TEKTRONIX MSO5000 and DPO5000 series mixed signal oscilloscope

TEKTRONIX MSO/DPO5000 Series: High Performance Mixed Signal Oscilloscope

In today's highly complex electronic design field, especially in industries such as embedded systems, automotive electronics, and power electronics, single nature signal analysis tools are no longer sufficient to meet the growing debugging needs. Engineers often need to simultaneously observe the physical characteristics of analog signals and the logical state of digital buses to ensure the stability and reliability of system collaboration. In response to this pain point, Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series mixed signal oscilloscopes have emerged. As a high-performance instrument that integrates analog and digital channels, this series not only provides excellent bandwidth and storage depth, but also offers a comprehensive fault diagnosis and analysis solution for modern electronic engineers through innovative data capture technology, intelligent triggering functions, and deep bus decoding capabilities.

Core Architecture: Perfect Integration of Simulation and Digital

The design concept of Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series is "mixed signal". This series offers a variety of bandwidth models, from entry-level models at 350 MHz to high-performance models at 500 MHz, 1 GHz, and even top of the line 2 GHz. This multi-level bandwidth configuration ensures that users can choose the most suitable measurement tool based on specific signal frequency characteristics and budget.

In addition to bandwidth, this series of oscilloscopes adopts a vertical system architecture, providing 4 analog channels and 16 digital channels in standard configuration. The core advantage of this architecture is that it allows engineers to accurately observe the waveform changes of analog signals on the same timeline, while monitoring the communication status of the related digital buses. For example, when analyzing the dynamic characteristics of a switch mode power supply (SMPS), engineers can simultaneously observe the gate voltage changes of MOSFETs (analog) and PWM control signals (digital) to intuitively determine whether the control loop is working properly or if there are potential timing risks.

Excellent data collection capability: FastAcq and MagniVu technology

In capturing rare or transient fault signals, sampling rate and storage depth are the lifeline of oscilloscopes. The Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series has demonstrated groundbreaking performance in this field.

All four channels support real-time sampling rates of up to 5 GS/s (gigasamples per second), ensuring high fidelity reconstruction of bandwidth signals. And in specific single channel or dual channel modes, through FastAcq ™ Capture mode, oscilloscope can achieve a waveform capture rate of over 250000 wfms/s (waveform points per second). This ultra high speed capture capability enables engineers to capture extremely narrow spikes or sudden pulses that conventional oscilloscopes may miss, greatly improving the accuracy of fault diagnosis.

In terms of storage depth, the standard configuration already supports a record length of up to 250 Megasoints (250 million sampling points). For applications that require longer observation windows, such as the complete handshake process of communication protocols, this series also provides MagniVu ™ High speed capture function. In MagniVu mode, the instrument is capable of sampling with an extremely high temporal resolution of 60.6 ps and allows for the extension of recording length to an astonishing 10 million points (10 Mpts). The combination of deep storage and high temporal resolution allows engineers to simultaneously observe macro protocol interaction details and micro signal timing jitter in a single capture, providing unparalleled advantages for timing verification of complex digital systems.

Intelligent waveform triggering and search: Wave Inspector ® Innovative Applications

Facing data streams that often last for seconds or even minutes, how to quickly locate abnormal events is a key bottleneck in debugging efficiency. Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series introduces revolutionary Wave Inspector ® The waveform viewer control function has completely changed the workflow of waveform search.

Traditional oscilloscopes require users to manually drag the scroll wheel and search for anomalies in long waveforms, which is not only time-consuming but also prone to fatigue and missed readings. The Wave Inspector feature provides an intelligent search and tagging tool. Users can automatically search and mark specific events in long waveform records, such as spikes, short waves, pulse width changes, or specific timing violations, through simple mouse operations or front panel buttons. This feature supports up to 8 different search types and allows users to set custom "user tags" or "step" conditions. Once the instrument locates the first event, simply press the "Next" button to instantly jump to the next eligible event. This process of "search step 1 (defining the content to be searched)" and "search step 2 (Wave Inspector will automatically search for records back and forth)" greatly shortens debugging time, allowing engineers to focus on solving problems rather than searching for data.

