Evaluation Engineering - 6

OSCILLOSCOPES

SPECIAL REPORT

INNOVATION DRIVES
SCOPE OPTIONS
Performance, formfactor, and software choices
adapt scopes to multiple applications
By Rick Nelson, Interim Chief Editor
	

Oscilloscopes span a range of performance and formfactor options, from
a 110-GHz benchtop instrument to a
pocket-sized USB model. High-end models target mmWave applications such as
WiGig and 5G plus satellite communications and radar, while low-cost models
aim to put a lab in the pocket of every
engineer-or engineering student. In between, mainstream scopes address ADAS,
power monitoring, IoT, embedded-systems design, EMC debug, and bus-decoding applications, among many others.

Targeting mmWave communications
Keysight Technologies has been focusing on the high end with new functionality for its UXR-Series oscilloscopes,
Keysight UXR-Series oscilloscope.

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EVALUATION ENGINEERING FEBRUARY 2020

which deliver fast, coherent analysis for
wideband measurements up to 110 GHz
to accelerate the development of nextgeneration mmWave communications
applications.
Features include the ability to configure optional 5-GHz or 10-GHz analysis
bandwidth windows within and above
the UXR's natively licensed bandwidth;
availability of more than 2 GHz of digital downconversion (DDC) analysis
bandwidth that can be used in conjunction with available mmWave frequency
extension options to extend DDC accelerated frequency ranges as high as 110
GHz; and hardware-accelerated DDC to
decimate oscilloscope captures in realtime to enable deep captures exceeding

several seconds of time and accelerating
processing up to 100x faster than nondecimated measurements.
The company said the instrument also
offers superior signal integrity with error vector magnitude (EVM) below 0.6%
for 5G NR FR2 tests and 1% for 802.11ay
technologies-consequently, EVM measurements can reflect the true DUT performance, without impairments caused
by the noise of the measurement system. Finally, a bandwidth pricing model
matches typical RF equipment, in which
the price correlates with the analysis
bandwidth needed-eliminating the need
to purchase the full frequency range that
the oscilloscope hardware supports.

Performance to 16 GHz
Much recent innovation in the oscilloscope market has been at top frequencies
from 2 to 16 GHz. Guido Schulze, product
manager for oscilloscopes at Rohde &
Schwarz in Munich, commented, "R&S
RTP high-performance oscilloscopes
combine high-class signal integrity
with a fast acquisition rate of 750,000
waveforms/s. The high-precision digital
trigger matches the acquisition-system
bandwidth, with real-time de-embedding for triggering and acquisition. The
new RTP13 and RTP16 models extend
the maximum available bandwidth to
16 GHz."
Asked about unique features, Schulze
cited signal-integrity debugging in real
time. "Unique features include real-time
de-embedding, real-time differential
math functions for two input signals,
serial pattern trigger with clock data recovery of embedded clocks in real time up
to 16 Gb/s, and mask and histogram test
supported in hardware for fastest dataeye analysis," he said.
Schulze also cited what he called the
first real-time scope-based time-domain
reflection (TDR) and transmission (TDT)
analysis systems on a digital oscilloscope.
"This enables debugging of signal traces
without dedicated test equipment such as
vector network analyzers," he said.
Trevor Smith, business development
manager at Pico Technology Ltd., commented, "We introduced the 9400 Series
5- and 16-GHz Sampler Extended Real
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Evaluation Engineering

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