Tektronix DSA8300 Online Help

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DSA8300

ZZZ

DigitalSerialAnalyzer

Printable Application Help

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DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer

ZZZ

Printable Application Help

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077-0569-04

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.

TEKTRONIX and TEK are registered trademarks of Tektronix, Inc.

FrameScan is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc.

TekVISA and TekProbe are trademarks of Tektronix, Inc.

Supports D SA8300 TekScope software starting at version 6.5.1.X

Contacting Tektronix

Tektronix, Inc. 14150 SW P. O . B ox 5 00 Beaverton, OR 97077 USA

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

In Nor Worldwide, visit www.tek.com to ﬁnd contacts in your area.

Karl Braun Drive

th America, call 1-800-833-9200.

Table of Contents

Welcome

Welcome to the 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 topics........................ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Instrument operation

Theory of operation......................... .................................. ................................ . 7

Signal acquisition process .................................................................................... 9

User interface overview

The DSA8300 user interface ............................ .................................. .................. 11

The DSA8300 main screen .................................................................................. 12

Graticules .............. .................................. ................................ ...................... 14

Touchscreen operations ................ ................................ ................................ ...... 15

Mouse and touchscreen operation comparison ............................................................ 15

Virtual keyboard and keypad overview ................................ ................................ .... 16

Removing or installing modules without powering down the mainframe.............................. 18

Front-Panel controls

Channel source controls...................... ................................ ................................ 19

Channel select controls....................................................................................... 19

Vertical controls............................................................................................... 20

Timebase view controls

Acquisition controls .......................................................................................... 21

Horizontal (Timebase) controls ............................................................................. 22

Trigger controls ............................................................................................... 23

Utility controls ................................ .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 24

Instrument settings overview ........ ................................ .................................. ...... 24

Restore default (Factory) instrument settings........................ ................................ ...... 25

Select and display waveforms ..................... ................................ .......................... 25

Acquire and display a signal

Data acquisition overview ............................. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 26

Acquire and display a signal..................................... ................................ ............ 26

Signal conditioning and scaling overview ................................................................. 28

Math waveforms overview .................................................................................. 29

Waveform database overview ............................................................................... 29

Table of Contents

........................ ................................ .............................. 21

DSA8300 Printable Application Help i

Table of Contents

Waveform measurements

Waveform measurement tools ........................... ................................ .................... 30

Automatic measurements .................................................................................... 30

Cursors................. .................................. ................................ ...................... 31

Histograms......................................... ................................ ............................ 33

Masks .......................................................................................................... 34

Optimize measurement accuracy............................................................................ 35

Controls-speciﬁchelp

Acquisition setup

Acquisition Setup dialog box overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Signal acquisition modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37

Acquisition stop after settings ........................................................... .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Acquisition stop action settings ............................................................................. 40

Acquisition background

Acquisition background ..................................... .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Acquisition key points............................................ . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Acquisition sampling process............................... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Cursor setup

Cursor setup dialog box overview .......................................................................... 45

Cursor function settings ............................ ................................ .......................... 46

Cursor 1 and 2 settings ............... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Cursor background ........................................................................................... 47

Cursor units........................ ................................ ................................ ............ 50

Display setup

Display setup dialog box overview ......................... ................................ ................ 50

Display style settings .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Display graticule settings .................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 53

Waveform display background

Waveform display elements....................... .................................. .................... 53

Waveform display key points....................... .................................. .................. 55

Display settings ................................................ .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Waveform display persistence ................ ................................ .......................... 60

Waveform display data point interpolation............................................................ 60

Display features .......................................................................................... 61

Histograms setup

Histograms setup dialog box overview......................................... ............................ 61

Histogram source settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Histogram display options ................................................................................... 63

Histogram limit controls ..................................................................................... 64

Histogram background ....................................................................................... 64

Histogram statistics. ................................ .................................. ........................ 66

ii DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Table of Contents

Horizontal setup

Horizontal setup dialog box overview...................................................................... 66

Timebase controls

Horizontal timebase controls overview................................................................ 67

Horizontal timebase selection .......................................................................... 68

Horizontal Scale control................................................................................. 69

Horizontal Position control ................... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 71

Horizontal Resolution control .............. .................................. .......................... 73

Horizontal record length control . ................................ .................................. .... 74

Horizontal reference point control ......................................... ............................ 75

All timebases controls

All timebases controls overview ........................... ................................ ............ 76

Timebase Comm Standard control ........... .................................. ........................ 76

Timebase Units control.................................................................................. 77

Display Scale control .................................................................................... 78

The Pattern Sync/FrameScan setup .................................................................... 79

The horizontal acquisition window overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Horizontal scale versus record length versus sample interval versus resolution........... ............ 81

Independent versus shared window......................................................................... 82

FrameScan

FrameScan overview .................................................................................... 82

FrameScan theory of operation....................... ................................ .................. 84

FrameScan enable and scan bits............................................ ............................ 86

Mask setup

Mask setup dialog box overview........................................ ................................ .... 86

Mask source controls ......................................................................................... 88

Mask display controls ........................................................................................ 89

Mask margins controls ......................... ................................ .............................. 90

Advanced Mask Setup dialog ............................. ................................ .................. 91

Autoﬁtmaskt

Autoﬁt mask to data overview.......................................................................... 93

Autoﬁt mask to data procedure......................................................................... 94

Mask Edit dialog box overview... ................................ ................................ .......... 95

Mask usage guidelines ... .................................. ................................ .................. 96

Mask editing guidelines .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Mask test readout ................................... ................................ .......................... 99

Measure setup

Measure setup dialog box overview ........................................................................ 99

Measurement parameter tabs

Measurement parameters tabs overview... ................................ .......................... 101

Measurement Source tab .............................................................................. 102

Measurement Region tab (pulse selected)....................... ................................ .... 104

odata

DSA8300 Printable Application Help iii

Table of Contents

Automatic measurements overview ...................................................................... 110

Automatic measurements guidelines ..................................................................... 110

Phase reference setup

Phase Reference setup dialog box overview............................................................. 112

Phase correction settings .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 115

Phase reference clock source settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 116

Phase reference setup process ............................................................................. 118

Phase reference background............................................................................... 119

Phase reference keys points................................ ................................ ................ 119

Phase reference caveats .................................................................................... 121

Phase reference characterization status................. ................................ .................. 122

TDR setup

TDR setup dialog box overview .......................................................................... 123

TDR preset settings................. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

TDR step settings ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 126

TDR acquisition settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

TDR step deskew settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

TDR turn off all steps settings............................................................................. 12

Advanced TDR setup....................................................................................... 129

Mode/Trigger setup

Mode/Trigger setup dialog box overview................................................................ 131

Trigger source settings ..................................................................................... 133

Scope Mode (Clock Trigger Source) ... ................................ .................................. 135

Clock recovery outputs................... .................................. ................................ 135

Pattern Sync

Advanced trigger setup controls ........ ................................ .................................. 141

Trigger holdoff reference guidelines................................ ................................ ...... 142

Trigger background..................................... .................................. .................. 143

Triggering key points......... ................................ ................................ .............. 143

Trigger sources and modes ...................... .................................. ........................ 145

Trigger process overview .................................................................................. 147

Vertical setup (basic)

