Login / Register to access your benefits
Recently searched

    Oscilloscopes

    An Oscilloscope is a complex electronic laboratory instrument commonly used to capture, measure, display and analyse the waveform and bandwidth of electronic signals. The device draws a graph of the instantaneous signal voltage as a function of time. You can learn more in our oscilloscope guide.

    Oscilloscope types

    The biggest distinction is whether they are digital or analogue oscilloscopes. Within the digital oscilloscopes area, there are several different types.

    How does a digital oscilloscope work?

    The oscilloscope is a graph-displaying instrument. It draws a graph of an electrical signal. In most applications the graph shows how signals change over time, the vertical (Y) axis represents voltage, and the horizontal (X) axis represents time. Some oscilloscopes feature additional user-friendly elements such as USB ports for downloading measurement data.

    In its simplest form, a digital oscilloscope features six elements:

    • Analogue vertical input amplifiers
    • Analogue-to-digital converter and a digital waveform memory
    • Time base which features a triggering and clock drive
    • Circuits for waveform display and reconstruction
    • LED or LCD display
    • Power supply

    How to choose the best oscilloscopes?

    Oscilloscopes and picoscopes are widely used in industry and there are many different types each having their own characteristics. For example, the small, lightweight handheld digital oscilloscopes are ideal for technicians working in service, maintenance, and installation applications. This means that different oscilloscope types are applicable for different applications and choosing the correct type enables it to perform to its best and therefore gain the most from it.

    2 of 2
    Results per page