- Flexible resolution, from 8 to 16 bits
- Up to 200 MHz analog bandwidth
- Up to 512 MS buffer memory
- Up to 1 GS/s real-time sampling
- Up to 10 GS/s equivalent-time sampling
- Up to 200 MHz spectrum analyzer
- Built-in function generator or AWG
- USB-connected
The PicoScope 5000 Series
Flexible Resolution USB Oscilloscope
High speed and high resolution. Breakthrough ADC technology switches from 8 to 16 bits in the same oscilloscope.
PicoScope: power, portability and versatility
Pico Technology continues to push the limits of PC oscilloscope design. For the first time in an oscilloscope, Pico Technology have used reconfigurable ADCs to offer a choice of 8-bit to 16-bit resolutions in a single product.
High bandwidth, high 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 1 GS/s, allowing detailed display of high frequencies.
With a real-time sampling rate of five times the input bandwidth, PicoScope 5000 Series oscilloscopes are well equipped to capture high-frequency signal detail.
For repetitive signals, the maximum effective sampling rate can be boosted to 10 GS/s by using Equivalent Time Sampling (ETS) mode.
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Deep memory
The PicoScope 5000 Series offers memory depths up to 512 million samples, more than any other oscilloscope in this price range.
Other oscilloscopes have high maximum sampling rates, but without deep memory they cannot sustain these rates on long timebases. Using its 512 MS buffer, the PicoScope 5444B can 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 the deep memory making the PicoScope 5000 one of the most powerful oscilloscopes on the market.
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Hardware Acceleration Engine (HAL2)
Some oscilloscopes struggle when you enable deep memory; the screen update rate slows and controls become unresponsive. PicoScope 5000 Series avoids this limitation with use of a dedicated hardware acceleration engine inside the oscilloscope. Its parallel design effectively creates the waveform image to be displayed on the PC screen and allows the continuous capture and display to the screen of over 300 million samples every second. PicoScope oscilloscopes manage deep memory better than competing oscilloscopes, both PC-based and benchtop.
The PicoScope 5000 Series is fitted with second-generation hardware acceleration (HAL2). This speeds up areas of oscilloscope operation such as allowing waveform update rates in excess of 100,000 waveforms per second and the segmented memory / rapid trigger modes. The hardware acceleration engine ensures that any concerns about the USB connection or PC processor performance being a bottleneck are eliminated.
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Waveform buffer and navigator
Ever spotted a glitch on a waveform, but by the time you’ve stopped the scope it has gone? With PicoScope you no longer need to worry about missing glitches or other transient events. PicoScope can store the last ten thousand waveforms in its circular waveform buffer.
The buffer navigator provides an efficient way of navigating and searching through waveforms effectively letting you turn back time. Tools such as mask limit testing can also be used to scan through each waveform in the buffer looking for mask violations.
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Mask limit testing
Mask limit testing allows you to compare live signals against known good signals, and is designed for production and debugging environments. Simply capture a known good signal, draw a mask around it, and then attach the system under test. PicoScope will perform pass/fail testing, capture intermittent glitches, and can show a failure count and other statistics in the Measurements window.
Mask limit testing is available for both the oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer, allowing you automate finding problems in both the time and frequency domains.
The numerical and graphical mask editors can be used separately or in combination, allowing you to enter accurate mask specifications, modify existing masks, and import and export masks as files.
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Advanced digital triggers
The majority of digital oscilloscopes still use an analog trigger architecture based on comparators. This causes time and amplitude errors that cannot always be calibrated out and often limits the trigger sensitivity at high bandwidths.
In 1991 Pico pioneered the use of fully digital triggering using the actual digitized data. This technique reduces trigger errors and allows our oscilloscopes to trigger on the smallest signals, even at the full bandwidth. Trigger levels and hysteresis can be set with high precision and resolution.
The sub-2 µs rearm delay provided by digital triggering, together with segmented memory, allows up to 10,000 waveforms to be captured in a 20 ms burst.
The PicoScope 5000 Series offers an industry-leading set of advanced triggers including pulse width, runt pulse, windowed, logic and dropout.
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Serial bus decoding and protocol analysis
PicoScope can decode CAN, FlexRay, I²C, I²S, RS-232/UART, SPI, and USB protocol data as standard. Expect this list to grow with future free software upgrades.