Vertical setup (basic) dialog box overview .............................................................. 149

Measurement Region tab (RZ or NRZ selected) ... ................................ ................ 105

To set a measurement region (Gates) ................................................................ 106

Measurement Hi/Low tab ....................... ................................ ...................... 107

Measurement Reference Level tab................................................................... 108

To set a measurement ref level method................................ .............................. 109

/FrameScan

Pattern Sync/FrameScan setup dialog box .................................. ........................ 136

Pattern sync controls................................................................................... 137

AutoSync options .......................... ................................ ............................ 139

FrameScan controls.................................................................................... 140

iv DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Table of Contents

Waveform selector setting ... .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Vertical scale setting........................ .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Vertical position setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Vertical offset setting ..... .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 153

Vertical channel deskew and delay settings.............................................. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Channel deskew and channel delay overview ........................................................... 156

Vertical bandwidth, units settings ......................................................................... 157

Vertical external attenuation setting .............. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 158

Vertical DC cal setting ........................... .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 159

Vertical controls background .............................................................................. 160

How vertical position, scale, and offset affect acquisition and display ......................... . . . . . . 161

Vertical setting caveats ..................................................................................... 163

Vertical settings key points ................................................................................ 164

Vertical signal conditioning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 165

Vertical setup (optical signals)

Vertical setup (optical) dialog box overview .......................... .................................. 170

Optical waveform selector................................................................................. 171

Optical wavelength setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 172

Optical ﬁlter setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 172

Optical bandwidth .. ................................ .................................. ...................... 173

Optical compensation and calibration .................................................................... 173

Waveform database setup

Waveform database setup dialog b

Waveform database 1 - 4 Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 175

Waveform database persistence settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 176

Waveform database display options settings............................................................. 177

Waveform database background ........ ................................ ................................ .. 178

Waveform database caveats................................................................................ 180

Waveform database key points ............................................................................ 181

File and Edit

Clear References dialog box............................................................................... 181

Export dialog box........................................................................................... 181

Save Waveform dialog box .................. .................................. ............................ 183

Page Setup dialog box................ ................................ .................................. .... 184

Print dialog box ............................................................................................. 184

Save Setup dialog box................ ................................ .................................. .... 186

Recall Setup dialog box.... .................................. ................................ .............. 187

Save/Recall setups caveats................................................................................. 188

Save/Recall setups key points ............................................................................. 189

Save Waveform dialog box .................. .................................. ............................ 190

Recall Waveform dialog box .................................... .................................. ........ 191

menu functions overviews

Save/Recall waveforms background ................................................................. 191

ox overview ......................................................... 173

DSA8300 Printable Application Help v

Table of Contents

Saving a waveform as a reference waveform............................................................ 191

Deﬁne math waveforms

System and Utilities overviews

About dialog box...... ................................ ................................ ...................... 207

Autoset

Calibration

Compensatio

Diagnostics

Preferences dialog box

Deﬁne Math dialog box overview.................................................................... 191

Math waveform slot select ............................................................................ 192

Math expression ﬁeld.................................................................................. 193

Math functions ......................................................................................... 195

Math function deﬁnitions ............................................................................. 195

Math sources...................................... ................................ ...................... 197

Math keypad.......................... ................................ .................................. 198

Math syntax controls ................ .................................. ................................ 199

Math average, risetime, and mode ......................................... .......................... 200

Math measurement scalars ............................................................................ 201

Math expressions syntax ............ ................................ ................................ .. 202

Math waveforms background................... .................................. .................... 202

Math waveform caveats ............................... ................................ ................ 204

Math waveform key points............................................................................ 204

Math waveform operations ........................................................................... 206

Autoset properties dialog box .................... ................................ .................... 207

Autoset mode settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Autoset options settings ............................................................................... 209

Autoset TDR options settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Autoset notiﬁer windows.............................................................................. 210

Calibration dialog box overview ..................................................................... 211

Calibration readout ﬁelds ............................................................................. 212

Update calibration information......................... ................................ .............. 213

Compensation dialog box overview ................................................................. 213

Compensation readout ﬁelds........................ ................................ .................. 214

Compensation select action... ................................ .................................. ...... 216

Compensation targets............ ................................ .................................. .... 217

Compensation results storage..................... ................................ .................... 217

Execute compensation....... ................................ ................................ .......... 218

Compensation indicator button................... .................................. .................. 218

Diagnostics: Subsystem Level tab ....................................... ............................ 219

Diagnostics: Area Level tab .......................... .................................. .............. 221

Diagnostics: Test Level tab ........................................................................... 222

vi DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Preferences: General tab ........ ................................ ................................ ...... 223

Preferences: Start-up tab .............................................................................. 224

Preferences: GPIB Conﬁguration tab........................................ ........................ 226

Properties

System properties dialog box: Mainframe tab...................................................... 227

System properties dialog box: Modules tab....................................... .................. 228

System properties dialog box: Probes tab..................... ................................ ...... 229

System properties dialog box: Options tab.......................................................... 230

Waveform Properties dialog box ..................................................................... 231

Automatic measurements reference

Automatic measurements reference overview................................................................ 233

Pulse measurements

Pulse amplitude measurements.......... ................................ .................................. 233

Pulse timing measurements................................................................................ 238

Pulse area measurements..... ................................ ................................ .............. 241

Return-to-Zero (RZ) measurements

RZ amplitude measurements ...... ................................ .................................. ...... 242

RZ timing measurements .................................................................................. 252

RZ area measurements ..................................................................................... 256

Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) measurements

NRZ amplitude measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

NRZ timing measur

NRZ area measurements ....... .................................. ................................ .......... 270

Reference level parameters and calculation methods

Reference level calculation method- all sources ........................................................ 270

Pulse waveform measurement reference levels ....................... ................................ .. 271

RZ waveform measurement reference levels ...................... ................................ ...... 27

NRZ waveform measurement reference levels.......................................................... 275

High/Low level tracking algorithms........................................................................... 278

ements ................ ................................ ................................ 266

Table of Contents

User maintenance

Exterior cleaning................................................................................................. 281

Flat panel display cleaning ..................................................................................... 281

Optical connector cleaning ................................. ................................ .................... 282

Network operations

Connect to a network.................. .................................. ................................ ........ 283

Print a hard copy................................................................................................. 283

Save a waveform to a ﬁle....................................................................................... 284

Run other PC applications ................................ .................................. .................... 284

Microsoft Windows desktop guidelines....................................................................... 284

DSA8300 Printable Application Help vii

Table of Contents

Index

viii DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Welcome Welcome to the DSA8300 Online help

Welcome to the DSA8300 Online help

Welcome to the Tektronix DSA8300 Digital Serial Analyzer Online Help.

New to the DSA

Start with the Getting Started Topics (see page 7) for an overview of the instrument user interface, controls, and basic si

8300?

gnal acquisition and measurement operations.

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 have links to more in-depth information.

Lookin

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

g for something speciﬁc?

Need some extra help?

ucannotﬁnd the information that you are looking for in the online help, see if any of the Related

If yo

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 softw

Gather instrume nt data (waveforms, measurements) and e xport it to analysis tools such as Microsoft Excel, MathWorks MATLAB, and MathSoft 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.

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 established by the VXI plug&play Systems Alliance.

