What is Oscilloscope: Definition and 141 Discussions

An oscilloscope, previously called an oscillograph, and informally known as a scope or o-scope, CRO (for cathode-ray oscilloscope), or DSO (for the more modern digital storage oscilloscope), is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying signal voltages, usually as a calibrated two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The displayed waveform can then be analyzed for properties such as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval, distortion, and others. Originally, calculation of these values required manually measuring the waveform against the scales built into the screen of the instrument. Modern digital instruments may calculate and display these properties directly.
The oscilloscope can be adjusted so that repetitive signals can be observed as a persistent waveform on the screen. A storage oscilloscope can capture a single event and display it continuously, so the user can observe events that would otherwise appear too briefly to see directly.
Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, automotive and the telecommunications industry. General-purpose instruments are used for maintenance of electronic equipment and laboratory work. Special-purpose oscilloscopes may be used to analyze an automotive ignition system or to display the waveform of the heartbeat as an electrocardiogram, for instance.
Early oscilloscopes used cathode ray tubes (CRTs) as their display element (hence they were commonly referred to as CROs) and linear amplifiers for signal processing. Storage oscilloscopes used special storage CRTs to maintain a steady display of a single brief signal. CROs were later largely superseded by digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs) with thin panel displays, fast analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processors. DSOs without integrated displays (sometimes known as digitisers) are available at lower cost and use a general-purpose computer to process and display waveforms.

View More On Wikipedia.org
  1. K

    How to synchronize the RF source having delay over time?

    I want to synchronize the RF power supply (having jitter or delay over temp/time) to RF reference frequency with a digital delay generator, and I thought of two ways. 1) phase locked loop: it is commonly used for synchronizing the high-frequency signal, but as I know it is proper for a periodic...
  2. I

    Help with proper grounding with oscilloscope tracings

    I am having some issues when viewing tracings of my induction heater tank. It has to do with the grounding. First, I will explain the situation; then, I will ask the question. The images show the inverter voltage in yellow which results in a current in light blue. The dark blue is the 90 deg...
  3. K

    Converting oscilloscope voltage to laser power

    Hello! I have this photodiode which I connect to an oscilloscope using a normal BNC cable to an oscilloscope, terminated with a 50 Ohm resistor. I measure the output from an optical cavity (which is basically laser light), which in my case looks like a flat signal close to zero, and regular...
  4. S

    Engineering Measuring rotational speed for Tachometer vs Oscilloscope

    Question: Why does the oscilloscope double almost the exact value of rotational speed measured by Tachometer? Rotational speed from Tachometer = 1930 [RPM] Frequency of 1 period = 64.3 [Hz] which means 3857.91 [RPM] The output waveform of hall-effect sensor is attached. Can you have any...
  5. T

    Questions for Electronics Engineering Experts: Oscilloscope, Function Gen & DMM

    Hi experts, I am a student of electronics engineering and a new member. I have few questions related to Oscilloscope, function generator and Digital Multimeter. 1. what does the DC offset on the function generator do? 2. What is the frequency range and type of signals available? 3. What is the...
  6. N

    How to estimate the measurement uncertainty of an oscilloscope ?

    I have an Textronics oscilloscope with 500 MHz sampling rate and using an 50 ohm cable for the measurement. I can’t find the measurement uncertainty in the manual or the calibration sheet. In the calibration sheet it says an ‘uncertainty’ for the used channel in divisions, for example 1m up to...
  7. danieluyter

    What is causing the square drop in my guitar effect's sine wave?

    I built a guitar (fuzz) effect, and analysed the sine wave from a tone generator through an oscilloscope. Wondering what the wave means and how it got to be the way it is. I will attach a picture of the oscilloscope screen + the circuit I used for the Fuzz effect. My question is what the cause...
  8. U

    Signal Generator, Oscilloscope and Capacitor

    I started by working out the time constant of the Capacitor = RC = 300 * 1.5*10^-9 = 0.45 *10^-6 and the time period (t) of the square wave signal produced by the signal generator : 1/(1*10^6 )= 10^-6 Then I drawed the graph as follows...
  9. Boltzman Oscillation

    Engineering Measuring the damping frequency from an oscilloscope reading

    I know the following equations for if the damping ratio is less than 1: $$\sigma = -\zeta \omega_n$$ $$\omega = \sqrt{(1 - \zeta ^2)\omega^2_n}$$ I am given the following circuit that I built on LTSpice: Measuring the voltage between node 2 and ground (blue), and the voltage Vc4(t) (green) I...
  10. zzzriprip

