标签: siglent

There was once a time when purchasing an oscilloscope was a major decision as the price for a decent unit was astronomical. Even today the best units will set you back the price of a new Toyota, or more. Some high end units approach a half-million dollars.   Then a series of inexpensive USB-based units appeared. These are all quite small boxes that use your PC’s display and virtual controls rather than a panel full of knobs. Some of these are astonishingly cheap; others offer very high performance for an attractive price.   In recent years several Asian manufacturers have been producing bench scopes – units that look very much like that Keysight or Tektronix unit you’ve always wanted. A full panel includes the controls and a color display. I reviewed  a $400 100 MHz Siglent last year.   GW Instek has a range of test equipment, and I recently bought a GDS-1052-U to evaluate. The $300 (I got it on sale for $259) price made me suspect it was cheap crap.   It’s not.   So many of these Asian scopes look so similar I figured they were all made from the same design. That is apparently not the case. Bootup took 14 seconds, twice as long as the Siglent, and features and menus differ considerably even though their physical appearance is similar.   GW Instek GDS-1052-U   The 1052 is a dual channel 50 MHz unit with a 5.7” TFT 234 by 320 pixel display. The screen resolution is nothing to brag about, but I found it entirely adequate. I have gotten used to the bigger screens common on high-end scopes today, so find this one a bit small. However, it’s about the size we used in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and into the 90s. Some off the displayed data, like the notations above and below the trace area, I found a bit hard to see, though my myopia and cataracts are probably more at fault than the instrument.   Characters are not completely crisp but are clear enough.   Picture of the screen   Note the menu to the right of the screen. That cannot be turned off, so always eats up some display area.   Triggers modes include video, edge, and pulse. The latter lets you trigger on a signal that’s greater than, less than, equal to, or not equal to a value between 20 ns and, well, I got tired of spinning the knob at 1 second. It’s slow going, though; that much adjustment requires a lot of knob cranking. I considered using a drill to spin the control.   Cursors are hugely important and a pet peeve. On so many scopes they are a pain to manipulate. The 1052’s are extremely easy to use.   All scopes have a probe compensation capability, which is generally a 1 KHz square wave output. The 1052’s can be adjusted from 1 KHz to 100 KHz, with a duty cycle variable from 5 to 95%. So you also get a primitive pulse generator.   The supplied X1/X10 probes are adequate but will not win any awards for robustness.   Out of the box the horizontal accuracy was too good to measure, and the vertical was off about 4% on DC signals, but there’s a self-calibrate mode using an output on the rear panel. I couldn’t get it to work using a probe, but with a cable with BNCs at each end the problems went away, and the resulting DC vertical accuracy was spot-on.   Three acquisition modes exist: normal, average (from 2 to 256 samples in power of two sequence) and peak. The manual claims peak shows the biggest and lowest values encountered, but I couldn’t get that to work. It seemed just like normal mode.   