TekV ISA™ (see page 3)

are provided with this instrument to:

2 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 M icrosoft 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 for 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 t oolbar that is integrated into Excel, implemented using the TekVISA ActiveX Control (TVC) and the Visual BASIC for Applic ations (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 Analysis and Connectivity Software (see page 4)

DSA8300 Printable Application 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 c a n 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 an d 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 sections 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 Application Help

Welcome Accessories, options, and software

Installing the VXI plug & play 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 information about DSA8300 instrument options, standard options, optional accessories, application software, and product documentation.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 5

Welcome Accessories, options, and software

6 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Getting started topics

Getting started topics

The following topics introduce the instrument operation, user interface elements, front panel controls, and waveform operations.

Instrument operation

Theory of Op Signal Acquisition Process (see page 9)

eration

(see page 7)

User interface elements

User Interface Overview (see page 11) Application Screen (see page 12) Graticules (see page 14) Control from the Display (see page 15) Virtual

Keyboard and Keypad

(see page 16)

Front panel controls

Channel Source Controls (see page 19) Channel Select Controls (see page 19) Vertical Controls (see page 20) Timebase View Controls (see page 21) Signal Acquisition Controls (see page 21)

zontal (Timebase) Controls

Hori Trigger Controls (see page 23) Utility Controls (see page 24) Change Instrument Settings (see page 24) Restore Default Instrument Setup (see page 25)

(see page 22)

aveform operations

Select and Display Waveforms (see page 25)

cquire and Display a Signal

A Signal Conditioning and Scaling Overview (see page 28) Math Waveforms Overview (see page 29) Waveform Database Overview (see page 29) Waveform Measurement Tools (see page 30)

(see page 26)

Theory of operation

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

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 7

Getting started Theory of operation

The instrument contains ﬁve high-level subsystems or processes, embodying a v ariety 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 o n repetitive waveforms. Sampling modules determine the size of the vertical acquisition window for each channel.

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

Acquisition System. Sets vertical offset for t he 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 m odules 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.

8 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Signal acquisition process

Display, Input/Output, Storage Systems. Provides display control. Sets the vertical sc ale and position of the display, which controls how much of the v ertical 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 Application 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).

10 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started The DSA8300 user interface

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, where:

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 (channel) 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 processing continues as for step 8 below.

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

(see page 84) in the FrameScan Background topic for information on how FrameScan works.

(see page 41) produce. The process loops back to step 3 above to acquire additional records

8. The instrument stores the acquisition record in channel acquisition memory and makes it available for measurement of its parameters, display, output, and so on.

9. The instrument then checks for user-speciﬁed stop condition and either returns to its idle state or continues at step 3, according to what it ﬁnds.

The DSA8300 user interface

The following topics describe the DSA8300 user interface:

TheDSA8300MainScreen Graticules (see page 14) Touchscreen Operations (see page 15) Mouse and Touchscreen Operation Comparison (see page 15) Virtual Keyboard and Keypad (see page 16) Channel Source Controls (see page 19) Channel Select Controls (see page 19) Vertical Controls (see page 20) Timebase View Controls (see page 21) Signal Acquisition Controls (see page 21) Horizontal (Timebase) Controls (see page 22) Trigger Controls (see page 23) Utility Controls (see page 24) Change Instrument Settings (see page 24) Restore Default Instrument Setup (see page 25)

(see page 12)

The main w ays to interface with the DSA8300 instrument are:

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 11

Getting started The DSA8300 main screen

Front panel controls

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 key

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

board

mouse and keyboard as standard accessories.

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. Then touch the application user interface element on the screen to access or run that function.

Programmatic Interface

You can control the instrument remotely using appropriate connections and commands. See the DSA8300 Programmer Manual for information on connecting and remotely operating the DSA8300.

The DSA8300 main screen

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

12 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started The DSA8300 main screen

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

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

can po

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

6. Readouts: Displays individual waveform measurement readouts grouped by type (measurements, his and setup parameters.

7. Re

and so on). This function does not turn off the measurement associated with the selected readout type, only the display of that readout type.

8. Select Waveform and Instrument Settings: Quick access to select Channel, Math, and Reference waveforms, as well as instrument 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” for active waveforms. Select a handle to do various operations, such as drag to adjust the waveform vertical position.

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

sition the undocked readout window on a second monitor.

ents.

togram, waveform, cursor, mask, and so on). Right-click a readout to access readout display

adout Display On/Off: Toggles on or off the display of readout groups (measurement, waveform,

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 13

Getting started Graticules

10. Display: Shows live, reference, and math waveforms, as well as cursors, masks, and other elements 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 area.

Graticule

Use the Dis from which to select:

play dialog box (Setup > Disp) to customize your graticule. There are four types of graticules

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 combination 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

14 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Touchscreen operations

Touchscreen 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 gr

ound 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.

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 operations, you can use the touchscreen to perform mouse-related operations. The following table lists mouse/touchscreen operation equivalents.

Table 1: Comparison of mouse and touchscreen operations

Operation Using Mouse Using Touchscreen

Select waveforms

Operate toolbar and dialog box buttons

Display menus

Select menu and list items

Move cursors on screen, draw a zoom box

Open a context menu for a channel or measurement readout

Enteravalueinaﬁeld Click the keyboard icon associated with

Display a tool tip Position cursor on a main screen button

xxx

The instrument ships with two styluses. Using a stylus can make it easier to perform touchscreen operations.

Click object on screen Touch (tap) object on screen

Click and hold, move cursor

Right-click the item

the ﬁeld to open a virtual keyboard; click the keys to enter alphanumeric characters. Or use a keyboard if installed.

or readout

Touch and drag

Touch and hold (do not move stylus)

Touch the keyboard icon associated with the ﬁeld to open a virtual keyboard; touch the keys to enter alphanumeric characters.

Not available

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 15

Getting started Virtual keyboard and keypad overview

Virtual keyboard and keypad overview

A pop-up keyboard or keypad button opens an on-screen keyboard or keypad. The pop-up keyboard and keypa d let you enter data when a keyboard i s 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

Alphabetical keyboard

16 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Virtual keyboard and keypad overview

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 Application Help 17

Getting started Removing or installing modules without powering down the mainframe

Removing or installing modules without powering down the mainframe

The View/Change Module Conﬁguration function lets you remove, install, or move modules in the instrument without powering down the mainframe.

CAUTION. Ins software version 6.1.X or greater. For DSA8300 TekScope software versions earlier than 6.1.X, or all legacy instruments (CSA/DSA/TDS8000 series) always power off the mainframe to remove or install modules. Failure to do so may result in damage to the module or mainframe.

Download the latest DSA8300 software from www.tek.com/software.

CAUTION. Wear a grounded antistatic strap when removing and installing modules and cables connected to modules.

1. Select Utilities > View/Change Module Conﬁg to open the module conﬁguration dialog box.

2. Click all module slots that you want to change. This includes slots from which to remove a module

and slots in which to install a module. For example, to move a module from small slot CH1/CH2 to slot CH3/CH4

3. Click Start. The instrument notiﬁes you when you can remove or install a module.

4. Remove or install modules only from the selected slots.

5. Click Finish. The instrument notiﬁes you when the selected modules are ready to use.

6. Close the dialog box.

talling or changing modules when the instrument is powered on requires DSA8300 TekScope

, select both slots.

