Specifications

Chapter 7: Theory of Operation
Motherboard Assembly
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Motherboard Assembly
The motherboard provides all system control and interface functions for the oscilloscope.
The motherboard contains a microprocessor, a hard disk drive interface, ROM, RAM,
keyboard and mouse interfaces, connections to the front panel board, and serial
interfaces.
Pressing the on/off button sends a signal to the motherboard. The motherboard then
signals the backplane assembly, which in turn sends a signal to tell the bulk 12V power
supply to turn on. When the power supply turns on, the remaining power supplies are
enabled and powered on. Then the main FPGA on the backplane assembly gets self-
configured from its PROM. Once it’s configured, the main FPGA asserts a signal to tell
the motherboard to power up and become fully functional.
The hard disk drive is a high- capacity, shock- resistant unit that stores the oscilloscope
operating system, the oscilloscope application, compliance application information,
calibration data, other data files, and drivers for the boards and oscilloscope. The hard
disk drive can also be used to store and recall oscilloscope setups and waveforms.
Note that it is important for the hard disk drive image to match the motherboard. If
they do not match, the oscilloscope may not have the correct Windows software drivers.