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• FlexRes 8 to 16-bit hardware resolution
• Up to 200 MHz analog bandwidth
• 1 GS/s sampling at 8-bit resolution
• 62.5 MS/s sampling at 16-bit resolution
• Up to 512 MS capture memory
• 16 digital channels on MSO models
• 130 000 waveforms per second
• Built-in arbitrary waveform generator
• 40 serial decoding protocols as standard
• Up to 200 MHz spectrum analyzer

Today’s electronic designs employ a wide range of signal types: analog, digital, serial (both high- and low-speed), parallel, audio, video, power distribution and so on. All need to be debugged, measured and validated to ensure that the device under test is functioning correctly and within specification.

To handle this variety of signal types, PicoScope 5000D FlexRes hardware employs multiple high-resolution ADCs at the input channels in different time-interleaved and parallel combinations to optimize either the sampling rate to 1 GS/s at 8 bits, the resolution to 16 bits at 62.5 MS/s, or other combinations in between – you select the most appropriate hardware resolution for the requirements of each measurement.

2 and 4 channel models are available, all featuring a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connection, providing lightning-fast saving of waveforms while retaining compatibility with older USB standards. The PicoSDK^® software development kit supports continuous streaming to the host computer at rates up to 125 MS/s. The product is small and light, and operates silently thanks to its low-power fanless design.

Supported by the free-of-charge and regularly updated PicoScope software, the PicoScope 5000D Series offers an ideal, cost-effective package for many applications, including design, research, test, education, service and repair.

What is FlexRes?

Pico FlexRes flexible resolution oscilloscopes allow you to reconfigure the scope hardware to increase either the sampling rate or the resolution. This means you can reconfigure the hardware to be either a fast (1 GS/s) 8-bit oscilloscope for looking at digital signals, or a high-resolution 16-bit oscilloscope for audio work and other analog applications. Whether you’re capturing and decoding fast digital signals or looking for distortion in sensitive analog signals, FlexRes oscilloscopes are the answer.

Deep capture memory

PicoScope 5000D Series oscilloscopes have waveform capture memories ranging from 128 to 512 million samples – many times larger than traditional benchtop scopes. Deep memory enables the capture of long-duration waveforms at maximum sampling speed. In fact, the PicoScope 5000D Series can capture waveforms over 500 ms long with 1 ns resolution. In contrast, the same 500 ms waveform captured by an oscilloscope with a 10 megasample memory would have just 50 ns resolution.

Deep memory can be useful in other ways too: PicoScope lets you divide the capture memory into a number of segments, up to a maximum of 10 000. You can set up a trigger condition to store a separate capture in each segment, with as little as 1 µs dead time between captures. Once you have acquired the data, you can step through the memory one segment at a time until you find the event you are looking for. Powerful tools are included to allow you to manage and examine all of this data. As well as functions such as mask limit testing and color persistence mode, PicoScope software enables you to zoom into your waveform by a factor of several million. The Zoom Overview window allows you to easily control the size and location of the zoom area.

Other tools, such as DeepMeasure^TM, serial decoding and hardware acceleration work with the deep memory, making the PicoScope 5000D Series among the most powerful oscilloscopes on the market.

Mixed-signal models

The PicoScope 5000D MSO models add 16 digital channels to the 2 or 4 analog channels, enabling you to accurately time-correlate analog and digital channels. Digital channels may be grouped and displayed as a bus, with each bus value displayed in hex, binary or decimal or as a level (for DAC testing). You can set advanced triggers across both the analog and digital channels. The digital channels can also be used as sources for the serial decoders, giving up to 20 channels of data – for example decoding multiple SPI, I²C, CAN bus, LIN bus and FlexRay signals all at the same time.

Arbitrary waveform and function generator

All PicoScope 5000D units have a built in 14-bit 200 MS/s arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). You can create and adapt arbitrary waveforms using the built-in editor, import them from existing oscilloscope traces, or load a waveform from a spreadsheet.

The AWG can also act as a function generator with a range of standard output signals, including sine, square, triangle, DC level, white noise and PRBS. As well as the basic controls to set level, offset and frequency, more advanced controls allow you to sweep over a range of frequencies.

Combined with the spectrum peak hold option, this makes a powerful tool for testing amplifier and filter responses. Trigger tools allow you to output one or more cycles of a waveform when various conditions are met, such as the scope triggering or a mask limit test failing.

Software Development Kit – write your own apps

The software development kit (SDK) allows you to write your own software and includes drivers for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac (macOS) and Linux (including Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone).

Example code shows how to interface to third-party software packages such as Microsoft Excel, National Instruments LabVIEW and MathWorks MATLAB.

There is also an active community of PicoScope users who share code and applications on the Pico forum and PicoApps section of the picotech.com web site. The Frequency Response Analyzer shown opposite is one of the most popular third-party applications.

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The PicoScope 4000A Series of PC oscilloscopes is a second-generation upgrade and expansion of our high-resolution, deep-memory product portfolio.

With 2-, 4- and 8-channel models available, the PicoScope 4000A Series boasts 12-bit hardware resolution (to 16 bits with Resolution Enhancement), 256 MS deep capture memory, 20 MHz bandwidth with 80 MS/s sampling speed, up to 70 dB SFDR and a built-in 14-bit triggerable signal generator and 80 MS/s AWG. A SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface powers the instrument and delivers up to 160 MS/s communications to the host PC.

