A brief talk on the development of domestic oscilloscopes

Fifty years of ups and downs

Let’s start with the development history of domestic oscilloscopes. The earliest domestic oscilloscope manufacturers included Jiangsu Yangzhong Electronic Instrument Factory[1], Shanghai No. 21 Factory, Xi’an Honghua Instrument Factory[2], etc. These early analog oscilloscopes successfully completed major scientific research tasks in China.

In the 1990s, with the development of the market economy, the popularity of single-chip microcomputers, and the flow of some technologies and talents, new electronic instrument manufacturers emerged like mushrooms after rain. In 1998, Beijing Puyuan Jingdian established a digital oscilloscope R&D studio and launched digital oscilloscope products the following year; Zhou Ligong established a company in 1999 and started selling chips. At that time, Qingdao Hantek just started to develop USB interface oscilloscopes and launched the first product in 2001; Shenzhen Dingyang established an oscilloscope R&D center in 2002. Since then, the market differences of oscilloscope manufacturers with their own characteristics have been opened.

XJ4312 dual-trace oscilloscope produced by Shanghai No. 21 Factory in 1990[3][4]

Domestic oscilloscopes with different performances

The rise of digital oscilloscopes has caused a large number of analog oscilloscope manufacturers to be lost in the ever-changing market. The bandwidth of digital oscilloscopes currently on the market in China is as high as 2GHz. High bandwidth means higher AD sampling chips, high front-end analog chips, and higher requirements for components and designs. Most domestic manufacturers can produce 500MHz bandwidth oscilloscopes, which can meet the application of basic R&D and testing fields.

Domestic high bandwidth oscilloscope

The highest domestic real-time bandwidth is 2GHz, which is suitable for high-speed digital signal eye diagram jitter analysis

Based on better front-end analog chips and AD sampling chips, high-bandwidth oscilloscopes provide real-time eye diagram drawing and measurement with clock recovery function. In the world of digital signals, using an oscilloscope to measure eye diagrams can help users intuitively display the transmission quality of digital signals, thereby understanding the strength of inter-symbol crosstalk in the system and making improvements in system design. The eye diagram function is very important for electronic equipment development, qualitative testing and verification of serial digital signals in chips or high-speed digital signals.

Oscilloscope with battery and mains power

On the one hand, battery power can be used for floating measurements, which can reduce the background noise; on the other hand, it is suitable for portability.

Domestic tablet oscilloscopes
are small and flexible, supporting comprehensive automotive bus analysis in automotive maintenance

Domestic handheld oscilloscope

Suitable for field line maintenance, compact and flexible, easy to use

USB Virtual Oscilloscope

Similar to a digital data acquisition system, it can be controlled and displayed by a computer. The oscilloscope is small and easy to integrate.

Power Loop Analysis Oscilloscope

Convenient observation of Bode plots for power loop stability analysis, with various functions

Function Introduction

Domestic oscilloscopes are fully functional in terms of engineering applications, from basic waveform triggering acquisition to mathematical operations to advanced power supply analysis and eye diagram analysis. Some people have also done online evaluations of the FFT function, and the results are quite good. In terms of human-computer interaction, most domestic oscilloscopes now support touch screens and flexible regional triggering. The performance of basic domestic oscilloscopes is also beyond people's expectations, and there are mature systems for quality control, quality assurance, and after-sales service. If you want to make a better oscilloscope, it is not only up to the equipment manufacturers to innovate, but also to have more advanced design and development of domestic components.

1 Touch screen to set area trigger

Touch screen setting area trigger

2 Waveform overview navigation function

Waveform overview navigation function

3 Pass the test

Passed the test

4 Support various bus protocol analysis

Support various bus protocol analysis

Summarize

At present, domestic oscilloscopes are gradually gaining market recognition. People no longer believe in imported brands and are willing to use domestic equipment as a substitute at many levels that can be achieved. The quality and reputation of domestic oscilloscopes are truly made. We have received feedback from many engineers on the front line and understand the performance characteristics of oscilloscopes of different levels from different manufacturers. Generally speaking, domestic oscilloscopes have always existed in the past and will always exist in the future. With the catalysis of high-end applications and the market, I believe that domestic oscilloscopes will one day climb to the top of that mountain and compete with foreign veteran manufacturers.