Tektronix DSA8300 Online Help

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DSA8300

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DigitalSerialAnalyzer

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DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer

ZZZ

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077-0569-00

Copyright © Tektronix. All rights reserved. Licensed software products are owned by Tektronix or its subsidiaries or suppliers, and are protected by national copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

Tektronix products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending. Information in this publication supersedes that in all previously published material. Speciﬁcations and price change privileges reserved.

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TekVISA and TekProbe are trademarks of Tektronix, Inc.

Online help version: 1.0

Product Software Version 1.0 and above

Contacting Tektronix

Tektronix, Inc. 14150 SW Karl Braun Drive P. O . B o Beaverton, OR 97077 USA

For product information, sales, service, and technical support:

x500

In North America, call 1-800-833-9200.

dwide, visit www.tektronix.com

Worl

to ﬁnd contacts in your area.

Table of Contents

Welcome

DSA8300 Online Help ............................................................................................. 1

Related Documents .............................. ................................ ................................ ... 1

Analysis and Connectivity Support Overview .................................................................. 2

Get Analysis and Connectivity Software ........................................................................ 4

Accessories, Options, and Software .............................................................................. 5

Getting Started

Getting Started Overview.. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... . 7

Instrument Operation

Theory of Operation........................................................................................... 7

Signal Acquisition Process . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 9

User Interface Tour

User Interface Overview ..................................................................................... 11

Application Screen ........................................................................................... 12

Graticules................ ................................ .................................. .................... 13

On-Screen Operations...... ................................ ................................ .................. 14

Pop-Up Keyboard and Keypad.............................................................................. 14

Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison.......................................................... 16

Front-Panel Controls

Channel Source Controls..................................................................................... 17

Channel Select Controls...................................................................................... 17

Vertical Controls ............ .................................. ................................ ................ 18

Timebase View Controls..................................................................................... 19

Acquisition Controls. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. .. 1

Horizontal (Timebase) Controls............................................................................. 20

Trigger Controls............................................................................................... 21

Utility Controls. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . 22

To Change Instrument Settings. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. . 22

To Restore Default Instrument Setup................. ................................ ...................... 23

To Select and Display Waveforms .......................................................................... 23

Acquire and Display a Signal

Data Acquisition Introduction . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. 24

Acquire and Display a Signal................................................................................ 24

Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview................................................................ 26

Math Waveforms Overview ....................... ................................ .......................... 27

Waveform Database Overview ............................ ................................ .................. 27

Waveform Measurements

Table of Contents

DSA8300 Printable Online Help i

Table of Contents

Waveform Measurement Introduction ...................................................................... 28

Automatic Measurements.......... ................................ ................................ .......... 28

Cursors ............... ................................ ................................ .......................... 29

Histograms..................... ................................ .................................. .............. 31

Masks .......................................................................................................... 31

Optimize Measurement Accuracy .......... ................................ ................................ 32

Controls-SpeciﬁcHelp

Acquisition Setup

Acquisition Setup Dialog Box Overview . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 33

Acquisition Mode Settings. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 33

Acquisition Stop A fter Settings . . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 34

Acquisition Stop Action Settings . . .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. 36

Acquisition Background

Acquisition Background .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . 36

Acquisition Key Points .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . . 37

Acquisition Sampling Process . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . . 39

Cursor Setup

Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview.............. ................................ .......................... 41

Cursor Function Settings .. . .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 42

Cursor 1 and 2 Settings....................................................................................... 43

Cursor Background ........................................................................................... 43

Cursor Units ................................................................................................... 46

Display Setup

Display Setup Dialog Box Overview ................................. ................................ ...... 46

Display Style Settings . . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. . 47

Display Graticule Settings ................................................................................... 49

Waveform Display Background

Waveform Display Elements ............. ................................ .............................. 49

Waveform Display Key Points ......................................................................... 51

Customizing the Waveform Display............. .................................. .................... 54

Waveform Display Persistence ......................................................................... 55

Waveform Display Data Point Interpolation .......................................................... 55

Display Features ... ................................ .................................. .................... 56

Histograms Setup

Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview .................................................................. 56

Histogram Source Settings. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. 57

Histogram Display Options.................................... ................................ .............. 59

Histogram Limit Controls.................. .................................. ................................ 60

Histogram Background....................................................................................... 60

Histogram Statistics .......................................................................................... 62

Horizontal Setup

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Table of Contents

Horizontal Setup Dialog Box Overview ................................................................... 62

Timebase Controls

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview...................... .................................. ...... 63

Horizontal Timebase Select............................................................................. 64

Horizontal Scale Setting.. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. 65

Horizontal Position Setting . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 67

Horizontal Resolution Setting .......................................................................... 69

Horizontal Record Length Setting . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. 70

Horizontal Reference Setting . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. . 71

All Timebases Controls

All Timebases Controls Overview ..................................................................... 72

Timebase Comm Standard Setting . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . 72

Timebase Units Setting .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. 73

Display Scale Settings................................................................................... 74

The Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Button....................... ................................ .... 74

The Horizontal Acquisition Window Overview . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 75

Horizontal Scale Versus Record Length Versus Sample Interval Versus Resolution.................. 76

Independent Versus Shared Window ............. ................................ .......................... 77

FrameScan

FrameScan Overview.................................................................................... 77

FrameScan Theory of Operation ....... ................................ ................................ 79

FrameScan Enable and Scan Bits ................ ................................ ...................... 81

Mask Setup

Mask Setup Dialog Box Overview ......................................................................... 81

Mask Source Settings . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. 83

Mask Display Settings ....................................................................................... 84

Mask Margins S ettings . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. .. . 85

Mask Autoset Settings ....................................................................................... 86

Mask Edit Dialog Box Overview ... .................................. ................................ ...... 87

Mask Usage Gu

Creating User Masks (Mask Editing)....................................................................... 88

Mask Hit Count Statistics.................................................................................... 90

Measure Setup

Measure Setup Dialog Box Overview ...................................................................... 91

Measurement Parameter Tabs

Measurement Parameters Tabs Overview ............................. ................................ 92

Measurement Source Tab ... .................................. ................................ .......... 93

Measurement Region Tab (Pulse Selected) ............. .................................. ............ 94

Measurement Region Tab (RZ or NRZ Selected) .................................................... 95

To Set a Measurement Region (Gates) ................ ................................ ................ 96

Measurement Hi/Low Tab .............................................................................. 97

Measurement Reference Level Tab .. ................................ ................................ .. 98

idelines.. ................................ .................................. .................. 88

DSA8300 Printable Online Help iii

Table of Contents

Automatic Measurements Overview.................... ................................ .................. 100

Automatic Measurements Caveats........................................................................ 100

Automatic Measurements Key Points .................................................................... 102

Phase Reference Setup

Phase Reference Setup Dialog Box Overview........................................................... 103

Phase Correction Settings.. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . 105

Phase Reference Clock Source Settings.......................................... ........................ 105

Phase Reference Setup Process ........................................................................... 108

Phase Reference Background. .. .. . .. .. . .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. 108

Phase Reference Keys Points................ .................................. ............................ 109

Phase Reference Caveats......................................... ................................ .......... 110

Phase Reference Characterization Status......... ................................ ........................ 111

TDR Setup

TDR Setup Dialog Box Overview ........................................................................ 112

TDR Preset Settings.... ................................ .................................. .................. 114

TDR Step Settings ...................... ................................ ................................ .... 116

TDR Acquisition Settings. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . 117

TDR Step Deskew Settings .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. . .. 118

TDR Turn Off All Steps Settings . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. 119

Advanced TDR Setup .... ................................ ................................ .................. 119

Mode/Trigger Setup

Mode/Trigger Setup Dialog Box Ov

Trigger Source Settings .. ................................ .................................. ................ 123

Scope Mode (Clock Trigger Source) ............... ................................ ...................... 125

Clock Recovery Outputs ................................................................................... 125

Pattern Sync/FrameScan

Advanced Trigger Setup ................................................................................... 131

Trigger Holdoff Reference................................................................................. 132

Trigger Background ...... .................................. ................................ ................ 133

Triggering Key Points ...................................................................................... 133

Trigger Sources and Modes.................. ................................ .............................. 135

Trigger Process Overview ................................................................................. 137

Vertical Setup (Basic)

Vertical Setup (Basic) Dialog Box Overview............................................................ 139

Waveform Selector Setting .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . 141

Vertical Scale Setting .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. 141

Vertical Position Setting. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. 143

To Set a Measurement Ref Level Method............................................................. 99

erview........................................ ...................... 121

Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Dialog Box......................................................... 126

Pattern Sync Controls ................................................................................. 127

AutoSync Opt

FrameScan Controls ....... ................................ .................................. .......... 130

ions ..................................................................................... 129

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Table of Contents

Vertical Offset Setting .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . 143

Vertical Channel Deskew and Delay Settings .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. ... .. .. 145

Vertical Bandwidth, Units Settings .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 146

Vertical External Attenuation Setting. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... . 147

Vertical DC Cal Setting . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. 148

Vertical Controls Background ............................................................................. 149

How Vertical Position, Scale, and Offset Affect Acquisition and Display . .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . . 150

Vertical Setting Caveats . . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 152

Vertical Settings Key Points ... .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . 153

Vertical Signal Conditioning ...... ................................ .................................. ...... 155

Vertical Setup (Optical Signals)

Vertical Setup (Optical) Dialog Box Overview.................. .................................. ...... 159

Optical Waveform Selector .................... ................................ ............................ 160

Optical Wavelength Setting. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. . 161

Optical Filter Setting . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . 161

Optical Bandwidth.......................................................................................... 162

Optical Compensation and Calibration ............................. ................................ ...... 162

Waveform Database Setup

Waveform Database Setup Dialog Box Overview ................ .................................. .... 162

Waveform Database 1 - 4 Settings ... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . 164

Waveform Database Persistence Settings . ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... . 165

Waveform Database Display Options Settings . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. 166

Waveform Database Background ......................................................................... 16

Waveform Database Caveats .............................................................................. 169

Waveform Database Key Points....... ................................ ................................ .... 170

File & Edit Menu Functions Overviews

Clear References Dialog Box.. ................................ .................................. .......... 170

Export Dialog Box.................. ................................ .................................. ...... 170

Saving a Waveform to a File ............ ................................ ................................ .. 172

Page Setup D i

Print Dialog Box .................... .................................. ................................ ...... 174

Save Setup Dialog Box..................................................................................... 175

Recall Setup Dialog Box................................................................................... 176

Save/Recall Setups Caveats ............................................................................... 177

Save/Recall Setups Key Points........ .................................. ................................ .. 178

Save Waveform Dialog Box......... .................................. ................................ .... 179

Recall Waveform Dialog Box ........... ................................ ................................ .. 180

Save/Recall Waveforms Background.................... ................................ ............ 180

Saving a Waveform as a Reference Waveform .......................................................... 181

Deﬁne Math Waveforms

Deﬁne Math Dialog Box Overview.................................................................. 181

Math Waveform Slot Select........................................................................... 182

alog Box................................. .................................. .................. 173

DSA8300 Printable Online Help v

Table of Contents

System & Utilities Overviews

About Dialog Box ...................... ................................ ................................ .... 196

Autoset

Calibration

Compensation

Diagnostics

Preferences Dialog Box

Properties

Math Expression Field............. ................................ ................................ .... 182

Math Functions......................................................................................... 184

Math Function Deﬁnitions . .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. 184

Math Sources... ................................ ................................ ........................ 186

Math Keypad ........................................................................................... 187

Math Syntax Controls ................................................................................. 188

Math Average, Risetime, and Mode ................................................................. 189

Math Measurement Scalars ........................................................................... 190

Math Expressions Syntax ............................................................................. 191

Math Waveforms Background........................................................................ 191

Math Waveform Caveats .............................................................................. 193

Math Waveform Key Points .......................................................................... 193

Math Waveform Operations .......................... ................................ ................ 194

Autoset Properties Dialog Box ....................................................................... 196

Autoset Mode Settings .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . 196

Autoset Options Settings .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . 198

Autoset TDR Options Settings ....................................................................... 199

Autoset Notiﬁer Windows ...... ................................ ................................ ...... 199

Calibration Dialog Box Overview

Calibration Readout Fields.......... ................................ .................................. 201

Update Calibration Information ...................................................................... 202

Compensation Dialog Box Overview...................................... .......................... 202

Compensation Readout Fields........................................................................ 203

Compensation Select Action.......................................................................... 204

Compensatio

Compensation Results Storage ... .................................. ................................ .. 206

Execute Compensation ................................................................................ 207

Compensation Indicator Button ...................................................................... 207

Diagnostics: Subsystem Level Tab .................................................................. 208

Diagnostics: Area Level Tab ......................................................................... 210

Diagnostics: Test Level Tab .................. .................................. ...................... 211

User Preferences: General Tab ....................................................................... 212

User Preferences: Start-up Tab..................... .................................. ................ 213

User Preferences: GPIB Conﬁguration Tab......................................................... 215

n Targets ................................................................................. 206

................................................................... 199

vi DSA8300 Printable Online Help

System Properties Dialog Box: Mainframe Tab.................................................... 216

System Properties Dialog Box: Modules Tab .................. ................................ .... 217

System Properties Dialog Box: Probes Tab......................................................... 218

System Properties Dialog Box: Options Tab ....... ................................ ................ 219

Waveform Properties Dialog Box ................................ ................................ .... 220

Automatic Measurements Reference

Automatic Measurements Reference Overview........................ ................................ ...... 221

Pulse Measurements

Pulse Amplitude Measurements........................................................................... 221

Pulse Timing Measurements......................... .................................. .................... 226

Pulse Area Measurements ........... ................................ ................................ ...... 229

Return-to-Zero (RZ) Measurements

RZ Amplitude Measurements ............................................................................. 230

RZ Timing Measurements ......... ................................ ................................ ........ 240

RZ Area Measurements .................................. ................................ .................. 244

Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) Measurements

NRZ Amplitude Measurements ... ... .. ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. 244

NRZ Timing Measurements ............................................................................... 255

NRZ Area Measurements .................................................................................. 258

Reference Level Parameters and Calculation Methods

Reference Level Calculation Method- All Sources ..................................................... 258

Pulse Waveform Measurement Reference Levels..................... .................................. 259

RZ Waveform Measurement Reference Levels ......................................................... 262

NRZ Waveform Measurement Reference Levels ............................... ........................ 264

High/Low Level Tracking Algorithms ............ ................................ ............................ 267

Table of Contents

User Maintenance

Exterior Cleaning.............. .................................. ................................ ................ 269

Flat Panel Display Cleaning...... ................................ .................................. ............ 269

Optical Connector Cleaning.................................................................................... 270

Network Operations

Connect to a Network........................................................................................... 271

Print a Hard Copy ............................................................................................... 271

Save a Waveform to a File.................... .................................. ................................ 272

Run Other PC Applications..................................................................................... 272

Microsoft Windows Desktop Guidelines ..................................................................... 272

Index

DSA8300 Printable Online Help vii

Table of Contents

viii DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Welcom e DSA8300 Online Help

DSA8300 Online Help

Welcome to the Tektronix DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer Online Help.

New to the DSA

Start with the Getting Started topics for an overview of the instrument user interface, controls, and basic signal acquisition and measurement operations.

