As test systems become more complex, the instruments behind them are changing too. How much of an oscilloscope can fit into a single rack unit?
Keysight Technologies have launched the XR3 compact oscilloscopes. This allows engineers to increase the amount of measurements they can take, without increasing the physical size of their test system. The device is only 1U in size and multiple XR3s can work together to increase the number of time correlated channels to over 100.
An oscilloscope records electrical signals over time which allows engineers to see how a circuit is operating, find faults and ensure that electronics are working as expected. However, when advanced testing is required, multiple oscilloscopes can be used to measure different signals. This can cause increased amounts of cables to be used, and can also cause timing issues or signal skew.
The XR3 can be used to help solve this problem. The unit has hardware based automatic synchronisation, discovery and deskew features. This allows engineers to easily synchronise their clocks and signals. Using a unified software interface, engineers can easily view and control multiple devices.
The unit can record 4 analogue channels and 16 digital channels. It has configurable bandwidths ranging from 200MHz to 1GHz. The oscilloscope uses a 14-bit ADC alongside Keysight’s MegaZoom 5 ASIC. It can capture 100 million points of data per channel. The device can update waveforms at rates of up to 1.3 million. With a low noise floor of 50 microvolt root mean square (µVrms), it can capture low levels of signals.
The XR3 can be used for protocol decoding, power supply testing and jitter analysis. Zooming, filtering, zone triggering and colour grading can all be done in real time.
Jun Chie, Vice President, Keysight Product Management, says, “The XR3 brings benchtop-class capabilities to a compact, scalable platform, helping customers add synchronized channels, simplify integration, and preserve measurement confidence as their systems grow.”
For the official announcement, click here.