7. Select Utilities > Compensation and run a compensation on each channel of all newly installed modules. All newly installed modules require compensation, even if they were moved from one slot to another on the same instrument.

NOTE. If you install modules that are not at the instrument operating temperature, allow the modules to warm up for 20 minutes before taking critical measurements.

8. For 80E04, 80E07B, 80E08B, 80E09B, 80E10B, 80E11, 80E11X1 or 82A04B modules, select Applications > DiffChAlign and use the Differential Channel Alignment application to align or

verify t Help Contents and Index in the Differential Channel Alignment application.

18 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

he module acquisition and TDR strobe channel alignment. For more information, select Help >

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 19). 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.

xxx

Channel select controls

These buttons 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 19) 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 Application Help 19

Getting started Ve rtical 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.

xxx

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 adjus t 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.

20 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

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 a re 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 68) 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, Clear Data forces

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 21

Getting started Horizontal (Timebase) controls

Horizontal (Timebase) controls

Use these controls to set the instrument horizontal timebase parameters.

MENU displays the H orizontal 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

22 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 shows that the instrument is ready (waiting) to trigger.

TRIG'D show

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

s that the instrument has triggered on a waveform.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 23

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 25)

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

OGS displays the Setup dialog boxes.

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.

trument settings overview

Ins

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 o r 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 knob to scroll through available settings or increment numeric values. See Utility Controls

(see page 24).

24 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Restore default (Factory) instrument settings

Restore default (Factory) instrument settings

The following steps restore the instrument to its default (factory) settings. Restoring the instrument to a known state is useful when acquiring a new signal, or multiple people use the instrument, and you need to return the in

1. To quickly, push the DEFAULT SETUP front-panel button.

2. Click Ye s in the conﬁrmation dialog box.

After you complete a task using your instrument, you may want to initialize the settings before you apply 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.

strument to a known conﬁguration.

Select and display waveforms

From fro

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

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

2. Push

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

opens the Deﬁne Math dialog box or Recall Waveform dialog box.

nt panel controls

CH to display a live signal channel waveform

MATH to display a math waveform

REF to display a stored reference waveform

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

TE. If you have no math or reference waveforms deﬁned when you push MATH or REF, the instrument

From Setup dialog box controls

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

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

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 25

Getting started Data acquisition overview

From the Waveform Display area

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).

xxx

Data acquisition overview

Before you can take signal measurements you must set the instrument 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:

Acquir

e and Display a Signal Signal Conditioning and Scaling (see page 28) Trigger Background (see page 143) Mode/Trigger Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 131) Math Waveforms Overview (see page 29) Waveform Databases Overview (see page 29)

form Measurement Introduction

Wave

(see page 26)

Acquire and display a signal

The following procedure describes the basic steps to acquire and display a signal. Your signal type may

quire additional or different settings.

1. Connect the device under test (DUT) signals to the sampling modules.

(see page 30)

26 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

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. 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.

3. Push the front panel CH button.

4. 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

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

6. 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.

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

8. 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

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

Adv

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

splays the waveform.

: The signal source is off.

See also:

Data Acquisition Overview (see page 26) Signal Conditioning and Scaling (see page 28) Trigger Background (see page 143) Mode/Trigger Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 131) Math Waveforms Overview (see page 29) Waveform Databases Overview (see page 29) Waveform Measurement Tools (see page 30)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 27

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.

Use the front-panel VE RTICAL knobs to adjust the selected waveform vertical size, offset, and screen position.

Use the front-panel HORIZONTAL knobs to adjust the horizontal size, resolution, and screen position of all waveforms.

Push the Vertical or Horizontal front-panel MENU buttons to open the setup dialog boxes for those functions.

To ensure 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 vertical acquisition window up or down on the signal to capture the part y ou want. The center of the module analog input dynamic range is shown by the channel waveform handle in the waveform handle region to the l around the waveform handle and then use vertical position control to graphically move the waveform up and down in the graticule.

eft of the graticule. For best results, use the vertical offset control to center the waveform

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 a trigger to capture the waveform part you want. To increase or decrease the resolution between sample points, change the record length.

See also:

ta Acquisition Introduction

Da Acquire and Display a Signal (see page 26) Vertical Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 149) Horizontal Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 66)

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

(see page 26)

28 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

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 (including channel, waveforms, reference waveforms, measurem much like you can the channel and reference waveforms.

See also:

Deﬁne Math Dialog Box Overview (see page 191) Math Waveforms Background (see page 202)

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 section in the DSA8300 Programmer Manual (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

Data Acquisition Introduction

(see page 26)

Waveform database overview

Use waveform databases to store 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 178) Wfm Database Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 173)

The Waveform Database Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmer Manual (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

Data Acquisition Introduction

(see page 26)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 29

Getting started Waveform measurement tools

Waveform measurement tools

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

Automatic Measurements (see page 30)

Cursors (see page 31)

Histograms (see page 33)

Masks (see page 34)

Optimize Measurement Accuracy (see page 35)

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 d rop 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 30) 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 measurements.

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 “???”.

30 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 110) Measure Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 99) Automatic Measurements Reference Overview (see page 233)

The Measurement Command Group section in the DSA8300 Programmer Manual (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). Note that the two cursors may have different sources and therefore can have different volts/div settings.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 31

Getting started Cursors

Vertical curs

seconds or bits or distance in m eters, feet, or inches). Each cursor measures with respect to:

t1 = Time or distance at Cursor 1 with respect to the trigger

point

t2 = Time or di

point

Δt = Time or distance at Cursor 2 - Time or distance at

Cursor 1

Time is divi trigger point times the source time/div. Note that the two cursors may have different sources and, therefore, can have different time base (

Waveform c

cursor is, in effect, both a vertical and horizontal cursor. As you set the horizontal position of each cursor, it measures the time with corresponding waveform point. You cannot move these cursors off the waveform.

Note tha therefore, can have different vertical and horizontal scale settings.

ors measure horizontal displacement (time in

stance at Cursor 2 with respect to the trigger

sions of displacement of the cursor from its source

Main, Mag1, Mag2) settings.

ursors measure both amplitude and time. Each

respect to the trigger point and the vertical level of the

t each cursor can have a different source, and,

xxx

Enable cursors

If cursors are off, ﬁrst select (see page 30) 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

ee times for waveform cursors

Thr

NOTE. You cannot use waveform cursors on displayed waveform database signals.

e the General-Purpose knob to adjust the cursors and the SELECT button to toggle control between the

Us cursors. (You can also use the mouse to adjust the cursors.) Examine the cursor readout for measurement results.

32 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Getting started Histograms

See also:

Cursor Background (see page 47) Cursor Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 45)

The Cursor Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmer Manual (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 ( time.

voltage, watts, ohms, or rho) and horizontal (time, distance, or bits) histograms, but only one at a

You can u s 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 al

Histogram Background (see page 64) Histo

The Histogram Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmer Manual (accessed from the

rument Help menu).

inst

e the controls in the Histogram Setup dialog box to completely specify the histogram box on

so:

grams Setup Dialog Box Overview

(see page 61)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 33

Getting started Masks

Masks

Use mask testing to test your w aveforms for time or amplitude violations. Mask testing detects waveform samples that occur within a speciﬁc area of 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 m

See also:

Mask Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 86) Mask Edit Dialog Box (see page 95)

The Masks Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmer Manual (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

ask test, read the information sources below.

