UNIT 6 Syllabus Dual trace oscilloscope front panel details of a typical dual trace oscilloscope.

. Method of measuring voltage, current, phase, frequency and period. Use of Lissajous patterns. Working of a digital storage oscilloscope. Brief note on current probes.

An oscilloscope (also known as a scope, CRO, DSO or, an O-scope) is an instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences using the vertical or 'Y' axis, plotted as a function of time, (horizontal or 'x' axis). Although an oscilloscope displays voltage on its vertical axis, any other quantity that can be converted to a voltage can be displayed as well. In most instances, oscilloscopes show events that repeat with either no change, or change slowly. Oscilloscopes are commonly used to observe the exact wave shape of an electrical signal. In addition to the amplitude of the signal, an oscilloscope can show distortion, the time between two events (such as pulse width, period, or rise time) and relative timing of two related signals. Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, and telecommunications industry. General-purpose CROs are used for maintenance of electronic equipment and laboratory work. Specialpurpose oscilloscopes may be used for such purposes as analyzing an automotive ignition system, or to display the waveform of the heartbeat as an electrocardiogram.

Originally all oscilloscopes used cathode ray tubes as their display element and linear amplifiers for signal processing, (commonly called as CROs) however, modern oscilloscopes have LCD or LED screens, fast analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processors. Some oscilloscopes used storage CRTs to display single events for a limited time. Oscilloscope peripheral modules for general purpose laptop or desktop personal computers use the computer's display, allowing them to be used as test instruments.

Display and general external appearance (front panel details of a typical dual trace oscilloscope.) The basic oscilloscope, as shown in the Fig.1, is typically divided into four sections: the display, vertical controls, horizontal controls and trigger controls.

Fig.1 front panel details of a typical dual trace oscilloscope

The display is usually a CRT or LCD panel which is laid out with both horizontal and vertical reference lines referred to as the graticule. In addition to the screen, most display sections are equipped with 3 basic controls- a focus knob, an intensity knob and a beam finder button. The vertical section controls the amplitude of the displayed signal. This

section carries a Volts-per-Division (Volts/Div) selector knob, an AC/DC/Ground selector switch and the vertical (primary) input for the instrument. Additionally, this section is typically equipped with the vertical beam position knob.

The horizontal section controls the time base or sweep of the instrument. The primary control is the Seconds-per-Division (Sec/Div) selector switch. Also

included is a horizontal input for plotting dual X-Y axis signals. The horizontal beam position knob is generally located in this section. The trigger section controls the start event of the sweep. The trigger can be set to automatically restart after each sweep or it can be configured to respond to an internal or external event. The principal controls of this section will be the source and coupling selector switches. An external trigger input (EXT Input) and level adjustment will also be included.

In addition to the basic instrument, most oscilloscopes are supplied with a probe as shown. The probe will connect to any input on the instrument and typically has a resistor of ten times the oscilloscope's input impedance. This results in a .1 (-10X) attenuation factor, but helps to isolate the capacitive load presented by the probe cable from the signal being measured. Some probes have a switch allowing the operator to bypass the resistor when appropriate.

CRT

The cathode ray is a beam of electrons which are emitted by the heated cathode (negative electrode) and accelerated toward the fluorescent screen. The assembly of the cathode, intensity grid, focus grid, and accelerating anode (positive electrode) is called an electron gun. Its purpose is to generate the electron beam and control its intensity and focus. Between the electron gun and the fluorescent screen are two pair of metal plates one oriented to provide horizontal deflection of the beam and one pair oriented to give vertical deflection to the beam. These plates are thus referred to as the horizontal and vertical deflection plates. The combination of these two deflections allows the beam to reach any portion of the fluorescent screen. Wherever the electron beam hits the screen, the phosphor is excited and light is emitted from that point. This conversion of electron energy

into light allows us to write with points or lines of light on an otherwise darkened screen.