In graph format shows the decoded data (in hex, binary, decimal or ASCII) in a data bus timing format, beneath the waveform on a common time axis, with error frames marked in red. These frames can be zoomed to investigate noise or signal integrity issues.
In table format shows a list of the decoded frames, including the data and all flags and identifiers. You can set up filtering conditions to display only the frames you are interested in or search for frames with specified properties. The statistics option reveals more detail about the physical layer such as frame times and voltage levels. PicoScope can also import a spreadsheet to decode the data into user-defined text strings.
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High-end features as standard
Buying a PicoScope is not like making a purchase from other oscilloscope companies, where optional extras considerably increase the price. With our scopes, high-end features such as serial decoding, mask limit testing, advanced math channels, segmented memory, and a signal generator are all included in the price.
To protect your investment, both the PC software and firmware inside the scope can be updated. Pico Technology have a long history of providing new features for free through software downloads. We deliver on our promises of future enhancements year after year, unlike many other companies in the field. Users of our products reward us by becoming lifelong customers and frequently recommending us to their colleagues.
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The PicoScope 5000 Series: Flexible resolution
Most digital oscilloscopes gain their high sampling rates by interleaving multiple 8-bit ADCs. Despite careful design, the interleaving process introduces errors that always make the dynamic performance worse than the performance of the individual ADC cores.
The PicoScope 5000 Series scopes have a significantly different architecture in which multiple high-resolution ADCs can be applied to the input channels in different time-interleaved and parallel combinations to boost either the sampling rate to 1 GS/s at 8 bits or the resolution to 16 bits at 62.5 MS/s.
In time-interleaved mode, the ADCs are interleaved to provide 1 GS/s at 8 bits (see diagram). Interleaving reduces the performance of the ADCs, but the result (60 dB SFDR) is still much better than oscilloscopes that interleave 8-bit ADCs. This mode can also provide 500 MS/s at 12 bits resolution.
In parallel mode, multiple ADCs are sampled in phase on each channel to increase the resolution, revealing every detail of the signal in a crystal-clear display. Sampling in parallel with multiple ADCs and combining the output reduces noise and also both the integral and differential nonlinearity, providing outstanding single shot dynamic performance without loss of bandwidth or need of a repetitive signal.
Using parallel mode, resolution is increased to 14 bits at 125 MS/s per channel (> 70 dB SFDR – see diagram). If only two channels are required then resolution can be increased to 15 bits, and in single-channel mode all the ADCs are combined to give a 16-bit mode at 62.5 MS/s.
The software gives the choice of selecting the resolution or leaving the scope in “auto resolution” mode where the optimal resolution is used for the chosen settings.
Pico Flexible Resolution Oscilloscopes allow you to reconfigure the hardware either to increase the sampling rate or the resolution. For the first time in an oscilloscope you can reconfigure the hardware to be either a fast 8-bit oscilloscope for looking at digital signals or a high-resolution 16-bit oscilloscope. Whether you're capturing and decoding fast digital signals or looking for distortion in sensitive analog signals, flexible resolution allows you to do both in the same oscilloscope.
Flexible resolution – sampling rate advantage
Most modern oscilloscopes (including all PicoScopes) have the ability to average or filter 8-bit data to reduce noise and increase effective resolution. Typical names for such modes are Resolution Enhance,High Definition Mode and HiRes Mode. While these modes are valuable for some applications, each 0.5 bit increase in resolution halves the sampling rate, reducing the effective bandwidth and risking aliasing. The table below compares the PicoScope 5000 Series with a typical 8-bit oscilloscope with a 1 GS/s sampling rate. Flexible resolution offers a sampling rate up to 4000 times faster than traditional methods.
Comparison of Flexible Resolution and Resolution Enhance
Resolution
(bits)
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Sampling Rate
(Resolution Enhance)
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Sampling Rate
(Flexible Resolution)
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Comparison
( x faster)
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8 |
1 GS/s |
1 GS/s |
x 1 |
12 |
3.9 MS/s |
500 MS/s |
x 128 |
14 |
244 kS/s |
125 MS/s |
x 512 |
16 |
15 kS/s |
62.5 MS/s |
x 4096 |
Flexible resolution - input sensitivity advantage
The PicoScope 5000 range of Flexible Resolution Oscilloscopes offer an impressive maximum sensitivity of 2 mV/div at the full resolution of the oscilloscope (many oscilloscopes use software zoom to provide the most sensitive ranges).