    Uncertainty of an oscilloscope frequency, read from the period

    Hi, I am unsure of what uncertainty to get, so here is my full question: I used the CRO for an experiment, and since what I need is frequency, I read the period, so for the uncertainty of the period, it is the smallest division divided by two. So if my uncertainty for period is 0.001s, then what...
  11. C

    Conceptual question in regards to oscilloscope output

    can some one help me understand this problem conceptually I'm doubting the explanation given below (superposition happens on when they are on the same axis right but this problem two frequencies are on orthogonal basis). My thought was since frequency on Y is twice as many as on X. so i picked E
  12. shahbaznihal

    FRR Measurement in Digital Oscilloscope

    Hello, This is my first post in this domain and I am fairly novice in this subject, so please bear with me. I have a GDS-20174A Digital Oscilloscope. I am trying to measure the delay between two BNC cables using a Square Pulse of 2V with an offset of 1 V using the oscilloscope. I am using...
  13. B

    AQA Exam -- oscilloscope question concept

    can anyone explain why the voltage reading is negative for the resistor over a time period , yet the capacitor reading always stays positive ? In AC generation the voltages goes from negative to positive, how exactly does this affect the circuit components voltages? I am not sure how AC affects...
  14. R

    Averaging oscilloscope traces (statistics)

    I have collected a large number of oscilloscope traces (these relate to the modes of a laser cavity). Four sets are shown here: There are two ways for finding the average spacing ##\Delta t## between the adjacent dips: 1. Measure all the individual ##\Delta t##s from each measurement...
  15. Markus Hoeg

    Offset Limits in RIGOL Oscilloscope

    Hello, I have a very specific problem and didn't find any way to solve it. My signal is very slow changing at 5V +-100mV When I want to display this signal on my RIGOL Oscilloscope, the problem is, that with AC-mode I don't see those slow changes and in DC-mode the offset range is limited to...
  16. N

    Help me chose my first oscilloscope

    So, I'm a student of electrical engineering and I want to buy an oscilloscope to learn more about stuff and have in mind some projects to do. At the moment I'm working on project "supervision of pellet furnace" with ESP8266 and automatic refilling. For that project I build my own schematic and...
  17. R

    Electrical How to build your own high frequency oscilloscope

    Does anyone know if there is a textbook on the design and construction of high frequency oscilloscopes (up to 10 GHz)? I am guessing they would be some form of ADC circuit with perhaps a mixer and could use a lap top as the "DSP" and display. How would such an O-scope be calibrated/tuned...
  18. sophiecentaur

    Any recommendations for a good cheap USB oscilloscope?

    There has been some discussion on another thread about possible problems with mains spikes and lighting LEDs. I have decided that I could use an entry level scope to capture and measure any that are around on my supply. My regular analogue scope is hopeless for this purpose. I am sure that there...
  19. Q

    Using Tektronix Oscilloscope to Measure Phase

    Hi guys, I am working on a project that involves measuring the phase angle between two sinusoidal voltages. The circuit under examination is an RL type (the resistor was in series with the inductor), where the phase of voltage across the inductor is measured relative to the voltage input of the...
  20. S

    Measuring uncertainty spec for an oscilloscope?

    I just started learning about oscilloscopes and I am confused on how to calculate the uncertainty. The uncertainty measurement on the device says '1/2 the smallest division'. I am unsure which 'division' this refers to since there are horizontal scales and vertical scales. In my experiment I...
  21. L

    Generate sine wave with signal generator on scope

    I'm new to electronics, and using my new equiptment I would like to generate a sine signal on my function generator and display it on my oscilloscope. Equipment: * The scope is Rigol DS1054Z * Function generator is a $60 digital chinese. My problem is: When I plug connect the function...
  22. N

    How to measure output voltage of B200?

    Hi, I am a new student and trying to to measure the power and voltage output from B200 SDR device (https://www.ettus.com/content/files/b200-b210_spec_sheet.pdf) using oscilloscope (TDS3000 Series: https://www.atecorp.com/ATECorp/media/pdfs/data-sheets/Tektronix-TDS3000_Series_Manual.pdf)...
  23. N

    How to measure time variation of 2 signals using an oscilloscope?

    I have 2 rubidium clocks which both are generating 10MHz sine wave. Some reason my system is giving bad data. So, I am deciding to inspect every single part of the system. I am trying to check the rubidium clock and make sure it have to be in nanosecond time variation, because: t=1/f = 1/10e6 =...
  24. lightofthemoon

    What is the Speed of Sound in this Lab Setup?

