exit Close PicoScope without saving any data Save As dialog Go to the File menu 2s and click Save All Waveforms As or Save Current Waveform As Save As Dave in 4 Waveforms we dh 4x4qrid psdata i 6 0 8 2 half trace psdata Desktop Oho five windows psdata hy scope spec psdata il sine square psdata y ho triangle ramp psdata My Documents gcpsdata Rene Data files pedata 4 Data files pedata Settings files pesettingz CSW Comma delimited fles
48. disk space specified in the table The free space is required to make Windows run efficiently psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Using PicoScope for the first time 7 4 Using PicoScope for the first time We have designed PicoScope to be as easy as possible to use even for newcomers to oscilloscopes Once you have followed the introductory steps listed below you will soon become a PicoScope expert Install the software Load the CD ROM that is included with your scope device then click the Install Software link and follow the on screen instructions Plug in your scope device Windows will recognise it and prepare your computer to work with it Wait until Windows tells you that the device is ready to use Click the new PicoScope icon on your Windows desktop PicoScope will detect your scope device and prepare to display a waveform The green Start 7s button will be highlighted to show that PicoScope is ready Connect a signal to one of the scope device s input channels and see your first waveform To learn more about using PicoScope please read the PicoScope Primer 8 Why did it do that Help is at hand Our technical support staff are always ready to answer your telephone call during office hours see our Contact Details s At other times you can leave a message on our support forum or send us an email Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All right
49. ds described in this topic You can edit delete or duplicate any of these probes by clicking the appropriate button in this dialog Loaded probes Probes in PicoScope data files psdata or settings files pssettings that you have opened appear here until you copy them to your library You cannot edit or delete these probes directly but you can click Duplicate to copy them to your library where you can edit them You can also import probes from the custom ranges stored in PicoScope 5 psd and pss files but these lack some of the features provided by PicoScope 6 See Upgrading from PicoScope 5 2 for more details psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 43 Adding a new probe to your library There are three ways to create a new probe 1 Use the Duplicate button as described above 2 Click New Probe to define a new probe 3 Click Import to load a probe definition from a psprobe file and add it to your library These files are normally supplied by Pico but you can also create your own by defining a new probe and then clicking Export The second and third methods open the Custom Probe Wizard 44 to guide you through the probe definition process Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 44 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 2 Custom Probe wizard Click New Probe in the Custom Probes dialog 42 HEJ ta Custom Probe Wi
50. duces false triggering on noisy signals When hysteresis is enabled a second trigger threshold voltage is used in addition to the main trigger threshold The trigger fires only when the signal crosses the two thresholds in the correct order The first threshold arms the trigger and the second causes it to fire An example will help to illustrate how this works Bey 2 my 116 1 149 5 415 0 580 5 206 1 106 5 E 252 0 432 4 us 612 0 Noisy signal with a single threshold Consider the very noisy signal above It is difficult to trigger reliably on this signal with a normal rising edge trigger because it crosses the trigger threshold the red line in this picture several times in one cycle If we zoom in on the highlighted parts of the signal we will see how hysteresis can help 3377 my 220 2 161 4 102 6 4383 LA 43 83 238 6971 5853 2068 355 5033 183 0 1978 212 7 2275 2423 2671 Ma Noisy signal with hysteresis threshold In these zoomed in views the original threshold is the lower red line The upper red line is the second threshold used by the hysteresis trigger The signal rises across the lower threshold at 1 and 2 arming the trigger but not firing it At 3 the signal finally crosses the upper threshold firing the trigger On the falling edge of the signal at 4 and 5 rising edges of noise pulses cause the signal to cross the upper and lower thresholds but in the wrong order so the trigger is not arm
51. e Spectrum measurements To add a spectrum measurement open a spectrum view 16 and then click the Add Measurement 7o button You can use these measurements in either scope mode 11 or spectrum mode 11 Frequency at peak The frequency at which the peak signal value appears Amplitude at peak The amplitude of the peak signal value Total power The power of the whole signal captured in the spectrum view The total power P is given by n where b is the number of spectrum bins and p is the power in the nth bin Total Harmonic Distortion THD The ratio of the harmonic power to the power at the specified frequency THD 20 og A MM Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise THD N The ratio of the harmonic power plus noise to the fundamental power THD N values are almost be greater than the THD values for the same signal sum of squares of RMS values excluding datum THD N 20 y A og RMS value of datum Spurious free Dynamic Range SFDR This is the ratio of the amplitude of the specified point normally the peak frequency component and the frequency component with the second largest amplitude call it SFDR frequency The component at the SFDR frequency is not necessarily a harmonic of the fundamental frequency component For example it might be a strong independent noise signal Signal Noise Distortion to Signal Noise Ratio SI NAD The ratio in decibels of the signal plus noise
52. e This type provides the same Rising and Falling edge triggers that are available from the Triggering toolbar so It is included in this dialog as an alternative method of setting up the Simple Edge trigger You can set the trigger Threshold while in the advanced triggering dialog or alternatively you can drag the Trigger marker 15 on the scope view This is the only trigger type that is compatible with ETS 112 mode EE Advanced Edge This trigger type adds an extra Rising or Falling edge trigger and Hysteresis to the Simple Edge trigger The Rising or Falling option triggers on both edges of a waveform and is useful for monitoring pulses of both polarities at once Hysteresis 8 is described in a separate topic 1 Window This trigger type detects when the signal enters or leaves a specified voltage window The Direction control specifies whether the trigger should detect the signal entering the window leaving it or both Threshold 1 and Threshold 2 are the upper and lower voltage limits of the window The order in which you specify the two voltages does not matter Hysteresis ss can be set to reduce the number of false triggers on a noisy signal and is described in a separate topic 15 Pulse Width This trigger type detects pulses of a specified width First set the Pulse Direction to either Positive or Negative according to the polarity of the pulse you are interested in Next set one of the four Condition options Greater than
53. e will update the screen before the total collection time has expired Collection Time 200 msfdiw Depending on device specifications PicoScope may not be able to go into slow sampling mode and the required collection time in which case the nearest collection time possible will be used The slow sampling transition For the current Device 500 mssdiv Sinise Resampling Son off Active interpolation on signal when the unit operates at the Fastest timebase and the number of samples is below x 2000 Slow Sampling Transition In normal fast sampling mode PicoScope collects enough data to fill the scope view 14 then redraws the whole view at once This method is suitable for fast timebases when the whole process repeats many times each second but with slow timebases it can cause a unacceptable delay between the start of capture and the data appearing on the screen To avoid this delay when using slow timebases PicoScope automatically switches to slow sampling mode in which you can see the scope trace being drawn across the screen from left to right as the scope device captures data The Collection Time control lets you select the timebase at which PicoScope switches to slow sampling mode Sin x x Resampling When the number of pixels across the scope view is greater than the number of samples in the waveform buffer PicoScope interpolates that is it fills the space between the samples with estimated data It can eit
54. ected spectrum mode The rest of this section does not apply in persistence mode which allows only a single view Once PicoScope has shown you the first view you can if you wish add more scope or spectrum views regardless of the capture mode you are in You can add and remove as many extra views as you wish as long as one view remains that matches the capture mode Persistence mode Add second scope view Start ARIEL EAO TIST PicoScope capture ek em are che mode A l i il Spectrum Add mode lev scope view ae le a oa Le ece Be Se Examples showing how you might select the capture mode and open additional views in PicoScope Top persistence mode one view only Middle scope mode Bottom spectrum mode When using a secondary view type a spectrum view in scope mode or a scope view in spectrum mode you may see the data compressed horizontally rather than displayed neatly as in a primary view You can usually overcome this by using the zoom tools psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 13 5 4 PicoScope window The PicoScope window shows a block of data captured from the scope device 113 When you first open PicoScope it contains one scope view 14 but you can add more views by clicking Add view in the Views menu 35 The screen shot below shows all the main features of the PicoScope window Click on the underlin
55. ed Intensity The behaviour after this depends on the Data Hold setting see above Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 76 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 1 3 Signal Generator toolbar The Signal Generator toolbar allows you to set up your scope device s 113 test signal output This toolbar appears only when you are using a scope device with a built in Signal generator Clicking the Signal Generator button opens the Signal Generator dialog 7 7 3 1 Signal Generator dialog Click the Signal Generator button 7s on the toolbar Signal On sine se Import Arbitrary Start Frequency 1 kHz ES Amplitude 1w Offset ov a Sweep Mode Active SmeepType Up se Stop Frequency 2 kHz E Frequency TET Increment 10 Hz S Increment Time 7 1 Interval ue Ea close Signal generator dialog for the PicoScope 5204 This dialog controls the scope device s 113 built in signal generator Not all scope devices have a signal generator and those that do have a varying range of controls in the signal generator dialog psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 77 How to use it 1 kHz E Sine se Up se 2 kHz E 10 Hz E 1 ms E Signal On Tick this box to enable the signal generator Frequency Type in this box or use the spin buttons to select the frequency If the scope device has a frequency sweep generator then this box sets
56. ed and does not fire Thus the trigger occurs at only one well defined point in the cycle 3 despite the noise on the signal Hysteresis is enabled by default for all the advanced trigger types The Hysteresis controls in the Advanced triggering dialog s2 let you change the hysteresis voltage as a percentage of full scale The trigger marker cd shows the size of the hysteresis window Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 86 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 8 Zooming and Scrolling toolbar The Zooming and Scrolling toolbar allows you to move around a scope view 14 or spectrum view 16 Each button has a keyboard shortcut as listed below MAS o he Ctrl S Normal Selection tool Restores the pointer to its normal or appearance You can use this pointer to click buttons drag rulers 113 Esc and operate any other controls in the PicoScope window e Ctrl D Hand tool Turns the pointer into a hand T that you can use to click and drag the view to pan it vertically and horizontally when you are zoomed in You can also pan using the scroll bars Press the Esc key to return to the Normal Selection tool a Ctri M Marquee Zoom tool This button turns the pointer into a marquee zoom tool a Use it to draw a box called a marquee on the view and PicoScope will magnify that box to fill the view Scroll bars will appear which you can drag to pan around in the view or you can pan by usi
