User manual

PicoScope 6000A/B/C/D Series User's Guide 11

4 Glossary

AWG. Arbitrary waveform generator. A signal generator that can play back a

waveform of any shape defined by the user.

Bandwidth. The input frequency at which the measured signal amplitude is 3 decibels

below the true signal amplitude.

Buffer size. The size of the oscilloscope buffer memory, measured in samples. The

buffer allows the oscilloscope to sample data faster than it can transfer it to the

computer.

ETS. Equivalent time sampling. A sampling mode that increases the effective

sampling rate of the oscilloscope by capturing multiple cycles of a signal and

combining them. This technique works only with repetitive, stable signals such as

pulse trains.

Function generator. A signal generator that produces standard waveforms such as

sine and square waves.

GS. Gigasamples (approximately 1 billion samples).

Maximum sampling rate. A figure indicating the maximum number of samples the

oscilloscope can acquire per second. The higher the sampling rate of the oscilloscope,

the more accurate the representation of the high-frequency details in a fast signal.

MS. Megasamples (approximately 1 million samples).

PC Oscilloscope. A virtual instrument formed by connecting a PicoScope oscilloscope

to a computer running the PicoScope software.

PicoScope software. A software product that accompanies all PicoScope

oscilloscopes. It turns your PC into an oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer and multimeter.

Signal generator. Generates a waveform which can be used to drive a test signal

through a BNC cable into an external circuit or into one of the oscilloscope's input

channels. The PicoScope software allows the generator to output standard waveforms,

such as sine and square waves or, if the hardware allows, arbitrary waveforms defined

by the user.

Timebase. The timebase controls the time interval that each horizontal division of a

scope view represents. There are ten divisions across the scope view, so the total time

across the view is ten times the timebase per division.

USB 1.1. Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard port that enables you to connect

external devices to PCs. A USB 1.1 port uses signaling speeds of up to 12 megabits

per second, much faster than an RS-232 port.

USB 2.0. The second generation of USB interface. The port supports a data transfer

rate of up to 480 megabits per second.

USB 3.0. A USB 3.0 port uses signaling speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second and is

backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

Vertical resolution. A value, in bits, indicating the number of voltage levels that the

oscilloscope can distinguish.