8300?

Want to Know the Name of a User Interface Control Element?

Move your mouse pointer on most menu titles, toolbar buttons, and other control elements to show the name of that element.

Need Context-Sensitive Help?

Click the Help button on instrument dialog boxes to open help for that dialog box. The dialog box help may also h ave links to more in-depth information.

Looking for Something Speciﬁc?

Click the Index or Search tab and enter a keyword for which to search.

Need Some Extra Help?

If you cannot ﬁnd the information that you are looking for in the online help, see if any of the Related

Documents (see page 1) have the information that you need. You can also contact Tektronix Technical Support ) for help with operating your instrument.

Analysis and Connectivity Support Overview

Several optional analysis and connectivity software applications are available that let you remotely control the instrument and transfer data between the instrument and software-development and data-analysis tools.

You can use the analysis and connectivity software provided with this instrument to:

Gather instrument data (waveforms, measurements) and export it to analysis tools such as Microsoft Excel, MathWorks' MATLAB, and MathSoft's Mathcad.

Interface with many software development environments, such as Microsoft Visual C++ and Visual Basic, National Instruments' LabVIEW and LabWindows, and many Microsoft-Windows-compatible development tools.

(see page 2).

Click the following software components to ﬁnd out how to take advantage of the connectivity features provided by your instrument:

The VXI Plug-and-Play Instrument Driver (see page 2)

VXI Plug-and-Play Instrument Driver

The VXI plug&play instrument driver is a collection of software components, organized according to the standard VXI plug&play model e stablished by the VXI plug&play Systems Alliance.

TekVISA™ (see page 3)

2 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Welcome Analysis and Connectivity Support Overview

TekVISA™

TekVISA is a library of industry-standard compliant software components, organized according to the standard VISA model established by the VXIplug&play Systems Alliance. Use TekVISA software to write interoperable instrument drivers to handle communicating between software applications and your inst

TekVISA ActiveX Control (TVC) (see page 3)

rument.

TekVISA ActiveX Control (TVC)

The TekVISA Control (TVC) uses Microsoft Windows ActiveX control technology to simplify access from Microsoft Ofﬁce and Visual BASIC applications to TekVISA and the underlying instrument. It does th is compatible with Excel’s Visual BASIC for Applications, Visual BASIC 6.0, and other popular programming environments for Microsoft Windows.

TekVISA Excel Toolbar (see page 3)

is by providing support f or key TekVISA features within an ActiveX control object that

TekVISA Excel Toolbar

The Te waveforms to an Excel 2010 worksheet. Transfer is done using a toolbar that is integrated into Excel, implemented using the TekVISA ActiveX Control (TVC) and the Visual BASIC for Applications (VBA) macro editor built into Excel. Source code for the toolbar is accessible through Excel’s built-in VBA editor. Access the source code to use as a tool for learning the TekVISA ActiveX Control, or to cut-and-paste selected components to new VB applications.

VXI 11.2 LAN Server (see page 3)

kVISA Excel Toolbar allows direct, fast transfer of instrument measurements or captured

VXI 11.2 LAN Server

TheVXI11.2LANServerprovidessoftwareconnectivity between your instrument and remote PCs over an Ethernet LAN. This tool is a client-side component built-in with TekVISA; on each remote PC, you must install another copy of TekVISA to make use of its client-side component. The VXI-11standard speciﬁes a protocol for communication with devices over a network using a network instrument server. This protocol uses the ONC/RPC (Open Network Computing/Remote Procedure Call) standard that, in turn, is based on TCP/IP.

See Also:

Get A nalysis and Connectivity Software (see page 4)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 3

Welcome Get Analysis and Connectivity Software

Get Analysis and Connectivity Software

The DSA8300 Product Software CD also includes the Analysis and Connectivity Software. By default, the Analysis and Connectivity Software is installed when reinstalling the product software from the CD.

NOTE. You can Microsoft Windows (see ReleaseNotes.pdf on the Product Software CD for installation details).

also install the Analysis and Connectivity Software on any personal computer running

For More Information

The Analysis and Connectivity Software installs a TekVISA folder to the Start > Programs menu. This folder contains the following information:

The book Oscilloscope Analysis and Connectivity Made Easy (see page 4)

Oscilloscope Analysis and Connectivity Made Easy

This book describes how to use popular software development environments to build graphical user interfaces to Tektronix Windows-based oscilloscopes. It includes examples of how to connect your oscilloscope to the latest PC software tools for analyzing waveform and measurement data. The exampl Lab Windows, and LabVIEW.

This b ﬁle with the software that ships with your oscilloscope.

The Release Notes

es use programming environments that include Excel VBA, Visual BASIC 6.0, MATLAB,

ook ships with appropriately equipped Tektronix oscilloscopes and may be available as a PDF

The TekVISA ActiveX Control API

The TekVISA Conﬁguration tool

The TekVISA Programming Manual (see page 4)

TekVISA Programming Manual

This book describes the TekVISA operations, attributes, and events. It includes programming samples using Microsoft Visual C++, and s ections that include VISA Data Type Assignments, Completion and Error codes, and a g lossary.

This book is available from TekVISA installations and may be available as a PDF ﬁle with the software that ships with your oscilloscope.

The TekVISA Quick Reference Card

Installing the VXI plug & play Instrument Driver

Programs menu. This folder provides the following information:

(see page 5) adds a VxiPnp folder to the Start >

4 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Welcome Accessories, Options, and Software

Installing the VXI plu g & pla y Instrument Driver

The VXI plug&play driver is not installed by default, but the installation folder is. To install the driver:

1. Minimize the instrument application by clicking the minimize (-) button in the upper right corner of the display.

2. Click the Window Explorer folder on the desktop.

3. From Explorer, ﬁnd and open the folder C:\Program Files\Tektronix\VXIPNPInstall.

4. Double-cli

5. After installation, you will ﬁnd the VXIplug&play Driver at C:\VXIpnp\WINNT\bin\tk-

tds8k_32.

6. To return the instrument application to the screen, click the DSA8300 button in the Windows task bar a

The Tkds

The Tkdsa83 Samples

The uninstall for the Tkdsa83 Instrument Driver

ck setup.exe in this folder to install the VXI PnP driver.

dll

t the bottom of the screen.

a83 Help

Accessories, Options, and Software

Go to the Tektronix Web site (www.tek.com) for the most current DSA8300 instrument options, standard options, optional accessories, application software, and product documentation.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 5

Welcome Accessories, Options, and Software

6 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Getting Started Getting Started Overview

Getting Started Overview

The following topics provide an introduction to the instrument operation, user interface, front panel controls, and waveform operations.

Instrument Operation

Theory of Op Signal Acquisition Process (see page 9)

eration

(see page 7)

User Interface

User Interface Overview (see page 11) Application Screen (see page 12) Graticules (see page 13) Control from the Display (see page 14) Popup Ke

yboard and Keypad

(see page 14)

Front Panel Controls

Channel Source Controls (see page 17) Channel Select Controls (see page 17) Vertical Controls (see page 18) Timebase View Controls (see page 19) Signal Acquisition Controls (see page 19)

zontal (Timebase) Controls

Hori Trigger Controls (see page 21) Utility Controls (see page 22) Change Instrument Settings (see page 22) Restore Default Instrument Setup (see page 23)

(see page 20)

aveform Operations

To Select and Display Waveforms (see page 23)

cquire and Display a Signal

A Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview (see page 26) Math Waveforms O verview (see page 27) Waveform Database Overview (see page 27) Waveform Measurement Introduction (see page 28)

(see page 24)

Theory of Operation

The block diagram and text provides background information on the instrument theory of operation.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 7

Getting Started Theory of Operation

The instrument contains ﬁve high-level subsystems or processe s, embodying a variety of hardware and software functions:

Modular Sampling Specialization System. Allows selecting signal acquisition modules based on the types of signals to acquire: electrical or optical; with clock recovery or without, with bandwidth ﬁlter or not. Provides cost-effective solution for users needing very high bandwidth with superb time resolution on repetitive waveforms. Sampling modules determine the size of the vertical acquisition window for each channel.

Digital Signal Acquisition. Acquires a waveform record fr om each signal you apply to each channel using the following subsystems:

Acquisition System. Sets vertical offset for the vertical acquisition window for each channel. Performs the actual A/D (analog to digital) conversion and storing of digitized samples. Also

orms post A/D sample-based corrections to compensate for nonlinearities of various analog

perf circuits.

ger System. Recognizes a speciﬁc event of interest on the input trigger or clock signal and

Trig

informs the Timebase that a trigger or clock event has occurred, gating the taking of a sample after a controlled, incremental delay. The trigger event is time zero for the waveform record, which means that all samples are displayed relative to this point.

There is no internal trigger pick off from the channels; rather, a trigger signal must be obtained through the external trigger inputs, from the internal TDR clock, from the internal free-running trigger, or from the clock recovery, when available from optical or accessory modules equipped with clock recovery.

Timebase System. Tells the Acquisition system to take a sample at a speciﬁed time relative to the trigger (or clock) event. In more general terms, synchronizes the capturing of digital samples in the Acquisition system to the trigger (or clock) events generated from the Trigger system.

Signal Processing Transformation System. Performs a variety of transformations or operations, such as waveform math operations, automatic measurements, and histogram gener ation, on the channel waveforms.

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Getting Started Signal Acquisition Process

Display, Input/Output, Storage Systems. Provides display control. Sets the vertical scale and position of the display, which controls how much of the vertical acquisition window appears on screen. Provides outp

User Interface and Waveform Display. Displays the instrument UI, waveforms, and software controls. Al

ut (and sometimes input) of instrument-data elements in a form suitable to the user.

so provides a touch screen interface to the UI controls.

Signal Acquisition Process

The process ﬂow diagram and text describe the signal acquisition steps.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 9

Getting Started Signal Acquisition Process

1. The instrument starts in the idle state when powered on, after receiving most control setting changes, or when ﬁnishing acquisition tasks.

2. When you toggle the RUN/STOP control to RUN, the instrument implements its setup based on the current control settings (either the default settings or most recent setup, depending on user-set preferences).

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Getting Started User Interface Overview

3. The instrument then waits for a trigger. No sampling takes place until triggering criteria is met (Free Run and TDR trigger sources generate their own internal trigger events). The instrument accepts trigger.

4. The instrument then waits a delay time, that is, it delays taking a sample until a speciﬁed time elapses, whe

Delay time = Horizontal Pos. + Ch. Deskew + N sample intervals

In the above calculation, N = Current sample count - 1

For example, if taking the 6th sample in the waveform record, 5 sample intervals are added.

5. The instrument takes one sample for each waveform record (c hannel) for each active (on) timebase. This instrument samples sequentially, starting with the ﬁrst waveform point and continuing to the last waveform point. One sample is taken per trigger for each active channel in each displayed timebase.

6. If averaging or enveloping is on, each record becomes part of a multi-acquisition record that these

modes

until the number of acquisitions required for the current acquisition mode are acquired, and then proces

7. If FrameScan mode is on, the acquisition process is modiﬁed. See FrameScan Theory of Operation

age

(see p

re:

(see page 37) produce. The process loops back to step 3 above to acquire additional records

sing continues as for step 8 below.

79) in the FrameScan Background topic for information on how FrameScan works.

8. The instrument stores the acquisition record in channel acquisition memory and makes it available for

rement of its parameters, display, output, and so on.

measu

9. The instrument then checks for user-spe ciﬁed stop condition and either returns to its idle state or

inues at step 3, according to what it ﬁnds.

cont

User Interface Overview

You have three ways of controlling the instrument:

Front Panel

The front-panel knobs and controls perform most basic vertical, horizontal, and triggering functions. See the Front Panel Controls topics for more information on what each front-panel control does.

Mouse and Keyboard

Use the mouse and keyboard to access the complete functionality of the instrument. Your instrument comes with a mouse and keyboard as standard accessories.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 11

Getting Started Application Screen

Touchscreen Operation

You can control the graphical user interface using the built-in touchscreen. Push the TOUCH SCREEN front panel button to enable and disable touchscreen operation.

Application Screen

The instrument application runs full screen, providing a variety of mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen controls.

1. Toolbar: Access to key features, including the setup dialogs, acquisition modes, triggering modes, and applications.

2. Menu Bar: Access to all instrument functions and conﬁgurations.

3. Status Bar: Trigger status, waveform count, and conditional acquisition status.

4. Readout Docking: Select to undock the readout area from the application to a separate window. You

can position the undocked readout window on a second monitor.

5. Readout Area: Displays waveform measurements. Use the arrow buttons at each end to scroll the contents.

6. Readouts: Displays individual waveform measurement readouts grouped by type (measurements, histogram, waveform, cursor, mask, and so on). Right-click on a readout to access readout display and setup parameters.

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Getting Started Graticules

7. Readout Display On/Off: Toggles on or off the display of readout groups (measurement, waveform, and so on). This function does not turn off the measurement associated with the selected readout type, only the displ

ay of that readout type.

8. Select Waveform and Instrument Settings: Quick access to select Channel, Math, and Reference waveforms, a

s well as i nstrument vertical and horizontal values of the selected waveform.

9. Waveform Handles Area: Gray strip along the left edge of the graticule that displays selectors or “handles” f

or active waveforms. Select a handle to do various operations, such as drag to adjust the

waveform vertical position.

10. Display:S used to analyze them. Use the mouse to select waveforms, deﬁne a zoom area, and move cursors and gates.

11. Measurements Bar : Quick access to the automated measurements by source signal-type and measurement category. Select a signal type and category using the pulldown menus, and then click a measurement button to add that measurement to the readouts a rea.

Graticules

Use the Display dialog box (Setup > Disp) to customize your graticule. There are four types of graticules from which to select:

hows live, reference, and math waveforms, as well as cursors, masks, and other elements

Grid. This type of graticule display shows the outer edge of the graticule and a dot-grid across the graticule, to help in making graticule measurements.

Crosshair. This type of graticule display shows the outer edge of the graticule and X- and Y-axes, to help in making graticule measurements.

Full. A c ombination of Grid and Crosshair graticules.

Frame. This type of graticule display shows only a frame around the outer edges

of the graticule, so it is easy to see waveform detail.

xxx

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 13

Getting Started On-Screen Operations

On-Screen Operations

You can control much of this instrument directly from the waveform display area. Use the mouse (or your ﬁnger or a stylus if using the touchscreen) in the waveform area to do the following operations:

Click and drag on a cursor to move it on the waveform.

Click and drag a waveform icon to change the vertical position of a waveform.

Click and drag a waveform ground reference to add offset to a channel.

Click and drag a waveform label or screen text to reposition it.

Click and drag across part of a waveform to select an area to zoom. Click the Zoom button to zoom in on the selected area.

Click and drag an on-screen measurement gate to another horizontal position on the waveform.

Pop-Up Keyboard and Keypad

A pop-up keyboard or keypad button opens an on-screen keyboard or keypad. The pop-up keyboard and keypad let you enter data when a keyboard is not attached to the instrument. Enter text and numbers into the ﬁeld from which you opened the keyboard or keypad.

Pop-Up Keyboard

TIP. Use the Utilities > Preferences dialog box to select either a QWERTY Keyboard or Alphabetical Keyboard keyboard display.