In the most common use of the oscilloscope the signal to be studied is first amplified and then applied to the vertical (deflection) plates to deflect the beam vertically and at the same time a voltage that increases linearly with time is applied to the horizontal (deflection) plates thus causing the beam to be deflected horizontally at a uniform (constant) rate. The signal applied to the vertical plates is thus displayed on the screen as a function of time. The horizontal axis serves as a uniform time scale. The linear deflection or sweep of the beam horizontally is accomplished by use of a sweep generator that is incorporated in the oscilloscope circuitry. The voltage output of such a generator is that of a sawtooth wave as shown in Fig. 2.

Application of one cycle of this voltage difference, which increases linearly with time, to the horizontal plates causes the beam to be deflected linearly with time across the tube face the pattern on the tube face repeats itself and hence appears to remain stationary. The persistence of vision in the human eye and of the glow of the fluorescent screen aids in producing a stationary pattern. In addition, the electron beam is cut off (blanked) during flyback so that the retrace sweep is not observed.

CRO Operation: A simplified block diagram of a typical oscilloscope is shown in Fig. 3. The signal to be displayed is amplified by the vertical amplifier and applied to the vertical deflection plates of the CRT. A portion of the signal in the vertical amplifier is applied to the sweep trigger as a triggering signal.

Fig.3 The sweep trigger then generates a pulse coincident with a selected point in the cycle of the triggering signal. This pulse turns on the sweep generator, initiating the sawtooth wave form. The sawtooth wave is amplified by the horizontal amplifier and applied to the horizontal deflection plates. Usually, additional provisions signal are made for applying an external triggering signal or utilizing the 60 Hz line for triggering. Also the sweep generator may be bypassed and an external signal applied directly to the horizontal amplifier.

CRO Controls The controls available on most oscilloscopes provide a wide range of operating conditions and thus make the instrument especially versatile.

CATHODE-RAY TUBE Controls Power and Scale Illumination: Turns instrument on and controls illumination of the graticule. Focus: Focus the spot or trace on the screen. Intensity: Regulates the brightness of the spot or trace.

VERTICAL AMPLIFIER SECTION Controls Position: Controls vertical positioning of oscilloscope display. Sensitivity: Selects the sensitivity of the vertical amplifier in calibrated steps. Variable Sensitivity: Provides a continuous range of sensitivities between the calibrated steps. Normally the sensitivity is calibrated only when the variable knob is in the fully clockwise position. AC-DC-GND: Selects desired coupling (ac or dc) for incoming signal applied to vertical amplifier, or grounds the amplifier input. Selecting dc couples the input directly to the amplifier; selecting ac send the signal through a capacitor before going to the amplifier thus blocking any constant component. HORIZONTAL-SWEEP SECTION Controls Sweep time/cm: Selects desired sweep rate from calibrated steps or admits external signal to horizontal amplifier. Sweep time/cm Variable: Provides continuously variable sweep rates. Position: Controls horizontal position of trace on screen. Horizontal Variable: Controls the attenuation (reduction) of signal applied to horizontal amplifier through Ext. Horiz. connector TRIGGER Controls The trigger selects the timing of the beginning of the horizontal sweep. Slope: Selects whether triggering occurs on an increasing (+) or decreasing (-) portion of trigger signal. Coupling: Selects whether triggering occurs at a specific dc or ac level. Source: Selects the source of the triggering signal. INT (internal) from signal on vertical amplifier

EXT - (external) - from an external signal inserted at the EXT. TRIG. INPUT. LINE - 60 cycle trigger Level: Selects the voltage point on the triggering signal at which sweep is triggered. It also allows automatic (auto) triggering of allows sweep to run free (free run).

Measurements of Voltage: Consider the circuit in Fig. 4(a). The signal generator is used to produce a 1000 hertz sine wave. To determine the size of the voltage signal appearing at the output of terminals of the signal generator, an AC (Alternating Current) voltmeter is connected in parallel across these terminals (Fig. 4a). The AC voltmeter is designed to read the dc "effective value" of the voltage.

