Four new 100MHz portable digital storage and mixed-signal oscilloscopes (DSOs/MSOs) with what are claimed to be the highest performance capabilities in the industry have been developed by Agilent Technologies Inc., Palo Alto
CA.

With a real-time sample rate of 2GSa/s on each channel and display update rate up to 40 times faster than competing models, these 6000 Series units can show critical events in complex waveforms, dramatically reducing design verification and debug time, Agilent says.

Targeting 8 and 16-bit embedded system designers in aerospace-defense, automotive, communications and consumer electronics sectors, the new product lineup includes the industry's first 4+16-channel MSO in the 100MHz segment, Agilent says.

Exceptional waveform viewing is achieved with MegaZoom III display technology. This provides users with real-time, high-resolution XGA waveform viewing with 256 levels of color-intensity grades and memory depth up to a full 8M points.

Dynamic range in the Z-axis provides the highest waveform-display quality of any other portable oscilloscopes on the market today, Agilent says.

Optimized for waveform update rates and display resolution, the scopes have the ability to add 16 logic-timing channels, significantly reducing debugging time.

"The new 100MHz models bring industry-leading performance technology to those working on MCU and FPGA-based designs at a price that fits their budget," Dan Oldfield, Agilent R&D manager, Design Validation Division, says. "Customers designing products based on 8 and 16-bit MCUs and FPGAs will now be able to get the exceptional performance of the 6000 Series oscilloscopes previously available only in the higher-performance, more expensive oscilloscope models."

"With MegaZoom III, users now have a scope that can trigger, capture and display the critical events in complex signals inside their systems," he adds.

According to Agilent, as the complexity of embedded systems increases, hardware developers often need to isolate events of interest or view critical relationships on more than the limited number of channels available in traditional oscilloscopes.

MSOs provide the seamless integration of scope and logic-timing channels for time-aligned viewing and triggering across any or all input channels. Users can now order either a 2+16 or 4+16 channel MSO for their 100MHz applications. 6000 Series DSOs can easily upgrade to an MSO configuration later.

The firm's FPGA dynamic probe is fully supported by the MSO versions. With it, embedded systems developers using Xilinx FPGAs in their hardware digital designs have the ability to see inside their FPGA and correlate this internal view with events on their system with the MSO's scope and logic channels.

All 6000 Series units come with LAN, GPIB and USB interfaces. An additional front-panel USB port, to replace limited-capacity floppy drives, lets designers easily store memory records, screen images and settings on USB memory sticks.