Horizontal is about the same as any other scope with one glaring exception: At sweep rates of 50 ms/div or slower the system enters roll mode. The only trigger option is auto. So it’s basically impossible to measure slow signals. That could be a deal-breaker for some, though this will only affect signals that are a handful of Hertz. I could display an entire cycle of a 4.5 Hz square wave on the 25 ms sweep setting, which, of course, supports normal-mode triggering.   I also didn’t like the vertical position knobs. Turning them made the waveforms jump around a lot. It’s not a real problem but was annoying.   The waveform bounces back and forth on the horizontal axis when displaying a sine wave. I see this in most of these cheap scopes. The problem goes away when displaying a square wave, so I attribute this to some triggering uncertainty.   Zooming is very easy. However, it does not work in stop mode. Memory depth is rated at 4k “dots” – I presume this means samples. In the following screen shot the red brackets control the width of the zoom area:   Zoom area in red brackets   Notice the right side shows the Screen Save menu. I’d prefer it displayed the menu that was on the screen before pressing Save, as that is where measurements are shown. And plenty of auto measurements (Vpp, Vmax, Risetime, etc.) are included, probably more than a typical user of this instrument would ever need.   A math trace will show the sum or difference of the two channels, or the FFT of one. I couldn’t figure out how to slide the FFT in the frequency domain, and the horizontal frequency-domain axis is unlabeled, so that feature is pretty much useless. The manual, which is surprisingly good and is even written in decent English, barely touches on FFTs.   A couple of other features might be really useful. It will log data to a USB stick at intervals from 5 minutes to 100 hours. The file names will increment, a good feature, since there’s no way to enter date or time. All files have a 12/31/2003 11:00 PM creation date. And there’s a Go/No go feature which tags waveforms that go out of bounds you set.   The following chart shows my measured frequency response of the instrument. A 10 V sine wave was applied and the displayed amplitude plotted. Considering it’s rated at 50 MHz, this is pretty good. In fact, my unit got to the -3 dB point at 72.5 MHz. These measurements were taken using the supplied probes so reflect total system bandwidth.     At higher frequencies some distortion set in. This is a 30 MHz sine wave:   Distortion displaying a 30 MHz sine wave   This is not a scope for a professional lab. But a hobbyist or firmware engineer not needing a ton of performance could get good service from it. If you can live with the 50 MHz rated bandwidth and nits mentioned here, I recommend it.   The unit is available from http://www.saelig.com/PSBEB100/M00143018.htm  

  iPhone发布8周年，谨以此文纪念乔老爷          2007年1月9日，乔布斯在Macworld大会上说：“Apple reinvents the phone（苹果重新定义手机）”。当天苹果公司正式发布了第一代iPhone，凭借着时尚的外观设计以及近乎完美的触控体验，iPhone受到了全球玩家的喜爱，同时带动了整个行业的革新与进步，如今在天桥上、地铁中、公交车上，随处都可以见到智能手机的身影。智能手机已经成为生活中不可缺少的一部分。            在iPhone正式上市前，市面上手机的趋势是越来越小，越来越精品化、分众化（音乐、运动或娱乐）。触控手机一定要有一支笔，还有一堆的按钮，手机用点击的方式而不是用滑动来控制；拍照要有专业数字相机的一堆功能，要能扩充；当然一定可以换电池。没有人知道之后的手机会发展成现在这个样子，而经历这个过程不过花费了短短几年。          苹果公司不仅创造了颠覆性的产品，其做产品的思路更是给所有的产品设计者，制造者甚至是体验者带来了一次产品思维上的革命，撼动了束缚我们许久的思维定势，“用户体验”被越来越多的人提及，人们在做一款产品的时候不再满足于停留在功能性层面，转而开始关注自己亲手做的产品是不是足够精致，用户会不会为自己精心设计的功能惊喜尖叫。                   