This effective value is also known as the "Root Mean Square value" (RMS) value of the voltage. The peak or maximum voltage seen on the scope face (Fig. 4b) is Vm volts and is represented by the distance from the symmetry line CD to the maximum deflection. The relationship between the magnitude of the peak voltage displayed on the scope and the effective or RMS voltage (VRMS) read on the AC voltmeter is The voltage of VRMS = 0.707 Vm (for a sine or cosine wave). a waveform is measured by multiplying the

VOLTS/DIV setting by the peak-to-peak vertical divisions occupied by the waveform. The time period is determined by multiplying the horizontal divisions for one cycle by the TIME/DIV Setting.

Problem
Determine the pulse amplitude, frequency, rise time and fall time of the waveform in Fig. 5. Solution: pulse amplitude PA = (4 vertical divisions) x (2 V/ div) = 8V T = (5.6 Horizontal divisions) x ( 5 s /div ) = 28 s Frequency, f = 1/T = 1/28 s = 35.7 kHz rise time, tr = (0.5 div) x ( 5 s /div ) = 2.5 s

Fig. 5

Problem on finding phase difference between two sine Waves as shown in Fig.6.

Fig. 6 From the figure.6 observe that 1 complete cycle takes 8 divisions = 360o The phase difference = 1.4 Div = 360o x 1.4 / 8 = 63 o

Frequency Measurements: Frequencies can then be determined as reciprocal of the periods. For example: Set the oscillator to 1000 Hz in Fig.4. Display the signal on the CRO and measure the period of the oscillations. Use the horizontal distance between two points such as C to D in Fig. 4b. Lissajous patterns may also be used for accurate Frequency

Measurements as illustrated later.

Dual Trace Oscilloscopes Fig. 7 illustrates the construction of a typical dual trace oscilloscope. There are two separate vertical input channels, A and B, and these use separate attenuator and preamplifier stages. Therefore the amplitude of each input, as viewed on the oscilloscope, can be individually controlled.

Fig. 7 Block Diagram of a Dual Trace Oscilloscope

After pre-amplification the two channels meet at an electronic switch. This has the ability to pass one channel at a time into the vertical amplifier, via the delay line. There are two common operating modes for the electronic switch, called alternate and chop, and these are selected from the instrument's front panel. The alternate mode is illustrated in Fig.8. In this the electronic switch alternates between channels A and B, letting each through for one cycle of the horizontal sweep. The display is blanked during the flyback and hold-off periods, as in a conventional oscilloscope. Provided the sweep speed is much greater than the decay time of the CRT phosphor, the screen will show a stable display of both the waveform at channels A and B. The alternate mode cannot be used for displaying very low frequency signals.

Fig. 8

Chopped Operating mode In this mode the electronic switch free runs at a high frequency of the order of 100 kHz to 500 kHz. The result is that small segments from channels A and B are connected alternately to the vertical amplifier, and displayed on the screen. Provided the chopping rate is much faster than the horizontal sweep rate, the display will show a continuous line for each channel. If the sweep rate approaches the chopping rate then the individual segments will be visible,

and the alternate mode should now be used.

The time base circuit shown in Fig. 7 is similar to that of a single input oscilloscope. Switch S2 allows the circuit to be triggered on either the A or B channel waveforms, or on line frequency, or on an external signal. The horizontal amplifier can be fed from the sweep generator or the B channel via switch S1. This is the X - Y mode and the oscilloscope operates from channel A as the vertical signal and channel B as the horizontal signal, giving very accurate X - Y measurements.

Several operating modes can be selected from the front panel for display, such as channel A only, channel B only, channels A and B as two traces, and signals A + B, A - B, B - A or - (A + B) as a single trace.

