Budget scopes claim new performance benchmarks: News from Tektronix

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Tektronix has two new oscilloscope families it reckons establish a new benchmark for performance and ease-of-use among instruments in the low-cost oscilloscope market. Applications for low-cost oscilloscopes are diverse and the market for these instruments is extremely competitive. Both families are priced to meet the budget constraints of users with applications as varied as basic electronic repair tasks, automated production test and monitoring of environmental sensors, design and debug of microprocessors in a myriad of consumer electronics, and education in universities and technical training centres.

The ultra-lightweight, portable package saves valuable space on the engineer's bench and makes these instruments ideal for use by service and repair technicians in the field.

"By incorporating proven innovations from across our broad portfolio of oscilloscopes, the TDS1000 and TDS2000 families deliver superior performance and unmatched ease-of-use in their class", said Colin Shepard, Vice President, Oscilloscope Products, Tektronix: "Many customers put price first when evaluating test equipment for use in design and debug, service and repair, manufacturing and quality assurance, or education, yet they can't compromise the performance and ease-of-use they require".

"The TDS2000 family provides more performance than any other DSO for the price, featuring a standard colour liquid crystal display (LCD) with significant bandwidth and sample rate, making it an ideal choice for today's applications that require higher measurement performance and productivity in cost-effective tools", added Shepard: "The TDS1000 family offers the same ease-of-use enhancements with a monochrome display, and all seven models provide real-time acquisition equal to their full bandwidth and sample rate on all channels simultaneously".

The five models in the TDS2000 family (TDS2002, TDS2012, TDS2014, TDS2022 TDS2024) are by far the most powerful tools in their class.

Available in two- and four-channel versions, these instruments deliver up to 200MHz bandwidth and 2Gsample/s maximum sample rate.

This high sample rate delivers real-time performance to capture signals with far greater precision than a conventional DSO.

A standard colour LCD makes it easier to read and interpret waveforms, especially when multiple traces are displayed.

The two models in the TDS1000 family (TDS1002, TDS1012) are two-channel instruments with a 1Gsample/s maximum sample rate and bandwidth up to 100MHz.

Included with each unit (one probe per channel), the Tektronix' P2200 200MHz 10X-1X switchable passive probe provides identical quality standards and built-in compatibility for optimum performance.

An abundance of features are standard with both the TDS1000 and TDS2000 families.

The fast Fourier transform (FFT) function makes it easy to precisely analyse, characterise and troubleshoot circuits.

Advanced triggering, such as pulse width triggering, line-selectable video triggering and an external trigger, makes even complex characterisation and debugging fast and easy.

A novel autoset function offers automatic detection and a choice of different views of sine waves, square waves and video signals, including rising and falling edges, video lines and fields, and FFT.

It also provides up to four automatic measurements for the displayed signal.

An innovative probe check wizard ensures optimum probe setup and improves a user's measurement accuracy by guiding the user through a series of screens to properly compensate the probe and confirm the probe attenuation factor.

Classic and familiar analogue-style controls provide instant access to frequently used functions, and context-sensitive help menus allow the user to learn about various oscilloscope features and functions.

Most key functions (such as autoset, help, print and even the FFT) are carried out with the push of a single button, and the user interface and instrument manual are available in multiple languages.

The TDS2CMA communications module extends functionality by enabling communication with other instruments, peripherals, or systems through RS232, GPIB, or a parallel printer port.

This module allows full programmable control for automated measurements and allows the user to send displays and information to remote computers for archiving or further analysis.

WaveStar is a robust software package that allows the user to capture, analyse, document and control measurement results by transporting data from the oscilloscope to the PC desktop.

An operator training kit provides education about the features and basic operation of the TDS1000 and TDS2000 Series oscilloscopes through its extensive instructions and step-by-step lab exercises with a self-paced CD-ROM-based manual and demonstration board.

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