QWERTY Keyboard

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Getting Started Pop-Up Keyboard and Keypad

Alphabetical Keyboard

Pop-Up Keypad

Pop-up Keypad. Use the mouse or touchscreen to edit the value.

Pop-Up Keypad

Clicking the keyboard/keypad icon pops up the keypad for control ﬁelds that allow values to be entered directly.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 15

Getting Started Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison

Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison

This instrument ships with a mouse and keyboard to give you more options for instrument control. However, for some installations, you might not have enough work space to install the mouse or keyboard. For most oper table lists mouse/touchscreen operation e quivalents.

Table 1: Comparison of mouse and touchscreen operations

ations, you can use the touchscreen to perform mouse-related operations. The following

Operation Using Mouse Using Touch

Select wav

Operate toolbar and dialog box buttons

Display m

Select menu and list items

Move curs zoom box

Open a context menu for a channel or measurement readout

Enter a value in a ﬁeld Click the keyboard icon associated with

Display a tool tip Position cursor on a main screen button

xxx

The i

eforms

enus

ors on screen, draw a

Click obje

Click and hold, move cursor

Right-c

the ﬁel click the keys to enter alphanumeric characters. Or use a keyboard if installed.

or readout

nstrument ships with two styluses. Using a stylus can make it easier to perform touchscreen

ct on screen

lick the item

d to open a virtual keyboard;

Touch (tap

Touch and

Touch and hold (do not move stylus)

Touch the keyboard icon associated with the ﬁeld to open a virtual keyboa alphanumeric characters.

Not available

screen

) object on screen

drag

rd; touch the keys to enter

operations.

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Getting Started Channel Source Controls

Channel Source Controls

Use these buttons to select the waveform source (channel, math, or reference) before selecting a speciﬁc waveform channel using the channel select controls math or refer

ence waveforms are stored in memory, the instrument opens the Deﬁne Math or Recall

(see page 17). If you select MATH or REF, and no

Reference waveform dialog boxes, respectively.

CH sets the waveform source to be from an installed module.

MATH sets the waveform source to be from waveforms stored in math memory locations 1-8.

REF sets the waveform source to be from waveforms stored in reference locations 1-8.

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Channel Select Controls

These b uttons enable display and selection of up to eight channels of waveforms per channel source (CH, Ref, or Math).

1. Push a channel source button (see page 17) to select a channel source.

2. To turn on a channel, push an unlit button.

3. To select a channel, push a green lit button to turn it amber. The front-panel vertical controls

operate on selected (amber) channels.

4. To turn off a channel, push its button once if it is amber (already selected), or twice if it is green.

NOTE.

deﬁned, the instrument opens the Deﬁne Math or Recall Reference dialog box.

xxx

If you select MATH or REF as a channel source, and no math or reference waveform is

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 17

Getting Started Vertical Controls

Vertical Controls

Use these controls to set the vertical attributes of a waveform.

MENU opens the Vertical Setup dialog box.

POSITION cha

OFFSET changes the vertical offset of the selected waveform.

SCALE changes the vertical scale of the selected waveform.

nges the vertical position of the selected waveform.

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The Difference Between Vertical Position and Offset

Vertical position is a display function. Adjust the vertical position to place the waveforms where you want to see them. The waveform baseline locations track adjustments made to their positions.

When you adjust vertical offset you see a similar effect, but it is actually quite different. Vertical offset is applied at the module sampling circuit. Use vertical offset to change the effective dynamic range of the inputs.

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Getting Started Timebase View Controls

Timebase View Controls

Use these buttons to select a timebase view for acquisition and display of channel waveforms.

MAIN is the main instrument timebase acquisition and view mode. The instrument always displays the Main timebase.

Mag1 and Mag2 The Mag1 and Mag2 views are not zoomed or interpolated versions of the Main timebase: they each have an independent acquisition cycle. Waveforms deﬁned in themaintime

See Horizontal timebase selector and setting multiple timebases.

xxx

are magniﬁed views of a selected region of the main timebase view.

base are automatically deﬁned and acquired in the magniﬁed timebases.

(see page 64) for more information on selecting

Acquisition Controls

Use these buttons for quick access to the signal acquisition controls.

MENU displays the Acquisition Setup dialog box.

CLEAR DATA clears all previously acquired data. This includes live data, waveform databases, display persistence data,

mask cou re-synchronization of the timebase to clock source and frequency changes.

RUN/STOP turns on and off the instrument signal acquisition. Use this button as you would the RUN/STOP button in the toolba

xxx

nt data, histogram data, and measurement statistics. When using clock trigger sources, is also used to force

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 19

Getting Started Horizontal (Timebase) Controls

Horizontal (Timebase) Controls

Use these controls to set the instrument horizontal timebase parameters.

MENU displays the Horizontal Setup dialog box.

POSITION inc

RESOLUTION increases or decreases the sample density (resolution) of all live

waveforms in the selected timebase.

SCALE incre waveform.

reases or decreases the horizontal position of the selected waveform.

ases or decreases the horizontal timebase scale of the selected

xxx

20 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Getting Started Trigger Controls

Trigger Controls

Use these controls to set trigger level and access other trigger controls on screen.

MENU displays the Trigger Setup dialog box.

LEVEL increa

trigger source.

READY indicates that the instrument is ready (waiting) to trigger.

TRIG'D indi

SET TO 50% sets the trigger level to 50% of the signal amplitude present on the

Trigger Direct Input connector.

xxx

ses or decreases the trigger level setting for the Trigger Direct Input

cates that the instrument has triggered on a waveform.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 21

Getting Started Utility Controls

Utility Controls

The Utility controls give you convenient access to several features and utilities.

xxx

SETUP DIAL

PRINT sends the display image to a printer or to an image ﬁle.

DEFAULT SETUP loads the factory default instrument settings. See To Restore the Default Instrument

Setup (see page 23)

FINE toggles the General Purpose Knob between ﬁne and coarse adjustments.

OGS displays the Setup dialog boxes.

To C

TOUCH SCREEN toggles the touchscreen on and off.

AUTOSET performs a signal autoset operation.

CURSORS cycles through and enables the following cursor types: vertical bars, horizontal bars,

waveform, and off.

SELECT toggles the selected cursor.

al Purpose Knob adjusts values or advances through selections for controls that do not have a

Gener

dedicated front-panel knob.

hange Instrument Settings

can enter or change instrument parameter values several different ways:

You

Use a keyboard or keypad (external or on-screen) to enter a speciﬁcvalueinaﬁeld.

Touch or click the increment/decrement buttons on a ﬁeld to change to the next standard value.

Touch or click a control or input ﬁeld and use the general-purpose k nob to scroll through available settings or increment numeric values. See Utility Controls

(see page 22).

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Getting Started To Restore Default Instrument Setup

To Restore Default Instrument Setup

To quickly restore the instrument to its default (factory) settings, push the DEFAULT SETUP front-panel button. Click Ye s in the conﬁrmation dialog box. Restoring the instrument to a known s tate is useful when acquiri instrument conﬁguration.

ng a new signal, or multiple people use the instrument, and you do not know the current

After you co it to your next task. This may be especially important if you share the instrument with others; previous settings may make it difﬁcult for you to do what you need to do.

mplete a task using your instrument, you may want to initialize the settings before you apply

To Select and Display Waveforms

From Front Panel Controls

To use the front panel to select and display available waveforms:

1. Select the signal source from the Vertical section of the front panel:

CH to di

MATH to display a math waveform

REF to display a stored reference waveform

2. Push the numbered button (1-8) corresponding to the waveform channel to display.

For example, to display channel waveform 6, push front-panel buttons CH and 6.

splay a live signal channel waveform

NOTE. If you have no math or reference waveforms deﬁned when you push MATH or REF, the instrument opens the Deﬁne Math dialog box or Recall Waveform dialog box.

om Setup Dialog Box Display Controls

Use the controls in the Setup > Vertical or Setup > TDR dialog boxes to display a waveform.

OTE. Selecting a channel in the TDR dialog box enables the TDR mode for that module.

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Getting Started Data Acquisition Introduction

From the User Interface

Click the Select Waveform button ( lower left of UI) to display a list of all available waveforms (channel, reference, and math). Waveforms that are on, but not selected, have a check mark next to their name (C1 shown left). Selected waveforms have a triangle next to their name (C5 shown).

Use the menu to select the waveform you want to make active (selected) (example shows M1 being selected).

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Data Acquisition Introduction

Before you can take signal measurements you must set the instrume nt to acquire and display a signal. The ﬁrst topic below provides an overview of how to acquire and display a live signal. The remaining topics provide more detailed information on signal and data acquisition.

Data Acquisition Topics:

Data Acquisition Introduction (see page 24) Acquire and Display a Signal (see page 24) Signal Conditioning and Scaling (see page 26) Trigger Background (see page 133) Mode/Trigger Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 121) Math Waveforms Overview (see page 27) Waveform Databases Overview (see page 27) Waveform Measurement Introduction (see page 28)

Acquire and Display a S ignal

The following procedure describes the basic steps to acquire and display a signal. Your signal type may require additional or different settings.

1. Connect the device under test (DUT) signals to the sampling modules. If using an external trigger signal, connect the trigger signal to the CLOCK INPUT/PRESCALE TRIGGER or TRIGGER DIRECT INPUT connectors on the front panel.

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Getting Started Acquire and Display a Signal

CAUTION. Sampling modules are very sensitive to ESD. Follow static-safe procedures and cautions as outlined in the sampling module user manual. Discharge electrical cable conductors before connecting to modules or the instrument.

Sampling modules are very sensitive to overdriven signals. Do not overdrive instrument or module inputs.

2. Push the front panel CH button.

3. Push the front panel 1 through 8 button to select the module signal source. Repeated button pushing

cycles through the source settings. The button color indicates the source status:

Amber: The signal source is selected. Measurements are done on the selected source.

Green: The signal source is displayed but not selected.

No color

4. Push the front-panel Trigger MENU button to open the Mode/Trigger dialog box.

5. Select a trigger source (Clock, TDR, Direct, or Free Run). Free Run auto-triggers the instrument and

displays a non-synchronized waveform as a quick way to view signal presence.

6. From the menu bar, select Utilities > Autoset Properties and choose the Autoset Mode that matches your intended autoset result. Close the dialog.

7. If using the Clock Input/Prescale Trigger connector as the trigger source, select one of the available Scope Modes appropriate for your signal (Eye, Pattern, or Other). Pattern is available only if

nced Trigger (Option ADVTRIG ) has been purchased and installed.

Adva

8. Push the front-panel AUTOSET button (or click the Autoset button in the toolbar). The instrument

plays the waveform.

dis

: The signal source is off.

See Also:

Data Acquisition Introduction (see page 24) Signal Conditioning and Scaling (see page 26) Trigger Background (see page 133) Mode/Trigger Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 121) Math Waveforms O verview (see page 27) Waveform Databases Overview (see page 27) Waveform Measurement Introduction (see page 28)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 25

Getting Started Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview

Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview

Use signal conditioning and scaling controls to ensure that the instrument acquires the data that you want to display, measure, or otherwise process.

To Use

Use the fron screen position.

Use the fro position of all waveforms.

Push the V functions.

To ensur

e the best possible data for further processing, do the following:

Set vertical scale to adjust the waveform size on screen. You can set vertical offset to shift the

al acquisition window up or down on the signal to capture the part you want. The center of the

vertic module's analog input dynamic range is shown by the channel's waveform handle in the waveform handle region to the left of the graticule. For best results, u se the vertical offset control to center the waveform around the waveform handle and then use vertical position control to graphically move the waveformupanddowninthegraticule.

Set horizontal scale to control the time duration of the horizontal acquisition window to capture as much as you want of the input signal(s). To control where in the input signal (data stream) that the horizontal acquisition window acquires, you set horizontal position to delay the window relative to

igger to capture the waveform part you want. To increase or decrease the resolution between

atr sample points, change the record length.

t-panel VERTICAL knobs to adjust the selected waveform vertical size, offset, and

nt-panel HORIZONTAL knobs to adjust the horizontal size, resolution, and screen

ertical or Horizontal front-panel MENU buttons to open the setup dialog boxes for those

See Also:

Data Acquisition Introduction (see page 24) Acquire and Display a Signal (see page 24) Vertical Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 139) Horizontal Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 62)

The Vertical Command Group and Horizontal Command Group sections in the DSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

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Getting Started Math Waveforms Overview

Math Waveforms Overview

You can create up to eight math waveforms to support the analysis of your channel and reference waveforms. By combining and transforming source waveforms and other data into math waveforms, you can derive th

Mathematical operations on one or several waveforms or measurements: add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

Function transforms of waveforms, such as integrating, differentiating, and so on.

Use the Deﬁne Math dialog box to create a math waveform expression. You can apply numerical constants, math operators, and functions to operands (which can be channel, waveforms, reference waveforms, measurem much like you can the channel and reference waveforms.

See Also:

Deﬁne Math Dialog Box Overview (see page 181) Math Waveforms Background (see page 191)

e data view that your application requires. You can create math waveforms that result from:

ent scalars, or ﬁxed scalars). You can display and manipulate these derived math waveforms

The Math Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

Data Acquisition Introduction

(see page 24)

Waveform Database Overview

Use waveform databases for measurements, histogram calculations, mask testing, and generating a density-style, graded display. Waveform databases may be automatically allocated for measurements, histograms, and mask testing.

In general, use the Wfm Database Setup dialog box to assign the four databases supported by the instrument to live (channel and math) waveform sources. Also, certain measurements require the uses

f a waveform database and, when turned on, they will automatically set the measurement system to

o use a waveform database if available.

See Also:

Waveform Database Background (see page 167) Wfm Database Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 162)

The Waveform Database Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

Data Acquisition Introduction

(see page 24)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 27

Getting Started Waveform Measurement Introduction

Waveform Measurement Introduction

This instrument offers several tools for measuring and characterizing waveform data. Measurement tools include:

Automatic Measurements (see page 28)

Cursors (see page 29)

Histograms (see page 31)

Masks (see page 31)

Optimize Measurement Accuracy (see page 32)

Automatic Measurements

Auto measurements provide automatic extraction of various waveform parameters. Automated measurements quickly give you immediate, continuously updating measurement results such as rise time or extinction ratio. You can also display statistics on how the measurement results vary over time.

Most automatic measurements require both a source selection and a measurement selection. To quickly select a measurement, use the measurement toolbar to ﬁrst set the signal type (NRZ, RZ, or Pulse), and then select a category (Amplitude, Timing, or Area) in the pulldown lists of the toolbar. Then click the icon of the measurement that you want to use to measure the selected and drop the icon on any displayed waveform, selected or not, to measure that waveform). The results are shown in the measurements readout at the bottom of the screen.

(see page 28) waveform (or drag

Waveforms: Selecting and Selected

The selected waveform is the one that responds when you adjust vertical (rotate the vertical position knob, for example) and other controls. You select waveforms in various ways:

Click the waveform on screen

Push the waveform selector buttons (Ch, Ref, Math, and 1-8)

Select from the waveform selection menu on the control toolbar at bottom of screen

Some features and requirements of the automatic measurement system follow:

This instrument supports up to eight simultaneously displayed m easurements.