57. ed labels for more information PicoScope Views window menu PicoScope 6 File Edit Views Measurements Tools Help Ai alu Z tustdiv v x1 Elea lim K 4 320f 32 Sky QA 100 A Auto 9 oc 4 E 8 off 9 oc e SR Mg Scope 1 m 20 Add View Scope view 1 Close View Axis scaling Er 4 3 2 A Grid Layout button Arrange Grid Layout Scope view 2 hidden Reset View Sizes Move View To Scope view 3 Reset View Layout 102 1 11 Measurements table To arrange the views within the PicoScope window If the PicoScope window contains more than one view 113 PicoScope arranges them in a grid This is arranged automatically but you can customize it if you wish Each rectangular space in the grid is called a viewport 113 You can move a view 113 to a different viewport by dragging its name tab show me sz but you cannot move it outside the PicoScope window You can also put more than one view in a viewport by dragging a view and dropping it on top of another For further options right click on a view to obtain the View menu ss or select View from the Menu bar 27 then select one of the menu options to arrange the views Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 14 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 3 5 Scope view A scope view shows the data captured from the scope as a graph of signal amplitude against time See Oscilloscope basi
58. ed on the centreline of the graph PicoScope 6 Ea fx ele ESR ews meremees Too He F soopsidiv x s oo7ks Y K 32 of 32 Sy QQa 100 A 454 Soc M Se lelt oc y a Demo Signals moc AE p y loc MR Q Auto psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 95 gt Step 1 Arrange the signals into rows using the axis offset tool so we can clearly see them all side by side PicoScope 6 SEE File Edit views Measurements Tools Help P ome sors SLAA zae gt INOS S 4 on aa vo i 0 532 0 956 0 843 0 332 a 956 0 643 0132 2958 0 443 1088 3 288 0 243 0 288 5 0 0 043 i 1488 0 157 0 357 0 557 gt Step 2 Scale the signals so that they have roughly equal amplitudes This eliminates the overlap and makes the smaller signal easier to read PicoScope 6 File Edit Yiews Measurements Tools Help 7 mam eos BUNU r NOS SG ims 0075 111 0 0 925 88 82 1 925 666 2 925 44 38 3 925 22 15 5 9 0 089 22 29 Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 96 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Step 3 Now we want to take a closer look at a specific time range of the signal in greater detail We don t want to mess around with the neat axis scaling and offset that we have spent time creating so instead we use the global windowed zoom tool to select a specific section of the entire graph
59. ed triggering ss and automatic measurement 18 functions built in to PicoScope Click the Scope Mode button Set up an advanced pulse width trigger to look for a pulse wider than 60 ns PicoScope then finds the runt pulse straight away PicoScope 6 File Edit Views Measurements Tools Help Pe Me alu F isonsidw x x 1 Ele 1 ms loc e a B oft Joc Se Gal oo o ua a H fi a Wi as 323 7 Fa 2257 173 7 123 7 3 68 23 68 26 32 T 32 126 3 176 3 A 10 64 736 EJ RB We can now add automatic measurements or drag the rulers into place to analyse the runt pulse in detail psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 103 9 Reference This is where you can find detailed information on the operation of PicoScope Measurement types 103 Trigger timing tos Keyboard shortcuts 111 Glossary 112 9 1 Measurement types The Edit Measurement dialog ss allows you to select one of a range of measurements that PicoScope can calculate for the selected view The list of measurements available depends on whether the view is a scope view 14 see scope measurements 104 or a spectrum view 16 see spectrum measurements 106 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 104 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 2 1 1 Scope measurements AC RMS The root mean square RMS value of the AC component of the waveform Th
60. eference point is at 3 3 ms Note 2 The pre trigger delay is set to 30 which makes the trigger reference point appear 30 of the way across the scope view from the left hand edge Note 3 PicoScope limits the trigger to reference point delay to a multiple of the total capture time Once you have reached this limit the program will not let you increase the pre trigger delay and if you increase the post trigger delay PicoScope will reduce the pre trigger delay to stop the total exceeding the limit The multiple is typically 100 in most trigger modes and 1 in ETS 112 mode Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en psw en 110 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 9 4 Trigger timing part 2 igger timin art 1 109 introduced the concepts of pre trigger delay so and the post trigger delay so This diagram below shows how they are related Caparo Mido 1 a pls vers Harsei Took Autonaiive d nde Helo ES THA viz E7 Ag g io i Je HR mi a i E r i We Cairo ra r Trigger reference point Post trigger delay reference point and how much after it The pre trigger delay positions the scope view 14 in relation to the trigger reference point so that you can choose how much of the waveform should be before the The post trigger delay is like the delayed trigger of a conventional oscilloscope PicoScope waits for this time after the trigger event before drawing the
61. ely as possible to make the most of the scope s resolution What is a scaled range The scaled range is the range that will appear on the vertical axis of the scope display when the probe is selected The scaling that you chose on the Scaling Method 47 page defines the relationship between the input range and the scaled range This dialog enables you to set up ranges to display the scaled data on the scope view Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 52 PicoScope 6 User s Guide The range utilisation bar This diagram at the bottom of the dialog represents the relationship between the scaling and the hardware input range of the scope device Scaled Range Input Range Unused Used Unused portion of portion of portion of Input range input range scaled range e Green The section of the input range that is used by the scaled range This Should be as large as possible to maximise the use of the scope device s resolution e Blue Areas of the input range that are not being used These indicate wasted resolution e Grey Parts of the scaled range that are not covered by the input range These will result in wasted space on the graph The range utilisation bar may not represent these areas accurately when non linear scaling is being used so you Should always test the scaled range limits on the scope view Finishing Clicking OK or Cancel will return you to the Man
62. enabling us to deliver updates sooner e Custom probes 2 manager to make it easy for you to use your own probes and sensors with PicoScope e Multiple views of the same data with individual zoom and pan settings for each view e Advanced triggering conditions sz e Properties sheet 2 displaying all settings at a glance e Spectrum mode 11 not just a spectrum view of your scope data but a fully optimised spectrum analyser See the Release Notes on our website for the latest information on your version of PicoScope 6 psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Introduction 3 3 Introduction PicoScope is a comprehensive software application for Pico Technology PC Oscilloscopes Used with a scope device from Pico Technology it creates a virtual oscilloscope spectrum analyser and multimeter on your PC PicoScope 6 supports the following scope devices PicoScope 5000 Series PicoScope 3000 Series PicoScope 2000 Series ADC 212 Series PicoScope 6 Automotive only PicoScope 6 runs on any 32 bit computer with Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista See System requirements s for further recommendations Legal statement 4 Contact information 5 How to use this manual 5 How to use PicoScope 6 Getting started see using PicoScope for the first time 7 and PicoScope s Features 8 For further information see descriptions of Menus 27 and Toolbars es and the
63. er For example if the source waveform contains 100 000 samples and you request 16 384 frequency bins PicoScope needs only 2 x 16 384 32 768 samples so it uses the first 32 768 samples from the waveform buffer and ignores the rest The amount of data actually used is displayed as the Time Gate setting in the Properties sheet 25 Window Allows you to choose one of the standard window functions to reduce the Function ON of operating on a time limited waveform See Window functions 10 Display You can choose Magnitude Average or Peak Hold Mode Magnitude the spectrum view shows the frequency spectrum of the last waveform captured whether live or stored in the waveform buffer 66 Average the spectrum view shows an rolling average of spectra calculated from all the waveforms in the waveform buffer se This has the effect of reducing the noise visible in the spectrum view To clear the averaged data click Stop 79 and then Start 79 or change from Average mode to Magnitude mode Peak Hold the spectrum view shows a rolling maximum of the spectra calculated from all the waveforms in the buffer In this mode the amplitude of any frequency band in the spectrum view will either stay the same or increase but never decrease over time To clear the peak hold data click Stop 79 and then Start 79 or change from Peak Hold mode to Magnitude mode Note when you switch to Average or Peak Hold mode there may be a noticeable delay while Pi
64. eristics and want to add or change a custom range manually Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 46 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 2 3 Probe Output Units dialog This dialog follows the Create new Custom Probe dialog 44 It allows you to choose the units that PicoScope will use to display the output of your custom probe 112 Custom Probe Wizard Probe Output Units Define the units that the Custom Probe will digplay Probes can display output in any units which helps in the interpretation of results These Units will be displayed in various places including on the graph Use a standard unit from the list volts Use the custom unit defined below Enter the full name of the unit Provide a short name for the unit e g volts e g for volts A Use 51 systeme internationale magnitudes e g micro milli kilo mega etc Use 5 standard form for displaying magnitudes fe g 210 6 10 3 103 etc Cancel How to use the dialog To choose a standard SI unit click Use a standard unit from the list and select one from the list To enter a custom unit click Use the custom unit defined below and type the unit name and symbol Click Next to continue to the Scaling Method dialog 47 Click Back to return to the Create New Custom Probe dialog 44 if this is a new probe or the Edit Existing Custom Probe dialog 45 if this is an existing probe
65. es on the time axis are the time ruler handles You can drag these from the bottom left corner to the positions on the time axis you want to measure The two vertical dashed lines are the time rulers The rulers work in the same way on a spectrum view 16 but the ruler legend shows their horizontal positions in units of frequency rather than time Ruler tool tip If you hold the mouse pointer over one of the rulers as we did in the example above PicoScope displays a tool tip with the ruler number and the time value of the ruler Ruler legend The table at the top of the view is the ruler legend In this example the table shows that time ruler 1 is at 148 0 microseconds ruler 2 is at 349 0 microseconds and the difference between them is 201 0 microseconds Frequency legend The frequency legend in the bottom right hand corner of a scope view shows 1 4 where A is the difference between the two time rulers The accuracy of this calculation depends on the accuracy with which you have positioned the rulers For greater accuracy with periodic signals use the frequency measurement 104 function built in to PicoScope Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 24 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 15 Ruler legend The ruler legend displays the positions of all the rulers 113 you have placed on the view 113 It appears automatically whenever there is a ruler on the view Fuler i Ruler 2 Fuler values