If you need more sensitivity then enable the high resolution modes. The example opposite shows how 14-bit mode and zoom can be used to provide 100 μV/div sensitivity while still providing more than 8 bits of resolution. At such low signal levels, noise can become significant so the PicoScope 5000 Series includes both a hardware bandwidth limit (20 MHz) and software programmable filters (high pass, low pass, band pass and band stop).
Flexible resolution - dynamic range advantage
Even in 8-bit mode, flexible resolution offers an advantage over other oscilloscopes. Interleaving ADCs to increase sampling rate always introduces errors that reduce the effective resolution. Often 1 or 2 bits of resolution are lost, reducing the effective resolution to 6 bits. With Flexible Resolution, interleaving the high-resolution ADCs results in a near-perfect 8-bit result.
While the averaging and resolution enhance modes available on most oscilloscopes are effective at reducing noise, the method used (combining samples from a single ADC) does not remove linearity errors.
Flexible Resolution improves on this in two ways. First it uses high-resolution ADCs (with inherently low linearity errors). Secondly, by sampling the same signal with up to 8 different ADCs at once, both the differential and integral nonlinearities are reduced.
Of course, the dynamic performace of an oscilloscope is not just dependent on the ADCs. Designing a low-noise, low-distortion front end for a Flexible Resolution oscilloscope is a challenging task. Fortunately Pico has well over 20 years' experience in designing high-resolution oscilloscopes. The result is an oscilloscope with outstanding performance and versatility.
High signal integrity
Most oscilloscopes are built down to a price. Ours are built up to a specification.
Careful front-end design and shielding reduces noise, crosstalk and harmonic distortion. Over 20 years of high resolution oscilloscope design experience leads to improved pulse response and bandwidth flatness.
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Maximum sensitivity is an impressive 2 mV/div at the full resolution of the oscilloscope. If you need more sensitivity then simply enable the high resolution modes. Combining 14 bit mode and zoom can provide 100 uV/div sensitivity while still providing more than 8 bits resolution.
We are proud of the dynamic performance of our products and publish these specifications in detail. The result is simple: when you probe a circuit, you can trust in the waveform you see on the screen.
130,000 waveforms per second
An important specification to understand when evaluating oscilloscope performance is the waveform update rate, which is expressed as waveforms per second (wfms/s). While the sample rate indicates how frequently the oscilloscope samples the input signal within one waveform, or cycle, the waveform capture rate refers to how quickly an oscilloscope acquires waveforms.
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Oscilloscopes with high waveform capture rates provide better visual insight into signal behavior and dramatically increase the probability that the oscilloscope will quickly capture transient anomalies such as jitter, runt pulses and glitches – that you may not even know exist. PicoScope oscilloscopes use hardware acceleration to achieve over 130,000 wfms/s.
Oscilloscope waveform update rates
An important specification to understand when evaluating oscilloscope performance is the waveform update rate which is expressed as waveforms per second (wfms/s). While the sample rate indicates how frequently the oscilloscope samples the input signal within one waveform, or cycle, the waveform capture rate refers to how quickly an oscilloscope acquires waveforms.
All oscilloscopes have an inherent “dead-time” between each waveform acquisition, when it is processing the previously acquired waveform. During the oscilloscope’s dead-time, any signal activity that may be occurring will be missed. Because of oscilloscope dead-time, capturing random and infrequent events becomes a matter of statistical probability. The more often a scope updates waveforms for a given observation time, the higher the probability of capturing and viewing an elusive event.
Oscilloscopes with high waveform capture rates provide better visual insight into signal behaviour and dramatically increase the probability that the oscilloscope will quickly capture transient anomalies such as jitter, runt pulses and glitches – that you may not even know exist.
PicoScope Fast mode uses dedicated hardware to accelerate the waveform capture process. Multiple streams of data are processed in parallel to construct the waveforms that will be displayed on the screen. Fast mode is available in all PicoScope series oscilloscopes, with the following typical performance levels*:
- USB 2.0 deep memory models (PicoScope 3000/4000/5000 Series) to 80,000 wfms/s.
- USB 3.0 SuperSpeed deep memory models (PicoScope 3207 & 6000 Series) to 100,000 wfms/s.
