PicoScope 3406D MSO 200MHz 4-Ch 8-bit Oscilloscope (PP936)

The PicoScope 3406D MSO is a 4-channel 200MHz USB-powered PC oscilloscope with up to 1 GSa/s real-time sampling that also offers 16 digital channels to allow simulataneous digital/analog debug and triggering.  It is also extremely portable and can easily slip into a laptop bag for field trips and demos. Also included is a built in function / arbitrary waveform generator.  Its huge 512 Msample buffer memory helps when it comes to drilling down into small details and displaying lots of data at 100,000 waveforms per second. The 16 channel logic analyzer comes with 16 probe clips for data lines.

For greatest PC communication speed it is USB 3.0 connected and powered, and many extra features - normally costing additionally with other scopes - are included, such as serial decoding and mask testing.  The advanced PicoScope 6 software, which is supplied free, turn this device into an ideal, cost-effective package for many applications, including embedded systems design, research, test, education, service, and repair.

Despite its compact size and low cost, there is no performance compromise. 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 3406D – part of the 3000D MSO Series - offers a memory depth of 512 million samples, more than any other oscilloscope in this price range, which enables it to sample at 1 GSa/s all the way down to 50 ms/ div (500 ms total capture time).

There are zoom buttons, plus an overview window that lets you focus in and reposition the display by simply dragging with the mouse or touchscreen.  The waveform buffer, mask limit test, serial decode, and hardware acceleration all combine with the deep memory to create a really powerful debug tool.

The addition of 16 digital inputs lets you simultaneously view digital and analog signals simultaneously.  Separate logic thresholds from -5 V to +5 V can be defined for each 8–bit input port. The digital trigger can be enabled by any bit pattern, and advanced logic triggers can be set on either the analog or digital input channels, or both to enable remarkably handy complex mixed–signal triggering. The digital inputs bring extra power to the serial decoding options.  You can decode serial data on all of the analog and digital channels simultaneously, giving up to 20 channels of serial data.  You can for example decode multiple SPI, I²C, CAN bus, LIN bus and FlexRay signals all at the same time.  Serial decoding capabilities are included in PicoSoft 6 as standard. 

All PicoScope 3000D MSO units have a built-in function generator (sine, square, triangle, DC level, white noise, PRBS etc.) As well as 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 one or more cycles of a waveform to be output when various conditions are met such as the scope triggering or a mask limit test failing.  An arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) is also included. AWG waveforms can be created or edited using the built-in AWG editor, imported from oscilloscope traces, or loaded from a spreadsheet.

With the click of a button you can also show a spectrum of selected channels up to the full bandwidth of the oscilloscope. You can display multiple spectrum views with different channel selections and zoom factors, and place these by the side of time-domain views of the same data. A comprehensive set of automatic frequency-domain measurements can be added to the display, including total harmonic distortion (THD), THD+N, SNR, SINAD and IMD. You can even use the AWG and spectrum mode together to perform swept scalar network analysis for measuring the frequency response of a circuit or filter.

The USB3.0 connection (backward-compatible to USB2.0) not only allows high-speed data acquisition and transfer, but also makes printing, copying, saving, and emailing your data from the field quick and easy. USB powering removes the need to carry around a bulky external power supply, making the 3406D MSO even more portable for the traveling field technician.