Dual beam oscilloscope. The dual trace oscilloscope cannot capture two fast transient events, as it cannot switch quickly enough between traces. The dual beam oscilloscope has two separate electron beams, and therefore two completely separate vertical channels. The two channels may have a common time base system, or they may have independent time base circuits. An independent time base allows different sweep rates for the two channels but increases the size and weight of the oscilloscope.

Lissajous Figures: When sine-wave signals of different frequencies are input to the horizontal and vertical amplifiers a stationary pattern is formed on the CRT when the ratio of the two frequencies is an integral fraction such as 1/2, 2/3, 1/5, etc. These stationary patterns are known as Lissajous figures and can be used for comparison measurement of frequencies. The ratio of the two frequencies is

Some examples illustrating the frequency measurement are presented below. Example: 1

Example:2

Example:3

Phase Measurements Two sinusoidal waveforms of the same frequency produce a Lissajous pattern, which may be a straight line, a circle or an ellipse depending upon the phase and magnitude of the voltages. A circle can be formed only when the magnitude of the two signals are equal and the phase difference between them is either 900 or 2700 A straight line results when the two voltages are equal and are either in phase with each other or 1800 out of phase with each other. The angle formed with the horizontal is 450 when the magnitudes of voltages are equal. An increase in the vertical deflection voltage causes the line to have an angle greater than 450 with the horizontal. On the other hand a greater horizontal voltages makes the angle less than 450 with the horizontal.

Example 1: Lissajous pattern with equal frequency and voltages and zero phase shift.

Example 2: Lissajous pattern with equal frequency and voltages and 90o phase shift.

However, if the two voltages are not equal and/or out of phase an ellipse is formed. If the Y voltage is larger, an ellipse with vertical major axis is formed while if the X plate voltage has a greater magnitude, the major axis of the ellipse lies along horizontal axis. For equal voltages of same frequency & progressive variation of phase voltage causes the pattern to vary from a straight diagonal line to ellipses of different eccentricities and then to a circle, after that through another series of ellipses and finally a diagonal straight line again.

Example 3: Lissajous pattern with equal frequency and voltages and with different phase shifts.

Determination of angle of phase shift Regardless of the two amplitudes of the applied voltages the ellipse provides a simple means of finding phase difference between two voltages. Referring to Fig.9 the sine of the phase angle between the voltages is given by sin = Y1/Y2 = X1/X2

Fig.9

Probes Open wire test leads (flying leads) are likely to pick up interference, so they are not suitable for low level signals. Furthermore, the leads have a high inductance, so they are not suitable for high frequencies. Hence the input signals to an oscilloscope are usually connected via coaxial cables with probes on one end [see Fig. 1]. These are normally just convenient-to-use insulated connecting clips. As illustrated, each probe has two connections, an input and a ground. This type of probe is usually referred to as a 1:1 (one-to-one) probe, (Fig. 10) because it does not contain resistors to attenuate the input signal.

Fig. 10 Typical 1:1 probe

Using a shielded cable (i.e., coaxial cable) is better for low level signals. Coaxial cable also has lower inductance, but it has higher capacitance: a typical 50 ohm cable has about 90 pF per meter. Consequently, a one meter direct (1X) coaxial probe will load a circuit with a capacitance of about 110 pF and a resistance of 1 mega-ohm. The coaxial cable consists of an insulated central conductor surrounded by a braided circular conductor which is covered by an outer layer of insulation as shown in Fig. 11. The central conductor carries the input signal, and the circular conductor is grounded so that it acts as a screen to help prevent unwanted signals being picked up by the oscilloscope input.

Fig. 11

The coaxial cable connecting the probe to the oscilloscope has a capacitance (Ccc) which can overload a high-frequency signal source.The input impedance of the oscilloscope at the front panel is typically 1 M in parallel with 30pF. The coaxial cable can add another 100 pF to the total input capacitance. The circuit of a signal source, probe, and oscilloscope input is illustrated in Figure 12.