* Depends on host PC performance. See benchmark table for measured performance of specific PicoScope models.
The animation below shows a 5 MHz clock signal with infrequent glitches captured on a PicoScope 6404D. The glitches occur approximately 25 times per second. Total capture time for each acquisition is 1 µs, so the probability of capturing the glitch with each capture is just 0.000025. But with a waveform update rate of more than 100,000 waveforms per second the scope will capture this glitch within 0.4 seconds on average. In this example, the scope captured the error several times in less than 3 seconds.
Pico was the first company to introduce such fast waveform update rates to PC oscilloscopes. Our waveform update rate outperforms all other PC oscilloscopes and many traditional benchtop oscilloscopes costing considerably more.
Listed below are some example specifications for maximum waveforms per second together with the test conditions used. Note that for applications that require even faster waveform capture, most of our oscilloscopes have a rapid trigger (segmented memory) mode that can collect bursts of waveforms at rates as fast as 1 million per second
Waveform update rate (wfm/s)1
PicoScope Model
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v 6.8.8 |
v 6.9.5 |
v 6.10.2 Beta |
v 6.10.6 |
PicoScope 2104
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35
|
150
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180
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180
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PicoScope 2204A
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40
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710
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2,200
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2,200
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PicoScope 2206A
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1,200
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1,500
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3,300
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5,700
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PicoScope 2208A
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1,200
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1,500
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3,300
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8,500
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PicoScope 3204A
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11,000
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27,000
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80,000
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130,000
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PicoScope 3207B
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11,000
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25,000
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100,000
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170,000
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PicoScope 3404B
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11,000
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25,000
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80,000
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150,000
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PicoScope 3404D MSO
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N/A
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N/A
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N/A
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170,000
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PicoScope 4262
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4,700
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6,000
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9,100
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9,100
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PicoScope 4424
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4,300
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6,900
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8,300
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8,400
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PicoScope 4824
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12,000
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25,000
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70,000
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100,000
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PicoScope 5242A
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11,000
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24,000
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80,000
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130,000
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PicoScope 5444B
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11,000
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24,000
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80,000
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130,000
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PicoScope 6404D
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12,000
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29,000
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120,000
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170,000
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Note 1: Test conditions. PicoScope software set to fastest timebase in persistence mode, input signal > 10 MHz. PC used running Windows 8.1 on an Intel i5-4750 @ 3.25 GHz.
FFT spectrum analyzer
The spectrum view plots amplitude vs frequency and is ideal for finding noise, crosstalk or distortion in signals. The spectrum analyzer in PicoScope is of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) type which, unlike a traditional swept spectrum analyzer, can display the spectrum of a single, non-repeating waveform.
A full range of settings gives you control over the number of spectrum bands (FFT bins), window types, scaling (including log/log) and display modes (instantaneous, average, or peak-hold).
You can display multiple spectrum views alongside oscilloscope views of the same data. A comprehensive set of automatic frequency-domain measurements can be added to the display, including THD, THD+N, SNR, SINAD and IMD. A mask limit test can be applied to a spectrum and you can even use the AWG and spectrum mode together to perform swept scalar network analysis.
Unlike the oscilloscope views which display amplitude vs time, the spectrum view reveals new detail by plotting amplitude vs frequency. The spectrum view is ideal for finding the cause of noise or crosstalk in a signal which often looks random in the time domain. It is also often the best mode for testing distortion, frequency response and stability of amplifiers, filters and oscillators. The spectrum analyzer in PicoScope is of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) type which, unlike a traditional swept spectrum analyzer, has the ability to display the spectrum of a single, non-repeating waveform.
PicoScope oscilloscopes have low-noise, low-distortion front-end designs and our high-resolution scopes offer exceptional levels of dynamic range (> 100 dB SFDR for the PicoScope 4262). This makes them capable of revealing signal details that other scope and dedicated analyzers miss.
A full range of settings gives you control over the number of spectrum bands (FFT bins), window types, scaling (linear, log, log/log) and display modes (instantaneous, average, or peak-hold).
You can display multiple spectrum views with different channel selections and zoom factors, and place these alongside oscilloscope views of the same data. A comprehensive set of automatic frequency-domain measurements can be added to the display, including THD, THD+N, SNR, SINAD and IMD.