If the waveform parameter that is to be automatically measured cannot be acquired (incorrect control setup, out-of-range input signals), the instrument displays the indicator “???”. For example, if the instrument acquires less than a full waveform cycle, it cannot measure frequency or period, and, therefore, it displays “???”.

28 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Getting Started Cursors

Except for Average Optical Power, all RZ and NRZ measurements must be performed on a waveform database.

The Average Optical Power measurement cannot use a waveform database as its source. The Average Optical Power measurement cannot display Annotations and cannot use gates or user-deﬁned High/Low met

hod.

See Also:

Automatic Measurements Overview (see page 100) Measure Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 91) Automatic Measurements Reference Overview (see page 221)

The Measurement Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu).

Cursors

Use cursors to measure amplitude and time, distance, or bits quickly and with more accuracy than when using the graticule to take measurements. Because you position cursors wherever you want on the

orm, they are easier to localize to a waveform segment or feature than automatic measurements.

wavef The following table summarizes each cursor type.

Cursor Type and readout

Description

Horizontal cursors measure

amplitude (volts, watts, ohms, rho). Each cursor measures with respect to:

v1 = Level at Cursor 1 with respect

to its source ground level

v2 = Level at Cursor 2 with respect

to its source ground level

Δv = Level at Cursor 2 - Level at

Cursor 1

Level is cursor displacement from the source ground times the source scale (volts/div, watts/div, ohms/div, or rho/div). N ote that the two cursors may have different sources and therefore can have different volts/div settings.

Cursor readout

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 29

Getting Started Cursors

Vertical cursors measure horizontal displacement or distance in meters, feet, or inches). Each cursor measures with respect to:

t1 = Time or distance at Cursor 1

with respect t

(time in seconds or bits

o the trigger point

xxx

To Enable Cursors

t2 = Time or di

with respect to the trigger point

Δt = Time or distance at Cursor 2 -

Time or distance at Cursor 1

Time is divi the cursor from its source trigger point times the source time/div. Note that the two cursor and, therefore, can have different time base ( Main, Mag1, Mag2) settings.

Waveform cursors measure both amplitud effect, both a vertical and horizontal cursor. As you set the horizontal positio the time with respect to the trigger point and the vertical level of the corresp cannot move these cursors off the waveform.

Note th different source, and, therefore, can have different vertical and horizontal scale s

s may have different sources

e and time. Each cursor is, in

n of each cursor, it measures

onding waveform point. You

at each cursor can have a

ettings.

stance at Cursor 2

sions of displacement of

If cursors are off, ﬁrst select (see page 28) the waveform on screen that you want to measure, then push the Cursors front-panel button:

Once for vertical bar cursors

Twice for horizontal bar cursors

Three times for waveform cursors

Use the General-Purpose knob to adjust the cursors and the SELECT button to toggle control between the cursors. (You can also use the mouse to adjust the cursors.) Examine the cursor readout for measurement results.

See Also:

Cursor Background (see page 43)

30 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Getting Started Histograms

Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 41)

The Cursor Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu).

Histograms

Use histograms to analyze a range of waveform data that you select. The instrument can display both vertical (voltage, watts, ohms, or rho) and horizontal (time, distance, or bits) histograms, but only one at a time.

You can use the controls in the Histogram Setup dialog box to completely specify the histogram box on the waveform, in waveform units or as a percent of the graticule. After creating the histogram box, you can use the same method to resize and reposition the box directly on the screen, or, for quick edits, you can use the mouse or touchscreen to drag the histogram box boundaries on screen to surround the data that you want to analyze.

See Also:

Histogram Background (see page 60) Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 56)

The Histogram Command Group section in the DSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu).

Masks

Use mask testing to test your waveforms for time or amplitude violations. Mask testing detects waveform samples that occur within a speciﬁc area o f the mask. These occurrences are called hits or violations.

Use the communications-standard masks that this instrument provides (SONET/SDH, Fibre Channel Optical and Electrical, Ethernet, and others) to test your signals, or you can deﬁne your own masks.

Use the Mask setup dialog box to specify your mask test. In general, you will choose a live waveform source (channel or math waveform), and then select a standard mask against which to test it. To completely specify a mask test, read the information sources below.

See Also:

Mask Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 81) Mask Edit Dialog Box (see page 87)

The Masks Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 31

Getting Started Optimize Measurement Accuracy

Optimize Measurement Accuracy

Compensation optimizes the instrument to make accurate measurements based on the ambient temperature. Select Utilities > Compensation to open the Compensation dialog box.

Guidelines

Instrument given that the instrument has appropriate compensation data within the current operating temperature limits.

NOTE. A soft reboot of the instrument resets the 20-minute power-on monitoring time even though the instrument has not been physically powered off.

Always run compensation when ﬁrst installing a sampling module(s) or after moving a sampling module from one compartment to another. You can run a compensation within the 20-minute warm-up time. However, the compensation status (as displayed in the compensation dialog) displays a “warmwhich the last compensation was performed is within limits of the current operating temperature, the status displays okay (or Pass).

You must save the compensation results or they will be lost when the instrument is powered down.

You c you when the instrument or its modules require calibration and/or compensation, or when they are warming up.

speciﬁcations are guaranteed after the instrument has been powered-on for 20 minutes,

up” status until the 20-minute warm-up time has elapsed. At that time, if the temperature at

an set the instrument to d isplay the Compensation Indicator Button on screen, which tells

See Also:

System Compensation Dialog Box Overview (see page 202)

The Compensation Command Group section in the DSA8300 Programmers Guide (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

32 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Setup Dialog Box Overview

Acquisition Setup Dialog Box Overview

Use this dialog box to set up the acquisition modes.

Key Features:

Set acquisition mode (sample, average, or envelope)

Set stop after event condition

Set stop action the system takes upon completing acquisition

xxx

TIP. You can manually start and stop acquisition at any time by clicking the Run/Stop button in the toolbar or by pushing the front-panel Run/Stop button.

Control Information:

Acquisition Mode Settings (see page 33) Acquisition Stop After Settings (see page 34) Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 36)

Acquisition Mode Settings

Access this set of controls from the Acquisition Setup dialog box (Setup > Acquire).

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Stop After Settings

The acquisition mode you choose globally affects all channel acquisitions; for example, you cannot set channel 1 to Sample mode and channel 2 to Average mode.

Sample. No post processing of acquired samples. Use Samplemodetoseethesignalinitspurestform

with no post processing.

Average. The instrument processes the number of wavefor ms you specify into the acquired waveform,

creating a running exponential average of the input signal. The instrument displays a point-wise running average o to reduce the uncorrelated noise and jitter in the signal to reveal fundamental waveform behavior.

f the n most recently completed waveform acquisitions, where you specify n. Use Average mode

Envelope. Continuous acquisition; the instrument retains the running minimum (Min) and maximum

(Max) values in adjacent sample intervals, creating an “envelope” of all waveforms acquired for that channel. You ca nnot select this mode if FrameScan is enabled (Setup > Mode/Trigger > Pattern

FrameScan Setup). Use Envelope mode to show the variationofextremesovertimeinawaveform.

Sync/

To average or envelope an individual waveform, use the Average or Min and Max functions to create a

waveform speciﬁc to the waveform you want to average or envelop. Click here

math more information on creating math waveforms.

See Also:

Acquisition Stop After Settings (see page 34) Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 36)

Acquisition Stop After Settings

(see page 181) to ﬁnd

Use this control to specify when you want the instrument to stop acquisition. You may set only one active Stop After condition at a time.

34 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Stop After Settings

Regardless of the Stop After condition selected, you can always stop acquisition with the RUN/STOP button from the front panel or toolbar.

Run/Stop Button Only. Sets the instrument to stop the acquisition only when you click the Run/Stop button

in the toolbar or push the RUN/STOP button on the front panel.

Condition. Sets the instrument to automatically stop acquisition after the selected condition is achieved.

Available stop after conditions are:

Number of Acquisitions: Sets the instrument to stop acquiring after some speciﬁed number of raw acquisition cycles. This setting tells the instrument to count the number of Main Timebase sweeps (Mag sweep

Averag e C o mplete : Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after the speciﬁed number of waveforms to be aver

Histogram Waveforms: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after a speciﬁed number of Histogram source w

Histogram Hits: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after it acquires a speciﬁed number of valid hits (t

s are not counted) and stop acquisition after the speciﬁed number of acquisitions.

aged is acquired.

aveforms is acquired.

hat is, nonnull samples) in the histogram region.

Mask Waveforms: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after a speciﬁed number of waveforms is

red of the Mask source waveform.

acqui

Mask Samples: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after a speciﬁed number of valid (that is,

ull) waveform samples are acquired of the Mask source waveform.

nonn

Mask (n) Hits: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after a speciﬁed number of mask hits occur in

k number (n). This is a ≥ condition.

mas

Mask Total Hits: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after a speciﬁed number of total mask hits

curs in all masks combined. This is a ≥ condition.

FrameScan Cycle: Sets the instrument to stop after it h as acquired the n umber of bits speciﬁed

the Scan Bits control in the FrameScan section of the Horizontal Setup dialog box (that is, stop

in after one FrameScan cycle).

TIP. Histogram hits, Mask (N) Hits, and Mask Total Hits are ≥ (greater than or equal to) conditions because only complete records are processed. Therefore, the number of actual hits will not necessarily match your requested number of hits, as the acquisition will stop when the number of hits is greater than the number of speciﬁed hits.

See Also:

Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 36)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 35

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Stop Action Settings

Acquisition Stop Action Settings

Use these controls to direct the instrument to print the display or to save waveforms upon stopping acquisition, and to specify directories, and ﬁles in which to save. All selections remain in effect until you change them.

The available Stop After actions are:

None. Speciﬁes that the instrument stops acquisition with no further action.

Print sc

the ﬁlename you want in the Filename ﬁeld. Click Browse to display the Open dialog box in which you can select a ﬁle location.

Print screen to printer. Sends the screen image to the default printer. Use the Print dialog box to set

the default printer.

Save all waveforms. Saves all waveforms to a speciﬁed ﬁle.

The i acquisition by pressing the RUN/STOP control. It does not take action when acquisition stops due to other factors, such as loss of a trigger.

Ring Bell. Click the Ring Bell check box to have the instrument emit a tone when the Stop After action

completes.

reen to ﬁle. Prints the screen image as a bitmap (.BMP) ﬁle to a speciﬁed ﬁle location. Enter

nstrument take the selected action only when the Stop After condition is met or when you stop the

TE. You must connect a speaker to the Line Out connector on the back of the instrument to hear the tone.

Acquisition Background

Use the acquisition features to optimize and tailor the acquisition of your waveforms. The acquisition modes described here operate on the data as the instrument acquires it-perhaps to reduce noise in the waveform record or to capture a record of min/max values for each data point in the waveform record. The acquisition features also let you start and stop acquisition, and take certain actions after acquisition stops, such as to print the acquired waveform.

36 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Key Points

Acquisition Guidelines

Stop after options: You can set the condition upon which acquisition stops, such as after several acquisitions or a speciﬁed number of mask hits. You can set the Stop after Action to have the instrument save waveforms or print the screen to a ﬁle or printer.

FrameScan acquisition: You can change the normal acquisition cycle to produce a waveform record suitable for acquiring and analyzing repetitive patterns that are contained within a repeating data frame. See FrameScan Overview

(see page 77)for more information on FrameScan acquisitions.

FrameScan and Envelope modes: Envelope acquisition mode cannot be used with FrameScan acquisitions; you must use Sample or Average modes.

See Also:

sition Key Points

Acqui Acquisition Sampling Process (see page 39)

uisition Key Points

Acq

uisition modes. Consider the mode you want to use to acquire data:

Acq

Sample- the instrument does no post-processing of acquired samples.

Average- the instrument processes the number of waveforms you specify into the acquired w aveform, creating a running exponential average of the input signal.

Envelope- the instrument retains the running minimum (Min) and maximum (Max) values in adjacent sample intervals continuously, as subsequent waveforms are acquired, creating an e nvelope of all waveforms acquired for that channel.

Acquiring and displaying a noisy square wave signal shows the difference between the three modes. Note how Average reduces the noise while Envelope captures its extremes :

(see page 37)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Key Points

Once the waveform record exists (regardless of mode in which acquired), you can use the post-processing capabilities of the instrument to further process that record: perform measurements, waveform math, mask tests, and so on.

Acquisition control. Also, consider how you want to control acquisition; you have two main options, either

settable from the Acquisition Setup dialog box (push Acquisition MENU to display):

Run/Stop Button Only: Sets the instrument to start and stop the acquisition only when you use the Run/Stop button, which is available on the front panel or in the application toolbar. If toggled to Run, acquisition starts when a valid trigger occurs. If toggled to Stop, acquisition stops immediately.

Condition: The stop-after control provides additional conditions you can select to stop an acquisition.

Global controls. Like the horizontal controls, the acquisition controls apply to all active channels. For

example, channel 1 cannot acquire in Sample mode while channel 2 acquires in Envelope mode; you

t stop channel 8 from acquiring (if turned on) while other channels continue to acquire. Unlike

canno horizontal controls, acquisition settings extend across time bases: you cannot set a different sample mode for channels acquired in the Mag1 time base; the sample mode you set extends across the Main, Mag1 and Mag2 time bases.

Preventing aliasing. Under certain conditions, a waveform may be aliased on screen. When a waveform

ases, it appears on screen with a frequency lower than that of the input signal or it appears unstable

ali even though the TRIGD light is lit. Aliasing occurs because the instrument sample interval is too long to construct an accurate waveform record (see the following ﬁgure).

To quickly check for aliasing, adjust the horizontal scale to a faster time per division setting. If the shape of the displayed waveform changes drastically or becomes stable at a faster time base setting, your waveform was probably aliased. You can also try pressing the AUTOSET button to eliminate aliasing.

To avoid aliasing, be sure to set resolution so that the instrument samples the input signal at a rate more than twice as fast as the highest frequency component. For example, a signal with frequency components

38 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Sampling Process

of 500 MHz would need to be sampled with a sample interval less than 1 nanosecond to represent it accurately and to avoid aliasing.

Acquisition Sampling Process

Before a signal is acquired, it must pass through the input channel where it is sampled and digitized. Each channel has a dedicated sampler and digitizer as shown in the following ﬁgure; each channel can produce a stream of di

page 149) for further discussion of scaling, positioning, and DC offsetting of channels.

gital data from which you can extract waveform records. See Background-Vertical

Acquisition Hardware

(see

pling

Sam

Acquisition is the process of sampling an analog input signal of an input channel, converting it into digital

ta, and assembling it into a waveform record, which is then stored in acquisition memory. Sampling,

da then, is the process that provides one sample per trigger event and, when taken from repeated trigger events, also provides the digitized signal data from which the instrument assembles the waveform record (described below). The signal parts within the vertical range of the sampler are digitized. See the following ﬁgure.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 39

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Sampling Process

Waveform Record

While sampling the input signal provides the data that makes up the waveform record for any given channel, the instrument builds the waveform record through use of some common parameters (“common” means they affect the waveforms in all channels).