34 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

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 compensation data that is 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 slot 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 “warm-up” status until the 20-minute warm-up time has elapsed. At that time, if the temperature at which the last co displays okay (or Pass).

You mu

You can set the instrument to display the Compensation Indicator Button on screen, which tells you w warming up.

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

mpensation was performed is within limits of the current operating temperature, the status

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

hen the instrument or its modules require calibration and/or compensation, or when they are

See also:

System Compensation Dialog Box Overview (see page 213)

The Compensation Command Group sectionintheDSA8300 Programmer Manual (accessed from the instrument Help menu)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 35

Getting started Optimize measurement accuracy

36 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 37) Acquisition Stop After Settings (see page 38) Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 40)

Signal acquisition modes

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

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 37

Controls-speciﬁc help Acquisition stop after settings

The selected acquisition mode applies globally to all channels; for example, you cannot set channel 1 to Sample mode

Sample: No post processing of acquired samples. Use Sample mode to see the signal in its purest form with n

Aver age: The instrument processes the number of waveforms you specify into the acquired waveform, creating running average of the n most recently completed waveform acquisitions, where you specify n. Use Average mode to reduce the uncorrelated noise and jitter in the signal to reveal fundamental waveform behavior.

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 cannot select this mode if FrameScan is enabled (Setup > Mode/Trigger > Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup). Use Envelope mode to show the variation of waveform extremes over time.

andchannel2toAveragemode.

o post processing.

a running exponential average of the input signal. The instrument displays a point-wise

To average or envelope an individual waveform, use the Average or Min and Max functions to create a math waveform speciﬁc to the waveform you want to average or envelop. Click here

information on creating math waveforms.

See also:

Acquisition Stop After Settings (see page 38) Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 40)

Acquisition stop after settings

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

(see page 191) to ﬁnd

38 DSA8300 Printable Application 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

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

Average Complete: Sets the instrument to stop acquisition after the speciﬁed number of waveform

s to be averaged is acquired.

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

am source waveforms is acquired.

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

its (that is, non-null samples) in the histogram region. This is a ≥ condition.

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

uired of the Mask source waveform.

is acq

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. This is a ≥ condition.

non-n

Mask UI Samples: Sets the instrument to stop after a speciﬁed number of valid (that is non-null)

form samples of the Mask source waveform are acquired within the mask test unit interval.

wave This is a ≥ condition.

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

Mas

in mask number (n). This is a ≥ condition.

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

hits occurs in all masks combined. This is a ≥ condition.

rameScan Cycle: Sets the instrument to stop after it has acquired the number of bits speciﬁed in

the Scan Bits control in the FrameScan se ction of the Horizontal Setup dialog box (that is, stop after one FrameScan cycle).

Histogram hits, Mask Samples, Mask UI Samples, 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 samples or hits will not necessarily match your requested number of samples or hits, as the acquisition will stop when the number of samples or hits is greater than the number speciﬁed.

See also:

Acquisition Stop Action Settings (see page 40)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 39

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 instrument takes the selected action only when the Stop After condition is met or when you stop the acquisition by pressing the RUN/STOP control or front-panel button. It does not take action when acquisition stops due to other factors, such as loss of a trigger.

The Stop After actions are:

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

Print screen to ﬁle:Printsthescreenimageasabitmap(.BMP)ﬁle to a speciﬁed ﬁle location.

Enter 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.

Do Mask Autoseek: Performs an Autoseek Margin operation. This Stop After action is only enabled

if mask testing is enabled, the mask test uses a Waveform Database, and the Mask Margin mode is Hit Ratio or Total Hits.

Ring Bell: Sets the instrument to emit a tone (beep) when the Stop After action completes. You must connect a speaker to the Line Out connector on the back of the instrument to hear the tone.

cquisition background

se the acquisition features to optimize and tailor the acquisition of your waveforms. The acquisition

U 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.

40 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Acquisition key points

Acquisitio

n modes include:

Stop After o ptions: You can set the condition upon which acquisition stops, such as after several acquisiti instrument save waveforms, do a mask margin autoseek, or print the screen to a ﬁle or printer.

FrameSca

suitable for acquiring and analyzing repetitive patterns that are contained within a repeating data frame. See FrameScan Overview

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

ons or a speciﬁed number of mask hits. You can set the Stop After action to have the

n acquisition: You can change the normal acquisition cycle to produce a waveform record

See also:

Acquisition Key Points (see page 41) Acquisition Sampling Process (see page 43)

Acquisition key points

Consider the acquisition mode that you want to use to acquire data:

(see page 82)for more information on FrameScan acquisitions.

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

Aver a ge: the instrument proc esses the number of waveforms you specify into the acquired waveform,

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 envelope 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:

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 41

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

rom t he 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 acquisition starts when a valid trigger occurs. If toggled to Stop, acquisition stops immediately.

button, which is available on the front panel or in the application toolbar. If toggled to Run,

Conditi

on: 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 cannot stop channel 8 from acquiring (if turned on) while other channels continue to acquire. Unlike 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 b ases.

Preventing aliasing

er certain conditions, a waveform may be aliased on screen. When a waveform aliases, it appears on

Und screen with a frequency lower than that of the input signal or it appears unstable e ven 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.

42 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Acquisition sampling process

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 of 500 MHz woul accurately and to avoid aliasing.

d need to be sampled with a sample interval less than 1 nanosecond to represent it

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 produces a stream of digital data from which you can extract waveform records. See Vertical controls background

page 160) for a discussion of waveform scaling, positioning, and DC offsetting of channels.

Acquisition hardware

(see

Sampling

Acquisition is the process of sampling an analog input signal of an input channel, converting it into digital data, and assembling it into a waveform record, which is then stored in acquisition memory. Sampling, 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 Application Help 43

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. A ll 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 71) )

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.

44 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 m ode 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

See also:

Cursor function settings (see page 46) Cursor 1 and 2 settings (see page 47)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 45

Controls-speciﬁc help Cursor function settings

Cursor background (see page 47)

Cursor function settings

Thesecontrolssetthetypeofcursortousefortaking measurements. Access these controls in the Setup >Cursordialog box.

Available cursor types are:

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

Vertical Bars : Displays vertical bar cursors, which provide traditional horizontal unit readouts for

Cursor 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:

rsor 1 and 2 settings

Cu Cursor background (see page 47)

(see page 47)

46 DSA8300 Printable Application 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 can also use the mouse to select and move the cursors.

setting when this dialog box is the focus and no other setup dialog boxes are displayed. You

Color: Selects a co lor for the cursors.

See also:

Cursor function settings (see page 46) Cursor background (see page 47) Cursor units (see page 50)

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. Cursors can measure channel, reference, and math wavefo

Cursor guidelines:

Set the source of each cursor (which waveform it is measuring) in the Cursor Setup dialog box.

The cursor selected for adjustment is the solid cursor.

You cannot move a cursor off screen; they are limited to the edges of the display screen.