A mask limit test can be applied to a spectrum for automated tests and you can even use the AWG and spectrum mode together to perform swept scalar network analysis.
Arbitrary waveform and function generator
All PicoScope 5000 units have a built-in 20 MHz low-distortion function generator (sine, square, triangle, DC level). 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.
PicoScope 5000B models gain additional waveforms (white noise, PRBS etc) and also include a 14-bit 200 MS/s arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) . AWG waveforms can be created or edited using the built-in AWG editor, imported from oscilloscope traces, or loaded from a spreadsheet.
Electronic designs require a variety of stimulus signals during test. PicoScope comes with a function generator that can deliver standard waveforms such as sine, square, triangle etc. Many models also include an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) that supports a wide range of application needs.
You can program the arbitrary waveform generator from a text file or using the built-in AWG editor. The number of samples in the created waveform is limited only by the hardware of your chosen oscilloscope, allowing you to define complex waveforms. As PicoScope can export CSV and TXT files, you can even capture a waveform using your oscilloscope, modify it (if needed) using the AWG editor, and then play it back using the AWG.
PicoScope 5000 Oscilloscope Software
Advanced display
PicoScope software dedicates almost all of the display area to the waveform. This ensures that the maximum amount of data is seen at once. The viewing area is much bigger and of a higher resolution than with a traditional benchtop scope. With a large display area available, you can also create a customizable split-screen display, and view multiple channels or different views of the same signal at the same time. As the example opposite shows, the software can even show both oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer traces at once. Additionally, each waveform shown works with individual zoom, pan, and filter settings for ultimate flexibility.
The PicoScope software can be controlled by mouse, touchscreen or keyboard shortcuts.
Math channels and filters
On many oscilloscopes waveform math just means simple calculations such as A + B. With a PicoScope it means much, much more.
With PicoScope 6 you can select simple functions such as addition and inversion, or open the equation editor to create complex functions involving filters (low pass, high pass, band pass and band stop filters), trigonometry, exponentials, logarithms, statistics, integrals and derivatives.
Waveform math also allows you to plot live signals alongside historic peak, averaged or filtered waveforms. You can also use math for example to graph the changing duty cycle or frequency of your signal.
With PicoScope math channels you can display up to eight real or calculated channels in each scope view. If you run out of space, just open another scope view and add more.
Custom probes in PicoScope oscilloscope software
The custom probes feature allows you to correct for gain, attenuation, offsets and nonlinearities in probes, sensors or transducers that you connect to the oscilloscope.
A simple use would be to linearly scale the output of a current probe so that it correctly displays amperes. A more advanced use would be to scale the output of a nonlinear temperature sensor using the table lookup function.
Definitions for standard Pico-supplied oscilloscope probes and current clamps are included. User-created probes may be saved for later use.
Alarms
PicoScope can be programmed to execute actions when certain events occur.
The events that can trigger an alarm include mask limit fails, trigger events and buffers full.
The actions that PicoScope can execute include saving a file, playing a sound, executing a program or triggering the signal generator / AWG.
Alarms, coupled with mask limit testing, help to quickly validate signal quality in electronic system designs.
High-speed data acquisition and digitizing
The software development kit (SDK) allows you to write your own software and includes drivers for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac (OS X) 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.
The drivers support USB data streaming, a mode which captures gap-free continuous data over USB direct to the PC’s RAM or hard disk at rates of up to 10 MS/s. Capture size is limited only by available PC storage. Sampling rates in streaming mode are subject to PC specifications and application loading.
Powerful tools provide endless options
Your PicoScope is provided with many powerful tools to help you acquire and analyze waveforms. While these tools can be used on their own, the real power of PicoScope lies in the way they have been designed to work together.
As an example, the rapid trigger mode allows you to collect 10,000 waveforms in a few milliseconds with minimal dead time between them. Manually searching through these waveforms would be time consuming, so just pick a waveform you are happy with and let the mask tools scan through for you. When done, the measurements will tell you how many have failed and the buffer navigator allows you to hide the good waveforms and just display the problem ones. This video shows you how.
Perhaps instead you want to plot changing duty cycle as a graph? How about outputting a waveform from the AWG and also automatically saving the waveform to disk when a trigger condition is met? With the power of PicoScope the possibilities are almost endless.