Instruments shrink to pen size

An Elan Digital Systems product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 27, 2006

Billed as a high-performance test and measurement lab in your pocket, pen-style instruments plug into a PCs USB port and include software for Windows 98, 2000 and XP.

Billed as a high-performance test and measurement lab in your pocket, Elan Digital has produced a set of pen-style instruments that plug into a PCs USB port and include software for Windows 98, 2000 and XP.

The set comprises an oscilloscope, a function generator, a pulse/clock generator and a frequency/period counter in an identical form factor.

Galvanic isolation protects equipment and users from potential shock or damage.

All the devices can be synchronised and stacked or plugged together via a flexible hub providing a highly sophisticated, portable and very affordable test lab.

The USBscope50, a digital storage oscilloscope offers 50Msample/s 8bit single shot 1Gsample/s equivalent time sampling, DC-75MHz analogue bandwidth with 1Mohm/15pF input impedance.

Input range 0.3-300V with industry standard probes.

Next in the set is the USBwave12 function generator providing all the usual functions found in standard bench-type function generators, including sine, square and triangle wave output, 0 to 12.5MHz frequency range with a 0.2Hz resolution, 0 to +/-10V amplitude range with a 20mV resolution, 0 to +/-10V offset range with a 20mV resolution, 50ohm output impedance, and output can also be tristated to protect sensitive circuitry while the function generator is set up.

It features direct digital synthesis (DDS) for stability and has user-programmable frequency and phase.

Additionally, there is a pulse and clock generator, the USBpulse100, which has a 0-100MHz frequency range in 5V mode, with four programmable output drive levels, square wave output with 50% variable duty cycle, tristateable output.

It offers continuous running or single pulse modes.

The USBcount50, a frequency/period counter, completes the set, measuring frequencies up to 50MHz using internal reference periods of 0.1, 1 or 10s.

100MHz count rates are also possible.

Periods from 10ns to over 268s using internal reference clocks of 100, 10 or 1MHz, and reciprocal measurements for frequencies down to 4mHz.