Fig. 12 Equivalent circuit of signal source, probe and oscilloscope input

The total impedance offered by the coaxial cable and the oscilloscope input should always be much larger than the signal source impedance. Where this is not the case, the signal is attenuated and phase shifted when connected to the oscilloscope. At frequencies where the reactance of (Ccc+ Ci) is very much larger than Rs and Ri, the capacitances have a negligible effect and the oscilloscope terminal voltage is Vi = Vs * Ri / (Ri + Rs). To minimize loading, attenuator probes (e.g., 10X probes) are used.

Attenuator probes Attenuator probes attenuate the input signal, usually by a factor of 10. They also normally offer a much larger input impedance than a 1:1 probe, thereby minimizing loading effects on the circuit under test. Compensation is included for oscilloscope input capacitance and coaxial cable capacitance. Because of the 10fold attenuation, these probes are usually referred to as 10:1 probes; however, other probes are available with different attenuation factors. A typical probe uses a 9 megaohm series resistor shunted by a low-value capacitor to make an RC compensated divider with the cable capacitance and scope input. The RC time constants are adjusted to match. For example, the 9 megaohm series resistor is shunted by a 12.2 pF capacitor for a time constant of 110 microseconds. The cable capacitance of 90 pF in parallel with the scope input of 20 pF and 1 megohm (total capacitance 110 pF) also gives a time constant of 110 microseconds.

Fig. 13

In practice, there will be an adjustment so the operator can precisely match the low frequency time constant (called compensating the probe) as shown in Fig.13. Matching the time constants makes the attenuation independent of frequency. At low frequencies (where the resistance of R is much less than the reactance of C), the circuit looks like a resistive divider; at high frequencies (resistance much greater than reactance), the circuit looks like a capacitive divider.

The input capacitance and input resistance vary from one oscilloscope to another even for otherwise identical instruments. It is important that every probe be correctly adjusted when it is first connected for use with a particular oscilloscope. The results of the different compensations are shown in Fig.14.

Fig. 14

Another 10:1 probe and its equivalent circuit are shown in Figure 15. In this case capacitor C1 is a fixed quantity, and an additional variable capacitor ( C3) is included in parallel with Ci and Ccc.

Fig.15 Compensating capacitor C3 in parallel with the instrument input terminals

Probes with 10:1 attenuation are by far the most common; for large signals (and slightly-less capacitive loading), 100:1 probes are not rare. There are also probes that contain switches to select 10:1 or direct (1:1) ratios.

Active Probes Active probes contain electronic amplifiers that increase the probe input resistance and minimize its input capacitance. Typical active probes use FET input stages, or FET input operational amplifiers. The circuit is connected to function as a voltage follower. The amplifier has a gain of 1 and a typical input impedance of 1M||3.5 pF. Input impedances of 10 M or greater are also possible with FET input stages, and the input capacitance effect can be further reduced by resistive attenuation. Power must be supplied to operate the amplifier. This may be derived from the oscilloscope, or the probe may contain its own regulated power supply with a line cord. Inside the probe, a coil wound around the core provides a current into an appropriate load, and the voltage across that load is proportional to current. However, this type of probe can sense AC, only.

Current probes They provide a method of inductively coupling the signal to the CRO input, so that a direct electrical connection to the test circuit is not required. The current probe consists of a sensor, a coax cable & a termination circuit as shown in Fig. 16.

Fig. 16 SPLIT-CORE Passive current probe, the most popular type, can be opened & clipped around a conductor (see Fig. 17) whose current is to be measured. The current sensing device of this probe is a Current Transformer of split core design, consisting a stationary U-piece & a Movable flat piece. A multi turn coil of approximately 25 turns is wound on one leg of the ferrite core to form the secondary turn primary. The input signal to the probe is the current in the conductor under test; the o/p signal is the voltage developed across the transformer secondary. This current probe senses only the changes in current & hence can be used only to measure A C Signal. When correctly terminated, the sensitivity of this probe is of the order of 10ma/mv. The transformer o/p voltage is coupled from the probe head to the termination via a coaxial cable. The termination circuitry can be passive or active, depending on the kind of probe generally the termination

of the coax is in its characteristics impedance. Additional circuitry to improve the response characteristics of the probe is also contained in the termination box.

