This article is the second installment of a three part series provided by ZTEC which will examine oscilloscope measurements such as the ones available in hardware with the ZTEC family of modular oscilloscopes. 

This article is the second installment of a three part series provided by ZTEC which will examine oscilloscope measurements such as the ones available in hardware with the ZTEC family of modular oscilloscopes. 

Many oscilloscopes users take advantage of only a small fraction of the powerful features available to them.  In addition, selecting the right measurement from a catalog of possibilities and accurately interpreting the results can lead to confusion and mistakes.  This series of articles is intended to help users understand oscilloscope measurements more completely to avoid common pitfalls. 

Digital storage oscilloscopes vary greatly among vendors in terms of form factor (stand-alone, PXI, VXI, PCI, etc), resolutions (8-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit, etc), acquisition rates (1MS/sec, 1GS/sec, 40GS/sec, etc) functionality (advanced triggering, deep memory, self-calibration, etc.), and more. One aspect that separates true oscilloscopes from most PC-based, modular digitizers is the ability to make measurements in hardware on an onboard processor.  The available measurements also differ from one oscilloscope to another, although this paper will cover a large segment of them.  In addition, the algorithms used to complete the measurements may differ slightly among vendors.  This paper will focus on the measurements and algorithms used in ZTEC modular oscilloscopes, but most of these concepts are universal. Oscilloscope measurements can be sorted into the following three categories:

• Vertical-Axis
• Horizontal-Axis
• Frequency-Domain

Horizontal-axis measurements involve analyzing the horizontal time axis of the applied signal, and include measurements such as Period, Frequency and Rise Time.  The value returned is usually in time, but can be expressed as a ratio, radians, or in Hertz.  >> read more activate http://www.ztecinstruments.com/oscilloscope-measurement-fundamentals-part-2-of-3.