66. ete information on the program Contents Index and Search are shortcuts to the functions of the same names that can be found in the help window About PicoScope Shows information about this version of PicoScope Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 64 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 Connect Device dialog Select the File menu 28 and then the Connect Device command Connect Device Select the series of device you have plugged into your PC From the drop down list or click the Find All button to Find any supported devices Cancel Demo vl Findal __ Help Select a device to use From the list below Device Serial Picoscope 5204 DEMO PicoScope S205 DEM Picoscope 3206 DEMO PicoScope 3205 DEM Picoscope 3204 DEMO Picoscope 3424 DEMO Picoscope 3423 DEMO Pirnarcone 27d MERMA lt A Refresh List When PicoScope is not sure which scope device 113 to use it displays a list of all the units attached to your computer and allows you to select which one to use n See How to change to a different scope device 90 scope device later if you wish to switch to a different Procedure To restrict the selection to a particular series of devices click on the device drop down box and select a device series otherwise click the Find All button Wait for a list of devices to appear in the grid Select one device and click the OK button PicoScope wil
67. evels at the top and bottom of the vertical axis for this channel The number of options depends on the selected scope device 113 and probe 112 If you select Auto PicoScope will continually adjust the vertical scale so that the height of the waveform fills as much of the view as possible bes Coupling Control Selects AC coupling 112 or DC coupling 112 mi Channel Options button Opens the Advanced Options menu 68 with options for probes 112 resolution enhancement 20 and scaling 6 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 68 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 2 1 Advanced Options menu The Advanced Options menu appears when you click the Channel Options button on the Channel Setup toolbar s7 Resolution Enhance Select the maximum 2 0 bits number of bits When should I use this Feature Axis Scaling Scale 1 00 a Offset 0 00 Hla Resolution Enhance Select the maximum 3 0 bits number of bits _ when should I use this Feature Axis Scaling Scale 1 00 FAs Offset 0 00 Eleal Probe xi se Probe list ndicates the probe currently in use and allows you to select a different one Use it to tell PicoScope what type of probe is connected to a channel By default the probe is assumed to be x1 which means that a one volt signal at the input to the probe will appear as one volt on the display Expand probe list Click this to select from a list
68. fy the Signal level thresholds for the measurement Rising Rate The rate at which the signal level rises in signal units per second Click the Advanced button in the Add Measurement or Edit Measurement dialog to specify the signal level thresholds for the measurement psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 105 7 1 2 Automotive scope measurements These measurements are available only in PicoScope Automotive Burn Time For a secondary ignition waveform the duration of the spark Burn Voltage For a secondary ignition waveform the voltage across the spark gap during the burn time Crank RPM The turning rate of the crankshaft as measured by the crankshaft sensor Expressed in revolutions per minute Dwell Angle In a primary ignition waveform dwell time converted to an angle using the formula dwell angle dwell time x crankshaft RPM 60 x 360 degrees Dwell Time In a primary ignition waveform the time during which battery current flows in the ignition coil as the magnetic field builds up in its winding Injector Duration The duration of the fuel injector pulse as battery current flows through the injector coil Peak Burn Voltage For a secondary ignition waveform the voltage of the initial peak as the spark begins See also Scope measurements 104 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 106 PicoScope 6 User s Guid
69. ge it Change the standard Scope or Spectrum label to a title of your choice Remove a view from the PicoScope window In automatic grid layout mode the default PicoScope rearranges the grid to make the best use of the remaining space In fixed grid layout mode if you have selected a grid fixed layout PicoScope will not change the grid Select which channels are visible in the current view Each view when created shows all the channels but you can switch them on and off using this command Only the channels that are enabled not set to Off in the Channel Setup Toolbar 67 are available for viewing The grid layout defaults to Automatic mode in which PicoScope automatically arranges views in a grid You can also select one of the standard grid layouts or create a custom layout which PicoScope will preserve as you add or remove views Adjust the grid layout to fit the number of views Moves any tabbed views to empty viewports Overrides any previous choice of grid layout Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 36 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Reset View Sizes If you have resized any of the views by dragging the vertical or horizontal separator bars between viewports this option resets all the viewports to their original sizes Move View To Lets you move a view to a specified viewport You can achieve the same effect by dragging the view by its name tab and dropping it
70. h The default is 5 which tell PicoScope to search from 2 bins below to 2 bins above the ruler frequency giving a total range of 5 bins including the ruler frequency PicoScope can low pass filter the statistics to produce more stable and more accurate numbers Filtering is not available on all measurement types Enable check to enable low pass filtering if available An F will appear after the measurement name in the measurements table 12 Automatic check to set the low pass filter characteristics automatically Cutoff Frequency the filter cut off frequency normalised to the measurement rate Range O to 0 5 Filter Size the number of samples used to construct the filter Harmonic This option applies only to distortion measurements in spectrum views 16 control You can specify which harmonics PicoScope uses for these measurements Harmonic Level the highest harmonic to include when calculating distortion power Area Search the number of frequency bins to search centred on the expected frequency when looking for a harmonic peak Harmonic Noise Floor the level in dB above which signal peaks will be counted as harmonics psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 41 6 5 Tools menu Click Tools on the Menu bar 27 Custom Probes E Preferences Custom Probes Opens the Custom probes 42 dialog which allows you to define new probes and copy delete move
71. her draw straight lines between the samples linear interpolation or connect them with smooth curves sin x x interpolation Linear interpolation makes it easier to see where the samples are which is useful for high accuracy measurements but results in a jagged waveform Sin x x interpolation gives a smoother waveform but disguises the true locations of the samples so should be used with care when the number of samples on the screen is low The numerical control box lets you set the number of samples below which sin x x interpolation is switched on Sin x x interpolation is only used on the scope s fastest timebase psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 59 6 5 3 4 Files page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It controls features related to the File menu 28 Files Recent Files 4 gg Reset recent files list Recent The File menu 28 includes a list of recently opened and saved files This Files control allows you to specify the maximum number of files on the list Click the button to clear the list Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 60 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 3 5 Languages page This page is part of the Preferences dialog ss It lets you select the language for PicoScope s user interface Languages Language Mode Selection Language English United States se Langu
72. ht 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 28 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 1 File menu Click File on the Menu bar 27 to open the File menu E i EL Open Save All Wavetorms Save All Waveforms 45 Save Current Waveform As startup Settings b Print Previews Print 1 Ci 20080307 0002 psdata 2 2 20080307 0001 psdata Connect Device This command appears only when there is no scope device connected It opens the Connect Device dialog 4 which allows you to select the scope device you wish to use Open Allows you to select the file you want to open PicoScope can open psdata and psd files which contain both waveform data and scope device settings and pssettings and pss files which contain only scope device settings You can create your own files using the Save and Save As commands described below If the file was saved using a different scope device from the one that is presently connected PicoScope may need to modify the saved settings to suit the present device Hint Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to cycle through all the waveform files in the same directory Save All Waveforms Saves all waveforms using the filename shown in the title bar Save All Waveforms As Opens the Save As dialog 29 which allows you to save the settings and waveforms for all views 13 in various formats Only the waveforms for the mode currently in use Scope Mode 71 or Spectrum Mo
73. iability 4 Light 57 Line thicknesses 62 Logic trigger 83 Lookup Table Scaling dialog 48 M Mains power 5 7 Manual Ranges Setup dialog 50 Marquee Zoom tool 86 Matlab 4 files exporting 31 Max statistics 18 Maximum Waveforms preference 56 Measurement statistics capture size 56 Measurements adding 18 38 advanced settings 39 automotive 105 deleting 18 editing 18 filtering 18 font size 37 list of types 103 menu 37 scope 104 spectrum 106 Statistics 18 table 18 toolbar 70 Menus 2 7 Min statistics 18 Missing events finding 83 Mission critical applications 4 N New features 2 Normal Selection tool 86 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Index 117 Notes area 34 O Offset 93 Open file 28 Oscilloscope 8 P Page Down key 28 Page Up key 28 PC Oscilloscope 9 PCO 9 Persistence mode 17 Persistence Mode button 71 Persistence options 74 PicoScope 10 how to use 3 7 8 version 6 0 1 2 PicoScope window 13 Post trigger delay 109 arrow 15 control 80 109 Power Management preferences 57 Preferences 41 capture rate 57 colours 62 Default Print Settings 61 dialog 55 files 59 general 56 language 60 power management 57 sampling 58 Pre trigger delay 109 control 80 109 Print 28 Print preview 28 Printing preferences 61 Probe ID dialog 53 Probe light 57 Probe Manager 41 Probe Output Units dialog 46 Probes custom 26 Progress bar 72 Properties sheet 25 Pulse