怎样才是好的 “ 用户体验 ” 呢？           三年前笔者看过一本讲用户体验的书《 Don’t make me think 》，书名已经概括了作者对用户体验的感受，好的用户体验就是做到 “ 自然 ” ，不要让用户去思考怎么去用。比如早期时候 iPhone 的开锁，小孩甚至不用学就会用，因为触摸是人的天性，同时 iPhone 通过箭头图标，向右滑动的文字条（小孩看不懂文字），来暗示手指触摸向右滑动来解锁。功能的设置和人的天性是一致的，人与机器之间产生的是一种自然的交互，不识字的小孩都能很快学会使用 iPhone 。总而言之，好的用户体验设计是挖掘人的本原的体验倾向，就像鼎阳科技发布的中国首款智能示波器 SDS3000 ，她将颠覆 “ 人手一台 ” 型示波器市场。             我们该如何把好的用户体验带到测试测量仪器的领域呢？众所周知，当前这个领域内的产品基本还停留在指标和功能比拼的阶段，各个厂家在介绍自家产品的时候也总是喜欢晒参数，总让人觉得仪器跟高大上的体验扯不上关系似的。其实不然，以鼎阳科技这款SDS3000示波器为例，好的用户体验无非体现在三个方面： 靠谱、好用、划算 。   如何让示波器更加【靠谱】？              示波器被称为工程师的眼睛，但其本质上是一个测试测量工具。一款拥有优秀用户体验的示波器应该是人眼的自然延伸，那就必须要保证呈现在用户面前的波形是真实的，靠谱的。 SDS3000 系列示波器的信号保真度高，模拟前端的底噪极低，拥有完美的频响曲线，保证了测量结果的准确性，丰富的调试工具包为工程师提高了极高的测试效率。 该款产品的来料选自国际一流的供应商，品质稳定可靠，同时，实时的温度采集控制确保了机器内部恒温工作，再加上卓越的服务，完全免除了用户的后顾之忧。   【好用】的示波器如何定义？              笔者曾经听过IT圈的一个笑话，说的是一个程序员花了一个月时间做了一个软件项目，结果客户验收的时候，看见软件载入速度太快，反而觉得产品没有技术含量，总感觉被坑了。后来这个程序员学乖了，每次做完项目之后，会额外添加几秒的系统载入进度条的画面，这样一来客户反而更加满意了，而实际上软件早就在后台载入完成了。当然笔者也不知道是否真有其事，但为什么要讲这个呢？我想从中引申出我们生活中经常会遇到的一个现象：总有一部分人为了让自己做的东西看起来很有技术含量，而选择把产品的功能做得很复杂，系统层级也十分复杂，还有一部分人为了标榜自己见多识广，原本一句话就能说清的事情非得长篇大论。这都是与今天我们要讲的优秀用户体验背道而驰的。          要想把示波器做好，我们就要站 在一个普通用户的角度去思考，同时要用一种倾向于自然的心态去设计功能，用户第一次使用示波器时，在连接好被测信号之后，应该能迅速找到自己需要测量的项，并且可以通过最少的步骤完成相应的操作。 SDS3000 系列示波器具有现代感十足的触摸操作体验，即使最复杂的操作也只有两层菜单，拥有 15 种一键操作，常用功能一触即发！   好示波器也【划算】！            前面谈了那么多的体验，那么价格是不是也能让人尖叫呢？是不是也能像小米手机一样，让示波器也发烧一把呢？哈哈，比Tek价格低，那是不公平的！ Tek的同类示波器是在上海设计并制造的， 鼎阳的 SDS3000 是深圳，纽约两地设计，两地制造、测试的呢！        但是，我们可以保证用户花相同的钱，可以买到更多的功能！智能示波器功能丰富，就如使用智能手机的感觉，但是，加量不加价，价格不发烧，绝对划算！          看到这里，可能你已经留意到了，我们的每一章配图中都有一个帅气男模倾情演绎智能示波器，哪怕背影也帅气！以往测试测量领域只看产品，不在意“人文情怀” 的时代就此终结了，示波器可以像智能手机一样触屏操作，可以参照互联网产品的思维做好用户体验，当然也可以邀请帅气男模出镜！这是一套普通的广告图，却展示了鼎阳科技突破传统的决心！            SDS3000系列示波器在保证信号保真度和功能可靠性的基础上，在用户体验上更是进行了深度优化。就像2007年iPhone把手机带入了真正的智能时代一样，SDS3000系列示波器的成功推出将“人手一台”型示波器市场带入了智能时代！         朋友们，让我们共同见证工程师“人手一台”型智能示波器时代的到来！她的魅力令人一见倾心！  

        大家好，我的名字叫“智能示波器”，您可以简称我为SmartScope，作为Blog新的一员，很高兴在这里与大家见面！         2014年5月，经过三年漫长的孕育，在万千期待中我诞生了！作为一名混血儿，卓越和创新在我的血脉中流动。我的诞生开创了国内测试测量仪器智能化的先河，为用户带来准确、快速、愉悦的测量体验，从那一刻起，我注定会得到众多电子工程师们的广泛关注。        尽管我还不到1岁，尽管我的知名度还不是很高，但我的身影遍布国内各个大型展会，相信电子发烧友们早已现场观看并体验过，相信强大的性能和简洁的操作给您留下了深刻的印象。        看到这里，可能您已经知道了我的身世。没错，我就是来自深圳鼎阳科技的智能示波器产品——SDS3000系列！       如果您对我感兴趣，希望了解更多关于我的信息，请点击：http://www.siglent.com/pdxx.aspx?id=80T=2tid=1           如果您对我的兄弟产品感兴趣，请点击：http://www.siglent.com       为了更好更方便的让大家了解熟悉我，我会在博客中定期更新相关技术类博文，以供大家学习交流，同时也希望大家积极与我沟通，反馈您的需求与问题，我会及时给大家回复。       另外，“鼎阳科技12周年庆”正在火热开展中。关于该活动的具体信息以及活动规则，我会在后续的博文中分享给大家，敬请关注！  

        大家好，我的名字叫“智能示波器”，您可以简称我为SmartScope，作为Blog新的一员，很高兴在这里与大家见面！         2014年5月，经过三年漫长的孕育，在万千期待中我诞生了！作为一名混血儿，卓越和创新在我的血脉中流动。我的诞生开创了国内测试测量仪器智能化的先河，为用户带来准确、快速、愉悦的测量体验，从那一刻起，我注定会得到众多电子工程师们的广泛关注。         尽管我还不到1岁，尽管我的知名度还不是很高，但我的身影遍布国内各个大型展会，相信电子发烧友们早已现场观看并体验过，相信强大的性能和简洁的操作给您留下了深刻的印象。        看到这里，可能您已经知道了我的身世。没错，我就是来自深圳鼎阳科技的智能示波器产品——SDS3000系列！        如果您对我感兴趣，希望了解更多关于我的信息，请点击： http://www.siglent.com/pdxx.aspx?id=80T=2tid=1             如果您对我的兄弟产品感兴趣，请点击：http://www.siglent.com        为了更好更方便的让大家了解熟悉我，我会在博客中定期更新相关技术类博文，以供大家学习交流，同时也希望大家积极与我沟通，反馈您的需求与问题，我会及时给大家回复。        另外，“鼎阳科技12周年庆”正在火热开展中。关于该活动的具体信息以及活动规则，我会在后续的博文中分享给大家，敬请关注！  