    Homework Statement In this part of the lab you tracked a single peak as you moved a microphone in order to get a good value of the speed of sound. This question will lead you through a similar process with just two measurements. (The lab set up: speaker emitting the signal faced one microphone...
  25. S

    GRE question: oscilloscope with two oscillators

    Homework Statement Hello! The problem is the one I attached. Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution They say the answer is A, but I am not sure why. From what I remember from lab class, when you put 2 signals on x and y-axis you get usually a closed loop, like D or E. I think D happens...
  26. M

    Oscilloscope AC/DC Rectifier Problem

    Homework Statement In a AC to DC rectifier the DC signal was Vdc= (6.3+0.4)V and AC signal was Vac=(0.25+0.04)mV. What is the error on the quality factor of the rectifier? Homework Equations σQ=√((σr^2)/(Vdc^2 )+(Vr^2 σdc^2)/(Vdc^4 )) The Attempt at a Solution I know this is the correct...
  27. F

    Measuring AC current with an oscilloscope.

    I have a technical question, for research purposes. I have LED that we probe in AC mode. To measure the applied voltage in AC and the light-response in AC is no problem. However I would like to measure the current going through the device as well and I would like to link it to an oscilloscope...
  28. Planobilly

    Can I do this with an oscilloscope?

    Hi, I am frequently concerned with audio "noise" coming from a guitar amp. I can inject a 500hz signal for example and obviously see that signal at the output transformer. There are other frequencies also being produced by the amp at the same time which are typically hard to see or not...
  29. R

    Using the Fourier transform to interpret oscilloscope data

    We have a waveform that is composed of several waves, maybe something like this: If we Fourier transform the graph we get something like this: My question is, does the value of the largest column represent the peak to peak voltage of the waveform pictured above?
  30. Fips

    Why isn't there a buffer on an oscilloscope?

    Today in my electronics class, we were introduced to the amp op concept. After going through some fundamentals, the teacher challanged us to find v0 of a simple circuit with a battery and two resistances of 1M ohm each(v0 is in between these resistances). Afterwards he asked us if this same...
  31. M

    Optimal location of receiver on a transmission line

    I am measuring a communications bus with an oscilloscope at various points along the line. I understand that there will be reflections at each stub as well as at the ends of the bus if the impedance doesn't match. I also understand that these reflected signals will add/subtract with the...
  32. R

    Testing Electronic Components with an Oscilloscope and Mössbauer Source

    Dear All, how to know whether electronic components such as spectroscopy amplifier (canberra 1413 or 2010), single channel analyzer (from ortec) and NaI Scintillator counter with its basis are working good. Are there any testing methods using a oscilloscope. I have a Mössbauer radioactive...
  33. E

    How many divisions will the traces differ in this oscilloscope calculation?

    Homework Statement V1 = 10cos(10^4t) V2 = 5cos(10^4t + pi/3) Time Base setting = 0.1msec/div By how many divisions will these two traces differ? Homework Equations W = 2pi/T[/B] The Attempt at a Solution W = 2pi/T T = 2pi/W W = 10^4 T = 0.628 milliseconds 0.628milliseconds/(0.1msec/div) =...
  34. Jamison Lahman

    TDS2004B Oscilloscope Accuracy Determination

    Hello, I recently did the Franck-Hertz experiment (a short summary of the experiment can be found here http://inpp.ohiou.edu/~roche/3701_web/man-fh-a3b.pdf). I am currently doing data analysis and am having a hard time determining the accuracy of the oscilloscope, the Tektronix TDS2004B. I am...
  35. G

    Op-amp circuits and noise at high frequency/low amplitude

    Hi everyone. I am tasked with amplifying an input voltage of around 1nA at anywhere between 10,000kHz to 1MHz to a sufficient amount. We've been using op-amps in multiple stages in series to amplify the signal. At our disposal we have a function generator, oscilloscope, breadboard and...
  36. G

    Op-amps, noise and high frequency/low current input signal

    Hello everyone, In my lab class we've been given task of using op-amps to amplify a current of 1nA and frequency of order of madnitude 1MHz to a discernable level. We've been given breadboards, a selection of different op amps, resistors, an oscilloscope etc to achieve this task. We've made...
  37. S