74. ingsmenu Gialin ieuan a ia a a an aan He 33 TEditmenw Ce a ea a e a een ete 34 1 Notes area gt a A Ad AA A AA AAA AA AAA EA AAA 34 S Views menu dera iS 35 i Cistomprdiayeutdiales dedo 36 A Measurements meno 37 1 Add Edit Measurement dialog ooccccccccccnnnnnnanananacanoncnnnnnnanananancnnoncnnononnnnnnnnnn non nnnnnnonnnnnnnn anar nn cnn nnnnannnnnnnnnnnnnn cnn ncnnnnannnnnnananna nano 38 2 Advanced measurement settings a a o 39 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en II PicoScope 6 User s Guide A O O rien tne 41 Custom Probesdialog Pino 42 2 Custom Probe wizard _ C srsvasasssssssscscsssscssscscsssscsssscsessescsusscsssusacsucsessssacsscsesssseacsscsessscsesseaesescsesscseaeacaesecseaseacseeseasens 44 3 Preferences dialog ula 55 6 Help Mente siii SAA O EE AA 63 7 Connect DOS 64 RR 65 1 Buffer Navigation toolbar occcccccccnonoononocanacacanononononocnonoonanononcncncanonnnnnnnnnononnornoncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononnar co ccnccnancnnnos 66 2 Channel Setup toolbar ii O SR e 67 T Advanced Options meni hi AS 68 3 Measurements toolbar cuadra lt ia a 70 A Capture Setup toolbar isa A wom sha E E 71 TSpectrumOpaensdialog siinnensiidiien 72 2 Persistence Options dialog iia A tia 74 5 Signal Generator toolbar A EN IRA REN es 76 TSignalGoneratoridialos Nido 76 DArbitrary waveform files arar A dei 78 6 Start Stop toolbar iia di 79 T Trhigpering to
75. is measurement subtracts any DC offset from the waveform It is equivalent to a ripple measurement Cycle Time PicoScope will attempt to find a repeated pattern in the waveform and measure the duration of one cycle DC Average The mean value of the waveform Duty Cycle The amount of time that a signal spends above its mean value expressed as a percentage of the signal period A duty cycle of 50 means that the high time is equal to the low time Falling Rate The rate at which the signal level falls in signal units per second Click the Advanced button in the Add Measurement or Edit Measurement dialog to specify the signal level thresholds for the measurement Fall Time The time the signal takes to fall from the upper threshold to the lower threshold Click the Advanced button in the Add Measurement or Edit Measurement dialog to specify the Signal level thresholds for the measurement Frequency The number of cycles of the waveform per second High Pulse Width The amount of time that the signal spends above its mean value Low Pulse Width The amount of time that the signal spends below its mean value Maximum The highest level reached by the signal Minimum The lowest level reached by the signal Peak To Peak The difference between maximum and minimum Rise Time The time the signal takes to rise from the lower threshold to the upper threshold Click the Advanced button in the Add Measurement or Edit Measurement dialog to speci
76. just want to make the best use of available screen space Common uses are Aligning signals that have different amplitudes or offsets for an overlay comparison PicoScope 6 File Edit Views Measurements Tools Help F s00pstdiw v 5 005ks E Ki 320f32 DN 3 3 4 100 A 1 y oc E B jsiyv y loc MR Demo Signals Off 9 oc 13 D off Moc MA 300 0 200 0 100 0 Scale 2 00 Channel B scale Offset 0 00 increased to 2 00 0 5 0 0 1 a QO Auto x E y ES DY s EAS Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 94 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Arranging the signals in their own rows for side by side comparison PicoScope 6 SEE Ble em vows Mesas mos He 2 Tni E sosis E RSS Gwe vj joc MR B 14 joc y a Demo Signals foc 3 o for y oc R s Y ilka ov E 50 Click the axis tab 6 at the bottom of the axis you wish to modify and the axis scaling controls se will appear To adjust the offset without using the axis scaling controls click on the vertical axis and drag it up or down How to use these tools together These global and axis specific tools work smoothly together and make it easy to move around your data once you know how We will take a look at a common example of usage to explain how the tools can be used together Consider this common setup where all 4 channels are being display
77. l open a scope view 14 for the selected scope device Use the toolbars ss to set up the scope device 113 and the scope view 14 to display your signals Demonstration mode If you start PicoScope with no scope device 113 connected the Connect Device dialog automatically appears with a list of Demonstration devices for you to choose from Once you have selected a demonstration device and clicked OK PicoScope adds a Demo Signals toolbar 87 to the main window Use this toolbar to set up the test signals from your demonstration device psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 65 7 Toolbars A toolbar is a collection of buttons and controls with related functions The Measurements toolbar 70 for example looks like this PicoScope 6 contains the following toolbars Buffer Navigation toolbar ss Channel Setup toolbar 67 Demonstration Signals toolbar 87 Measurements toolbar 70 Capture Setup toolbar 71 Signal Generator toolbar 76 Start Stop toolbar 7s Triggering Toolbar so Zooming and Scrolling toolbar s Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 66 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 1 Buffer Navigation toolbar The Buffer Navigation toolbar allows you to select a waveform from the waveform buffer Kd 4 sos gt DP What is the waveform buffer Depending on the settings you have chosen Pi
78. level by dragging the trigger marker 15 up or down on the screen psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 81 Pre trigger Time 0 to 100 This parameter controls how E much of the waveform appears before the trigger point It defaults to 50 which puts the trigger marker 15 in the middle of the screen You can also control this parameter by dragging the trigger marker 15 to the left or right ak Post trigger Delay Enable Click this button to toggle the Post trigger Delay control see next item 20 us Post trigger Delay The post trigger delay is the time that a PicoScope waits after the trigger point before sampling You can also modify this parameter by dragging the trigger marker 15 while the Post trigger Delay button is enabled As you drag the marker you will see the post trigger arrow 15 displayed briefly For this control to have an effect you must first make sure that the Post trigger Delay button is enabled See the reference topic Trigger Timing 109 for information on how the Pre trigger Time and Post trigger Delay controls interact Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 82 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 7 7 1 Advanced Triggering dialog This dialog appears when you click the Advanced Triggering button in the Triggering toolbar so It allows you to set up more complex trigger types than simple edge triggering
79. ll rights reserved Menus 51 6 5 2 6 1 Edit Range dialog Get here by clicking the Edit or New Range buttons in the Manual Ranges Setup dialog 50 Edit Range Standard Options Recommended Automatically select the hardware input i range for the range limits specify below Cancel Use this hard Input i Use this hardware input range Help ov y Scaled range limits Min 5 4 Fe Max 374 E Scaled Range 63 Input Range This dialog allows you to edit a manual range for a custom probe Automatic mode If you leave the Automatic radio button pressed the program will automatically determine the best hardware input range for the device as you change the Scaled range limits This is the best mode to use for almost all ranges You should set the Scaled range limits to the maximum and minimum values you wish to see on the vertical axis of the scope display Fixed range mode If you press the Hardware input range radio button and select a hardware input range from the drop down box PicoScope will then use that hardware input range whatever scaled range limits you choose Set the upper and lower scaled range limits to the limits you wish to appear at the top and bottom of the vertical axis in PicoScope s scope view 14 What is an input range An input range is the signal range usually in volts on the input channel of the scope device 113 Your scaled range should match this as clos
80. llion colors and uncompressed BMP files are suitable for importing into Windows desktop publishing programs GIF images 9 1 Stores the waveforms graticule 112 and rulers 113 in Compuserve GIF format The image is 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high in 256 colors and compressed GIF files are widely used to illustrate web pages PNG images png Stores the graticule 112 rulers 113 and waveforms in Portable Network Graphics format The image is 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high in 16 million colors and compressed Matlab 4 files mat Stores the waveform data in Matlab 4 format 31 6 1 1 1 File formats for exported data PicoScope 6 can export raw data in either text or binary format Text based file formats Easy to read without special tools Can be imported into standard spreadsheet applications Files are very large if there are many samples in the data so files are limited to about 1 million values per channel Text file format details 31 Binary file format Files remain relatively small and can even be compressed in some situations this means that the amount of saved data is unlimited Either a special application is required to read the files or the user must write a program to read the data from the file If you need to save more than 64 K values per channel then you must use a binary file format such as the Matlab MAT file format Binary file format details 31 psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All right
81. loaded in as Tstart Tinterval and Tlength then you can use the following command to create the equivalent array of times T TIstarte y Tinterval Tetart length 1 Tinterval Exploring the file format The full file specification available from www mathworks com is comprehensive so this guide does not describe the entire format Instead this guide describes enough of the format to allow you to get data from the file and use it in your own program The variables described above under Importing into Matlab 32 are stored in a series of data blocks each preceded by a header Each variable has its own header and data block and the corresponding variable names are stored with them such as A B Tstart The following sections describe how to read each variable from the file The order of the data blocks is not specified so programs should look at the variable names to decide which variable is currently being loaded The header The file consists of a number of data blocks preceded by 20 byte headers Each header contains five 32 bit integers as described in the table below Bytes Value 0 3 Data format 0 10 or 20 4 7 Number of values 8 11 1 12 15 0 16 19 Name length Data format The Data format in the first 4 bytes describes the type of numerical data in the array Value Description 0 Double 64 bit floating point 10 Single 32 bit floating point 20 Integer 32 bit Number of values
82. ly set the capture time You can still display one or more secondary spectrum views In spectrum mode PicoScope displays a main spectrum view 18 optimises its settings for spectrum analysis and allows you to directly set the frequency range in a similar way to a dedicated spectrum analyser You can still display one or more secondary scope views In persistence mode 17 PicoScope displays a single modified scope view in which old waveforms remain on the screen in faded colors while new waveforms are drawn in brighter colors See also How to find a glitch using persistence mode and the Persistence Options dialog 7 When you save waveforms and settings 23 PicoScope only saves data for the mode that is currently in use If you wish to save settings for both capture modes then you need to switch to the other mode and save your settings again See also How do capture modes work with views 12 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 12 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 36052 How do capture modes work with views The capture mode 1 tells PicoScope whether you are mainly interested in viewing waveforms scope mode 11 or frequency plots spectrum mode 11 When you select a capture mode PicoScope sets up the hardware appropriately and then shows you a view that matches the capture mode a scope view 14 if you selected scope mode or persistence mode 17 or a spectrum view 16 if you sel
