Pico 9301-20 PicoScope 20 GHz Sampling Scope Kit

All models in the PicoScope 9300 series can internally generate a pattern sync trigger derived from bit rate, pattern length, and trigger divide ratio. This enables them to build up an eye pattern from any specified bit or group of bits in a sequence.

Eye line mode works with the pattern sync trigger to isolate any one of the 8 posssible paths, called eye lines, that the signal can make through the eye diagram. This allows the instrument to display and isolate effects such as data-dependent jitter, offset and overshoot for each trajectory.

A range of Bessel-Thomson filters is available for standard frequencies. These filters are essential for accurate characterization of signals emerging from an optical transmission system. The first eye pattern, above left, shows the ringing typical of an unequalized O/E converter output at 622 Mb/s. The second eye pattern, above right, shows the result of connecting the 622 Mb/s B-T filter. This is an accurate representation of the signal that an equalized optical receiver would see, enabling the PicoScope 9321 to display correct measurements.

The PicoScope 9341 sampling oscilloscope offers 20 GHz bandwidth on four channels for engineers who need to characterise performance of multi-lane gigabit transmission systems, and check for channel-to-channel interference and compatibility.

Sequential time sampling (STS) mode
The oscilloscope samples after each trigger event with a regularly incrementing delay derived from an internal triggerable oscillator. Jitter is 1.8 ps typical, 2.0 ps maximum. The 1 MS/s sampling rate, the highest of any sampling scope, builds waveforms and persistence displays faster.

Eye mode 
A variation of STS mode in which sampling is controlled by the external prescaled trigger. Jitter is reduced even with long time delays.

TDR/TDT mode
The oscilloscope acquires one sample per internal trigger independent of timebase settings. The delay is generated by a precise internal clock oscillator.

Real-time, random equivalent time sampling and roll modes
Uniquely, there is a 100 MHz bandwidth trigger pick-off within the samplers. The PicoScope 9300 scopes can therefore operate similarly to a traditional DSO in roll, transient capture and ETS modes. Signals up to 100 MHz are conveniently displayed without the need for another oscilloscope.

Often remarked to be the best Sampling Oscilloscope user interface there is, PicoSample 3 software presents as few or as many feature controls as you need in your application. Choose to maximize trace display or dock control menus at a single touch of the screen or mouse click, dependent on the task and preference. PicoSample 3 takes full advantage of HD, wide-ratio and touch displays and projections.

Choose to control offset numerically and the dual timebase displays as the traditional “Delay”, “A”, “A intensified by B”, or “B”, or click, drag and zoom, whichever you prefer.

Display your waveforms on a single, dual or quad graticules; persisted, colour or intensity graduated, vectored or not. Size and scroll the measurements and statistics display

The PicoScope 9300 Series scopes quickly measure well over 100 parameters, so you don’t need to count graticules or estimate the waveform’s position. Up to ten simultaneous measurements or four statistics measurements are possible. The measurements conform to IEEE standard definitions.

A dedicated frequency counter shows signal frequency at all times, regardless of measurement and timebase settings.

The PicoScope 9000 Series supports up to four simultaneous mathematical combinations and functional transformation of acquired waveforms.

You can select any of the mathematical functions as a math operator to act on the operand or operands. A waveform math operator is a function of either one or two sources.
Single-input operators: Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide.
Two-input operators: Invert, Absolute, Exponent, Logarithm, Differentiate, Integrate, Inverse, FFT, Interpolation, Smoothing.

A histogram is a probability distribution that shows the distribution of acquired data from a source within a user-definable histogram window. The information gathered by the histogram is used to perform statistical analysis on the source.

Histograms can be constructed on waveforms on either the vertical or horizontal axes. The most common use for a vertical histogram is measuring and characterizing noise on displayed waveforms, while the most common use for a horizontal histogram is measuring and characterizing jitter on displayed waveforms.

The PicoScope 9300 Series scopes quickly measure more than 40 fundamental parameters used to characterize non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals and return-to-zero (RZ) signals. Up to ten parameters can be measured simultaneously, with statistics also shown.

The measurement points and levels used to generate each parameter can be shown dynamically.

Eye diagram analysis can be made even more powerful with the addition of mask testing, as described below. The PicoScope 9000 series also include a 11.3 Gbps pattern sync trigger for averaging eye diagrams.

Eye-diagram masks are used to give a visual indication of deviations from a standard waveform. There is a library of over 150 built-in masks (see specifications), and custom masks can be automatically generated and modified using the graphical editor. A specified margin can be added to any mask to enable stress-testing.

The display can be grey-scaled or colour-graded to aid in analyzing noise and jitter in eye diagrams. There is also a statistical display showing the number of failures in both the original mask and the margin.

All PicoScope 9000 Series oscilloscopes can perform up to four Fast Fourier Transforms of input signals using a range of windowing functions. FFTs are useful for finding crosstalk problems, finding distortion problems in analog waveforms caused by nonlinear amplifiers, adjusting filter circuits designed to filter out certain harmonics in a waveform, testing impulse responses of systems, and identifying and locating noise and interference sources.

The PicoScope 9000 software can be operated as a standalone oscilloscope program and as an ActiveX control. The ActiveX control conforms to the Windows COM model and can be embedded in your own software. Programming examples are provided in Visual Basic (VB.NET), LabVIEW and Delphi, but any programming language or standard that supports the COM standard can be used, including JavaScript and C.

A comprehensive Programmer’s Guide is supplied that details every function of the ActiveX control.

The SDK can control the oscilloscope over the USB or the LAN port.