    B Interferometry on photodetector

    Hello! I am trying an interferometry experiment using the Michelson Morley experiment. I managed to obtain the interference pattern on a screen, but I want to use an photodetector and I am not sure what should I obtain. As I know, the oscilloscope shows the intensity of the light, so if I modify...
  38. T

    Is there a generic oscilloscope Guide for Dummies

    So I was given an oscilloscope, which I thought would be quite useful for my electronics dabbling. It does appear, however to be ancient and have a few bits missing, as one would expect when something is free. I managed to be lucky enough to guess the power requirements to be 6VDC, based on the...
  39. G

    Finding the Perfect Oscilloscope: A Guide for Hobbyists and Diagnostics

    Hi all, I'm looking for an oscilloscope for hobby/diagnostic use. I'd like it to be useful for automotive and mains/power supply type stuff as well as battery-powered electronics. What would you recommend? It would have to be a used one as budget is tight. I've seen some simple 'build your...
  40. W

    Unwanted noise in oscilloscope diaplay

    Hi I'm a beginner on using an oscilloscope and I'm sorry if my question may be repeated in other posts. I was working on a circuit with the following materials: (1) an Al plate (5mm thick) (2) a disk-shaped piezo transducer with special electrodes (product...
  41. mishima

    Oscilloscope, Proper Shutdown?

    I recently purchased my first oscilloscope, a Rigol 1054Z. I have been using it for a few days with one of ARRL's educational boards and always feel awkward when I simply power it off after use. It didn't come with much of a manual and I was just wondering if there is a better way to power it...
  42. EinsteinKreuz

    Tektronix 2465 Oscilloscope problem

    So I have a vintage analog TEKTRONIX 2465 Oscilloscope that I bought used on eBay for a bargain of $300 last year. When I got it worked okayyyyy except when there was no input the CRT would display Channel 1 and 2 lines slanted and pressing the BEAM FIND button didn't help(nor adjusting the...
  43. C

    What is wrong with my oscilloscope?

    I have been fighting it for days and no matter what I try I can't make the waves bigger. The signal I'm putting in is a 1 volt peak to peak wave and if I adjust the voltage on the scale to 1 volt I can't see the wave and if it set it to 10mv I can see it but barley. I have tested the voltage...
  44. B

    Ignition coil HV pulse on oscilloscope?

    Hi all, I've been using a HV step up transformer (10kV-20W on secondary) lately and I'm wanting to look at the HV pulses on an oscilloscope. The coil is isolated from ground. I know connecting a probe directly to it is dangerous and would ruin my scope. I want to use a differential probe but...
  45. F

    Oscilloscope to measure Non-Periodic Random Signals....

    Hello Forum, I know a little bit about how the oscilloscope works: an electron beam hits the scope screen and traces the waveform. Once the beam reaches the right side of the screen it zaps back to start tracing again. Is it possible that while the beam returns to the lefthand side of the...
  46. JasonHathaway

    Oscilloscope Error: Measuring Sinusoidal Wave

    Homework Statement "An instrument (oscilloscope) is prepared to measure a sinusoidal periodic wave, compute the measurement error if the same instrument is used to measure the wave indicated in figure 1 (The wave is much more like a sawtooth wave, sorry for bad drawing)Homework Equations...
  47. S

    Engineering Finding the component values of a RLC circuit

    What methods could I utilise to find the individual values of the components - resistor, inductor and capacitor - of a series RLC circuit using an oscilloscope, signal generator and 10 ohm resistor. Where each component can be isolated in order to find the voltage etc. I've already found the...
  48. R

    Oscilloscope Sensitivity and Voltage Analysis

    Homework Statement In the oscilloscope display above, the vertical sensitivity is 5mV/cm, and the horizontal sensitivity is 0.5μs/cm. A) find the amplitude of the sinusoidal voltage B) find the frequency of the sinusoidal voltagehttp://imgur.com/fnkXliz Homework Equations im not sure which...
  49. T

    Oscilloscope recommendation?

    Hello- I'd like to do some basic demonstrations of sound waveforms on the undergrad/AP level using an oscilloscope, and wanted to know what specific recommendations you experts have about microphones, specific connections to the device, which probes to get, and also any comments about this...
  50. R

    Ultrasound NDT (non-destructive testing)

    Hi all, I've a question and I hope that I can get some answers here. As what my project has tasked, and what my lecturer had said. He needs me to build a device for NDT Testing. Currently the set up is that I would source for a transducer via olympus coupled with a USB oscilloscope capable...
Back
Top