Applications for Pico Products
High–Resolution Fault–Finding and Testing with the PicoScope 4262
Written for Pico Technology by Industry Expert, Peter Darby
Basic fault–finding
The PicoScope 4262 is a high–precision oscilloscope that is also suitable for general–purpose fault–finding. With two input channels, it can display signals in both time–domain and frequency–domain views, or even both at the same time. Spectrum views provide a number of automatic measurements including distortion and noise.
Dynamic range
The analog to digital converters in most digital oscilloscopes have 8–bit resolution, which produces 256 quantization levels. This is equivalent to an ideal dynamic range of 48 dB. The PicoScope 4262 has a 16–bit analog to digital converter which produces 65,536 quantization levels, increasing the dynamic range to 96 dB.
Figure 1: Measuring dynamic range by feeding signal from built–in generator into oscilloscope
96 dB is the best theoretical figure, but in practice the acquisition system will have some noise that will reduce the actual usable dynamic range.
The dynamic range of the generator and acquisition system was measured with the generator output directly connected to the channel A input, as in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the spectrum view in PicoScope. This was obtained by capturing the sine wave signal in the time domain and then clicking the Spectrum button.
Figure 2: Using rulers to measure the dynamic range of the test system
To measure the dynamic range we aligned the two channel A rulers (controlled by the blue squares next to the y–axis) with the signal peak and the noise floor. The ruler legend then showed the dynamic range, given by the delta between the two rulers, to be -98 dB.
Monitoring waveform distortion
This test measures distortion in a stereo amplifier. It shows how PicoScop’’s automatic distortion measurement can detect harmonics even when the time–domain waveform looks clean. The PicoScope 4262 has more than enough dynamic range to capture these signals without adding significant noise or distortion of its own.
Figure 3: Setup for distortion measurement
Figures 4 and 5 below show the PicoScope screen divided into four views: a time–domain and a spectrum view for each of the two channels. Each view is easily created by right–clicking on the default view and selecting Add View.
Figure 4: Four views, channels A and B Channel B has -61 dB THD. In the time–domain view we cannot see distortion.
Figure 5: Four views, channels A and B With increased power output level, we can start to see some distortion harmonics in the channel A spectrum display.
The channel B spectrum has THD of -28 dB at this level. We can start to see the distortion in the time–domain display (lower left panel).
Glitch detection
PicoScope’s Persistence Display mode is useful for capturing unwanted clicks or glitches in an audio signal. In a normal oscilloscope display these signals appear on the screen for only a fraction of a second, so there is little chance of performing accurate measurements on them. Persistence mode causes old waveforms to remain in the background while newer waveforms are drawn on top.
Figure 6: Setup for glitch detection
- Click the Persistence Mode button on the PicoScope toolbar.
- Either leave the settings at their defaults or adjust them by clicking the Persistence Options button.
The main choice to be made in Persistence Options is between Color Persistence and Analog Intensity modes.
Color Persistence mode, as shown in Figure 7, can display new updates in brighter colors than old waveforms, making glitches stand out.
Analog Intensity mode has a similar effect but using shades of a single color. This is more like the display of an analog persistence scope.
Figure 7: Color Persistence mode, showing a glitch in a brighter color
Conclusion
The high resolution of the PicoScope 4262 makes it ideal for low–noise, low–distortion measurements, and its built–in signal generator removes the need for an additional signal source. With its 5 MHz bandwidth, it can easily analyse audio, ultrasonic and vibration signals, characterise noise in switched mode power supplies, measure distortion and perform a wide range of precision measurement tasks.