The following ﬁgure shows how these common parameters deﬁne the waveform record; as shown in the ﬁgure, they deﬁne where in the data stream data is taken and how much data is taken. Locate the following

rameters in the ﬁgure:

Sample Interval. The precise time between sample points taken during acquisition.

Record Length. The number of samples required to ﬁll a waveform record.

Trigger Point. The trigger point marks the time zero in a waveform record. All waveform samples are located in time with respect to the trigger point.

Horizontal Delay. The time lapse from the trigger point to the ﬁrst sample taken (ﬁrst point in the waveform record). It is set indirectly by setting the horizontal position (see Horizontal timebase

position (see page 67) )

As the ﬁgure shows, the instrument acquires points in order from left to right, with each point from a separate trigger event, and delayed from that event by:

horizontal delay + (sample interval x (sample number - 1))

When all the points in the waveform record have been sampled and digitized, the waveform record is placed in acquisition memory and becomes available for display (or for use in math waveforms, storing, exporting, and elsewhere). See Acquisition Cycle, which follows.

40 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview

Acquisition Cycle

The process of building a record is a subpart the acquisition cycle, which describes how the instrument cycles through recognizing a trigger, taking a sample and processing it according to sample mode, and adding it to a waveform record. Note the following points regarding acquisition cycles:

A waveform record exists, either on display or as an icon on the waveform bar, until it is replaced by a more recent acquisition or until you clear the record.

FrameScan mode alters the normal acquisition cycle. Choose the FrameScan cycle when you want to test for anomalies in repetitive data streams.

Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview

Use this dialog box to set up the cursor 1 and cursor 2 parameters. Access this tab from Setup > Cursor.

Key Features:

Set cursor function

Set individual cursor characteristics

xxx

Control Information:

Cursor Function Settings (see page 42) Cursor1and2Settings(see page 43)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor Function Settings

See Also:

Cursor Background (see page 43)

Cursor Function Settings

Access these controls in the Setup > Cursor dialog box.

Select the type of cursor function you want to use:

Off. Disables (turns off) the display of all cursors.

al Bars. Displays vertical bar cursors, which provide traditional horizontal unit readouts for Cursor

Vertic

1 (bar1), Cursor 2 (bar2), the delta between them, and 1/delta (results in frequency when the horizontal unit is time).

Horizontal Bars. Displays horizontal bar cursors, which provide traditional vertical unit readouts for

Cursor 1 (bar1), Cursor 2 (bar2), and the delta between them.

Waveform. Displays vertical bar cursors with marks where they cross a waveform, which track the

waveform points, providing both vertical and horizontal coordinates for the waveform point where they cross.

See Also:

Cursor 1 and 2 Settings (see page 43) Cursor Background (see page 43)

42 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor 1 and 2 Settings

Cursor 1 and 2 Settings

Access these controls in the cursor setup dialog box.

Use these controls to set the source, position, and color of Cursor 1 or 2.

Source. Selects the waveform you want associated with a cursor. All available waveforms are displayed

as selections in this control.

Position. Sets the position of the cursor. You can also use the front-panel general-purpose knob to adjust

this setting when this dialog box is the focus and no other setup dialog boxes are displayed. You can also use the mouse to select and move the cursors.

Color. Selects a color for the cursors.

See Also:

Cursor Function Settings (see page 42) Cursor Background (see page 43) Cursor Units (see page 46)

Cursor Background

Use cursors to measure waveform characteristics at speciﬁc locations on a waveform. Vertical cursors measure time, bits, or distance on screen; horizontal cursors measure amplitude: voltage, watts, rho, or ohms; and waveform cursors measure both.

Cursor sources. Cursors can measure channel, reference, and math waveforms. You can set the source of

each cursor explicitly in the Cu

rsor Setup dialog box.

Selected cursor. The cursor selected for adjustment is the solid cursor.

Cursors are display-limited. You cannot move a cursor off screen. Also, if you resize waveforms, the

cursors do not track. That is, a cursor stays at its screen position, ignoring changes to horizontal and

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 43

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor Background

vertical scale and position and to vertical offset. However, waveform cursors track the waveform point vertically; they work differently than vertical and horizontal cursors.

Cursors default to measure the Selected Waveform. Each cursor measures its source, deﬁned in the Cursors Setup dialog box. Note the following behavior regarding source selection:

When cursors are ﬁrst turned on, the instrument automatically assigns them to the selected w aveform. Up to the time that you turn cursors on, you can select a w aveform on screen to use it as the source for the curs

Once cursors are on, selecting a different waveform does not change the source the cursors measure. To change t

Turning cursors off restores the default cursor source assignment so that assignment again tracks the selec

Cursors can measure different sources. Each cursor can measure a different, independent source, with

each source having its own amplitude scale and time scale. Consider the following example:

Cursor1 is set to measure channel 3 (C3), which is set to 100mV/div, so the cursor readout v1 measures C3 relative to its ground as 3 divisions x 100mV/div, or about 300 mv.

Cursor 2 is set to measure reference l (R1), which is set to 20 mV/div, so the cursor readout v2 measures R1 relative to its ground as 3 divisions x 20mV/div, or about 60 mv.

ors.

he source while cursors are on, you must change the source in the Cursors Setup dialog box.

ted waveform.

Note that the value of each graticule division, relative to the delta readout, is not readily apparent because the delta-amplitude readout (v) must account for the different amplitude-scale settings of the sources. To do so, the v readout displays the results of v2 - v1 (-60 mv - 300 mv = -240 mv), automatically accounting for the different scales of the cursor sources.

Time readouts behave similarly with regard to different sources with different time bases. Each cursor displays its time readout, t1 or t2, with respect to the time base of its source, and Δtiscalculatedast2-t1,

tomatically accounting for any difference in the time base of each cursor source.

If a cursor readout does not seem c orrect, check the source of each cursor in the Cursor Setup dialog box.

ch cursor readout relates to the amplitude and time base settings of their source.

Vertical cursors measure from the trigger point (except when horizontal units are bits). Remember that each

vertical cursor measures the time from the trigger source to itself. The ﬁgure that follows shows this relationship, indicating the components determining time cursor readout values.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor Background

Note that a vertical cursor readout (t1 or t2) includes and varies directly with the time-to-ﬁrst-point component, which varies directly with the horizontal position set for the time base used by the cursor-source waveform. To see the amount of time to the ﬁrst point, push Horizontal Menu on the front panel and set Horizontal Ref to 0% in the dialog box that displays. Now the Horizontal position readout shows th on screen relative to ﬁrst point. (You can ﬁnd the horizontal readout both in the dialog box and in the control bar at the bottom of the screen.) The following relationships hold:

e time to ﬁrst point, and subtracting this value from the cursor readout yields the cursor position

Time to First Point = Horiz Position (when Horiz Ref Position is set to zero)

2 readouts = Time to First Point + Additional Time to Cursor

t1 or t

See Also:

Cursor Function Settings (see page 42) Cursor Units (see page 46)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Cursor Units

Cursor Units

Cursor units depend on the signal being measured. A cursor that measures amplitude or time will read out in the units of its source as indicated in the Cursor Units table that follows. If the measured v1/v2 or t1/t2 units do not m

atch, the Δv/ΔtreadoutisUNDEFINED.

Cursor Standard uni

Horizontal volts, watts, ohms, rho v1, v2, Δv

Vertical

Waveform

xxx

seconds, bits, meters, feet, inches t1, t2, Δt, 1/Δt(time)

volts, wat meters, feet, inches

ts, seconds, bits, ohms, rho,

See Also:

Cursor Function Settings (see page 42) Cursor Background (see page 43)

Display Setup Dialog Box Overview

Use the Setup > Display dialog box to set up the waveform display and graticules type.

Readouts

b1, b2, Δb, 1 d1, d2, Δd, and Δd/2 (distance)

v1, v2, Δv t1, t2, Δt, 1/Δt(time) b1, b2, Δb, 1/Δb(bits) d1, d2, Δd

/Δb(bits)

, Δd/2 (distance)

46 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Display Style Settings

Key Features:

Set waveform display style (normal or persistence mode)

Set normal waveforms to display as dots or vectors (lines) between data

points, and se

t the vector interpolation method

xxx

Control Information:

Display Style Settings (see page 47) Display Graticule Settings (see page 49)

Set graticule

characteristics (style, background color, and foreground color)

Display Style Settings

Access these controls in the Setup > Display dialog box. Style controls specify displaying waveforms as vectors or dots, interpolation between data points, and waveform persistence (variable persistence or inﬁnite.)

The mode you choose globally affects all displayed waveforms, except those that are displayed in waveform database format. For example, you cannot set channel 1 to display in Normal mode and channel 2 in Variable Persistence mode.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 47

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Display Style Settings

Normal. Sets the instrument to replace the previously acquired waveform in the display as it acquires or

processe

Variable Persistence. Sets the instrument to accumulate samples from each waveform it collects on screen

for a speciﬁc time interval (the persistence aging time). The persistence aging time (Variable Persistence Rate) ranges from 200 ms to 10 s. The control varies this setting in increments of 100 ms from 200 ms to 1s, and in 0.5 s increments from 1 s to 10 s. You can set any value to ±0.5 ms using the keyboard.

s a new waveform.

Inﬁnite Persistence. Sets the instrument to accumulate and keep on displaying indeﬁnitely all samples it

collects for each waveform over time. Sample points are not removed until you perform one of the following actions:

Reset the acquisition in any way, including using the Clear Data front-panel control. This includes actions such as dragging a waveform to a new position or changing its vertical position.

Change the display style.

Vectors and Interpolation

For Normal display mode only, you can set the instrument to draw vectors between displayed waveform points or display only sample points as dots.

For Normal display mode with record lengths < 1000, independent of the dots/vectors selection, you can set the instrument to interpolate. With interpolation enabled and acquisition record lengths < 1000 points, the instrument increases the sample density on the waveforms it displays by calculating intermediate points

etween those sampled. Choose one of the following Interpolation display algorithms:

None (default)

Sin (X)/X

Linear

NOTE. Interpolated points are displayed dimmer than actual acquired samples.

48 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Display Graticule Settings

See Also:

Display Graticule Settings (see page 49)

Display Graticule Settings

Access these controls in the Display Setup dialog box. Graticule controls specify the style, background color, and foreground color of the graticule.

Use the c color, and foreground color.

There ar

Style. Selects the graticule style: Frame, Grid, Cross Hair, or Full graticules. Choose Full or Crosshair for

ease in making graticule measurements; choose Frame or Grid for minimum clutter on screen.

Background. Selects the graticule background color. The default color is black.

Foreground. Selects the graticule foreground color. The default color is silver.

TIP. Choosing a Background color that matches a waveform or any onscreen readout, cursor, or other onscreen element will mask the display of that element.

ontrols in this section of the Display Setup dialog box to set the graticule style, background

e three graticule settings:

See Also:

Display Style Settings (see page 47)

Waveform Display Elements

The following ﬁgure identiﬁes the various elements of the waveform display.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 49

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Waveform Display Elements

(1) Waveform display: the area where the waveforms appear. The display comprises the time bases and graticules, the waveforms, masks, histograms, and readouts.

(2) Graticule: a grid marking the display area of a view. Each graticule is associated with its time base.

(3) Upper and lower amplitude-limits readouts: the upper and lower boundary level of the graticule for

the selected waveform.

(4) Horizontal-scale readout: the horizontal scale of the selected waveform.

(5) Horizontal reference: a control that you can position to set the point around which channel waveforms

expand and contract horizontally on screen as you change the Horizontal Scale control.

(6) Preview: a status ﬁeld that indicates when all waveforms are being previewed (that is, displaying an approximation of the waveforms as they will appear when acquisition completes). This indicator may appear when you change acquisition controls.

(7) Main, Mag1, and Mag2 views: selectable objects displaying on screen in the display, each with its own display of any waveform that is turned on. A view is a representation of a signal on an associated time base – the Main time base with the Main view, which is always displayed, or one of the two Mag views, each with its own time base and graticule. You can enable or disable display of the Mag views. You can

splay up to three views on screen (Main plus Mag1 and Mag2) at the same time.

Touchscreen (not shown): a feature that lets you touch controls on screen to operate the instrument. See

ouse, Touchscreen, and Customizing

(see page 16) .

See Also:

Display Features (see page 56) Waveform Display Key Points (see page 51) Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison (see page 16) Customizing the Waveform Display (see page 54)

50 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Waveform Display Key Points

Waveform Display Persistence (see page 55)

Waveform Display Key Points

Waveform display. In general, the method of displaying a waveform is to deﬁne the waveform, and then

turn it on.

Operations

on selected waveforms. Select the waveform using the Vertical source and channel selection

buttons, and then adjust it using the Vertical Scale, Offset, and Position knobs.

The follow

ing tables summarize the control operations you can perform for the three waveform control

parameters.

Table 2: Vertical controls

Control CH MATH REF Notes

lScale

Vertica

Vertical Position Yes Yes Yes

Vertical Offset

xxx

3: Horizontal controls

Table

Control C H MATH REF Notes

Horizontal Scale

zontal Position

Hori

Horizontal Resolution Yes No No

xxx

Yes Yes Yes

Yes No No

Yes N o No

The vert

Vertical offset is unavailable for channels with ohm or rho measurement units or for math or reference wavefo

ical controls adjust the selected waveform.

rms.

All channel waveforms are adjusted globally in the selected time base.

waveforms are not adjusted because their

Math horizontal parameters are derived from their source(s).

erence waveforms are not adjusted because

Ref they have ﬁxed horizontal parameters determined at the time the waveform was saved.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 51

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Waveform Display Key Points

Table 4: Other controls

Control CH MATH REF Notes

Automatic measurement source select

Cursor automatic target selection

Quick horiz adjust (Zoom)

xxx

Graticule

ion

ontal scale

s. One graticule is displayed for the Main time base, and an additional graticule is displayed

for each Mag time base that you turn on. The elements

Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes No Dragging a box around a portion within the Main,

Measurements toolbar, use the selected waveform as the source.

If cursors are off, pushing the front panel CURSOR button sets the selected waveform as the cursor measurement

mag1, or mag "zoom" adjusts the horizontal scale to ﬁll the screen with the boxed portion of the g raticule (zoom).

, if selected from the Measurements

source.

2 timebase graticules and clicking on

(see page 49) of the time base graticules are

thesameforeachtimebasedisplayed.

Using multiple views. The methods of displaying (turning on) and selecting any time base view follow:

Turn the view on: Push the Mag1 or Mag2 front-panel button once to turn on the Mag1 or Mag2 time base. The Main view is always (displayed); you cannot turn it off. Turning on a time base makes it active (selects it for adjustment).

Select among displayed views: Push any time base view button to make it the active, selected time base. The button of the selected view is always lit amber.

Turn off the selected Mag view: Once selected, Push the Mag1 or Mag2 button to turn off the time base. The Main time base becomes the selected time base.

Operations on the selected time base view. The method of adjusting (horizontal scaling and positioning,

setting resolution/record length, and so on) is from the front panel: select the time base using the Horizontal time base selection buttons, and then adjust it using the Horizontal Scale, Resolution, and Position knobs. Only channel waveforms can have their horizontal parameters set directly.

