Agilent crams features into portable oscilloscopes

Agilent Technologies has launched two portable oscilloscope series that claim to set the standard—the Infiniium S-Series for superior measurement and the InfiniiVision 6000 X-Series for price and performance in an embedded OS oscilloscope.

The Infiniium S-Series claims a number of titles to its name: the fastest signal integrity at 10bit ADC, the highest ENOB (effective number of bits) for the system of more than eight, and the deepest memory channels reaching 100Mpts when interleaved. It includes bandwidths in the range of 500MHz to 8GHz with four-channel DSO models and 16-digital-channel MSO models. Noise floor is quoted as 90Vrms at 1GHz, and SFDR is down to -73dBc. Emphasising the signal integrity aspect, the company notes that the units frequency response is flat to the quoted limits, in both amplitude and phase.

The S-Series has a range of application-specific measurement software that runs on an Intel i5 quad core motherboard with 8GB RAM. This ensures the scope stays responsive in all operating modes. Fast boot-up time and increased reliability comes with its solid-state drive. The 38.1cm multi-touch capacitive-touch display is gesture-enabled. The hardware is common and all units are calibrated to 8GHz, making bandwidth upgrades software-enabled.

Meanwhile, the InfiniiVision 6000 X-Series offers 6GHz bandwidth. It is available at $29,500, less than half the price of competitor's oscilloscopes with comparable bandwidths. The range includes 2- and 4-channel DSO models, and MSO models having 16 digital channels with bandwidths from 1GHz to 6GHz at 20-Gsamples/sec. The X-Series weighs 6.8kg with depth of 15cm, enabling portability in multi-GHz-bandwidth oscilloscopes.

The X-Series has a 12.1inch multi-touch capacitive touchscreen. Its 450,00 waveform-per-second update rate and InfiniiScan Zone touch trigger hardware facilitate efficient visualisation and isolation of anomalies. It also has a jitter and real-time eye diagram analysis option that provides an intuitive but powerful way to visualise digital signals in embedded designs, with the standard colour grade and histogram features. The interesting voice control feature is localised in 14 languages, allowing voice commands for scope control and signal visualisation.

The X-series integrates the power of six-instruments: oscilloscope, logic analyser (MSO), protocol analyser, dual-channel WaveGen function/arbitrary waveform generator, digital voltmeter, and a 10-digit counter totaliser. The 10-digit counter has 3.2GHz bandwidth, counting trigger-qualified events in addition to edges.

Asked about the separate RF spectrum analysis channel that appears in a competitive product, an Agilent spokesman acknowledged the development but believes that the degree added complexity is not justified by the results of having such a channel. All of the six-in-one functions on the Agilent scope are enabled as part of the basic purchase.

- Graham Prophet
??EE Times Europe