In addition, the oscilloscope also provides a powerful triggering system. In addition to standard edge, pulse width, and video triggering, it also supports complex mode triggering and dedicated serial triggering for serial buses such as I2C, SPI, RS-232/422/485, UART, and USB. This is crucial for debugging communication faults between microcontrollers (MCUs), as oscilloscopes can automatically decode specific address values or data frames and trigger capture only when matched.

Deep analysis and compliance testing: from FFT to DDR analysis

Merely capturing waveforms is not enough, modern oscilloscopes must possess strong mathematical analysis capabilities. The Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series comes standard with a comprehensive set of analysis tools, known as the "53 automatic measurement functions". These functions include but are not limited to: rise time, fall time, pulse width, frequency, cycle, duty cycle, delay, phase and amplitude measurement, etc. These automated measurements greatly improve work efficiency and eliminate errors caused by manual visual scale measurements.

For more advanced applications such as DDR memory or high-speed Ethernet, Tektronix offers a wide range of optional analysis software packages. One of the key functions is DDR memory bus analysis. This option can automatically recognize different memory read types such as DDR1, DDR2, LP-DDR1, and LP-DDR2, and perform in-depth consistency checks. It not only measures the width of each read data bit, but also verifies compliance with JEDEC standards, which is extremely important for the design and validation of memory modules. In addition, the oscilloscope also supports automotive electronic decoding options for CAN and LIN buses, which can automatically trigger, decode, and display complex automotive network messages, greatly simplifying the debugging work of automotive electronic engineers.

FastFrame of oscilloscope ™ The segment memory retrieval mode further optimizes storage utilization. It allows a long record to be divided into multiple logical segments, saving only the segments that contain the triggering conditions. This means that even if only one transient fault is of interest in a long-term record, the instrument can efficiently capture this critical segment before the memory is full, maximizing the effective storage depth.

Detection Technology and Signal Integrity: P6616 and TekVPI

Even the most high-performance oscilloscope must be equipped with a high-quality probe that matches it. Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series recommends using P6616 MSO probe and TekVPI ® Probe interface.

P6616 is an innovative 8-channel probe Pod. It adopts a unique hidden joint design, greatly simplifying the connection with the device under test (DUT). Each Pod contains two 8-channel modules, providing a total of 16 channels, greatly improving the cable management efficiency of multi-channel measurement. Its design focuses on low capacitance loads (typically below 4 pF), which is crucial in high bandwidth applications. Excessive probe capacitance will filter out high-frequency components of the signal, resulting in a gradual decrease in the rising edge and bandwidth. The low capacitance design of P6616 ensures that the oscilloscope can accurately reproduce the edge details of high-speed digital signals, ensuring measurement accuracy. Cooperate with TekVPI ® Technology, these probes provide intelligent interfaces that support automatic adjustment of probe ratios, simplifying user operations.

User Experience and System Integration: Windows 7 and XGA Display

In order to adapt to the IT environment of modern laboratories, the Tektronix MSO/DPO5000 series comes standard with Microsoft ®  Windows 7 64 bit operating system. This choice enables the oscilloscope to seamlessly integrate into the user's existing workflow. Users can utilize OpenChoice provided by Tektronix ® Software connections or industry standard IVI-COM drivers facilitate the transfer of collected data to a computer, allowing for subsequent analysis and report generation using general software such as LabVIEW, Excel, or Word.

In terms of display, the oscilloscope is equipped with a 10.4-inch (264mm) XGA color display. This high-resolution color LCD display provides an excellent visual experience, supporting multiple waveform styles and color codes, allowing users to intuitively distinguish different channels or signal levels. The front panel is also designed with a user-friendly MyScope ® Customize the control window, allowing users to create personalized measurement interfaces through simple drag and drop programs, further improving usage efficiency.

In addition, the design of this series of oscilloscopes fully considers the limitations of physical space. Its body height is only 20.6 centimeters (8.12 inches), and its weight is less than 6.7 kilograms (15 pounds). This compact body design allows the oscilloscope to be easily placed in crowded workbenches or test stands, or flexibly deployed in automated test equipment (ATE) environments.