The table above shows how horizontal operations relate to the waveform types; the key points to remember are:

As the table shows, horizontal operations affect all channel waveforms, but in the selected view only. For example, you can select each time base in turn and set one horizontal scale for all channel waveforms in the Main view, another horizontal scale for those in the Mag1 view, and a third for those in the Mag2 view.

The instrument displays a reference waveform using the horizontal settings in effect at the time it was saved. You cannot change these settings.

The instrument displays a math waveform using the horizontal settings derived from its math expression. You cannot change these settings.

All waveforms in each time b ase are displayed ﬁt-to-screen; that is, within the full 10 horizontal divisions that the graticule provides.

52 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Waveform Display Key Points

Waveform operations that cross time base views. Unlike the horizontal controls just described, some

controls apply to all time base views:

Turning a waveform on or off in any view displays or removes it from all views.

Selecting a waveform in any view makes it the selected waveform in all views; for example, select C1 in Main, and then select Mag1. C1 is the selected waveform in Mag1. Turn on Mag2, and Mag2 displays on screen with C1 selected

Vertical adjustments on a waveform in any time base adjust the waveform in all time bases.

Display controls versus acquisition controls. For channel waveforms, the vertical offset control and the

horizontal controls adjust the instrum following descriptions for more information about acquisition:

Vertical Acquisition Window Considerations (see page 155)

The Horizontal Acquisition Window (see page 75)

Mag1 and Mag2 are magnifying timebases. The Mag1 and Mag2 time bases are so named because they

magnify a segment of the Main time base. Mag1 and Mag2 timebases cannot be set to a slower horizontal scale than that of the Main timebase.

ent acquisition parameters as well as affect the display. See the

Each Mag time base scale sets the size of an aperture on the Main time base

Each Mag time base position setting locates the aperture within the Main time base.

Each Mag time base graticule displays the selected area across the full horizontal display width (10 divisions).

Horizontal position and the horizontal reference. The horizontal position that is set and r ead from the user

interface is measured from one of two points in time:

If the horizontal units are time or distance (meters, feet, or inches), horizontal position is measured from the trigger point to the horizontal reference point.

If the horizontal units are bits, horizontal position is measured from the Time of First Point to the horizontal reference point (i.e. the time of ﬁrst point is set to bit 0.0).

In either case, the horizontal position is not equal to the Time of First Point unless you set the horizontal reference to 0%. See the following ﬁgure.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 53

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Customizing the Waveform Display

Horizontal un

its. You can specify the time values in seconds, bits or distance from the Horizontal Setup

dialog box. When you s elect Bits or Distance as the timebase units, the timebase scale and position controls and the readouts show bits or distance units. You can select from meters, feet, or inches as your distance unit. The timing measurement results remain as seconds .

The Units Setup dialog box also provides Dielectric Const(ant) and Prop(agation) Velocity controls with which you can select either the effective dielectric constant of the device under test or its propagation velocity (they interact, so set one or the other). Distance units and these other two controls are useful when doing TDR measurements and testing. You may want to turn on distance units and set the dielectric constant o

r propagation velocity when making such measurements. The formula is:

D=VpT

where:

Vp = propagation velocity

T = Co/Square root of Dielectric Constant

Velocity of propagation (Vp) is a measure of how fast a signal travels in that transmission line. Dielectric Constant is the relative effective dielectric constant of the propagation media.

Customizing the Waveform Display

Use the display customizing features to set display color, graticule style, waveform representation, and so on. The table that follows lists display attributes that you can set and where they are accessed.

Display attribute Menu path Options

Graticule style Setup > Display Full, Grid, Cross-hair, Frame

Display mode

Show vectors (normal display mode only)

Waveform labels Utilities > Waveform Properties

Waveform colors Utilities > Waveform Properties

Cursor color Setup > Cursors Select colors for cursors

Graticule color Setup > Graticule Select colors for g raticules

Histogram color

Mask color

Waveform color grading Right-click on waveform > Color Grade Display waveform with color gradation

xxx

Setup > Display Normal, Inﬁnite, Variable

Setup > Display Enable/Disable drawing vectors (lines)

between sample points

Create a label for the selected waveform

Right-click on waveform > Properties

Select colors for waveforms

Right-click on waveform > Properties

Setup > Histogram Select colors for histograms

Setup > Mask Tests Select colors for masks

based on frequency of occurrence

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Waveform Display Persistence

Waveform Display Persistence

Use display persistence to control how the waveform data decays over time. Persistence style applies to all waveforms except for reference waveforms and channel waveforms set to display with color or intensity gr

Normal style displays waveforms without persistence: each new waveform record replaces the previously which displays lines between the record points, or dots (vectors off) which displays the record points only. You can also choose an interpolation mode. See Interpolation below.

Variable Persistence style accumulates the waveform-record points on screen and displays them for a speciﬁc time interval. The oldest waveform data continuously fades from the display a s new waveform records acquire.

Inﬁnite Persistence style accumulates the data record points until you change some control (such as scale factor) or explicitly clear the data, causing the display to be erased. Waveform data builds up as new data records a cquire.

ading.

acquired record for a channel. You can choose to display normal waveforms as vectors,

See Als

Waveform Display Data Point Interpolation (see page 55)

Waveform Display Data Point Interpolation

For record lengths of less than 1000 points, you can choose to have the instrument interpolate between the sampled points it acquires. Interpolation affects the display only; mask testing, histograms, and automatic

surement results are based on acquired, not interpolated, data. There are three options for interpolation:

mea

Sin(x)/x interpolation computes record points using a curve-ﬁt between the actual values acquired. The

rve-ﬁt assumes all the interpolated points fall along that curve. Sin(x)/x interpolation is particularly

cu useful when acquiring more rounded waveforms, such as sine waves. Sin(x)/x interpolation may introduce apparent overshoot or undershoot in s ignals with fast rise times.

Linear interpolation computes record points between actual acquired samples by using a straight-line-ﬁt. The straight-line-ﬁt assumes all the interpolated points fall in their appropriate point in time on that straight line. Linear interpolation is useful for many waveforms such as pulse trains.

None turns interpolation off. Only points actually sampled appear in the displays of waveform records.

See Also:

Waveform Display Persistence (see page 55)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 55

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Display Features

Display Features

Flexible display control. Front-panel knobs and buttons support quick access to the most often used

adjustments; those that display, position, and scale waveforms. Mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen interfaces s

Multiple timebase views. Three views, Main, plus Mag1 and Mag2, can b e displayed simultaneously, each

with its own time base. Live waveforms are acquired independently in each time base (C1 in Main is a differentwaveformthanC1inMag1orMag2).

upport complete setup of all the display parameters.

All displa

and Mag2 if you display those views. Refere nce waveforms will appear in all views as well, but since they have a static time base setting (the time base setting with which they were saved), they will be identical in all views.

Fast Zoom capability. Waveform inspection has never been easier. Just click and drag a box around the

featur

Preview mode. The instrument automatically uses a preview display when control changes initiate

reacquisition of waveform data. A preview display shows how the waveforms will look when acquisition completes. When the instrument ﬁnishes the processing of state changes, it removes the preview and displays the actual waveforms.

Waveform color grading. You can select color grading of a waveform so that its data color or intensity

reﬂects the frequency of occurrence of the data.

NOTE. When the acquisition system is stopped, the data will not update on screen until acquisition is restarted

yed waveforms shown in all views. If C1 and M1 are displayed in Main, they also appear in Mag1

e of interest and it zooms horizontally to ﬁll the screen, reacquired at a higher resolution.

Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview

Use this dialog box to set up and display a histogram from an acquired waveform. Access these controls from Setup > Histogram.

56 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Source Settings

Key features:

xxx

Control I

nformation:

Display a histo

or reference waveform

Adjust the limits of the box that deﬁnes the area on the display to compute

the histogram

Create a linear or logarithmic plot of histogram data

Set the histogram plot size and color

The instrume histogram is created. It then displays results as two components:

An on-screen plot of the distribution, or binning, of accumulated waveform

data

A readout of the statistical measurements for the histogram data

gram of vertical or horizontal values for any channel, math,

nt displays a box around the waveform segment from which the

Histogram Source Settings (see page 57) Histogram Display Options (see page 59) Histogram Limit Controls (see page 60)

See Also:

Histogram Statistics (see page 62)

Histogram Source Settings

Use these controls to select a histogram source, set the mode, and set waveform database usage settings. Access these controls from Setup > Histogram.

You can use any waveform entity as the source of waveform data for a histogram.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 57

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Source Settings

Source. Use the Source pulldown list to select a waveform source.

Enable Histog

Vertical/Horizontal. Display a vertical or horizontal histogram.

Use Wfm Database. Specify whether you want to take histograms on live data (check box not selected)

or on a waveform database (check box selected).

Clear Data. Resets all histogram results and restarts histogram data acquisition.

TIP. If you select a waveform source that already has a waveform database associated and displayed with it, the instrument immediately creates the histogram data and statistics from the existing waveform database.

ram. Displays the h istogram.

See Also:

Histogram Display Options (see page 59) Histogram Limit Controls (see page 60) Histog

ram Statistics

(see page 62)

58 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Display Options

Histogram Display Options

Use the histogram display options to set histogram display options, including size, color, and whether the histogram display is set to be linear, logarithmic, or off. Access these controls from Setup > Histogram.

Histogram. Enables or disables displaying the histogram on the graticule. Histogram measurements (in

the readouts area) will continue to update while the histogram is not displayed.

Color. Se

Linear. Speciﬁes that bin counts smaller than the maximum be scaled linearly by dividing the bin count

by the maximum bin count.

Logarithmic. Speciﬁes that bin counts smaller than the maximum be scaled logarithmically (log

(bin-c bases differ only by a constant multiplier. Logarithmic scaling provides better visual detail for bins with low counts.

Size. Scales the size of the displayed histogram data by the selected multiplier value.

See A

Histogram Source Settings (see page 57) His Histogram Statistics (see page 62)

lects a color for the displayed histogram data and boundary area.

ount)) with log(0) staying at 0 baseline). The base of the log does not matter since logs to different

lso:

togram Limit Controls

(see page 60)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 59

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Limit Controls

Histogram Limit Controls

Use these controls to set the histogram boundary limits (area being measured). Access these controls from Setup > Histogram.

The boundary region is delimited by the four boundaries: Top, Bottom, Left, and Right.

You c a n se percent units (%). The display percent unit coordinate system is based on 0,0 as upper left, and 100,100 as lower right.

Vertical and horizontal controls d o not change the histogram boundary area. Instead, control changes determine the relationship between the internal coordinate system and the absolute unit values you speciﬁed. Therefore, you see the values of the histogram boundaries change as corresponding vertical and horizontal changes are made.

TIP. You can resize the histogram boundary area in one or both directions using standard drag-and-drop opera

t histogram boundaries in either units based on the source waveform (Absolute)orindisplay

tions.

See Also:

togram Source Settings

His Histogram Display Options (see page 59) Histogram Statistics (see page 62)

Histogram Background

(see page 57)

The instrument can display histograms from waveform data. You can display both vertical (voltage, watts, ohms or rho) and horizontal (time, bits, or distance) histograms, but only one at a time. The ﬁgure shows a vertical histogram view with readouts.

60 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Background

Key Features

Flexible histogram editing. You can use the controls in Hist Setup dialog box to completely specify the

histogram box on the waveform, in waveform units or as a percent of the graticule. For quick edits, you can use c

Any waveform as source. You can acquire Histograms from all channel, math, and reference waveforms.

If the waveform selected as the source for the histogram has a waveform database enabled, the histogram will take measurements using the waveform database.

Conti

if you turn off the display of the histogram or of the waveform selected as its source. Histogram data is continuously accumulated and displayed until you explicitly turn it off or clear the waveform data of the histogram source.

One histogram at a time. One histogram can be displayed on one source at a time. The source can be any

Histogram counting. Once you check Enable Histogram in the Histogram Setup dialog, histogram

counting starts and continues until you disable the histogram or clear the histogram counts. If the histogram is not displayed on the graticule but histogram statistics still appear on the display, histogram counting is still running. To clear histogram counts push CLEAR DATA on the front panel or click the Clear button in the Hist Setup dialog box. Also, changing any acquisition control clears all acquired data and the histogram count as well.

an use the mouse or touchscreen to drag to resize and reposition the box directly on the screen.

nuous operation. The h istogram that you set up can run, and its results can be displayed even

veform in any of the three Views, Main, Mag1, or Mag2.

Histogram size. The maximum vertical histogram size is 400 bins. The maximum horizontal size is

1000 bins.

Recalling setups. The histogram state i s restored to what it was when the setup was saved.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 61

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Histogram Statistics

See Also:

Histogram Statistics (see page 62) Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 56)

Histogram Statistics

Histogram statistics are displayed in the readout area. The following table describes the histogram statistics.

Item Description

Mean

Median

Std Dev Standard Deviation. The root mean square deviation of all points within or on the histogram box.

Pk-Pk

Hits

μ±1σ

μ±2σ

μ±3σ

Peak

fms

xxx

See Also:

The average of all acquired points within and on the histogram box

The middle number that separates the highest half of all acquired points from the lowest half.

The peak-to-peak value of the histogram. Vertical histograms display the amplitude of the highest nonzero bin minus the amplitude of the lowest nonzero bin. Horizontal histograms display the time

ight-most nonzero bin minus the time of the left-most nonzero bin.

of the r

mber of hits within and on the histogram box.

The nu

rcentage of points in the histogram that are within 1 standard deviation of the histogram

The pe mean.

The percentage of points in the histogram that are within 2 standard deviations of the histogram mean.

The percentage of points in the histogram that are within 3 standard deviations of the histogram

mea

number of points in the largest bin of the histogram.

The

e number of waveforms that have contributed to the histogram

Histogram Background (see page 60) Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 56)

Horizontal Setup Dialog Box Overview

Use this dialog box to set up horizontal timebase-related parameters. Acc ess these controls from Setup > Horizontal.

62 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview

Key Features:

Select and set up timebases to acquire and display channel waveforms

Display horizontal parameters for individual timebases associated with

stored refere

nce waveforms

ntal units to apply globally to all timebases

anually or automatically to a standard communication rate

t up Pattern Sync and FrameScan acquisition parameters

xxx

Control I

Select horizo

Set bit r ate m

Select and se

nformation:

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview (see page 63) All Time

basesControlsOverview

(see page 72)

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview

Key Features:

Set the horizontal timebase, scale, position, resolution, data record length,

and horizontal reference parameters

xxx

Control Information:

Horizontal Timebase Select. (see page 64) Horizontal Scale Setting. (see page 65) Horizontal Position Setting (see page 67)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 63

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Timebase Select

Horizontal Resolution Setting (see page 69) Horizontal Record Length Setting (see page 70) Horizontal Re

ference Setting

(see page 71)

Horizontal Timebase Select

This c ontrol selects the measurement timeba se to set up (Main, Mag1, Mag2, Math, and Reference). Access this

control from Setup > Horizontal.

Select from the three channel waveform timebases. Ref and Math timebases are set by their sources. They are read-only, and you cannot edit these directly. The remaining settings change to match the timebase you select.

