Cost-effective alternatives to conventional bench top oscilloscopes, this new range of high-performance PC instruments is USB compatible and so requires no external power supply
Pico Technology has announced a new series of high-performance PC oscilloscopes.
The 3000 series debuts with three instruments: the PicoScope 3204, 3205 and 3206.
All three are described as cost-effective replacements for traditional bench top instruments.
The top of the range oscilloscope boasts a sampling rate of 10GS/s, an analogue bandwidth of 200MHz, and a record length of 1Mb.
Alan Tong, Pico Technology's technical director, comments: "The combined high sampling rate and large memory buffer of the PicoScope 3206 enable the capture and display of fast-occurring and complex signals.
"Most oscilloscopes in the same price bracket as the PicoScope 3206 have sub-32K memories.
"With 1Mb of memory, the 3206 can capture at least 30 times as much data, allowing the user the ability to zoom in on areas of interest".
All three PicoScopes in the 3000 series connect to a PC via USB2.0, drawing their power from the PC, so no need for a separate power supply. In addition to being high-performance oscilloscopes, the PicoScope 3204, 3205 and 3206 all feature a spectrum analyser mode and (when used with PicoLog software) can also be used for high-speed data acquisition.
The 3205 and 3206 also include built-in signal generators, capable of sweeping up to 1MHz.
The signal, output on the oscilloscopes' external trigger BNCs, can be a sine, square or triangular wave.
The PicoScope 3000 series features more than 30 automated measurements such as frequency, pulse width, rise time, THD, and SNR, and five enhanced display modes including digital colour (ideal for spotting intermittent glitches in digital signals) and analogue intensity (useful for displaying video waveforms and analog modulation signals).
The 3204 retails for £399, the 3205 for £599, and the 3206 for £799 (all +VAT).
