New Industry Products

Mixed-Signal and Mixed-Domain Oscilloscopes Launched by Tektronix

June 04, 2019 by Paul Shepard

Tektronix, Inc. today introduced two new products to its portfolio with the launch of the 3 Series Mixed Domain Oscilloscope (MDO) and 4 Series Mixed Signal Oscilloscope (MSO), delivering the most powerful, versatile and easy-to-use oscilloscopes in the market. On the 4 Series MSO, an optional power analysis package is available to automate ac line, switching device, ripple and sequencing measurements.

Built on the award-winning user experience first introduced in the 5 and 6 Series MSOs, the new 3 Series MDO and 4 Series MSO feature a highly-intuitive touchscreen user interface, the largest and highest resolution display in their class and a modern industrial design. Now with more options across an array of demanding applications, Tektronix' state-of-the-art product portfolio delivers advanced measurement and analysis capabilities and provides a comprehensive range of performance options for engineers.

"Tektronix is a company built for engineers, by engineers, and we continued that legacy when we developed our new scopes," said Chris Witt, vice president and general manager, Time Domain Business Unit at Tektronix. "Our teams spent countless hours meeting with engineers around the world, testing and prototyping new features and designs, and we're excited to bring the very best oscilloscopes to market - built around insight from everyday engineers."

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The 3 and 4 Series interface design with touchscreens and front panels keep key controls close at hand so instead of digging through multiple menus FlexChannel™ technology, any input channel can be converted from an analog to eight digital channels simply by connecting a logic probe.

To meet a diverse range of application requirements, the 4 Series MSO is available with bandwidths starting at 200MHz and is well supported with options including serial decode and analysis, an arbitrary/function generator and a DVM/frequency counter. The new Spectrum View feature offers time correlated frequency domain analysis with independent spectrum controls. A power analysis package is available to automate ac line, switching device, ripple and sequencing measurements.

Bandwidth and options are all field upgradeable. All models deliver a 6.25 GS/s sample rate on all analog and digital channels. Standard record length is 31.25 Mpoints with option for 62.5 Mpoints.

3 Series MDO: New levels of versatility

The 3 Series MDO is intended to be the compact, versatile test instrument that sits on the desk of every engineer. It features a sleek industrial design and the largest display in its class at 11.6-in. with full high-definition resolution. It uses the same intuitive user interface as the rest of the portfolio with a similar set of knobs and buttons but takes up less than 6 inches of depth on a bench.

The 3 Series MDO is more than an oscilloscope and can cover a wide range of debugging and validation tasks. It offers a built-in spectrum analyzer up to 3GHz, with a separate RF input and specifications comparable to a standalone analyzer. This enables engineers to quickly debug wireless components in their designs or quickly track down sources of unwanted EMI emissions without having to use another instrument.

Sixteen digital input channels are available for mixed signal analysis. Comprehensive serial protocol debugging and triggering options, optional power measurement and an optional AFG set the standard for versatility. A DVM/frequency counter is included for free with product registration.

The new 3 Series MDO is available in bandwidths starting at 100MHz and extending to 1GHz. Models are available with 2.5 GS/s or 5 GS/s sample rates on all analog and up to 8.25 GS/s on digital channels with 121.2ps timing resolution. Standard record length is 10 Mpoints. For investment protection, bandwidths and options are fully upgradeable.

Probes: Critical inches

The distance between the front of the oscilloscope to the device under test are critical to gaining insight into troublesome circuits. Both the 3 Series MDO and 4 Series MSO use the TekVPI probe interface, giving access to the full range of Tektronix differential voltage probes, active voltage probes and current probes, plus the recently-introduced power rail probes and optically-isolated differential probes.

Pricing

The 3 Series MDO is priced from $3,850 (US) and the 4 Series MSO is priced from $7,550 (US). All prices are US MSRP and include a standard three-year warranty and passive probes.