Introduction to the use of TeKtronix TDS210 digital oscilloscope

Speaking of oscilloscopes, I believe that every student majoring in electronic communications must be familiar with them, and they are also an indispensable auxiliary tool in the field of embedded product development. And when people (including myself) often use the oscilloscope after a long period of time, they will inevitably wonder, "Where is the DC-AC switching interface?" "I want to measure the voltage value, but how do I press the cursor line?" problem, so I feel it is still necessary to briefly record some operations. After all, a good memory is not as good as a bad pen~~~

When writing this blog, I referred to the summaries of many netizens, and I would like to express my gratitude!

I. Basic operations:

1. Display area

In addition to waveforms, the display area also includes many instructions related to waveforms and instrument control settings.

     1. There are three different graphical representations corresponding to different acquisition methods: sampling method, peak detection method, and average method.

     2. The trigger status represents the following information:

          Armed: The oscilloscope is collecting pre-trigger data, and all triggers will be ignored at this time.

          Ready: All pre-trigger data has been acquired and the oscilloscope is ready to accept triggers.

          Trig'd:: The oscilloscope has detected a trigger and is collecting post-trigger information.

          Auto: The oscilloscope is in automatic mode and is collecting waveforms without triggering.

          Scan: The oscilloscope continuously collects and displays waveform data in scanning mode.

          Stop: The oscilloscope has stopped acquiring waveforms.

     3. The pointer indicates the horizontal position of the trigger, and the horizontal position control knob adjusts its position.

     4． The readout shows the time deviation of the trigger level position from the center line of the screen, which is equal to 0.

     5. The pointer indicates the trigger level.

     6. The reading represents the numerical value of the trigger level.

     7. The selected trigger type represented by the icon. There are the following types: rising edge trigger; falling edge trigger; horizontal synchronization video trigger; vertical synchronization video trigger.

     8. The reading indicates the window time base setting value.

     9. The reading indicates the main time base setting value.

     10. The readout shows the main time base setting.

     11. The readout shows the vertical scale factor of the channel.

     12. The display area briefly displays online information.

     13. The pointer on the screen indicates the ground reference point of the displayed waveform. If there is no pointer indicating the channel, it means that the channel is not displayed.

In addition, there are three different display forms according to the type of waveform: black line, gray line and dotted line. The solid black waveform represents the active waveform displayed. After acquisition is stopped, the waveform will remain black as long as the control value causing uncertainty in the display accuracy remains unchanged.

After acquisition has stopped, the vertical and horizontal control values ​​can be changed. Reference waveforms and waveforms using the display duration function are shown with gray lines. Dashed waveforms indicate uncertainty in the accuracy of the waveform display. The reason for the dotted line is that the control setting value is changed after stopping acquisition, but the instrument cannot change the displayed waveform accordingly to match it. For example, with acquisition stopped, changing the trigger control value results in a dashed waveform.

2. Control button area

Above the oscilloscope panel is the control button area, with a total of 9 buttons:       

     1. SAVE/RECALL: Displays the save/recall function menu, which is used to set the storage and recall of instruments or waveforms. The oscilloscope's setup state is stored in permanent memory, and when the oscilloscope is turned on, the settings are restored to the state they were in when the oscilloscope was last turned off. Users can also recall the factory default status to configure the oscilloscope.

     2. MEASURE: Displays the automatic measurement function menu. It can realize 5 kinds of automatic measurements and can display 4 kinds of measurement results at the same time. When measuring, first press the top menu box button to select the "Source" or "Type" menu. The channel to be measured can be selected from the "Source" menu, and the measurement type (frequency, period, average, peak-peak, etc.) can be selected from the "Type" menu.

     3. ACQUIRE: Displays the acquisition function menu to set the acquisition method. There are three acquisition methods: sampling, peak detection, and average. The default setting mode is sampling mode.