83. method opens a spectrum view in the currently selected mode whether this is Scope Mode or Spectrum Mode For best results we recommend that you switch to Spectrum Mode as described in the method immediately above Right click on any view 14 select Add view then select Spectrum The menu is similar to the Views menu ss shown above Configuring the spectrum view See Spectrum Settings dialog 72 Selecting the source data PicoScope can produce a spectrum view 16 based on either live or stored data If PicoScope is running the Start 79 button is pressed in the spectrum view represents live data Otherwise with PicoScope stopped the Stop 72 button pressed in the view represents data stored in the currently selected page of the waveform buffer When PicoScope is stopped you can use the buffer controls ss to scroll through the buffer and the spectrum view will be recalculated from the waveform currently selected psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 99 8 7 How to find a glitch using persistence mode Persistence mode 17 is designed to help you find rare events hidden in otherwise repetitive waveforms In normal scope mode such an event may appear on the display for a fraction of a second too quickly for you to press the space bar to freeze it on the screen Persistence mode keeps the event on the display for a predetermined time allowing you to set up the trigger options to capture i
84. n 71 Spectrum options bins 72 dialog 72 display mode 72 scale 72 Spectrum view 12 16 how to setup 98 Spreadsheet exporting to 29 Spurious edges finding 83 Standard deviation 18 Start Stop toolbar 79 Startup Settings menu 33 Statistics 18 filtering 39 Support 4 System requirements 6 7 Technical support email address 5 Telephone number 5 Text files exporting 31 Text exporting as 29 Threshold for measurements 39 Time difference how to measure 91 Time gate 25 Time rulers 14 16 23 Timebase controls 71 Toolbars 65 Tools menu 41 Trace 8 Trademarks 4 Trigger advanced 80 82 dropout 83 dual edge 82 edge 83 glitches 83 interval 82 83 logic 83 marker 15 missing events 83 mode control 80 pulse width 82 83 reference point 109 timing 109 toolbar 80 window 83 U Upgrades 4 Usage 4 V Valid edges finding 83 Version 1 Version 6 0 update 2 Vertical axis 14 16 Views how to move 92 menu 35 scope view 14 selecting channels 35 Spectrum view 16 Viruses 4 W Waveform 8 14 Waveform buffers number of 56 What s new 2 Window function 72 Window functions 108 Window trigger 83 Z Zooming 93 Zooming and Scrolling toolbar 86 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved 119 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en Pico Technology James House Colmworth Business Park Eaton Socon ST NEOTS Camb
85. ng the Hand tool see above Press the Esc key to return to the Normal Selection tool If you point to the time axis the pointer changes into the horizontal marquee zoom tool FA which restricts zooming to the horizontal axis This lets you zoom in by an arbitrary amount without disturbing the vertical zoom factor A Ctrl 1 Zoom in tool Turns the pointer into a zoom in tool A Click on the view with this tool to zoom in to the specified location If you point to the time axis the pointer changes into the horizontal zoom in tool HRA which restricts zooming to the horizontal axis This lets you zoom in without disturbing the vertical zoom factor S CtritO Zoom out tool Turns the pointer into a zoom out tool A Click on the view with this tool to zoom out around the specified location If you point to the time axis the pointer changes into the horizontal zoom out tool A which restricts zooming to the horizontal axis This lets you zoom out without disturbing the vertical zoom factor 100 Ctrl U Zoom to full view Resets the view to normal size The view will no longer have scroll bars and panning will no longer be possible psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 87 1 9 Demonstration Signals toolbar The Demonstration Signals toolbar allows you to set up test signals so that you can experiment with PicoScope when no scope device is connected To use thi
86. nly by the specified amount Click the and buttons to adjust the zoom factor or the 1 button to reset Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 72 PicoScope 6 User s Guide Samples control Sets the maximum number of samples that will be captured If this is larger than the number of pixels across the scope view then you can zoom in to see more detail The actual number of samples captured is displayed on the Properties sheet 25 and may be different from the number requested here depending on which timebase is selected gp 1 M5 Spectrum Mode In spectrum mode 11 the Capture Setup toolbar looks like this Pu M alas F lsmmz e ix HEEE 125 MHz se Frequency range control Sets the frequency range across the horizontal axis of the spectrum analyser when the horizontal zoom control is set to x1 ly Spectrum Options Appears if a spectrum view 16 is open regardless of whether scope mode 11 or spectrum mode 11 is selected It opens the Spectrum Options dialog 72 Persistence Mode In persistence mode 17 the Capture Setup toolbar looks like this As du soopsidiv x x1 HEEE a Persistence Options Opens the Persistence Options dialog 7 which controls the colors used to represent old and new waveforms IN persistence mode 1 4 1 Spectrum Options dialog This dialog appears when you click the Spectrum Options button in the Capture
87. ntensity old waveforms will remain indefinitely on the screen at that intensity unless overwritten by new ones Custom Options Line The type of line drawn between samples that are adjacent in time Drawing Phosphor Emulation Joins each pair of sample points with a line whose intensity varies inversely with the slew rate Constant Density Joins each pair of sample points with a line of uniform color Scatter Draws sample points as unconnected dots Color Phosphor Uses a single hue for each channel with varying intensity Scheme Color Uses a color from red to blue to represent the age of each waveform Background Black Overrides the Color Preferences dialog 62 This is the default White Overrides the Color Preferences dialog 2 User Preference Sets the background color to the preference set in the Colors 62 page of the Preferences dialog Data Hold This option is enabled only when Persistence Mode see below is set to Time Delay Decay Timeout Old waveforms fade until they reach Decayed Intensity and then disappear Infinite Old waveforms fade until they reach Decayed Intensity and then remain indefinitely unless overwritten by new waveforms Persistence Frequency Points on the display are drawn with a color or intensity Mode that depends on the frequency with which they are hit by waveforms Time Delay Points on the display are drawn at full intensity when hit by a waveform and are then allowed to decay to Decay
88. o remain on the screen in faded colors while new traces are drawn on top in brighter colors The use of colors is controlled by the Persistence Options dialog PicoScope will remember any views that were open so that you can return to them by clicking the Persistence Mode button again il Spectrum Mode Sets up PicoScope to operate as a spectrum analyser 11 Use the Auto Setup button to optimise the settings If you wish you can add a secondary scope view 14 from the context menu by right clicking on the scope view z gt Auto Setup Searches for a signal on one of the enabled input channels then sets up the timebase and signal range to display the signal correctly 100 psidiy 5 Timebase control Sets the time represented by a single division o of the horizontal axis when the horizontal zoom control is set to x1 The timebases available depend on the type of scope device 113 you are using Choosing a timebase of 200 ms div or slower causes PicoScope to switch to a different mode of data transfer The internal details of this are taken care of by PicoScope but the slow mode limits the sampling rate to a maximum of 1 million samples per second You can change this control to display the total time across the scope view rather than the time per division using the Collection Time Units control in the General ss page of the Preferences dialog 55 x 1 Horizontal zoom control Zooms the view in the horizontal direction o
89. of probes Open Custom Probes dialog The Custom Probes dialog 42 allows you to edit your library of custom probes Resolution enhance Allows you to increase the effective resolution of your scope device using Resolution enhancement 20 The number in this box is a target value that the software will attempt to use whenever possible Axis Scaling These are the axis scaling controls se that allow you to set the scale and offset for each vertical axis individually psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 69 7 2 1 1 Axis scaling controls The axis scaling controls let you change the scale and offset of each vertical axis individually Axis Scaling Scale 1 00 Fis offset 0 00 Eal There are two ways to obtain these controls Click the axis tab AF at the bottom of a vertical axis in a view 13 Click the probe drop down menu ss Hs Scale control Increase to magnify the waveform decrease to reduce it The vertical axis rescales accordingly so that you can always read the correct voltage from the axis Click the reset button La to return to a scale of 1 0 kh 1 00 0 00 Ele Offset control Increase to move the waveform up the display decrease to move it down The vertical axis shifts accordingly so that you can always read the correct voltage from the axis Adjusting this control is equivalent to clicking and dragging the vertical axis Click
90. olbar ocarine aee e aa secs e eae e e a eo A E 80 1 Advanced Triggering dialog ri dc 82 2Advanced trigger types tsar san bedesnnnevnceveauiansneunsasra A AR 83 8 Zooming and Scrolling toolbar asepen ese E E EE E 86 9 Demonstration Signals toolbar scisco a aiaa a aanita vedai 87 1 Demonstration Signals dialog 90 ssssssssessssssseesssessssesssecsssessnessssessnessssesssessusessnessusesssessuesssnessuessuressuesssessuessusesssessuessssesseessnsessies 88 OO WW EN 89 1 How to change to a different scope device sscsscsssssecsssssesseesseessecseessecssesseessecsesssccssesucesnecseeasesssenseessenssente 90 2 How to use rulers to measure a signal ssesiosonoinndcoc nic n cion seccasansl lt aateicaaduessaacneesieiscasebecdestendheceneeteales aai id 90 3 How to measure a time difference iii a 91 4 How to MOVE a VIO Weisz isaian odon ss na RIERA NAAA ARANA NE LARA IEA RR 92 5 How to scale and offset a signal oooooononononocccnanenononononononnononancccncanononnnnnonononnorconcnnnncnnnnnnnnnnnononnarncccnnacancnnnos 93 6 How to set up the spectrum view eoocoooocoocconnconnconnconcnononn nono nonononnnonnnnn nono e anno nono non non ncnn nn a oi Aias 98 7 How to find a glitch using persistence mode ocooocoocoononononncnnanononccnncnnnononononnonncnn non nonnnon non ncnn non nno nono non ncnncnnnnnnos 99 ERG TONCO a tai 103 Measurement Cy DES rmac asian oTe RS iia 103 pam A idad 104 Automotive scope measurements Diaria 105 is pectrumimiast
91. oses multiple waveforms on the same view with more frequent data or newer waveforms drawn in brighter colors than older ones This is useful for spotting glitches when you need to see a rare fault event hidden in a series of repeated normal events Enable persistence mode by clicking the Persistence Mode button IL on the Capture Setup toolbar 7 If you have not changed any of the persistence options 74 the screen will look something like this PicoScope 6 zoomed square wave psdata File Edit Views Tools Help As TL du F 200nsfdiv v x1 Aa Ly TQ Q 100 A 20 Y y loc v ER 8 off oc Se Ay OS auto Mita y lagos ov lis Ey As The colors indicate the frequency of the data Red is used for the highest frequency data with yellow for intermediate frequencies and blue for the least frequent data In the example above the waveform spends most of its time in the red region but noise causes it to wander occasionally into the blue and yellow regions This example shows persistence mode in its most basic form See the Persistence Options dialog 7 for ways to modify the display to suit your application and How to find a glitch using persistence mode ss for a worked example Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 18 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 10 Measurements table A measurements table contains the automatic mea
