Waveform Buffers have been a popular feature in PicoScope 6 for many years. The ability to divide available capture memory into segments, or “buffers”, means that successive triggered acquisitions can be saved into numbered buffers for subsequent inspection or analysis. Dead-time between each triggered acquisition is ignored so that only the waveforms, pulses or packets of interest are captured.

Deep capture memory of 32MS or more that is included in many PicoScope models allows users to take maximum advantage of the Waveform Buffers feature. Sampling speed can be set to capture waveforms of interest with optimal timing resolution and without wasting memory on periods in between that are of no interest.

In Rapid Trigger mode, available on most PicoScope models, the oscilloscope acquires a sequence of waveforms with the minimum possible delay between them. The display is updated once the last waveform in the sequence has been captured.

Now, the Waveform buffers feature has been implemented in the latest PicoScope 7 Early Access release, and it’s even better than before:

- The number of buffers is selectable up to 100,000 instead of 10,000 previously.

- In Rapid Trigger mode, the acquisition process can be interrupted manually, even if the set number of triggered waveforms has not been reached. Those captured waveforms can then be stepped through with the Waveform Navigator tool as normal.

Listening to our customers is at the heart of our development process, and these are just two of the many customer-requested improvements we've delivered in PicoScope 7. Why not download PicoScope 7 Early Access today to try out these and many other new features, and let us know what you think and what you'd like to see us doing next?

Download PS7 T&M Early Access on our website.

The growing number of convenience and comfort features in vehicles, coupled with the desire to eliminate point-to-point wiring harnesses associated with non-critical features such as wipers, mirrors, climate control and rain sensors, led to the demand for lower-cost alternatives to CAN for sensor and actuator applications. LIN (Local Interconnect Network) was developed to provide a common sensor/actuator bus standard. Initially introduced in 2000 as an inexpensive serial communication bus, the latest version (2.2A) is now standardized as ISO 17987. LIN uses a simple and low-cost single wire physical layer implementation based on ISO 9141 (as used by the K-line onboard diagnostic standard). This single-wire implementation does make LIN more susceptible to EMC than two-wire buses, which in turn limits the data rate to 20 kb/s and the recommended number of nodes to 16.

We have put together a full introduction to LIN Bus serial decoding on our website; click here or below to check out the full article.

We at Pico are delighted to be returning to live exhibitions in 2022, and to give you the following dates to add to your calendars:

ARMMS 2022 // 25th-26th April, DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry, UK
PCIM Europe // 10th-12th May, Nuremberg, Germany
AMPER 2022 // 17th-20th May, Brno Exhibition Centre, Brno, CZ
Automotive Testing Expo 2022 // 21st-23rd June, Messe Stuttgart, Germany
embeddedworld 2022 // 21st-23rd June, Nuremberg, Germany

For more information on how to attend and meet us in person, check out the exhibition websites. Hope to see you there!

Building on the proven design of PicoLog 6, PicoLog Cloud is a free upgrade that introduces many great new features that expand how your Pico data logger can be used. Both existing and new customers will benefit from the following new features:

Don't want to take our word for it? One of our customers, Jon Gardner, says the following:

"I'd just like to say how intuitive the PicoLog software is, and how easy it has made my life since switching to Pico products. I own a PicoScope which I use for personal use and think it's excellent, so when the company I work for needed to upgrade their temperature loggers I pushed for a switch to Pico. The difference between the software for our previous loggers and PicoLog is like night and day, and it has made my work 10x easier. Keep up the good work!"

Download PicoLog Cloud for free on our website.

A choice which faces a lot of engineers is whether to purchase a high resolution scope for analog applications or a fast scope for digital applications. Pico has the ideal solution for addressing that dilemma; FlexRes!
 
Available on selected PicoScope 5000 Series and PicoScope 6000E Series, FlexRes allows the user to optimise their PicoScope for either analog or digital applications. Whether you’re capturing and decoding fast digital signals or looking for distortion in sensitive analog signals, FlexRes oscilloscopes are the answer. Check out our FlexRes video, or find out more on our website here.

Take a look at our NEW environmental page which is now live on the website.
 
As you are all aware, we at Pico are very keen to be environmentally-aware and reduce our carbon usage wherever we can. We have already established the PicoPlanet steering committee, and want to inform our customers and distributors  of the changes we are making as a business to reduce our carbon footprint.
 
We recently filmed a video with our Chairman, Mark Jones, and Pico Planet representative Jon Parker, to discuss the many ways that Pico are becoming greener in the way we conduct business. These range from using plastic-free tape and installing solar panels on James House, to repurposing old cardboard boxes for packaging materials to use instead of plastic. As a company, we are also looking at finding alternative ways to travel for business, as well as alternatives to our plastic cases. In addition, we provide staff talks to educate our team on what we can do as individuals, and as part of the business, to help protect the planet for the future.

Meet Liz Lloyd, Hardware Development Engineer

I started at Pico as a graduate in 2019. Before then I studied electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Bath, and completed a PhD researching GPS jamming detection.

In my job as a hardware engineer, I get to do a real mix of work. I really enjoy the fact that in my current project I have been doing lots of high-speed analogue and digital circuit design, but also writing VHDL and C#, so my job is very varied and there is no typical day. I might spend a morning on schematic capture, an afternoon on simulation, and the next day will be making a test board in the lab. A lot of things are new to me but there’s plenty of support, whether it’s training courses or just someone to point me in the right direction. In my blue sky time, I am enjoying learning new skills like embedded programming and 3D CAD modelling.

In my spare time I like to crochet and sew. I also love cooking and baking, and it’s always nice to share the cake with other people in my team. I play badminton with coworkers several times a week, and sometimes we go out on cycle rides to the next town for ice cream! I live with two adorable rescue guinea pigs called Tico and Cookie. 

In this video, Steve Gardner at SDG Electronics continues work on his LED studio light project, running testing on and providing analysis of a dimmable high power 60W Synchronous LED driver. Check out the full video to see our PicoScope 5000 Series Oscilloscope in action, as well as our PicoScope 7 T&M Early Access software.

Fancy a new vocation, or becoming a member of the Pico family? These are just two of the positions at Pico currently on offer; apply today!

Software Development Manager
St Neots
Great opportunity for a Senior Engineer to step up! Here you will lead and inspire a small, but growing team of engineers, developing a high performance, easy to use API to our PicoScopes. You will get to analyze requirements, implement design plans, review units and automated tests. You will be supported by 3 other Software Development Managers. The team uses C++.

Hardware Development Engineer
St Neots
Here you may be working on digital, analogue, PCB, RF and mixed signal designs. And firmware and software. No two days will be the same! You will be working in a supportive and knowledgeable team of engineers, where everyone is more then happy to help.

For full details of both roles, including information on how to apply, please visit pico.jobs!