Vertical and horizontal cursors do not track the waveform when you change the horizontal scale, vertical scale, signal position or vertical offset. However, waveform cursors track the waveform point vertically; they work differently than vertical and horizontal cursors.

rms.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 47

Controls-speciﬁc help Cursor background

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 waveform. Up to the time that you turn cursors on, you can select a waveform on screen to useitasthes

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

ource for the cursors.

change the source while cursors are on, you must change the source in the Cursors

When curso waveform. Up to the time that you turn cursors on, you can select a waveform on screen to use it as the source for the cursors.

Turning cursors off restores the default cursor source assignment so that assignment again tracks the selected waveform.

Cursors can measure between 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 100 mV/div, so the cursor readout v1 measures C3 relative to its ground as 3 divisions x 100 mV/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 20 mV/div, or about 60 mv.

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 Δt is calculated as t2 -

, a utomatically accounting for any differenceinthetimebaseofeachcursorsource.

rs are ﬁrst turned on, the instrument automatically assigns them to the selected

If a cursor readout does not seem correct, check the source of each cursor in the Cursor Setup dialog

ox. Each 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 following ﬁgure shows this relationship, indicating the components determining time cursor readout values.

48 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Cursor background

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 the time to ﬁrst point, a 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 are true:

nd subtracting this value from the cursor readout yields the cursor position on screen relative to ﬁrst

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 46) Cursor units (see page 50)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 49

Controls-speciﬁchelp 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, i nches

ts, seconds, bits, ohms, rho,

See also:

Cursor function settings (see page 46) Cursor Background (see page 47)

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)

50 DSA8300 Printable Application 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

See also:

Display style settings (see page 51) Display graticule settings (see page 53)

Set graticule

characteristics (style, background color, and foreground color)

Display style settings

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

The selected display mode 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 Application Help 51

Controls-speciﬁc help Display style settings

The display modes are:

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

Variable Persistence: Sets the instrument to accumula te 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.

Inﬁnite Persistence: Sets the instrument to accumulate and continue displaying indeﬁnitely all samples it collects for each waveform over time. Sample points are not removed until you reset the

sition in any way (including using the Clear Data front-panel control, dragging a waveform to a

acqui new position, or changing its vertical position), or you 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 s election, you can set the instrument to interpolate. With interpolation on and acquisition record lengths < 1000 points, the instrument increases the sample density on the waveforms it displays by calculating intermediate points between 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.

52 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Display graticule settings

See also:

Display graticule settings (see page 53)

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.

The grat

NOTE

cursor, or other on-screen element will mask (hide) the display of that element.

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

icule settings are:

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

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

for eas

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

. Choosing a background color that matches the color of a waveform or any on-screen readout,

eground: Selects the graticule foreground color. The default color is silver.

For

See also:

Display style settings (see page 51)

Waveform display elements

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

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 53

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: The 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: Shows the point around which channel waveforms expand and contract

horizontally on screen as you change the Horizontal Scale control.

6. Preview: A label that displays 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 re presentation 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.

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

See also:

Display features (see page 61) Mouse and touchscreen operation comparison (see page 15) Waveform display key points (see page 55) Display settings (see page 59)

54 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Waveform display key points

Waveform display persistence (see page 60)

Waveform display key points

Waveform display

In general, the method of displaying a waveform is to deﬁne the waveform, and then turn it on.

Operation

s 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 following tables summarize the control operations you can perform for the three waveform control paramet

ers.

Table 2: Vertical controls

Control CH MATH REF Notes

Vertical Scale

Vertical Position Yes Yes Yes

Vertical Offset

xxx

Yes Yes Yes

Yes No No

The vertical controls adjust the selected waveform.

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

Table 3: Horizontal controls

Control CH MATH REF Notes

Horizontal Scale

Horizontal Position Yes No No

Horizontal Resolution Yes No No

xx x

Yes No No

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

Math waveforms are not adjusted because their horizontal parameters are derived from their source(s).

Reference waveforms are not adjusted because they have ﬁxed horizontal parameters determined at the time the waveform was saved.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 55

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

ion

ontal scale

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 graticule.

, if selected from the Measurements

source.

2 timebase graticules and clicking on

Graticules

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 time base displayed.

(see page 53) of the time base graticules are the same for each

Using mu

ltiple views

The methods of displaying (turning on) and selecting a ny 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

ive (selects it for adjustment).

it act

Select among displayed views: Push any time base view button to make it the active , selected time

. The button of the selected view is always lit amber.

base

Turn off the selected Mag view: Once selected, Push the Mag1 or Mag2 button to turn off the time

e. The Main time base becomes the selected time base.

bas

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.

56 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Waveform display key points

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 base are displayed ﬁt-to-screen; that is, within the full 10 horizontal divisions that the graticule provides.

Waveform operations that cross time base views

Unlike the h

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 disp

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

orizontal controls just described, some controls apply to all time base v iews:

lays on screen with C1 selected

Displaycontrolsversus acquisition controls

For cha acquisition parameters and affect the display. See the following descriptions for more information about acquisition:

nnel waveforms, the vertical offset control and the horizontal controls adjust the instrument

Vertical Acquisition Window Considerations (see page 165)

orizontal Acquisition Window

The H

(see page 79)

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.

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

ch 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 h orizontal position that is set and read 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).

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 57

Controls-speciﬁc help Waveform display key points

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.

Horizont

You can specify the time values in seconds, bits or distance from the Horizontal Setup dialog box. When you sele 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 the se other two controls are useful when doing TDR measurements and testing. You may want to turn on distance units and set the dielectric constant or propagation velocity when making such measurements. The formula is:

D=VpT

where:

Ve Constant is the relative effective dielectric constant of the propagation media.

al units

ct Bits or Distance as the timebase units, the timebase scale and position controls and the readouts

Vp = propagation velocity

T = Co/Square root of Dielectric Constant

locity of propagation (Vp) is a measure of how fast a signal travels in that transmission line. Dielectric

58 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Display settings

Display settings

Use the display customizing functions 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

Hide / Show Waveform Right-click on waveform (or waveform

Cursor color Setup > Cursors Select colors for cursors

Graticule color Setup > Graticule Select colors for graticules

Histogram color

Mask color

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

Setup > Display Normal, Inﬁnite, Variable

Setup > Display Enable/Disable drawing vectors (lines)

between sample points

Create a label for the selected waveform

Right-click a waveform (or the waveform handle) > Properties

Select colors for waveforms

Right-click on waveform (or the waveform handle) > Properties

Select (or unselect) Show to display

handle) > Properties

(or hide) the selected waveform in the current graticule (Main, Mag1 or Mag2)

Setup > Histogram Select colors for histograms

Setup > Mask Tests Select colors for masks

based on frequency of occurrence

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 59

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: Accumulates the waveform-record points on screen and displays them for aspeciﬁc time interval. The oldest waveform data continuously fades from the display as new waveform records acquire.

Inﬁnite Persistence: 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 acquire.

ading.

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

See als

Waveform Display Data Point Interpolation (see page 60)

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 a ffects the display only; mask testing, histograms, and automatic

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

mea

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

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

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

Linear interpolation: Calculates 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 60)

60 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

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 be displayed simultaneously, each with it Main is a d ifferent waveform than C1 in Mag1 or Mag2).

upport complete setup of all the display parameters.

s o wn time base. Live waveforms are acquired independently in each time base (C1 in

All displa

appear in Mag1 and Mag2 if you display those views. Reference 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. You can hide individual waveforms in a time base view by right-clicking on the waveform or waveform handle in that view and clearing the “show” ﬁeld. Similarly, you can un-hide a hidden signal in any time base view by right-clicking on a waveform handle i

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

Preview mode: The instrument automatically uses a preview display when control changes initiate reacq 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 are shown in all v iews: If C1 and M1 are displayed in Main, they also

n that view and selecting the “show” ﬁeld.