When acquiring waveforms, the instrument uses the timebase settings for Main, Mag1, and Mag2, with the trigger conditions deﬁned in the Trigger settings, to deﬁne the horizontal acquisition windows

page 64)

(see

Acquisition Window

This window deﬁnes what data is included from the input signal to form a waveform record. The vertical offset sets t he vertical center of this window independently for each channel; the horizontal scale and position set the horizontal size and position for all channels in parallel (with some minor delay adjustment allowed, per channel, with deskew).

Behavior

The instrument provides three timebases for acquisition and display of channel waveforms: the Main, and two magniﬁed timebases, Mag1 and Mag2. The instrument always displays the Main timebase; you can toggle each Mag timebase on and off.

64 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Scale Setting

All channel waveforms displayed in a given timebase share the same timebase and its settings. You cannot display channel 1 at 100 ps and channel 2 at 200 ps in the same timebase.

The instrument acquires data for each channel independently for each timebase. The Mag1 and Mag2 views are not zoomed or interpolated versions of the Main timebase. Each one has an independent acquisition

Waveforms deﬁned in the main timebase are automatically deﬁned a nd acquired in the magniﬁed timebases.

TIP. You can only set up the three timebases here. To turn them on and off, use the front-panel buttons, MAIN, MAG1, and MAG 2, in the Horizontal Control block, the equivalent controls at the bottom of the display screen, or the Mag1 and Mag2 menu commands in the View menu.

Math and Reference Timebases

Math and Reference waveforms retain their own timebase settings and display accordingly. Each Reference waveform uses the timebase settings it was saved with; for example, a REF 1 waveform saved at 100 ps/div always displays at 100 ps/div no matter at what horizontal scale the channel timebases display. Math waveforms act the same, deriving their timebase s ettings from the waveform sources that deﬁne them.

cycle.

TIP. Because there are eight reference waveforms allowed, you can select the Main, Mag1 or Mag2

ase for each reference waveform. If a reference waveform is displayed, it displays the same data

timeb for each timebase view (there is no separate magniﬁed data for a reference waveform as there is for a channel waveform). You can also select timebases for each of the eight math waveforms. However, there is separate data for each Mag view of a math waveform if the expression for that math waveform includes a channel waveform.

Also:

See

Horizontal TimeBase Controls Overview (see page 63)

rizontal Scale Setting.

Ho Horizontal Position Setting (see page 67) Horizontal Resolution Setting (see page 69) Horizontal Record Length Setting (see page 70) Horizontal Reference Setting (see page 71)

(see page 65)

Horizontal Scale Setting

Use this control to set the horizontal scale for the selected timebas e. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 65

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Scale Setting

TIP. Yo u can scale control at the bottom of the display.

Operatio associated with individual Math or Ref waveforms.

Main, Ma

the timebase. Each channel timebase, Main, Mag1, and Mag2, uses its own horizontal scale. All channel waveforms in an individual timebase share the timebase scale. The horizontal scale, together with the record length setting, determines the sample interval or resolution (that is, the time between sample points).

TIP. Main, Mag1, and Mag2 timebase scales, positions, and record lengths (resolution) are independent of one another; however, Mag1 and Mag2 must be totally contained within the Main timebase.

TIP. Mag v iews are useful when you want to zoom in on a particular area of interest in the signal.

Math and Ref Timebases. Timebases for Math and Ref waveforms are individually associated, derived either from the source waveform for a Math waveform or from the source waveform for a Ref waveform. You can display the settings for math and reference waveforms (for Main, Mag1, or Mag2 timebases),

t you cannot change them.

also adjust the horizontal scale of the selected timebase using the front-panel knob or the

n differs for the timebase display of channel waveforms and the display of individual timebases

g1, and Mag2. Channel waveforms display in these timebases with the horizontal s cale set for

TIP. To see the scale on screen of a Math or Ref waveform, click the waveform to select it. The scale readout changes to match that of the selected waveform.

66 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Position Setting

Horizontal Calculations for Bits

Horizontal scale calculation for bit units:

bits/div = scale in time/div * bit rate

Horizontal position calculation for bit units:

bits = (horizontal position in time) * bit rate (for bits units, the horizontal time reference ‘0’ is the time of the ﬁrst acquired point)

Scale Calculation

Click here (see page 67) for calculations for bit units.

See Also:

Horizontal TimeBase Controls Overview (see page 63)

age

Horizontal Timebase Select. (see p Horizontal Position Setting (see page 67) Horizontal Resolution Setting (see page 69) Horizontal Record Length Setting (see page 70) Horizontal Reference Setting (see page 71)

64)

Horizontal Position Setting

Use this control to set the horizontal position for the selected timebase. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

TIP. You can also adjust the horizontal position of the selected timebase using the front-panel POSITION knob or the position control along the bottom of the graticule display.

The horizontal position value sets a global delay time, for all channel waveforms in the selected timebase, between the trigger event and the horizontal reference for that timebase.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 67

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Position Setting

The minimum position you can set is limited to one of two settings, depending on the current hardware conﬁguration:

If there are no sampling modules on extender cables, the minimum horizontal position is set to 19ns. This is the typical value, not the actual hardware minimum value (insertion delay, or the minimum time from an e

If there are one or more sampling modules on extender cables, then the minimum horizontal position is set to 19ns + 80E09, and 80E10 have the same effect as placing non-remote sampling modules on extenders. These modules also affect the available minimum horizontal position values.

The minimum horizontal position governs the smallest horizontal position you can set. If you specify too small of a value, the instrument will automatically set its position to the minimum position attainable.

When horizontal units = bits, the minimum horizontal position is 0 bits, which is set to equal the time of the ﬁrst acquired bit, independent of any extenders or remote samplers.

TIP. The position of each Mag timebase is constrained to be in the domain of the main timebase. Changing the main timebase position can affect the position of each Mag timebase, but the position of a Mag timebase cannot affect the main timebase position.

xternal trigger event to the ﬁrst acquired sample).

max (Extender -Cable-Delays). Remote sampling modules such as the 80E07, 80E08,

Position Calculations

here

Click

(see page 67) for position calculations for bit units.

See Also:

Horizontal TimeBase Controls Overview (see page 63) Horizontal Timebase Select. (see page 64) Horizontal Scale Setting. (see page 65) Horizontal Resolution Setting (see page 69) Horizontal Record Length Setting (see page 70)

rizontal Reference Setting

(see page 71)

68 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Resolution Setting

Horizontal Resolution Setting

Use this ﬁeld to view the resolution (the sample interval between points) of the selected timebase. Access this ﬁeld from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

You cannot adjust the resolution from this ﬁeld; use the Resolution knob on the front panel to change the value. Changing the horizontal Scale or Record Length ﬁelds also changes the resolution value.

Horizontal resolution is deﬁned as:

Resolution = (10 * horizontal scale) / record length

See Also:

Horizontal TimeBase Controls Overview (see page 63) Horizontal Timebase Select. (see page 64) Horizontal Scale Setting. (see page 65) Horizontal Position Setting (see page 67)

zontal Record Length Setting

Hori Horizontal Reference Setting (see page 71)

(see page 70)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 69

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Record Length Setting

Horizontal Record Length S etting

Use this control to set the record length of the selected timebase. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

Valid record lengths for the main timebase are 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, and 16000 samples. Valid record lengths for the Mag1 and Mag2 timebases are 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000. The record lengths of MainTB, Mag1, and Mag2 timebases can be set independently.

Horizontal Reference Setting

This control sets the horizontal reference point for the selecte d timebase in terms of percentage of record. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

Horizontal reference values range from 0-100% with a default setting of 50%. When changing the horizont

al scale for any timebase, all live waveforms are scaled about the reference point.

TIP. Percentage of record and percentage of screen coincide since the entire record is displayed in the graticule.

See Also:

Horizontal TimeBase Controls Overview (see page 63) Horizontal Timebase Select. (see page 64) Horizontal Scale Setting. (see page 65)

ontal Position Setting

Horiz Horizontal Resolution Setting (see page 69) Horizontale R ecord Length Setting (see page 70)

(see page 67)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 71

Controls-Speciﬁc Help All Timebases Controls Overview

All Timebases Controls Overview

Key Features:

Set comm standard, bit rate, measurement units,

and display scale parameters

Set timebase units

Set test cable properties (propagation velocity or

dielectric c

onstant)

xxx

Control Information:

Timebase Comm Standard setting. (see page 72) Timebase Units Setting. (see page 73)

ngs

Display Scale Setti

(see page 74)

Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 74)

Timebase Comm Standard Setting

This control sets the communication standard bit rate that you want to test. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

Set PattenS

ync and FrameScan parameters

Selecting a Comm Standard automatically enters the bit rate for that standard into the Bit Rate ﬁeld.

Manually entering a value in the Bit Rate ﬁeld changes the Comm Standard ﬁeld label to User.

See Also:

All Timebases Controls Overview (see page 72)

72 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Timebase Units Setting

Timebase Units Setting. (see page 73) Display Scale Settings (see page 74) Pattern Sync/

FrameScan Setup

(see page 74)

Timebase Units Setting

This control sets the type of units to use for the horizontal axis for all timebases. Select from seconds, bits, or distance. The timebase scale and position controls use the units you select. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

The timebase scale and position controls will use the units speciﬁed by this control. In addition, all measurement results will be in the speciﬁed units.

Units Setup

Select the Units Setup button to open the Units Setup dialog box, where you set distance units, dielectric constant, and propagation velocity parameters when operating the instrument in TDR mode.

When you select Distance as the timebase units, the timebase scale and position controls use distance units. The Distance ﬁeld shown above contains a units control for choosing meters, feet, or inches as your distance unit. The Dielectric Const(ant) ﬁeld and Prop(agation) Velocity controls interact; you can select either the dielectric constant of the device under test or its propagation velocity (each varies with the other). Distance units are typically used for TDR measurements and testing.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 73

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Display Scale Settings

See Also:

All Timebases Controls Overview (see page 72) Timebase Comm Standard Setting. (see page 72) Display Scale Settings (see page 74) Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 74)

Display Scale Settings

This control sets the horizontal display scale units type to per division (with 10 divisions per screen) or per screen (10x the per division value). For example, 200 ps/div = 2 ns/screen. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

A common example of using the Per Screen setting is when you are examining a serial data signal with the horizontal units set to bits. Knowing how many bits per division is of little use, where the Per Screen setting shows how many bit times (or unit intervals) are displayed in the entire waveform graticule.

See Also:

All Timebases Controls Overview (see page 72) Timebase Comm Standard setting. (see page 72) Timebase Units Setting. (see page 73) The Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Button (see page 74)

The Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Button

This button opens the Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup dialog box, which contains controls for setting pattern sync and FrameScan parameters. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal > Pattern Sync/FrameScan.

See Also:

Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Dialog Box (see page 126) FrameScan Overview (see page 77)

74 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Controls-Speciﬁc Help The Horizontal Acquisition Window Overview

The Horizontal Acquisition Window Overview

You deﬁne the horizontal acquisition window, that is, you set several parameters that determine the segment of an incoming signal that becomes the waveform record when acquired. For background, see

ord

Waveform Rec

window that is applied to all channels in parallel. (See Independent versus Shared Window These parameters are:

The external trigger signal that you input and set the trigger system to recognize determines the point relative to the input waveform that triggers the instrument.

The horizontal position you set determines the horizontal delay from the trigger point to the ﬁrst sample point in the acquisition window.

The horizontal scale you set, and the requirement that all waveforms ﬁt within the 10 horizontal-division display, determines the horizontal duration of the window relative to any waveform, allowing you to scale it to contain a waveform edge, a cycle, or several cycles.

Horizontal Acquisition Window Deﬁnition

(see page 40). These common parameters specify a common horizontal acquisition

(see page 77).)

The record length (with the horizontal scale) you set for the 10-division window determines the sample interval (horizontal point spacing or resolution) on the waveform.

The horizontal position controls the distance to the the ﬁrst sampled point.

Horizontal Reference to indirectly set the time to

See Also:

Horizontal Scale Versus Record Length Versus Sample Interval Versus Resolution (see page 76) Horizontal Position Setting (see page 67)

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 75

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Horizontal Scale Versus Record Length Versus Sample Interval Versus Resolution

Horizontal Reference Setting (see page 71)

Horizontal Scale Versus Record Length Versus Sample Interval Versus Resolution

These parameters all relate to each other and specify the horizontal acquisition window. Because the horizontal acquisition window must ﬁt in the 10 horizontal division display, for most cases, you just set the duration of the horizontal acquisition window (10 divs x the scale setting) as described in (1) below. By also set for the horizontal acquisition window (waveform record). The relationships between these horizontal elements are:

1. Time Duration (seconds) = 10 divs (window size) x Horizontal Scale (seconds/div)

ting a record length in samples, you indirectly set the resolution/sample interval/sample rate

2. Time Dura Time Duration is the horizontal acquisition window time duration

3. Sample I (samples/seconds)

In (2) a (and its scale setting) and the Record Length setting as these later two elements are user settable.

If Rec rate/lowest sample interval/highest resolution.

You c (see equation 3 above)); they are derived values. You can, however, check the resolution at anytime in the resolution readout (push the Horizontal Menu button).

NOTE. The Resolution knob adjusts the record length to increase sample density (detail).

bove, note that it is Sample Interval that varies indirectly to accommodate the window time duration

ord Length or Time Duration vary, Sample Interval varies to accommodate, up to the highest sample

annot directly set resolution and the equivalent elements (sample interval and effective sample rate

tion (seconds) = Sample Interval (seconds/sample) x Record Length (samples), where:

nterval (seconds/sample) = Res olution (seconds/sample) = 1/Effective Sample Rate

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Independent Versus Shared Window

Independent Versus Shared Window

For a given time base, the instrument applies the same horizontal acquisition window to all channels from which it acquires data. Unlike the vertical acquisition window that you set independently for each channel, the same time you set for a time base, apply to all channels in that time base. In other w ords, one trigger, from a single trigger source, will locate a common horizontal acquisition window on all active channels, which you can shift by setting t he horizontal position control.

The horizontal acquisition window determines the waveform records extracted from all signals present at all active channels and math waveforms. You can think of the horizontal acquisition window as cutting across any input signals present in the input channels to extract the same slice of time into waveform records. See the ﬁgure that follows, which shows a common trigger, record length and acquisition rate are commo

/division, resolution (record length), and horizontal delay (from the same trigger point) that

n for all channels.

FrameScan Overview

FrameScan acquisitions help you analyze pattern-dependent failures in high bit-rate communications signals, as well as provide detailed display and analysis of individual, complete waveforms or of the bit sequences leading up to a failure. The ability to identify the speciﬁc patterns that caused the failures makes using FrameScan mode superior to traditional methods.

Using FrameScan along with magniﬁcation views and mask testing can help you quickly locate and debug pattern dependent serial data compliance test failures. The following image shows how FrameScan identiﬁed the location in a data stream where an invalid signal transition occurs. The serial data pattern signal is in the upper Main view; the lower Mag1 view shows the magniﬁed view of the speciﬁed Main view area. You can also view the signal before and after the invalid signal transition.

DSA8300 Printable Online Help 77

Controls-Speciﬁc Help FrameScan Overview

FrameScan acquisition mode offers the following advantages.

Breakthrough time base stability. When using the internal pattern sync capability, timing accuracy

typically varies no more than 0.1 ps, providing the stability needed to examine signals of almost any length for pattern-dependent failures.

