Pico Technology

Here is your monthly Test and Measurement update.

1.  Product Preview: PicoScope 9201 12-GHz USB Sampling Oscilloscope

The PicoScope 9201, our first high-speed sampling oscilloscope, is due for release this summer.

The new scope has the same specifications as a traditional bench-top instrument costing many times as much, but as it’s a PC-based USB instrument it saves you money and takes up less space on your workbench. It contains newly developed high-speed analog and digital hardware, and simply plugs into the USB port of your PC. The advanced PC software that you need is included at no extra cost.

Main features

• 12 GHz bandwidth on two channels
• Dual timebase from 10 ps/div
• 5 TS/s equivalent time sample rate
• High-resolution cursor and automatic waveform measurements with statistics
• Eye diagrams and automated mask test
• Direct and HF external trigger input
• Up to 10 GHz trigger bandwidth
• 50 ohm SMA inputs
• Windows graphical user interface designed to maximise productivity

Main applications

• High-speed serial bus pulse response
• Semiconductor characterisation
• Electrical standards compliance testing
• Digital system design and characterisation
• Telecom servicing and manufacturing test

The bottom line

PP463 PicoScope 9201 12-GHz Sampling PC Oscilloscope £5,995 / $12,000 / €8000 + VAT and delivery

Please contact us to register your interest, and then we will let you know when the PicoScope 9201 is available to order. Telephone 01480 396395 or email sales@picotech.com.

Find out more about the PicoScope 9201 sampling oscilloscope

2.  New Features in PicoScope 6

We are still releasing regular updates to PicoScope 6, which supports all of our USB oscilloscopes. Here are the new features in the latest 6.0.13 release.

• Measurement statistics and optional filters on measurements. You can now see the mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum of each measurement as well as the live value. This is invaluable for production testing and for characterising new devices. You can also enable an optional low-pass filter on some measurements, and select the thresholds (10% to 90% or 20% to 80%) on rise-time and fall-time measurements.
• User-defined threshold for switching between block and progressive modes. Block mode draws the whole waveform at once, while progressive mode updates it from left to right as the data comes in. You can now choose which timebases use progressive mode.
• Page Up / Page Down file navigation. A simple idea that saves time. Press the Page Up and Page Down keys to load the next waveform file in the current directory.
• Save and Save As commands. PicoScope 6 now remembers the last file you saved, displaying its name in the title bar and overwriting it whenever you select the new Save All Waveforms command.
• Preferences reset button. As the number of user preferences in PicoScope 6 is now considerable, we have added this function to let you reset them all to their defaults.
• File history. The File menu now shows a list of recently used files. You can select how many are shown.
• User-defined view name. You can rename each view from the default “Scope 1” or “Spectrum 1” style to something more meaningful.

If you missed the new features in any of the previous releases, you can always catch up using our “What’s New” page. You can also download the latest version free of charge from our website. If you don’t yet have a PicoScope, you can still run the software in ‘Demo mode’, which can simulate any scope that the software supports.

3.  PicoScope 5000 Series Now has 5-Year Warranty

We have increased the warranty period for PicoScope 5000 Series oscilloscopes purchased on or after 1st April 2008 from 2 years to 5 years.

The PicoScope 5000 Series PC Oscilloscopes are high-performance instruments with 250 MHz bandwidth, a maximum sampling rate of 1 GS/s, and a huge buffer size of either 32 M or 128 M samples. This combination of features, at a reasonable price, makes the PicoScope 5000 Series an indispensable test and measurement instrument.

The PicoScope 5000 Series scopes are supplied with the latest copy of the PicoScope 6 software. Like all of our software, this is supplied free of charge and comes with full technical support over the internet and by telephone to our dedicated support team.

Full details on the PicoScope 5000 Series and PicoScope 6 software are available on the Pico Technology website. You can also telephone or email us for more details.

Find out how you can benefit from the power and performance of a PicoScope 5000

4.  New Blog: Energy-Saving Tips

At the beginning of this year we moved into James House, a large, modern building with enough space for the company to grow. The only snag is our electricity bill, which at the present rate of consumption will amount to £55k a year. As we are experts in data logging but not yet in energy-saving, we decided to install one of our own EnviroMon systems. EnviroMon is designed for gathering temperature measurements and other data from large sites, so we think it’s going to be ideal for checking the performance of the new building. Another great feature of EnviroMon is its ability to display its data on a website in real time (as in this example).

The blog follows our progress in tracking and reducing our energy consumption, and will reveal the results of our efforts as our future electricity bills come in.

Read our energy-saving blog

5.  Questions and Answers

Here is a selection of the questions that have cropped up recently on our support forum.

Q. Can I use CAT5 USB extender devices with Pico products?

A. The short answer is yes: we have tried it with 25 m and 50 m cables, and it works fairly well. You can find full details of the test that we did in this Pico Knowledge Base article. While you are in the Knowledge Base, please have a look around, as we are constantly adding new articles.

Q. How do I change the graph update rate in PicoLog?

A. In the Graph window, click the Options button (marked with a tick symbol). This opens the Graph options dialog. The field that controls the update rate is called Update graph every ... samples. This is normally set to 1 so that every sample is displayed as soon as it is taken, but you can slow down the update rate by typing a larger number. (See our KB219 for an illustration.)

6.  SDK for PicoScope 3425 Now Available

We have just published a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the PicoScope 3425 4-channel differential PC Oscilloscope. This SDK lets you write your own software in your favourite programming language or development system, as long as it’s Windows-based and supports C calling conventions. The SDK includes examples in C, C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, Agilent VEE and Excel.

• Down the PicoScope 3425 SDK
• More information on the PicoScope 3425 differential oscilloscope

7.  Training Courses

In response to customer demand, we are now offering regular training courses on data logging and EnviroMon for UK Pico users. The courses will be suitable for beginners and advanced users alike and can be tailored to individual requirements.

We shall begin by holding courses at the new Pico headquarters, but on-site courses will be available by request. Please email training@picotech.com now to register your interest.

8.  Forthcoming Exhibitions

Full details of upcoming exhibitions and training dates can be found on the exhibitions page.

9.  Employment Opportunities

Due to our continuing growth, we have vacancies for the following positions:

• Development Engineer - Analogue Hardware
• Development Engineer - Hardware
• Development Engineer - Windows Desktop Application Software
• Development Engineer - Windows Device Driver Software

Find more details of these positions and complete an online application form

We look forward to hearing from you if you want to be part of a growing company at the leading edge of test equipment design.

10.  Latest Software Releases

As soon as we release new software, it is made available for FREE download from our website. To check which version you are using, start the software (PicoScope, PicoLog or EnviroMon) and select HELP | ABOUT.

The current releases are:

• PicoScope 5: R5.19.1
• PicoScope 6: R6.0.13
• PicoLog: R5.19.1
• EnviroMon: R5.16.2

To download the latest software please visit the software downloads page

(Note: the above web page also contains a link to our 'what’s new' page which describes recent changes and additions to the software.)

11.  About this Newsletter

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