     4． AUTOSET (automatic setting): The automatic setting function can automatically adjust various control values ​​​​to produce a signal display suitable for observation. Such as acquisition method, horizontal position, trigger type, trigger method, etc. Personal experience: If the displayed waveform does not meet expectations after powering on, you can directly press this button to let the oscilloscope automatically set up, and then fine-tune it to the settings you need.

     5． UTILITY (auxiliary function): This button can be used to view the system status, fault status, self-calibration and select the display language.

      6. CURSOR: Use this button to display the cursor function menu. Through the "Type" menu item, you can select the measurement content. For example, select "Voltage" to measure amplitude, select "Time" to measure time and frequency; use the "Source" menu item to select channel 1, channel 2, mathematical value, Reference A et al.

     Note: When the CURSOR button is pressed, two dotted line cursors appear on the display. You can use the vertical displacement control button to adjust the cursor position. When other buttons are used to call up the corresponding function menu, the cursor will remain displayed but cannot be adjusted.

      7. DISPLAY: This button can be used to bring up the display function menu, in which the waveform display mode can be selected and the display contrast can be adjusted.

      8. HARDCOPY: Use this button to print a hard copy of the displayed image. However, an expansion module with RS-232 and other ports needs to be installed and connected to the printer.

      9. RUN/STOP: Use this button to start and stop waveform acquisition.

3. Trigger control button area

The button area is located on the right side of the panel. There are 4 buttons and 1 knob.

     1. TRIGGER MENU: Use the "TRIGGER MENU" button to bring up the trigger mode selection menu. There are two trigger modes: edge trigger and video trigger. Each type of trigger mode corresponds to different function menu items. The user can select the corresponding button to adjust according to the actual situation. .

     2. SET LEVEL TO 50%: Use this button to set the trigger level at the vertical midpoint of the trigger signal amplitude.

     3. FORCE TRIGGER (forced trigger): This button ensures that acquisition will be started automatically regardless of whether there is enough trigger signal. This button is disabled when sampling is stopped.

     4． TRIGGER VIEW (trigger source observation): After pressing this button, the waveform originally displayed on the screen is replaced by the trigger source waveform, so that the trigger settings and their impact on the trigger signal can be viewed.

     5. LEVEL/HOLD OFF (level/holdoff) knob: This knob has two functions.

          As an edge trigger level control button, it can set the amplitude that the trigger signal must pass through for easy acquisition;

          As a release control button, it can set the time value before accepting the next trigger event. Please refer to the content about "holdoff" described later.

4. Horizontal/vertical control button area

     1. Vertical control area (VERTICAL)

              (1) Use the vertical control button (position) to adjust the position of the waveform and the vertical ruler, and set the input parameters.

          (2) VOLTS/DIV (Volts/Division) knob: When using the "Start/Stop" button to stop waveform acquisition, use this knob to adjust the vertical amplitude of the waveform.

          (3) Use the "CH1/CH2 Menu" button to display the waveform of the input signal and call up the corresponding function menu. In its menu, you can adjust the sensitivity of the "VOLTS/DIV" knob (i.e. coarse adjustment/fine adjustment). You can also Set the bandwidth limit and adjust the probe attenuation coefficient.

          (4) MATH menu button: Use this knob to bring up the numerical function menu, which can display inverse phases and adjust the superposition and subtraction of signals from different channels.

     2. HORIZONTAL          

          (1) Use the horizontal control button (position) to adjust the horizontal position of the waveforms of all channels and change the horizontal scale. Note that the center in the horizontal direction of the screen is the waveform time reference point. When changing the horizontal scale, the waveform will be relative to the center of the screen. expansion or contraction. Horizontal position changes where the waveform occurs relative to the trigger point.

          (2) SEC/DIV (seconds/div) knob: When using the "Start/Stop" button to stop waveform acquisition, use this knob to adjust the horizontal amplitude of the waveform.

          (3) HORIZONTAL MENU: Use this button to set the window area (follow the prompts at the bottom of the display when using it), and also adjust the trigger level and holdoff time. 

5. Connector area

     1. PROBE COMP: When connecting the probe to any input channel for the first time, the probe compensation can be adjusted to match the input channel. Methods as below: