This just in: Tektronix has launched the newest version of its 5 Series mixed signal oscilloscope (MSO), already an award-winning device that now features numerous enhancements and customer-centric updates. The improvements are designed to enable fast and thorough checks of power integrity on power distribution networks.
Included in the 5 Series MSO B is a new auxiliary trigger input that lets users synchronize the oscilloscope to an external signal without consuming any of the 4, 6 or 8 full-capability input channels. For the optional, built-in arbitrary/function generator, the maximum frequency output has also been increased from 50 MHz to what Tektronix said is a best-in-class 100 MHz, enabling higher frequency stimulus for measurements such as Bode plots and impedance measurements.
The 5 Series MSO B is the newest version of an award-winning mixed signal oscilloscope series. Source: Tektronix Inc.To serve the needs of engineers working and collaborating outside the lab, the new device also works with new tools for offline analysis and cloud data storage. The company’s TekScope PC software enables analysis of oscilloscope waveform data anywhere, without tying up the oscilloscope. (See also Electronics360’s October 2020 report on the company’s strategy for supporting engineers working remotely.) Controls built into the scope enable saving to TekDrive cloud storage with a single button press, so users can easily save waveform data to the cloud.
Additional features include:
- Faster processor to make controls more responsive, that will also support additional, more complex measurement analysis in the future.
- Brighter display to provide greater clarity, showcasing waveform detail from the instrument’s 12-bit ADCs.
- History Mode leverages the 5 Series B’s extended memory, allowing users to capture thousands of triggered events and review them to find events of interest.
- Solid State Drive System ensures all user data is stored on a removable drive, supporting secure labs where measurement data integrity is mission critical.
The B version updates the original 5 Series MSO, launched in 2017 and known for its big display and integration of a pinch, drag and swipe touchscreen user interface. Both the original 5 Series and the new 5 Series B MSO include low-loading passive probes with bandwidth up to 1 GHz, and they offer support for a wide range of probes including power rail and optically isolated probes designed to eliminate common-mode interference.
Since the release of the original 5 Series, Tektronix has released 16 firmware updates, each adding new capabilities designed to collectively deepen the instrument’s solution coverage measurement applications in areas like serial protocol decoding, motor drive analysis and RF spectrum analysis.