Review

The majority of benchtop test instruments hitting the market this year targeted the high-end design sector, particularly in the area of high-speed signal analysis. Digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs) and logic analyzers were the leaders of the pack with unparalleled performance levels.

Agilent Technologies (agilent.com) expanded its Infiniium 54850 oscilloscope family of real-time DSOs with the 54853A. With a 2.5 GHz bandwidth and four channels capable of sampling at rates up to 20 Gsamples/s, the instrument was reported as the industry's highest-performance DSO. It is capable of capturing four, full-bandwidth real-time single-ended and differential signals from a single trigger event. The scope also employs the company's MegaZoom memory, which promises to increase the amount of information users can capture from events leading up to and after the specified trigger event. Similar to its siblings, the 54853A is based on Windows XP Pro and supports applications such as Excel, MATLAB, Mathcad, and Norton's AntiVirus.

High-speed sampling and wide bandwidths were the order of the day in the four-channel Model 8620A DSO and 6020 serial data analyzer (SDA) from LeCroy (lecroy.com). Both instruments use the company's WaveMaster DSO technology to achieve real-time sampling rates of 20 Gsamples/s on each channel, a 6-GHz bandwidth, 75-ps rise time, and a memory capacity up to 48 million points per channel. Users of the 8620A DSO can create custom measurements or waveform math functions and insert them into the interface. A visual basic script, MATLAB, MATHCAD, or Excel function can be written and integrated into the scope's processing chain without further action. The 6020 SDA evaluates the physical layer characteristics of optical and electrical serial data signals including Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, InfiniBand, IEEE 1394, and SONET/SDH up to 3.5 Gb/s. Measurement capabilities include eye pattern, jitter, and bit error rate.

The Tektronix (tektronix.com) TLA5000 Series logic analyzers came to market offering the highest timing resolution, deepest memory timing, and fastest state acquisition of any logic analyzer in its price range. Designed for troubleshooting mainstream digital systems—those defined by semiconductor devices with data rates to 400 Mb/s and setup/hold times down to 350 ps—the four-models in the series provide 34 to 136 channels, a timing resolution of 500 ps, and memory depths up to 32 Mb. Exploiting the company's MagniVu technology, the analyzers are capable of simultaneous, 125-ps data acquisitions on each channel. Features common to each analyzer includes 500-ps deep memory timing on quarter channels, 1-ns deep memory timing on half channels, and 2-ns to 50-ms deep memory timing on all channels.

Other types of benchtop instruments addressed issues such as standards and safety testing. For example, the UCS500M/6B simulator from Amplifier Research (ar-amps.com) combines burst, surge, power fail, and optional ESD and Ringwave modules in one system, capable of testing to IEC 61000-4-2, 4-4, 4-5, 4-8, 4-9, 4-11 and 4-12, ANSI/IEEE C62.41, EN61000-6-1, and 6-2, and EN60601-1-2. Another unit with an eye on safety, the G2 Genie from Clare Instruments(clareinstruments.com), performs a suite of electrical safety tests, including earth bond, ac/dc hipot, and insulation resistance tests. Its outputs are isolated from ground, enabling multiple test connections to the product under test.

Benchtop digital multimeters (DMMs) have been a staple of the electronics workbench for many years, and new models popped up again this year. For the mid-range market, the Model 5492 benchtop DMM from B+K Precision (bkprecision.com) provides an easy-to-read, 5-1/2-digit dual display and the ability to select resolutions of 120,000, 40,000, or 4,000 counts. Features include a 0.012% basic accuracy, true RMS readings, and a 45 Hz to 100 kHz bandwidth.

—Mat Dirjish

Outlook

Reign On
Although there is obviously a wide range of test instruments on the market, the two tools designers rely upon most heavily these days are the oscilloscope and logic analyzer, and the level of dependence is probably equal. The need to accurately capture, view, store, and evaluate smaller and faster waveforms while insuring their integrity was, is, and will perpetually be on the rise.

To accommodate this need, DSO and logic analyzer designers will be making some heavy demands on semiconductor makers (particularly memory devices) and display markets. As the functional definitions of logic analyzer (LA) and DSO become synonymous, we may see a true melding of the two into a singular, stand-alone instrument. If so, perhaps we'll all have a new acronym to add to our vocabulary: LADSO.

—MD