Now there are three: MSOs gain features—and a competitor

For the past few years, only two companies—Agilent and Yokogawa (www.yca.com)—have manufactured benchtop MSOs (mixed-signal oscilloscopes). These popularly priced instruments have typically combined eight to 16 logic-timing-analysis channels with two or four analog-input channels, whose bandwidth rarely exceeded 1 GHz. MSOs have proved useful in such areas as embedded-system development. Now, LeCroy Corp has joined the MSO fray with 32-logic-channel units, and Agilent has announced a new MSO line, the 6000 series, which offers an even greater number of attractive features than did its highly successful predecessor, the 54600 series.

All three MSO suppliers manufacture moderately priced deep-memory digital scopes. The importance to MSO users of megasample memories in both the analog and the digital channels might explain why Tektronix (www.tektronix.com), the industry's leading scope supplier, has yet to offer a moderately priced MSO. Although Tek supplies deep-memory scopes in its high-performance lines and nearly 10 years ago offered an early, high-performance MSO, the FISO (fast-in/slow-out) architecture of the company's top-selling, popularly priced TDS3000 series doesn't readily accommodate long memories.

Agilent's 6000 series of 12 portable DSOs (digital storage oscilloscopes) and MSOs includes units that have two and four analog-input channels with bandwidths of 300 MHz, 500 MHz, and 1 GHz (Picture A). Maximum sampling rates are 2G and 4G samples/sec. Agilent claims that the real-time display-update rate exceeds that of competitive units by as much as 30 times. Memory depths extend to 8M samples/channel using the company's patented MegaZoom III technology. Prices range from $5595 (300 MHz on two analog channels) to $16,995 (1 GHz on four analog channels and 16 logic channels). Prices for factory-installed memory upgrades start at $500, and prices for user-installable DSO-to-MSO-upgrade kits start at $1800.

LeCroy's $3990 MS-32 32-channel logic-timing-analysis option is unusual in that you can use it to upgrade any model of LeCroy scope that you own with which the factory is now shipping the option. The upgradable scopes include most of the company's four-channel, 350-to 500-MHz WaveSurfer 400 and 500-MHz to 2-GHz WaveRunner 6000A lines (Picture B). Before upgrading a scope, you must ensure that it contains firmware and software that support the MS-32 option, but LeCroy says that registered LeCroy- scope owners can download firmware and software updates for their scopes from LeCroy's Web site.

The MS-32 can capture records 1M points long at clock rates to 125 MHz. The option package includes a 32-channel logic pod to which you connect all logic probes, an oscilloscope-interface module, a 10.5-in. digital-lead set, a power supply, a USB 2.0 cable, a foam-lined accessory case, and a 5× magnifying glass. Prices for WaveSurfer 400-based configurations with the MS-32 option start at $10,980; prices for WaveRunner 6000A configurations start at $12,980.

Agilent Technologies, 1-800-829-4444, www.agilent.com.

LeCroy Corp, 1-800-553-2769, www.lecroy.com.