Recorder function, oscilloscope also available!

A waveform recorder can collect signals for a long time and save the data to the hard disk of the device. The length of the collection time depends on the sampling rate and the hard disk capacity. However, compared with an oscilloscope, it does not have the function of real-time analysis, which happens to be the strength of an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope can collect waveforms for a long time and analyze them in real time. However, an oscilloscope is not equipped with a large-capacity hard disk. If you want to use an oscilloscope as a recorder, you need to give full play to the storage depth function of the oscilloscope.

Next, let’s take a look at how to use an oscilloscope as a waveform recorder. Let’s first understand the relevant basic concepts.

Sampling rate, memory depth and waveform recording duration

To record waveforms for a long time, storage capacity is an important indicator. Both the Microsonic STO and TO series have at least 28M storage depth (STO1000E can reach 70Mpts). According to the formula:

Sampling rate = storage depth ÷ waveform recording time

Among them, the storage depth is a fixed constant, and the sampling rate changes with the waveform recording length we adjust.

For example, when the storage depth is 28M, and the time base is set to 2ms, the waveform recording duration is 28ms, and the sampling rate is 0.028G(28M) ÷ 0.028s(28ms) = 1GSa/s

When the time base is 4ms, the sampling rate of the same algorithm is 500MSa/s.

Memory depth setting

To use the oscilloscope as a recorder, the memory depth is an important indicator. To maximize the long-term recording performance of the oscilloscope with a large memory depth, the memory depth of the oscilloscope must first be set to the maximum. Open the user setting menu of the oscilloscope, find the record length (i.e., memory depth), and set the record length to 28/14/7M in the setting menu, which is the maximum value, and keep the single channel open and close other channels. Only in single-channel mode can the memory depth reach the maximum value.

Then adjust the time base to 1ks/div, as shown in the figure below, the oscilloscope will automatically enter the scroll mode. You can also go to the display menu of the oscilloscope, find General, and manually turn on the scroll mode.

Data export and use

After the oscilloscope has recorded a screen of waveform, you can save the recorded waveform data. Open the save menu of the oscilloscope, you can save the waveform in WAV, CSV or BIN format, and you can also name the waveform data.

WAV: The first way to save data files is to sample the waveform data displayed on the screen and save it as a binary file. It is saved in WAV format to local or external storage and can be opened, viewed, zoomed, etc. on the local computer.

CSV: The second way to save data files, it will save the waveform data of the current channel of the oscilloscope in CSV format to the oscilloscope's internal storage or external storage USB flash drive. It is a comma separated value file format, and its files store table data in plain text. It will convert the required binary data into ASCII code and save it as ASCII code data. It can be opened with Excel, Access or text files, and cannot be called by this machine.

The following figure shows the interface after opening a CSV file with Excel. The lower part is a line chart composed of two items E and F as coordinates:

Due to the storage time, the data files saved in WAV and CSV are also sampled (87,500 data point coordinates in the figure below), while ensuring that most of the signal information can be seen, the data storage time is controlled within 2 seconds.

So for some users who need to save a screen of 28M waveform data completely, facing this huge amount of data, do they really have to wait for the oscilloscope to store it for several hours? Don't worry, the Macosin oscilloscope provides a third storage method for this demand: BIN

The specific operation process is shown in the figure below. The operations before and after take less than 60 seconds to obtain this huge amount of data of tens of millions.

This software can be downloaded from the official website of Macosin.