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

uisition of waveform data. A preview display shows how the waveforms will look when

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.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 61

Controls-speciﬁc help Histogram source settings

Key features:

xxx

See also:

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 w aveform

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 statistics (see page 66) Histogram source settings (see page 62) Histogram display options (see page 63) Histogram limit controls (see page 64)

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.

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

Enable Histogram: Displays the histogram.

62 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Histogram display options

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 w aveform database (check box selected).

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

NOTE. 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.

See also:

Histogram display options (see page 63) Histogram limit controls (see page 64) Histogram statistics (see page 66)

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: Selects a color for the displayed histogram data and boundary area.

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

Histogram source settings (see page 62) Histogram limit controls (see page 64) Histogram statistics (see page 66)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 63

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 s e 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 do 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 63) Histogram statistics (see page 66)

Histogram background

(see page 62)

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.

64 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Histogram background

Histogram key features

Flexible histogram editing: You can use the controls in Hist Setup dialog box to c ompletely specify the histogram box on the waveform, in waveform units or as a percent of the graticule. For quick edits, you can use can use the mouse or touchscreen to drag to resize and reposition the box directly on the screen.

Use any waveform as a source: You can acquire Histograms from all channel, math, and reference waveforms. If the waveform selected as the source for the histogram has an associated waveform database, the histogram take measurements using the waveform database.

Continuous operation: The histogram that you set up can run, and its results can be displayed even if you turn off the display of the histogram or of the waveform selected as its source. Histogram data

ntinuously accumulated and displayed until you explicitly turn it off or clear the waveform

is co data of the histogram source.

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

One

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

stogram 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.

Histogram size: The maximum vertical histogram size is 400 bins. The maximum horizontal size is 1000 bins.

Recalling setups: The histogram state is restored to what it was when t he setup was saved.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 65

Controls-speciﬁc help Histogram statistics

See also:

Histogram statistics (see page 66) Histograms Setup dialog box overview (see page 61)

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

#Wfms The number of waveforms that have contributed to the histogram

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

The number of hits within and on the histogram box.

The percentage of points in the histogram that are within 1 standard deviation of the histogram 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 mean.

The number of points in the largest bin of the histogram.

Histogram Background (see page 64) Histograms Setup Dialog Box Overview (see page 61)

Horizontal setup dialog box overview

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

66 DSA8300 Printable Application 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

Select horizo

Set bit rate m

Select and se

xxx

ntal units to apply globally to all timebases

anually or automatically to a standard communication rate

t up Pattern Sync and FrameScan acquisition parameters

See also:

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview (see page 67) All Time

basesControlsOverview

(see page 76)

Horizontal timebase controls overview

Key Features:

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

and horizontal reference parameters

xxx

See also:

Horizontal Timebase sele ction (see page 68) Horizontal Scale Control (see page 69) Horizontal Position Control (see page 71)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 67

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal timebase selection

Horizontal Resolution Control (see page 73) Horizontal Record Length Control (see page 74) Horizontal Re

ference Point Control

(see page 75)

Horizontal timebase selection

This control selects the measurement timebase 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. The y 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 68)

(see

Acquisition window

This window deﬁnes what data is included from the input signal to form a waveform record. The vertical offset sets the 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 a llowed, 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.

68 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal Scale control

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 and 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 settings 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 67)

rizontal Scale Control

Ho Horizontal Position Control (see page 71) Horizontal Resolution Control (see page 73) Horizontal Record Length Control (see page 74) Horizontal Reference Point Control (see page 75)

(see page 69)

Horizontal Scale control

Use this control to set the horizontal scale for the selected timebase. Access this control from the Horizontal MENU front panel button or from Setup > Horizontal.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 69

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal Scale control

TIP. Yo u c an 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 views 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, derive d 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 time bases with the horizontal scale 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.

70 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal Position control

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 71) for calculations for bit units.

See also:

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview (see page 67) Horizontal Timebase sele ction (se Horizontal Position Control (see page 71) Horizontal Resolution Control (see page 73) Horizontal Record Length Control (see page 74) Horizontal Reference Point Control (see page 75)

epage

68)

Horizontal Position control

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 refere nce for that timebase.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 71

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal Position control

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 19 ns. 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 setto19ns+ 80E09B, and 80E10B 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 80E07B, 80E08B,

Position calculations

here

Click

(see page 71) for position calculations for bit units.

See also:

Horizontal Timebase Controls Overview (see page 67) Horizontal Timebase Selection (see page 68) Horizontal Scale Control (see page 69) Horizontal Resolution Control (see page 73) Horizontal Record Length Control (see page 74)

rizontal Reference Point Control

(see page 75)

72 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal Resolution control

Horizontal Resolution control

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 67) Horizontal Timebase Selection (see page 68) Horizontal Scale Control (see page 69) Horizontal Position Control (see page 71)

zontal Record Length Control

Hori Horizontal Reference Point Control (see page 75)

(see page 74)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 73

Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal record length control

Horizontal record length control

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 point control

This control sets the horizontal reference point for the selected timebase in terms of percentage o f 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 67) Horizontal timebase selection (see page 68) Horizontal Scale Control (see page 69)

ontal Position Control

Horiz Horizontal Resolution Control (see page 73) Horizontal Record Length Control (see page 74)

(see page 71)

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 75

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 constant)

Set PattenSync and FrameScan parameters

xxx

See also:

Timebase Comm Standard Control (see page 76) Timebase Units Control (see page 77) Display Scale Control (see page 78) Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 79)

Timebase Comm Standard control

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.

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 ﬁ eld label to User.

76 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help Timebase Units control

See also:

All Timebases Controls Overview (see page 76) Timebase Units Control. (see page 77) Display Scale Control (see page 78) Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 79)

Timebase Units control

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 positio measurement results will be in the speciﬁed units.

n controls will use the units speciﬁed by this control. In addition, all

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

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 77

Controls-speciﬁc help Display Scale control

either the dielectric constant of the device under test or its propagation velocity (each varies with the other). TDR measurements frequently use distance units.

See also:

All Timebase Timebase Comm Standard Setting. (see page 76) Display Scale Settings (see page 78) Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 79)

s Controls Overview

Display Scale control

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.

(see page 76)

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.

also:

See

All Timebases Controls Overview (see page 76)

mebase Comm Standard Control

Ti Timebase Units Control (see page 77) Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup (see page 79)

(see page 76)

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Controls-speciﬁc help The Pattern Sync/FrameScan setup

The Pattern Sync/FrameScan setup

The Pattern Sync/FrameScan 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 pa

nel button or from Setup > Horizontal > Pattern Sync/FrameScan.

See also:

Pattern Sync/FrameScan Setup Dialog Box (see page 136) FrameScan Overview (see page 82)

The horizontal acquisition window overview

You d e ﬁne 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

Waveform Record

window that is applied to all channels in parallel. (See Independent versus Shared Window These parameters are:

(see page 44). These common parameters specify a common horizontal acquisition

(see page 82).)