92. pe waits indefinitely for a trigger event before displaying data It repeats this process until you click the Stop button 79 If there is no trigger event PicoScope displays nothing Single PicoScope waits once for a trigger event then stops Sampling To make PicoScope repeat this process click the Start 73 button ETS Equivalent Time Sampling 112 PicoScope captures several cycles of a repetitive signal then combines the results to produce a single waveform with higher time resolution than a single capture For accurate results the signal must be perfectly repetitive and the trigger must be stable If you select ETS when an Advanced Trigger sz type is enabled the trigger type will revert to Simple Edge and the Advanced Triggering button will be disabled Advanced Triggering Click to open the Advanced Triggering dialog 82 which gives you extra trigger types beyond the simple edge trigger If this button is disabled it is because either None or ETS is selected in the trigger mode control If you want to enable the Advanced Triggering button set the control to another trigger mode such as Auto Repeat or Single rs Trigger Source This is the channel that PicoScope monitors for the trigger 113 condition Rising Edge Click to trigger on the rising edge of the waveform onl Falling Edge Click to trigger on the falling edge of the waveform 20 mv E Trigger Level Sets the trigger 13 level You can also set the trigger
93. pectrum window For reference the third order terms are at frequencies 2F1 F2 2F1 F2 F1 2F2 and F1 2F2 Note Hanning or Blackman windows are recommended because of their low noise An FFT size of 4096 or greater is recommended in order to provide adequate spectral resolution for the IMD measurements Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 108 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 9 2 Window functions To create a spectrum view 18 PicoScope uses a Fast Fourier Transform to compute the spectrum of a block of sampled data A block of sampled data has a beginning and an end and these sharp boundaries have an effect on the computed spectrum creating unwanted artefacts such as ripple and gain errors To reduce these artefacts the signal can be smoothed so it tapers off to zero at the start and end of the block A number of different types of smoothing called window functions can be applied depending on the type of signal and the purpose of the measurement The rectangular window is simply the unsmoothed truncated version of the data The Window Functions control in the Spectrum Options dialog 72 lets you select one of the standard window functions for spectrum analysis The following table shows some of the figures of merit used to compare window functions Window Main peak Highest Side lobe Notes width bins side lobe roll off 3 dB dB dB octave Blackman 1 68 58
94. plus distortion to noise plus distortion SINAD 20l0g sum of squares of all RMS components except datum RMS value of datum psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 107 Signal to Noise Ratio SNR The ratio in decibels of the mean signal power to the mean noise power Hanning or Blackman windows are recommended because of their low noise RMS value of datum sum of squares of all values excluding datum and harmonics Intermodulation Distortion IMD SNR 20log A measure of the distortion caused by the nonlinear mixing of two tones When multiple signals are injected into a device modulation or nonlinear mixing of these two signals can occur For input signals at frequencies f1 and f2 the two second order distortion signals will be found at frequencies f3 f1 f2 and f4 f1 f2 IMD is expressed as the dB ratio of the RMS sum of the distortion terms to the RMS sum of the two input tones IMD can be measured for distortion terms of any order but the second order terms are most commonly used In the second order case the intermodulation distortion is given by Fy Fy F F IMD 20109 2 where F3 and F4 are the amplitudes of the two second order distortion terms at frequencies f3 and f4 defined above and F1 and F2 are the amplitudes of the input tones at frequencies f1 and f2 as marked by the frequency rulers in the s
95. r changes 0 18 Fe when dragging il the handle Drag the second white ruler handle to the right until its ruler is at the time to be measured Look at the ruler legend 24 the small table that appears on the scope view It Should have a row marked by a small white square The first two columns show the times of the two rulers and the third column shows the time difference O 124 0ps 44 0 ps 85 0 ps The frequency legend 24 shows 1 A where A is the time difference Oh 26 32 kHz You can use a similar method to measure a frequency difference on a spectrum view lie Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 92 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 8 4 How to move a view You can easily drag a view 13 from one viewport 113 to another This example shows four viewports which contain scope views 14 called Scope 1 to Scope 4 Suppose that you wish to move the Scope 4 view to the top left viewport PicoScope aael 1 Click on the name tab of the Scope 4 view and al File Views Measurements Tools Automotive Window Help ae Pat JS sowie md rr eS aa e hold the mouse button down alae Ele i lo or bc E vemo sionas z Scope 1 gio 10 E E 10 25 AS 05 05 15 25 25 AS D ms ri Scope 3 m 10 Y 0 2 0 2 0 6 1 09 25 415 05 05 15 25 Auto A i Measurements Tools Automotive Window Help 2 Drag the mouse pointer to
96. reniehts isso tradi 106 ZE NVI GOW TUNCCON SS insti ARES RE RI EI AS 108 3 Trigger timing part iii 109 4 Trigger timing part Zi A e E a L 110 5 Keyboard shortcuts croesair ane NN A A R 111 6 Glossary nd E SEE A aE EE EES NU ESE AE E E 112 E E eis E EE I O A E O E E T E E A 115 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Welcome 1 1 Welcome Welcome to PicoScope 6 the PC Oscilloscope software from Pico Technology With a scope device from Pico Technology PicoScope 10 turns your PC into a powerful PC Oscilloscope s with all the features and performance of a bench top oscilloscope s at a fraction of the cost How to use this manual 5 What s new in this version 2 Using PicoScope for the first time 7 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 2 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 2 Version 6 0 update PicoScope 6 is a major new release of PicoScope Pico Technology s software for PC Oscilloscopes Higher performance e Faster capture rates making it easier to see fast moving signals e Faster data processing e Better support for the latest PicoScope USB oscilloscopes including the PicoScope 5000 Series Improved usability and appearance e Clearer graphics and text e Tool tips and help messages to explain all features e Easy point and click tools for panning and zooming New features e The latest Windows NET technology
97. ridgeshire PE19 8YP United Kingdom Tel 44 0 1480 396 395 Fax 44 0 1480 396 296 Web www picotech com psw en 8 19 8 08 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved
98. rom the measurements table 18 You can also find this button on the Measurements toolbar 70 Grid font size Sets the font size for the entries in the measurements table is Column Auto width If this button is pressed the columns of the measurements table 18 will continually adjust to fit the contents whenever the table changes Click again to release the button Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 38 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 4 1 Add Edit Measurement dialog Click the Add Measurement or Edit Measurement button on the Measurements toolbar 70 or in the Views menu 35 or double click a measurement in the measurements table is Edit Measurement Select the channel to measure Cancel Select the type of measurement Frequency se o Hep Choose which section of the graph will be measured whole trace Advanced This dialog allows you to add a measurement of a waveform to the selected view 113 or edit an existing measurement PicoScope automatically refreshes the measurement every time it updates the waveform If this is the first measurement for the view PicoScope will create a new measurements table 18 to display the measurement otherwise it will add the new measurement to the bottom of the existing table Channel Which of the scope device s 113 channels to measure Type PicoScope can calculate a wide range of measurements for waveforms See Measurement
99. rved psw en 22 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 13 Signal rulers The signal rulers help you measure absolute and relative signal levels on a scope view 14 or spectrum view 16 Ruler legend 1 0 1 E A E U ge drag handle 0 6 Signal 0 4 axis a2 0 0 Signal rulers 0 2 0 4 0 6 2 011 0m a in dimm nmin te 1 09 0 5 04 0 3 0 2 01 00 ma Ruler tool tip In the scope view 14 above the two colored squares to the left of the vertical axis are the ruler drag handles You can drag these from the top left corner to the positions you want to measure on the waveform The two horizontal dashed lines are the signal rulers The signal rulers work in the same way on a spectrum view 16 Ruler tool tip If you move the mouse pointer over one of the rulers PicoScope displays a tool tip 113 with the ruler number and the signal level of the ruler You can see an example of this in the picture above psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 23 5 14 Time rulers The time rulers measure time on a scope view 14 or frequency on a spectrum view 167 Ruler legend 1 E ES E Dl 146 0ps 349 0ps 201 0ps La Euler 1 148 01 tool tip Time ruler Ruler 5 04 03 02 014 00 01 02 03 o4 of handle A E E EEE 104 975 kHz Time Frequency gsls legend In the scope view 14 above the two white squar
100. s feature close PicoScope unplug all scope devices and then restart the program PicoScope will prompt you to select a demonstration device using the Connect Device dialog 64 Demo Signals When you click the button a drop down list of all the available channels in your demonstration device appears like this A Sine 1 kHz se B Square 1 kHz se Click one of the channels to open the Demonstration Signals dialog ss which will allow you to set up a signal from that channel Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 88 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 1 9 1 Demonstration Signals dialog Click the P mo Sianal button on the Demonstration Signals toolbar 87 You must have previously selected a Demo scope device 113 type in the Connect Device dialog 6 Signal On Frequency Amplitude Offset 4 sine 5 kHz op 800 mv o a This dialog controls one channel of the demonstration signal generator a feature of PicoScope that creates a variety of test signals to simulate a scope device Open it by clicking the Demo Signals button on the Demonstration Signals toolbar s7 and then selecting a channel It is available only when you start PicoScope with no scope device 113 connected to your computer and then select a scope device type of Demo in the Connect Device dialog 1 kHz E soo me E DY E Signal On Tick this box
101. s point At point B 0 25 milliseconds later the voltage has risen to a positive peak of 0 8 volts At point C 0 75 milliseconds after the start the voltage has dropped to a negative peak of 0 8 volts After 1 millisecond the voltage has risen back to 0 0 volts and a new cycle is about to begin This type of signal is called a sine wave and is one of a limitless range of signal types that you will encounter Most oscilloscopes allow you to adjust the vertical and horizontal scales of the display The vertical scale is called the voltage range in this example at least although scales in other units such as milliamperes are possible The horizontal scale is called the timebase and is measured in units of time in this example thousandths of a second psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 9 5 2 PCO basics A PCO PC Oscilloscope is a measuring instrument that consists of a hardware scope device and an oscilloscope program running on a PC Oscilloscopes were were originally stand alone instruments with no signal processing or measuring abilities and with storage only available as an expensive extra Later oscilloscopes began to use new digital technology to introduce more functions but they remained highly Specialised and expensive instruments PC Oscilloscopes are the latest step in the evolution of oscilloscopes combining the measuring power of Pi