Flexible setup support. Set bit rates manually or set a bit rate based on a communication standard. Then

set the independent bit rate, or Standard-Mask Autoset, if you set bit rate based on a communication standard.

Identiﬁcation and analysis of pattern-dependent failures. FrameScan a cquisition, when used with

mask testing and Stop After condition acquisition, can automatically determine the bit at which a pattern-dependent failure occurred.

Ability to acquire and display correlated eye diagrams. FrameScan mode acquires data synchronously

with respect to the pattern. This makes it possible to acquire averaged waveforms which minimizes uncorrelated (random) noise and jitter. This capability lowers the effective instrument noise ﬂoor, enabling the examination of very low power optical signals. Since FrameScan scans through the pattern one bit at a time, it is possible to overlay all of the bits in the pattern to construct an averaged (correlated) eye diagram an

The instrument must be in Average or Sample acquisition modes; FrameScan excludes Envelope a

FrameScan is most useful when used with the Pattern scope mode (Clock trigger source), which requires the ADVTRIG Advanced Triggers with Pattern Sync option. However,itmayalsobeusedintheother scope modes (Eye and Other) to acquire multiple phases of a data pattern when using subdivided clocks.

Determine scan bits. You n eed to know the total number of bits for the desired FrameScan cycle, as

well as the appropriate horizontal scale.

horizontal scale manually or invoke a custom autoset: Bit/Eye-Pattern Autoset, if you have set an

dtodomasktestingonthesignal(seeaboveﬁgure).

cquisition mode.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help FrameScan Theory of Operation

FrameScan Theory of Operation

FrameScan mode alters the normal acquisition sequence to scan a repetitive data pattern or a sub-portion of the bit sequence or pattern. The steps in the FrameScan acquisition are as follows:

1. The horizontal position is set to acquire the ﬁrst bit, which the acquisition system acquires as a subframe (see the ﬁgure that follows).

2. The horizontal position is incremented one-bit period (1/bit rate), and then the acquisition system acquires the second bit as a subframe. The duration of each subframe acquisition is determined by the horizontal scale.

3. This sequence of incrementing, and then acquiring the next bit, continues until the instrument acquires the number of bits you specify for the frame , or until acquisition stops due to a speciﬁc test condition, such as the failure of a mask test.

4. The resulting horizontally skewed FrameScan acquisitions display successive individual bits acquired in increasing time order. FrameScan acquisitions can continue through an entire frame of data if needed to help you to uncover faulty bit sequences leading up to pattern-dependent failures.

. You must supply a data or clock signal that is synchronous to the signal data pattern. Examples

NOTE

include inputting an optical serial data signal into an optical module with clock recovery, or inputting a clock into the front panel Clock Input/Prescale Trigger input that is synchronous to a serial data signal connected to the input of a sampling module.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help FrameScan Theory of Operation

FrameScan acquisition example

NOTE. Δh is the horizontal position change = one bit period (1/bit rate).

The acquisition d uration is determined by the horizontal scale. For example, if the scale is set to acquire 5 bits, then each subframe acquired is 5 bits in duration, shifted by one bit duration for each subframe.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help FrameScan Enable and Scan Bits

FrameScan Enable and Scan Bits

Access this control from Setup > Horizontal > Pattern Sync/FrameScan.

Enabled. Enables or disables FrameScan. Scanning starts as soon as you enable FrameScan.

Scan Bits. Sets the number of bits or subframes to acquire. The range of Scan Bits is from 2 to 8,388,608

Reset. Restart FrameSc an acquisition.

FrameScan lets you acquire and analyze repeating digital data patterns (typically Pseudo-Random Bit Streams, or PRBSs) that are contained within a data “frame”. FrameScan is an acquisition technique that controls how successive acquisitions occur. It can be used with any trigger source that provides a clock signal that is synchronous to the serial data stream.

FrameScan automatically sequences or skews the timebase such that each bit, or unit interval, of the data stream is acquired in increasing time order. The acquisition of each sample of each bit, and of each bit of the desired bit stream, is based on the trigger events derived from an externally provided clock signal (or internally provided when using clock recovery capable modules). Because the sequencing or “scanning” of the timebase occurs automatically within the instrument, there is no need to interact with the external signal source or the instrument once they are appropriately set up. For more information on how FrameScan acquires data, see FrameScan Theory of Operation

FrameScan displays bit 0 of the data stream at the left edge of the graticule.

A primary use of FrameScan is to locate pattern-dependent anomalies. This is accomplished by using FrameScan with the Mask Testing and Acquisition Stop After features (speciﬁcally the S top After mask hits condition). You can also refer to a technical brief on this topic titled Finding and Examining

Pattern-Dependent Failures with the FrameScan

http://www.tektronix.com to ﬁnd this brief.

See Also:

Acquisition Background (see page 36)

Mask Setup Dialog B ox Overview

(see page 79).

Acquisition Technology. Visit the Tektronix Website at

Use this dialog box to select (or edit) masks and run mask tests on incoming waveforms.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Setup Dialog Box Overview

Key Features:

Select signal source and communications standard (see page 82)

Enable/disable waveform database

Enable/disable mask testing (see page 82) display and color

Enable and set mask margin percent (see page 83)

Autoset (see page 83) mask to signal

Create or edit (see page 83) amask

xxx

Control Information:

Mask Source Settings (see page 83) Mask Display Settings (see page 84) Mask Margin Settings (see page 85) Mask Autoset Settings (see page 86) Mask E

dit Dialog Box

(see page 87)

Mask Testing Communication Standards

This instrument includes many industry-standard masks to support common electrical and optical communication physical layer standards.

Mask Testing

A mask contains one or more mask polygon shapes that, when applied against the waveform type for which it is intended, tests the waveform for violations of that mask. Waveform samples that fall within the mask areas are c alled mask violations, failures, or hits.

The list of hits per polygon mask is called the Mask Statistics or Results. Mask testing, like histograms, can operate on either live data or data accumulated in a waveform database.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Source Settings

Mask Margin Percent

Mask margins let you shrink or expand an existing set of polygons by a speciﬁed percentage.

Autoset Mask

Autoset aligns the waveform to match the selected mask.

Mask Edit Dialog Box

Click the Mask Edit button to modify a mask or create your own custom mask, e ither from scratch or by using a standard mask as a starting point.

Mask Source Settings

This control sets the source waveform for mask testing, enables mask standard, and turns the use of waveform databases on and off. Access this control from Setup > Mask.

You can use any waveform entity as the source for mask testing. Select a waveform and then click Enable Mask Counts to turn on mask counting.

Comm Standard. Use the Comm Standard button and menu to select a communication standard you want

to perform mask testing on.

Use Wfm Database. Click Use Wfm Database to turn on and off the use of waveform databases for mask

sources. When Use Wfm Database is checked, the instrument attempts to associate a waveform database resource to the live waveform s ource. If the source for mask testing is displayed as a waveform database at the time you enable mask testing, the Use Wfm Database control is turned on by default.

Clear Data. Click Clear Data to reset all mask counts.

counts, selects a communication

See Also:

Mask Display Settings (see page 84) Mask Margins Settings (see page 85) Mask Autoset Settings (see page 86) Mask Hit Count Statistics (see page 90)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Display Settings

Mask Edit Dialog Box (see page 87)

Mask Display Settings

This control enables or disables displaying the mask, and sets the mask display color. Access this control from Setup > Mask.

Mask. Click Mask to display the mask. Clear the check box to remove the mask from the screen.

Color. Selects the color of the displayed mask.

See Also:

Mask Source Settings (see page 83) Mask Margins Settings (see page 85) Mask Autoset Settings (see page 86) Mask Hit Count Statistics (see page 90) Mask E

dit Dialog Box

(see page 87)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Margins Settings

Mask Margins Settings

These controls enable or disable the mask margin parameter, and set the margin parameters. Access this control from Setup > Mask.

On. Use the On check box to turn the selected mask margins on and off.

Margin. Use the Margin percent control to set the percentage by which an existing set of mask polygons

will expand or shrink when mask margins are turned on. If you select a positive mask margin percentage, the polyg If you select a negative mask margin percentage, the polygon shrinks, making the mask test easier to pass due to the smaller area.

The margin limits are ±100%. If you enter a margin percentage that would cause the modiﬁed masks to either go off screen or cross one another, the entered value is not allowed, the last valid margin is restored, and a warning message is displayed.

on expands, making the mask test more difﬁcult to pass due to the expanded mask violation area.

See Also:

Mask Source Settings (see page 83) Mask Display Settings (see page 84)

Autoset Settings

Mask Mask Hit Count Statistics (see page 90) Mask Edit Dialog Box (see page 87)

(see page 86)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Autoset Settings

Mask Autoset Settings

These c ontrols set the mask autoset parameters. These controls are enabled only when you select a communications sta ndard. Access these controls from Setup > Mask.

Standards masks have standard autoset algorithms. When you display a standard mask (or even a mask derived from a standard mask), invoking Autoset performs an autoset algorithm speciﬁc to the mask standard.

Automat

Manual. When you set it to Auto, the instrument automatically performs a standard mask-speciﬁc autoset whenever you select a standard mask. When you set it to Manual, no autoset operation occurs unless you click the Autoset button.

Mean/Mode. You can also select the method used for determining the High and Low values when aligning

the in methods are:

ic/Manual. You can change autoset behavior by setting the Autoset control to either Auto or

put signal to the masks (all supported masks are based on NRZ signals). The behaviors of the

sets Mask Autoset to use the means of the histograms of the High level (topline) and Low level

Mean (baseline) within the existing ﬁxed eye aperture (center 20% of the eye) to align the input signal to the NRZ mask. Mean is the default setting.

Mode sets Mask Autoset to use the modes of the histograms o f the High level (topline) and Low level (baseline) across one unit interval of the eye diagram to align the input signal to the NRZ mask. This selection forces the Comm. Standard setting to USER.

See Also:

Mask Source Settings (see page 83) Mask Display Settings (see page 84) Mask Margins Settings (see page 85) Mask Hit Count Statistics (see page 90) Mask Edit Dialog Box (see page 87)

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Edit Dialog Box Overview

Mask Edit Dialog Box Overview

Use this dialog box to manually create and edit masks. Access these controls from Setup > Mask > Mask Edit.

Key Features:

Create masks from scratch

Use existing masks as a starting point

Set horizontal and vertical values for selected vertices

Add or delete mask polygons and vertices to masks to create custom

masks

Use the mouse cursor and right-click context menu to edit a mask on the

display (see page 88) (select a mask, add or delete vertices, and move

vertices)

xxx

Mask. Indicates or selects the current mask polygon. A mask test can have up to 8 mask polygons. To

create a new mask, select an undeﬁned mask and add vertices to the mask.

Vertex Number. Displays the selected vertex number of the current mask polygon. Use the ﬁeld controls,

or enter a value in the ﬁeld, to select a vertex. You can also use the mouse to select a mask vertex.

Horizontal. Displays the c urrent vertex horizontal position. Use the ﬁeld controls, or enter a value in the

ﬁeld, to deﬁne the horizontal position of the selected vertex.

Vertical. Displays the current vertex vertical position. Use the ﬁelds controls, or enter a value in the ﬁeld,

to deﬁne the vertical position of the selected vertex.

Add. Adds a vertex to the selected mask. Position the cursor at the location to insert the new vertex and

click Add.

Delete. Deletes the current vertex. You cannot undo this action. To delete a polygon, delete all the

vertices in the polygon.

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Controls-Speciﬁc Help Mask Usage Guidelines

NOTE. You cannot edit a mask remotely using GPIB commands.

See Also:

Mask Usage Guidelines (see page 88) Creating Use Mask Hit Count Statistics (see page 90)

r Masks (Mask Editing)

(see page 88)

On-Screen Mask Editing

Click on a mask polygon to select. Use the mouse to move vertices to quickly rough in the parameters. Use the right-click context menu to add or delete vertices. Then use the Mask Edit dialog box to reﬁne the vertex settings to meet your signal testing requirements.

Mask Usage Guidelines

GPIB and masks. You cannot edit masks through the programmable interface (GPIB). You can create

and/or delete entire masks through the interface.

Concurrent mask tests. Only one mask standard (or user deﬁned set) is active at any time. If you have

a ma sk selected/enabled and then select a new mask, the new mask replaces the previous mask. You cannot test to multiple standards simultaneously.

Saving masks. Masks are saved as part of instrument setup ﬁles, so you can save sets of masks by deﬁning

the masks and then storing the instrument setup. Displayed masks are overwritten when you recall a stored setup, select a standard mask, or initialize the instrument.

Importing masks. Use the File > Import Custom Mask dialog box to import a custom mask. Once

imported, the custom mask can be selected from the Communication Standard list. Contact Tektronix request a custom-designed mask for your testing needs.

Creating User Masks (Mask Editing)

Masks can be edited, in which case they become a User mask. Some tips on creating and using masks follow:

When editing, locate one point along the left edge or right edge of the mask further left or further right than any other point. You can still create straight lines along the edge; just place one point further left or right than the others on the edge.

) to

The vertices numbers increase according to their order from left to right. The instrument reassigns numbers to vertices during mask creation or editing to hold to this rule.

88 DSA8300 Printable Online Help

Tektronix DSA8300 Online Help

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Welcom e DSA8300 Online Help

DSA8300 Online Help

Related Documents

Analysis and Connectivity Support Overview

Get Analysis and Connectivity Software

Accessories, Options, and Software

Getting Started Getting Started Overview

Getting Started Overview

Instrument Operation

Theory of Operation

Signal Acquisition Process

User Interface Overview

Application Screen

Graticules

On-Screen Operations

Pop-Up Keyboard and Keypad

Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison

Channel Source Controls

Channel Select Controls

Vertical Controls

Timebase View Controls

Acquisition Controls

Horizontal (Timebase) Controls

Trigger Controls

Utility Controls

To Restore Default Instrument Setup

To Select and Display Waveforms

Data Acquisition Introduction

Acquire and Display a S ignal

Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview

Math Waveforms Overview

Waveform Database Overview

Waveform Measurement Introduction

Automatic Measurements

Cursors

Histograms

Masks

Optimize Measurement Accuracy

Acquisition Setup Dialog Box Overview

Acquisition Mode Settings

Acquisition Stop After Settings

Acquisition Stop Action Settings

Acquisition Background

Controls-Speciﬁc Help Acquisition Key Points

Acquisition Sampling Process

Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview

Cursor Function Settings

Cursor Background

Cursor Units

Display Setup Dialog Box Overview

Display Style Settings

Display Graticule Settings

Waveform Display Elements

Waveform Display Key Points

Customizing the Waveform Display

Waveform Display Persistence

Waveform Display Data Point Interpolation

Display Features

Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview

Histogram Source Settings

Histogram Display Options

Histogram Limit Controls

Histogram Background

Histogram Statistics

Horizontal Setup Dialog Box Overview

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview

Horizontal Timebase Select

Horizontal Scale Setting

Horizontal Position Setting

Horizontal Resolution Setting

Horizontal Record Length S etting

Horizontal Reference Setting

All Timebases Controls Overview

Timebase Comm Standard Setting

Timebase Units Setting

Display Scale Settings