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

eform, allowing you to scale it to contain a waveform edge, a cycle, or several cycles.

wav

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 79

Controls-speciﬁc help The horizontal acquisition window overview

Horizontal acquisition window deﬁnition

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 Horizontal Reference to indirectly set the time to the ﬁrst sampled point.

See als

Horizontal Scale Versus Record Length Versus Sample Interval Versus Resolution (see page 81) Horiz Horizontal Reference Point Control (see page 75)

ontal Position Control

(see page 71)

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Controls-speciﬁc help Horizontal scale versus record length versus sample interval versus resolution

Horizontal scale versus record length versus sample interval versus resolution

These parameters a ll 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 By also setting a record length in samples, you indirectly set the resolution/sample interval/sample rate 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)

2. Time Duration (seconds) = Sample Interval (seconds/sample) x Record Length (samples), where:

Time Duration is the horizontal acquisition window time duration

3. Sample Interval (seconds/sample) = Resolution (seconds/sample) = 1/Effective Sample Rate (samples/seconds)

In (2) above, note that it is Sample Interval that varies indirectly to accommodate the window time duration (and its scale setting) and the Record Length setting as these later two elements are user settable.

of the horizontal acquisition window (10 divs x the scale setting) as described in (1) below.

If Record Length or Time Duration vary, Sample Interval varies to accommodate, up to the highest sample rate/lowest sample interval/highest resolution.

You cannot directly set resolution and the equivalent elements (sample interval and effective sample rate (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).

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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 words, one trigger, from a single trigger source, will locate a common horizontal acquisition window on all active channels, which you can shift by setting the 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, and 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 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.

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Controls-speciﬁc help FrameScan overview

FrameScan acquisition mode offers the following advantages:

Superior 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 f

or pattern-dependent failures.

Flexible setup support: Set bit rates manually or set a bit rate based on a communication standard. Then se you have set an 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 acquisition, 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 pa (correlated) eye diagram and to do mask testing on the signal (see preceding ﬁgure).

Th acquisition mode.

F requires the ADVTRIG Advanced Triggers with Pattern Sync option. However, it may also be used in the other scope modes (Eye and Other) to acquire multiple phases of a data pattern when using subdivided clocks.

Determine scan b its: You need to know the total number of bits for the desired FrameScan cycle and the appropriate horizontal scale.

t the horizontal scale manually or invoke a custom autoset: Bit/Eye-Pattern Autoset, if

ttern one bit at a time, it is possible to overlay all of the bits in the pattern to construct an averaged

e instrument must be in Average or Sample acquisition modes; FrameScan excludes Envelope

rameScan is most useful when used with the Pattern scope mode (Clock trigger source), which

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 83

Controls-speciﬁc help FrameScan theory of operation

See also:

FrameScan Theory of Operation (see page 84)

FrameScan Enable and Scan Bits (see page 86)

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 m ask 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.

84 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Controls-speciﬁc help FrameScan theory of operation

FrameScan a cquisition example

NOTE. Δh is the horizontal position change = one bit period (1/bit rate).

The acquisition duration 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

Use these controls to enable FrameScan mode and set the scan bit value. Access this control from Setup > Horizontal > Pattern Sync/FrameScan.

Enabled: Enables or disables FrameScan. Scanning st arts 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 (2

Reset: Restart FrameScan 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 dat a, see FrameScan Theory of Operation

FrameScan displays bit 0 of the data s t ream 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 Stop 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 40)

Mask setup dialog box overview

(see page 84).

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 87)

Enable/disable waveform database

Enable/disable mask testing (see page 87) display and color

Set up and determinemask margin testing (see page 88)

Autoseek Margin (see page 88)

Autoset Data to Mask (see page 88)

Autoﬁt Mask to Data (see page 88)

Set advanced mask parameters (see page 88)

Create or edit (see page 88) amask

xxx

See also:

Mask Source Controls (see page 88) Mask Display Controls (see page 89) Mask Margin Controls (see page 90) Advanc

ed Mask Setup Dialog

(see page 91) Autoﬁt Mask to Data Overview (see page 93) Mask Edit Dialog Box Overview (see page 95)

Mask testing communication standards

This instrument includes many industry-standard masks to support common electrical and optical communication physical layer standards.

Mask testing

A m ask 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 polygon areas are called 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.

DSA8300 Printable Application Help 87

Controls-speciﬁc help Mask source c ontrols

Mask margin testing

Mask margin testing lets you reduce or expand an existing set of polygons (manually or automatically) to determine the mask test margin (percentage) of the acquired signal. You can also use the Mask Margins types to automatically scale masks based on a target hit ratio or total hits value.

Autoset Data to Mask

Autoset Data to Mask changes the acquisition c ontrol parameters (vertical and horizontal scale, position and offset) to align the waveform data to the selected mask.

Autoﬁt Mask to Data

AutoﬁtMasktoDataalignsthemasktoﬁt the acquired d ata for the selected waveform database.

Advanced Mask Setup

Click the Advanced Mask Setup dialog to set parameters associated with the Autoset Data to Mask operation, including the autoset method (Automatic or Manual) and the Hi/Low Method.

Mask Edit dialog box

Click the Mask Edit button to modify a mask or create your own custom mask, either from scratch or by using a standard mask as a starting point.

Autoseek Margin

Autoseek Margin implicitly performs an Autoﬁt Mask to Data operation, followed by an automatic adjustment of the mask margin in order to meet the selected Hit Ratio or Total Hits criteria.

Mask source controls

These controls set the source waveform for mask testing, enables mask counts, selects a communication standard, and turns the use of waveform databases on and off. Access this control from Setup > Mask.

88 DSA8300 Printable Application Help

Tektronix DSA8300 Online Help

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Welcome Welcome to the DSA8300 Online help

Welcome to the DSA8300 Online help

Related documents

Analysis and connectivity support overview

Get analysis and connectivity software

Accessories, options, and software

Getting started Getting started topics

Getting started topics

Instrument operation

Theory of operation

Signal acquisition process

The DSA8300 user interface

The DSA8300 main screen

Getting started Graticules

Touchscreen operations

Mouse and touchscreen operation comparison

Virtual keyboard and keypad overview

Channel source controls

Channel select controls

Vertical controls

Timebase view controls

Acquisition controls

Horizontal (Timebase) controls

Trigger controls

Utility controls

Restore default (Factory) instrument settings

Select and display waveforms

Data acquisition overview

Acquire and display a signal

Signal conditioning and scaling overview

Math waveforms overview

Waveform database overview

Waveform measurement tools

Automatic measurements

Cursors

Histograms

Masks

Optimize measurement accuracy

Acquisition Setup dialog box overview

Signal acquisition modes

Acquisition stop after settings

Acquisition stop action settings

Acquisition key points

Acquisition sampling process

Cursor setup dialog box overview

Cursor function settings

Cursor 1 and 2 settings

Cursor background

Cursor units

Display setup dialog box overview

Display style settings

Display graticule settings

Waveform display elements

Waveform display key points

Display settings

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 selection

Horizontal Scale control

Horizontal Position control

Horizontal Resolution control

Horizontal record length control

Horizontal reference point control

All timebases controls overview

Timebase Comm Standard control

Timebase Units control

Display Scale control