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The main display shows live or replayed waveforms, spectra and logic

The screenshot above shows a standard dual trace analog WAVEFORM display.

This display format is selected by default when DSO is first powered on. It comprises:

By default, the timebase zoom is set such that the display shows half of the available capture buffer to make it easy view any feature of the waveform using the waveform offset control.

Display Format Selection

The WAVEFORM display format shown above is just one of many supported by the DSO.

However, each virtual instrument supports multiple display formats as appropriate for its captured data. For example, logic capture offers timing diagrams or mixed signal displays.

The display format is chosen via the capture control display format widget. Clicking on the widget toggles between the current display and the previous one or right-clicking the widget pops up the instrument's display menu as shown here.

In this example (taken from the SCOPE instrument), the options include WAVEFORM, WAVE SPECTRUM, SPECTRUM, X-Y PLOT and SPECTRUM PHASE.

The display formats supported among the DSO 2.2 virtual instruments are:

The format selection determines what type of data is shown and the layout of the display. Within each format there are many other parameters that determine how the data is rendered, including the graticule, cursors, phosphor persistence, signal levels, timebase and range and offsets.

Below are some screenshots of some of the more commonly used display formats.

Mixed Signal Display

When DSO captures analog and logic signals together, the default is a split analog and logic display.

In this example, the graticule has been turned off and the timing cursors turned on.

This display format highlights the use of timing cursors (see cursors for more information).

The timing of the analog and logic waveforms is synchronized so that time measurements can be made between any combination of analog and logic channels. The timing values (associated with cursors) are shown at the bottom of the display to 6 digits precision.

Waveform Spectrum Display

Frequently it is desirable to see a waveform and its associated spectrum together.

This example shows SYDNEY with waveforms and magnitude spectra shown simultaneously.

Like the mixed signal example above, this one also has the graticule disabled and cursors enabled.

In this case, the x-axis cursors are not the same; the top pair measure frequency and the bottom pair measure time. The interesting point to note here is that the same property of the signal on channel B (fundamental frequency) is being measured independently in the frequency domain (7) and time domain (8). The result is the same (as one would expect).

Spectrum Magnitude and Phase

Several spectrum display formats are available. This one shows magnitude and phase.

This shows a phase density plot and magnitude spectrum of a pair of related signals.

This screenshot looks a little different to the others because it was taken on a very high resolution display with the DSO maximized to full-screen. Click the image to see it full size.