102. s reserved Menus 31 6 1 1 1 1 6 15112 Data types for storing PicoScope 6 data Regardless of whether the data types were loaded from a binary file or from a text based file we recommend the following data formats for storing the values loaded from a PicoScope 6 data file Sampled data such as voltages should use 32 bit single precision floating point data types Times should use 64 bit double precision floating point data types Text formats Text format files exported by PicoScope 6 30 are encoded in UTF 8 format by default This is a popular format which is capable of representing a huge range of characters whilst still retaining some compatibility with the ASCII character set if only standard Western European characters and numbers are used in the file CSV comma separated values CSV files store data in the following format Time Channel A Channel B us V V ODO UVAS DI ll bez 500 002 Estados 2 130 QUO Deen Ae Le There is a comma after each value on a line to represent a column of data and a carriage return at the end of the line to represent a new row of data The 1 million values per channel limit prevents excessively large files being created Note CSV files are not the best choice of format if you are working in a language that uses the comma character as the decimal point Instead try using the tab delimited format which works in almost the same way Tab delimited
103. s reserved psw en PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 1 PicoScope and oscilloscope primer This chapter explains the fundamental concepts that you will need to know before working with the PicoScope software If you have used an oscilloscope before then most of these ideas will be familiar to you You can skip the Oscilloscope basics 8 section and go straight to the PicoScope specific information 9 If you are new to oscilloscopes please take a few minutes to read at least the Oscilloscope basics 8 and PicoScope basics 10 topics Oscilloscope basics An oscilloscope is a measuring instrument that displays a graph of voltage against time For example the picture below shows a typical display on an oscilloscope screen when a varying voltage is connected to one of its input channels G Pree e eee eC PO rere tere ere terre rere rete e eter rere rere terre terre rere rerererrr terre rere rererer rere teeter errr tert re et tee a E E mu num Oscilloscope displays are always read from left to right The voltage time characteristic of the signal is drawn as a line called the trace In this example the trace is blue and begins at point A If you look to the left of this point you will see the number 0 0 on the voltage axis 112 which tells you that the voltage is 0 0 V volts If you look below point A you will see another number 0 0 this time on the time axis which tells you that the time is 0 0 ms milliseconds at thi
104. s this data to reconstruct the waveform with a specified amplitude and frequency Axis A line marked with measurements PicoScope shows one vertical axis for each channel that is enabled in a view giving measurements in volts or other units Each view also has a single horizontal axis which is marked in units of time for a scope view or units of frequency for a spectrum view Channel A scope device has one or more channels each of which can sample one Signal High speed scope devices typically have one BNC connector per channel DC coupling In this mode the scope device measures the signal level relative to Signal ground This shows both d c and a c components ETS Equivalent Time Sampling A method of increasing the effective sampling rate of the scope In a scope view the program captures several cycles of a repetitive signal then combines the results to produce a single waveform with higher time resolution than a single capture For accurate results the signal must be perfectly repetitive and the trigger must be stable Graticule The horizontal and vertical dashed lines in every view These help you estimate the amplitude and time or frequency of features on the waveform Grid The arrangement of viewports The number of grid rows and the number of grid columns can each be either 1 2 3 or 4 In focus PicoScope can display several views but only one view is in focus at any time When you click a toolbar button it will u
105. site www picotech com How to use this manual If you are using a PDF viewer to read this manual you can turn the pages of the manual as if it were a book using the back and forward buttons in your viewer These buttons should look something like this 4 back EL forward You can also print the entire manual for reading away from your computer Look for a print button similar to this ds print For your first introduction to PicoScope we suggest that you start with these topics Using PicoScope for the first time 7 Oscilloscope basics s I PCO basics PicoScope basics 10 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en PicoScope 6 User s Guide 3 4 System requirements To ensure that PicoScope operates correctly you must have a computer with at least the minimum system requirements to run one of the supported operating systems as shown in the following table The performance of the oscilloscope will be better with a more powerful PC and will benefit from a multi core processor Item Absolute Recommended Recommended minimum minimum full specification Operating system Windows XP SP2 Windows XP SP2 Windows XP SP2 Windows Vista Windows Vista Windows Vista Processor 300 MHz 1 GHz Memory As required 256 MB 512 MB by Windows Free disk space 1 GB 2 GB See note 1 Ports USB 1 1 compliant port USB 2 0 compliant port Note 1 The PicoScope software does not use all the
106. stical measure of the spread of a set of samples The standard deviation of the set Yo n 2 is defined as SD Eo y where Y is the arithmetic mean of all the samples The units of the standard deviation value are the same as those of the original samples Tool tip A label that appears when you move the mouse pointer over some parts of the PicoScope screen such as buttons controls and rulers Trigger The part of an oscilloscope that monitors an incoming signal and decides when to begin a capture Depending on the trigger condition that you set the scope may trigger when the signal crosses a threshold or may wait until a more complex condition is satisfied Vertical resolution The number of bits that the scope device uses to represent the signal level This number is fixed by the design of the device but a greater effective number can be obtained in some cases by using resolution enhancement 20 View A presentation of data from a scope device A view may be a scope view or a spectrum view Viewport The views in the PicoScope window 13 are arranged in a grid 112 and each rectangular area in the grid is called a viewport Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en Index 115 Index omp files saving 29 csv files saving 29 gif files saving 29 png files saving 29 psdata files saving 29 pssettings files saving 29 txt files saving 29 A AC mains power 5 7 Access
107. sually affect only the view that is in focus To bring a view into focus click on it Probe An accessory that attaches to your oscilloscope and picks up a signal to be measured Probes are available to pick up any form of signal but they always deliver a voltage signal to the oscilloscope PicoScope has built in definitions of standard probes but also allows you to define custom probes Progressive mode Normally PicoScope redraws the waveform in a scope view many times every second At timebases slower than 200 ms div however it switches to progressive mode In this mode PicoScope updates the scope view continuously as each capture progresses rather than waiting for a complete capture before updating the view Resolution enhancement Collecting samples at a faster rate than requested then combining the excess samples by averaging This technique can increase the effective resolution of a scope device when there is a small amount of noise on the signal More details 20 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 113 Ruler A vertical or horizontal dashed line that can be dragged into place ona waveform in a view PicoScope displays the signal level time value or frequency value of all rulers in the Ruler Legend box Scope device A box of electronics that with the help of the PicoScope software turns your computer into a PC Oscilloscope Standard deviation A stati
108. surements that you have instructed PicoScope to make on a particular view 14 You can add delete or edit measurements from this table M CAMS MM Frequency MM Fize Time 90 104 Column heading Name Span Value Min Max Average Standard Deviation Capture Count Whole trace 327 4 mv 320 8 m 327 4 mv 327 7 mi 154 1 y 20 Whole trace 1 086 kHz 17 086 kHz 1 086 kHz 1 086kHz 22 98 mHz 20 Whole trace 307 ps 307 ps 307 ps 307 ps Os 0 Explanation The name of the measurement that you selected in the Add Measurement ss or Edit Measurement ss dialog An F after the name indicates that the statistics for this measurement are filtered 40 The section of the waveform or spectrum that you want to measure This is Whole trace by default The live value of the measurement from the latest capture The minimum value of the measurement since measuring began The maximum value of the measurement since measuring began The arithmetic mean of the measurements from the last n captures where n is set in the General ss page of the Preferences ss dialog The standard deviation 113 of the measurements from the last n captures where n is set in the General ss page of the Preferences 55 dialog The number of captures used to create the statistics above This starts at O when triggering is enabled and counts up to the number of captures specified in the General ss page of the Preferences ss dialog To add a measurement
109. t more reliably Step by step guide Set up the scope to trigger on a repetitive waveform like the one below We suspect that there are occasional glitches but we can see nothing wrong yet so we Shall use persistence mode to investigate Click the Persistence Mode button 1 to continue Persistence Mode button PicoScove 6 A E X Views Measurements Tools Help F sonsfdiv e x 1 EH lim E 7 oc E E 8 or 7 oc 3 oO T a T T a i Pa 3237 23 223 1737 EA 23 60 26 32 32 126 5 1 paa J Hi0 x ial 168 mu ES 64 736 E 5 Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en PicoScope 6 User s Guide 100 Our original scope view is replaced by a persistence view as shown below Immediately we can see three pulses with different shapes At this point we have the Saturation control in Persistence Options 7 turned up to maximum to help us spot the various waveforms easily PicoScope 6 Aoc x 1 Ae lu 20 ns div Properties ee eee eee ee eee eee A eee bee eee O O A A A A A O A A o o I I I I I I I I T I I I I I I I I I I I I I I i I I I I I I I L I I I I I I I I T I I I I I I I T I I I l I I I I I I I I I I e E eee ae ee Me E eae O A A Laosc daos daos dasn a des de ela L i 1 Po A is ii a ps is ii I I I hee ee eee l ee ee ee ee
110. th zero on the time axis If zero on the time axis is outside the scope view 14 then the left hand end of the post trigger arrow appears like this The right hand end of the arrow temporarily replacing the trigger marker 15 indicates the trigger reference point Use the buttons on the Triggering toolbar so to set up a post trigger delay 5 7 Trigger marker The trigger marker shows the level and timing of the trigger point Trigger marker O The height of the marker on the vertical axis shows the level at which the trigger is set and its position on the time axis shows the time at which it occurs You can move the trigger marker by dragging it with the mouse or for more accurate control by using the buttons on the Triggering toolbar so Other forms of trigger marker In post trigger delay mode the trigger marker is temporarily replaced by the post trigger arrow 15 while you adjust the post trigger delay When some advanced trigger types ss are in use the trigger marker changes to a window marker which shows the upper and lower trigger thresholds For more information see the section on Trigger timing 109 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 16 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 5 8 Spectrum view A spectrum view is one view of the data from a scope device A spectrum is a diagram of signal level on a vertical axis plotted against frequency on the horizontal axis Pico