Over the years I’ve reviewed several high- and low-end oscilloscopes. Tektronix’s MDO4000 series, for instance, has phenomenal performance, an incredible set of features, for about the price of a low-end SUV. They also have a series of low-priced units which I have not had a chance to look at. Their TBS1000B-EDU series starts at an amazing $520.   On the low end there’s a veritable sea of units for a few hundred dollars or less. These connect to a PC via USB and have neither their own screen nor controls. The PC is the front end; the unit is just a data collector. An example is Digilent’s Analog Discovery, which is a good vehicle for learning about electronics. For folks with limited needs who want to spend the absolute minimum these are decent choices. But with a very few exceptions bandwidths are very low. But most of these USB scopes are toys, or at best entry-level products for people learning electronics. If you need more than a few MHz of bandwidth – and even a mid-level hobbyist does - they are mostly non-starters. While many of those instruments have a pretty decent GUI, I much prefer a set of real, physical knobs. In the middle of the pack are a few real bench instruments, including screen and controls, just like their very expensive kin. Siglent is one of several Chinese vendors of these devices, and they kindly sent me a unit. I asked for one of their lower-end instruments, one where the price is attractive to a wide range of users and where there’s little competition from the big scope vendors. They sent an SDS1102CML , a dual channel 100 MHz digital scope.   The Siglent SDS1102CML 100 MHz oscilloscope. The SDS1102CML retails for $379. At that price I figured it might be OK for hobbyist work but would be disappointing to a pro. I was wrong. First, the specs. 100 MHz, 1 Gs/s (though with both channels taking data that’s 500 Ms/s). The buffer holds 2 million samples. The screen is 7” with a resolution of 480 x 234. Samples are 8 bits. The unit comes with two probes. It weighs 2.5 kg. The unit is plastic, like most instruments today, but the package belies the low price. It’s rugged, not in the least chintzy, and the controls have a solid feel. Googling turned up some complaints that the power button is a common point of failure. Over the last two months I’ve turned it on and off several times a day but had no problems with the switch. No panel cover is included, but loading it into and out of a soft-sided briefcase didn’t snag the controls. Some competing units in this price frame save money by using one set of controls for the two vertical channels. The Siglent has separate controls for each channel. If you’re doing a lot of work with both enabled this will save a lot of time and annoyance. As mentioned, the screen is 7” diagonal TFT with 480 X 234 resolution. That’s low enough that the waveform will be a little jagged from time to time, but the on-screen numbers and letters are easy to read. Most scopes have ten major divisions (“boxes”) across the horizontal axis; strangely, the SDS1102 has 18. The included probes are nothing special and a bit upscale from cheap. But a single passive probe from one of the major vendors can cost as much as this scope and probe set. A switch selects X1 or X10. The scope can’t sense the setting, but it will let you manually select a number of attenuations from X1 to X1000. I was curious about the scope’s real bandwidth with the supplied probes. 