All models run with the popular PicoScope user interface and benefit from the free PicoSDK software development kit, which gives users direct programming control of the hardware for custom applications. The scopes also work with PicoLog 6 data logging software for lower-speed long-duration captures.

The following features come as standard on all 4000A oscilloscopes:

Up to 8 channels of high resolution

With the PicoScope 4000A Series providing a choice of either 2, 4 or 8 high-resolution analog channels you can easily view audio, ultrasonic, vibration and power waveforms, analyze timing of complex systems, and perform a wide range of precision measurement tasks on multiple inputs at the same time. The scopes have a small, compact footprint, yet the BNC connectors with a minimum 20 mm spacing still accept all common probes and accessories. Despite their compact size, there is no compromise on performance. With a high vertical resolution of 12 bits, 20 MHz bandwidth, 256 MS buffer memory, and a fast sampling rate of 80 MS/s, the PicoScope 4000A Series has the power and functionality to deliver accurate results. With up to 8 channels, these oscilloscopes can analyze multiple serial buses such as UART, I²C, SPI, CAN and LIN plus control and driver signals.

Why choose the PicoScope 4000A Series oscilloscopes?

The PicoScope 4000A Series provides 20 MHz bandwidth, low noise, 12-bit resolution, deep capture memory and an integrated function and arbitrary waveform generator in a compact USB 3 connected PC-based package, together with a proven user interface. This series of oscilloscopes is especially suited to engineers, scientists and technicians working on a wide range of electrical, mechanical, audio, lidar, radar, ultrasonic, NDT and predictive maintenance systems who need to make precise measurements and analysis of repetitive or single-shot long-duration waveforms.

The PicoScope 4000A Series is unlike conventional oscilloscopes with 8-bit resolution and limited capture memory or card-based digitizers that require an expensive mainframe and offers the following benefits:

• PicoScope user interface with time- and frequency-domain waveform views
• Automatic measurements of important waveform parameters on up to a million waveform cycles with each triggered acquisition using DeepMeasure™
• Decoding of 18 popular industry serial bus standards
• An application programming interface that provides direct control of the hardware
• Five-year warranty included as standard

Suitable for a broad range of applications, including:

• Power supply start sequencing
• 7-channel audio systems
• Multi-sensor systems
• Multi-phase drives and controls
• Predictive/preventive maintenance
• Complex embedded system development
• Power harmonics analysis
• Vibration analysis and diagnostics
• Long-duration waveform capture
• Lubricant analysis
• Acoustic emission analysis
• Oil condition sensors
• Machine monitoring
• Motor condition monitoring overview and motor current signature analysis (MCSA)
• Model-based voltage and current systems
• Infrared thermography

Complex embedded systems

When debugging an embedded system with a scope, you can quickly run out of channels. You may need to look at an I²C or SPI bus at the same time as multiple power rails, DAC outputs and logic signals. With up to eight channels, the PicoScope 4000A Series can cope with all of this. Choose whether to decode up to eight serial buses, with analog waveforms and decoded data both visible, or a combination of serial buses and other analog or digital signals. PicoScope provides advanced triggering on all channels, so you can search for runt pulses, dropouts and noise as well as looking for data patterns using the 4-input Boolean logic trigger.

Power, portability and performance

PicoScope 3000 Series USB-powered PC oscilloscopes are small, light, and portable and can easily slip into a laptop bag while offering a range of high-performance specifications.

These oscilloscopes offer 2 or 4 analog channels and a built-in function / arbitrary waveform generator. MSO models add 16 digital channels. Key performance specifications:

• 200 MHz analog bandwidth
• 1 GS/s real-time sampling
• 512 MS buffer memory
• 100,000 waveforms per second
• 16 channel logic analyzer (MSO models)
• Decode over 30 serial protocols as standard
• Arbitrary waveform generator
• USB 3.0 connected and powered
• Serial decoding and mask testing as standard
• Windows, Linux and Mac software

Supported by the advanced PicoScope software, these devices offer an ideal, cost-effective package for many applications, including embedded systems design, research, test, education, service, and repair.

High bandwidth and sampling rate

Despite a compact size and low cost, there is no compromise on performance with bandwidths up to 200 MHz.  This bandwidth is matched by a real-time sampling rate of up to 1 GS/s, allowing detailed display of high frequencies. For repetitive signals, the maximum effective sampling rate can be boosted to 10 GS/s by using Equivalent Time Sampling (ETS) mode.

Other oscilloscopes have high maximum sampling rates, but without deep memory they cannot sustain these rates on long timebases. The PicoScope 3000 Series offers memory depths up to 512 million samples, more than any other oscilloscope in this price range, which enables the PicoScope 3406D MSO to sample at 1 GS/s all the way down to 50 ms/ div (500 ms total capture time).

Managing all this data calls for some powerful tools. There’s a set of zoom buttons, plus an overview window that lets you zoom and reposition the display by simply dragging with the mouse or touchscreen. Zoom factors of several million are possible.  Other tools such as the waveform buffer, mask limit test, serial decode and hardware acceleration work with the deep memory making the PicoScope 3000 series some of the most powerful oscilloscopes on the market.