111. the new location next to the name tab of the Scope 1 view anasu sick 3 Release the mouse button and the view will move to the new location Scope 1 Scope 4 E 10 sE ry ry 1 05 25 15 05 05 15 25 ms E a os 409 2 mv 50 EOI psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 93 8 5 How to scale and offset a signal PicoScope offers two ways to change the size and position of a signal during or after capture These methods apply equally to scope views 14 and spectrum views 16 They do not change the stored data only the way in which it is displayed Global zooming and scrolling This is usually the quickest way to get a closer look at the fine detail on your signals The global zooming and scrolling tools move all the signals at once and are found on the zooming and scrolling toolbar se When a view Is zoomed in it has vertical and horizontal scroll bars that let you move the signals around as a group You can also use the hand tool to scroll around the graph Axis scaling and offset Use these tools to position individual signals on the graph unlike the global zooming and scrolling tools which are applied to all of the signals at the same time Axis scaling and offset tools are ideal when a signal on one channel is smaller than on another or when you
112. top left or top right corner of the scope view 14 or spectrum view 18 of this color Ez MI 100 usdi Drag the ruler handle downwards A signal ruler 22 horizontal broken line will appear across the view Release the ruler handle when the ruler is where you want it Look at the ruler legend 24 the small table that appears on the view It should have a row marked by a small colored square matching the color of your ruler handle The first column shows the signal level of the ruler 1 E ES som Using two rulers for differential measurements Follow the steps above for using a single ruler Drag the second ruler handle of the same color downwards until its ruler is at the signal level to be measured Look at the ruler legend 24 again The second column now shows the signal level of the second ruler and the third column shows the difference between the two rulers 1 E ES gt 136 Orr 493 0m 1 079 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved How to 91 8 3 How to measure a time difference Find the time ruler handle the small white square in the bottom left corner of the scope view 14 Time ruler handle Drag the ruler handle to the right A time ruler 23 vertical broken line will appear on the scope view Release the ruler handle when the ruler is at the time you wish to use as the reference WV ff Curso
113. trigger reference point Scope devices have a limit to the number of sampling intervals that can elapse between the trigger event and the end of the capture so the software may adjust the pre trigger delay to keep within this limit Tip event and the trigger reference point If you have set up a post trigger delay you can click the post trigger delay button while the scope is running whenever you want to switch between viewing the trigger Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Reference 111 9 5 Keyboard shortcuts You can activate most of PicoScope s functions using the menu system but some functions also have keyboard shortcuts These can save time on tasks that you repeat often Ctrl C Copy the current view 113 or note 34 to the Windows clipboard You can then switch to another application and paste the contents of the clipboard as a picture The method for doing this varies but many applications use the Ctrl V key or a Paste button Ctri D Hand tool Use to pan the waveform when zoomed in Equivalent to the Hand tool button on the Zooming and Scrolling toolbar se Ctrl Zoom in tool Click on the waveform to zoom in Equivalent to the Zoom in tool button on the Zooming and Scrolling toolbar se Ctri M Marquee zoom tool Click on the waveform and drag to draw a box a marquee and PicoScope will zoom in to make the box fill the view Equivalent to the Marquee zoom tool button
114. tware is intended for use on a computer that may be running other software products For this reason one of the conditions of the licence is that it excludes usage in mission critical applications for example life support systems Viruses This software was continuously monitored for viruses during production but you are responsible for virus checking the software once it is installed Support If you are dissatisfied with the performance of this software please contact our technical support staff who will try to fix the problem within a reasonable time If you are still dissatisfied please return the product and software to your supplier within 14 days of purchase for a full refund Upgrades We provide upgrades free of charge from our web site at www picotech com We reserve the right to charge for updates or replacements sent out on physical media Trademarks Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation Pico Technology and PicoScope are internationally registered trade marks psw en Copyright O 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Introduction 5 5 2 3 3 Contact information Address Pico Technology James House Colmworth Business Park Eaton Socon ST NEOTS Cambridgeshire PE19 8YP United Kingdom Phone 44 0 1480 396395 Fax 44 0 1480 396296 Office hours 09 00 to 17 00 Mon Fri Technical support email supportO picotech com Sales email sales picotech com Web
115. ual Ranges Setup dialog 50 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 53 6 5 2 7 Custom Probe Identification dialog This dialog follows the Range Management dialog 49 It allows you to enter text to identify the custom probe Custom Probe Wizard Custom Probe Identificaton Provide descriptive details so pour new probe can be identified later Enter a name for the probe Acme current clamp Write a short description for the probe so it can be easily identified optional 600 A current clamp 1 mvs Cancel How to use the dialog Click Back to return to the Range Management dialog 2 or the Manual Ranges Setup dialog so if you chose manual setup The probe name will appear in the probe list The description is not used in the present version of the software Fill in the text fields and click Next to continue to the Custom Probe Finished dialog 54 Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 54 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 2 8 Custom Probe Finished dialog This dialog follows the Custom Probe Identification dialog 53 It displays a summary of the custom probe that you have just set up HE Custom Probe Wizard How to use the dialog Click Back to return to the Custom Probe Identification dialog 535 Click Finish to accept your custom probe settings and return to the Custom Probes dialog 4
116. ue to work the signal must contain a very small amount of Gaussian noise but for many practical applications this is generally taken care of by the scope itself and the noise inherent in normal signals The resolution enhancement feature uses a flat moving average filter This acts as a low pass filter with good step response characteristics and a very slow roll off from the pass band to the stop band Some side effects will be observed when using resolution enhancement These are normal and can be counteracted by reducing the amount of enhancement used increasing the number of samples captured or changing the timebase Trial and error is usually the best way to find the optimum resolution enhancement for your application The side effects include Widened and flattened impulses spikes Vertical edges such as those of square waves turned into straight line slopes Inversion of the signal sometimes making it look as if the trigger point is on the wrong edge A flat line when there are not enough samples in the waveform Procedure Click the Channel Options button in the Channel Setup toolbar 7 Use the Resolution Enhance control in the Advanced Options menu ss to select the effective number of bits which can be equal to or greater than the vertical resolution 112 of your scope device psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved PicoScope and oscilloscope primer 21 5 12
117. ul for finding valid edges Outside time range triggers when the second edge is earlier than Time 1 after the first edge or later than Time 2 useful for finding Spurious edges Finally set up Time 1 and Time 2 if present to define the time interval Window pulse width This is a combination of the window trigger and the pulse width trigger It detects when the signal enters or leaves a voltage range for a specified period of time Level dropout This detects an edge followed by a specified time with no edges It is useful for triggering on the end of a pulse train Window dropout This is a combination of the window trigger and the dropout trigger It detects when the signal enters a specified voltage range and stays there for a specified time This is useful for detecting when a signal gets stuck at a particular voltage Logic This can detect a number of logical combinations of the scope s four inputs A B Ext and AUXIO The conditions that can be applied to each input vary A and B can be edge level or window qualified Ext is level qualified with a variable threshold and AUXIO is level qualified with a fixed TTL threshold You can choose to combine the channels with an AND NAND OR NOR XOR or XNOR function psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Toolbars 85 7 7 2 1 Hysteresis Hysteresis is a feature of the advanced trigger types 83 in PicoScope 6 that re
118. unction or if your ranges require specific feed limits that may not map well to the scope s input ranges How to use the dialog If you select Let the software manage my ranges for me automatically then clicking Next will take you to the Custom Probe Identification dialog ss PicoScope s automatic ranges should be ideal for most applications If you select will manage the Custom Probe Ranges manually clicking Next will take you to the Manual Ranges Setup dialog so Click Back to return to the Scaling Method dialog 47 What is Auto ranging When the Auto ranging function is selected PicoScope continually monitors the input signal and adjusts the range when necessary to allow it to display the signal with maximum resolution This function is available on all standard ranges and can be used with custom ranges only if you select Let the software manage my ranges for me automatically in this dialog Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved psw en 50 PicoScope 6 User s Guide 6 5 2 6 Manual Ranges Setup dialog This dialog appears when you select the Advanced option in the Range Management dialog 49 and then click Next gt It allows you to create ranges manually for your custom probe Custom Probe Wizard Manual Ranges Setup Setup the Custom Ranges manually Use the list on the right to manually 11 37 A AF 450 4 l i Mew Range configure the available ranges on the
119. zard The Custom probe wizard allows you to define custom probes 2 and set up custom ranges The first dialog in the series is either the Create a new Custom Probe dialog 44 or the Edit an existing Custom Probe dialog 4 6 5 2 1 Create New Custom Probe dialog Click the New Probe button in the Custom Probes dialog 4 Pe Custom Probe Wizard Edit an Existing Custom Probe This wizard allows you to change any aspect of the Custom Probe Fress the Nest button until you find the information pou wish to edit This dialog introduces you to the process for creating a new custom probe How to use the dialog Click Next to continue to the Probe Output Units dialog 46 psw en Copyright 2007 2008 Pico Technology All rights reserved Menus 45 6 5 2 2 Edit Existing Custom Probe dialog Get here by clicking the Edit button in the Custom Probes dialog 42 5 Custom Probe Wizard Edit an existing Custom Probe This wizard allows you to change any aspect of the Custom Probe Fress the Nest button until you find the information pou wish to edit Jump forward to the Manual Ranges Setup page This dialog introduces you to the process for editing an existing custom probe How to use the dialog Click Next to continue to the Probe Output Units dialog ws where you can edit the custom probe Click Jump forward if you have already set up the custom probe s basic charact

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