Fig. 17

A more-sophisticated probe (originally made by Tektronix) includes a magnetic flux sensor (Hall effect sensor) in the magnetic circuit. The probe connects to an amplifier, which feeds (low frequency) current into the coil to cancel the sensed field; the magnitude of that current provides the low-frequency part of the current waveform, right down to DC. The coil still picks up high frequencies.

Comparison Between Analog And Digital Storage Oscilloscopes. The advantage of the analog storage oscilloscope is that it has a higher bandwidth and writing speed than a digital oscilloscope, being capable of operating speeds of about 15 GHz. The digital oscilloscope is primarily limited in speed by the digitizing capability of the analog to digital converter. Aliasing effects also limit the useful storage bandwidth A digital oscilloscope digitizes the input signal, so that all subsequent signals are digital. A conventional CRT is used, and storage occurs in electronic digital memory. Fig. 18 shows a block diagram of a basic digital storage oscilloscope.

Fig. 18 Block diagram of a basic digital storage oscilloscope

The input signal is digitized and stored in memory in digital form. In this state it is capable of being analyzed to produce a variety of different information. To view the display on the CRT the data from memory is reconstructed in analog form. The analog input voltage is sampled at adjustable rates (up to 100,000 samples per second) and data points are read onto the memory. A maximum 4096 points are storable in PG214 instrument. Sampling rate memory size are selected to suit the duration and waveform of the physical event being recorded. Once the sampled record of the event is captured in memory, many user manipulations are possible since memory can be read out without being erased. If the memory is read out rapidly and repetitively, an input event which is a single shot transient becomes a repetitive or continuous waveform that can be observed easily on an ordinary scope (not a storage scope). The digital memory also may be read directly (without going through DAC) to, say, a computer where a stored program can manipulate the data in almost any way desired.

Pre-triggering recording allows the input signal preceding the trigger point to be recorded. In ordinary triggering the recording process is started by the trigger. As in a digital recorder, DSO can be set to record continuously (new data coming into the memory pushes out old data, once memory is full), until the trigger signal is received; then the recording is stopped, thus freezing data received prior to the trigger signal in the memory. An adjustable trigger delay allows operator control of the stop point, so that the trigger may occur near the beginning, middle or end of the stored information. Fig. 21 shows the Complete Block Diagram of a Digital Storage Oscilloscope. The IE-522 Digital Storage Oscilloscopes (DSO) an example of commercial DSOs has the following features: Sampling rate 20 Mega-samples per second per channel. Max. (simultaneous) capture of both channels. Pre-trigger: 25%, 50%, 75%, for Single Shot, Roll normal.

Digitizing occurs by taking a sample of the input waveform at periodic intervals. In order to ensure that no information is lost, sampling theory states that the sampling rate must be at least twice as fast as the highest frequency in the input signal. If this is not done then aliasing will result as illustrated in Fig. 19. This requirement for a high sampling rate means that the digitizer, which is an analog to digital converter, must have a fast conversion rate. This usually requires expensive flash analog to digital converters, whose resolution decreases as the sampling rate is increased. It is for this reason that the bandwidth and resolution of a digital oscilloscope is usually limited by its analog to digital converter.

Fig. 19 `One method of overcoming the need for a high performance converter is to use an analog store, as in Fig 20 which is a digital oscilloscope using as analogue storage to eliminate the need for a very fast analogue to digital converter. The input signals are sampled, and these are stored in an analog shift register. They can then be read out at a much slower rate to the analogue to digital converter, and the results stored in a digital store. This method allows operation at up to 100 mega samples per second,

Fig. 20 Digital Oscilloscope Using Analogue Storage

Fig. 21 Complete Block Diagram of a Digital Storage Oscilloscope