100 MHz is impressive at this price point, so could the vendor be fudging the numbers a bit? Using a good signal generator and calibrating it against my 500 MHz Agilent, the -3dB point was reached at 141 MHz, much better than I expected or than the datasheet promises. An on-screen six-digit frequency counter is accurate, by my measurements, to 1 LSB. That’s better than the 0.01% advertised. Like some of the much more expensive equipment in my lab the rotating controls can all be pressed in to select another mode. For instance, the vertical gain knobs have the normal 1, 2, 5 sequence, but when pressed in give very fine control over the gain. Pressing the horizontal sweep knob enables delayed sweep (see the following screen shot). The upper trace is the raw signal; the black areas is blown up in the bottom trace. In delayed mode rotating the horizontal control changes the width of the black space letting one zoom in on a portion of the waveform. The horizontal position control scrolls left and right through the signal.   Delayed sweep mode. Channel 1’s gain is shown as 1 kV/div because I told the scope the X10 probe was X1000. In the bottom trace you can see the A/D’s quantization, which is not surprising given its 8 bits of resolution. There’s one “do all” knob that is used to select options from screen menus. I found it much too sensitive. It’s sometimes hard to not scroll past the desired option. Trigger options abound; next to the price, and the 100 MHz bandwidth, trigger is the best feature of the scope. For we digital people, I especially liked the ability to trigger on a pulse’s width (using , , =), or rise or fall time. Some analog waves jittered a bit, moving back and forth a few pixels. Pulses didn’t, so I suspect the trigger level has a little uncertainty. It wasn’t objectionable; in fact, I have noticed this on many USB scopes as well. In the olden days we counted boxes and did a bit of math to measure frequency and other parameters. The Siglent, like most digital scopes, has no shortage of things it will automatically measure. The scope will figure about two dozen different parameters, like peak-to-peak, average, overshoot, etc. The measurements were accurate and easy to use.   People have complained to me about their digital scopes splashing menus on the screen, obscuring the trace. They’re all guilty of this. As you can see from the picture above the “save” menu eats some of the right hand side. But press one button and it all goes away. Five math operations are supported: *, /, -, +, and FFT. Subtraction is nice when looking at differential signals, but with the exception of FFT I never use the others. The scope does a good job FFTing signals like sine waves, but can give muddy results with more complex inputs. A square wave’s Fourier Transform looks superficially correct, but I could not pick out the expected odd harmonics, and I think there’s something wrong with the software. The scope did lock up once after saving data to a USB stick. And after being turned on two to three days, all of the controls continue to function, but it stops acquiring data. This is repeatable. Fortunately the boot time is only 11 seconds. I plan to do a follow-up after a year or so of experience with the unit. But the bottom line is that this is an excellent value. It’s not a Tek or an Agilent, but also doesn’t carry those price tags. The SDS1102CML is positioned at an attractive bandwidth and features point, and the price is unbeatable. I definitely recommend it. To see the scope in action I made two videos:  Review 1 and Review 2 . Do you have one of these low-cost bench scopes? If so, how do you like it?