Frequently Asked Questions about R&S Scopes

For fast, statistically conclusive results.

With their acquisition rate of one million waveforms per second – the highest rate available on the market – the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes find signal faults quickly. An ASIC in the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes employs 20-fold parallel signal processing which ensures high acquisition rates, even for complex signal analysis. The results are available quickly and are based on a large number of waveforms, providing statistically conclusive information.

To observe the signal more often and detect rare errors faster.

Compared to conventional oscilloscopes, the blind time of the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes is up to twenty times shorter.  This is due to the core component of the instrument – an ASIC designed specifically for intensive parallel processing. The ASIC processes the input signal within an extremely short period of time and prepares it for fast display on the screen. For this reason, the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes can acquire, analyze and display up to one million waveforms per second. Due to this high acquisition rate, the instruments find faults significantly faster and more reliably, which reduces the time required for debugging.

For reliable acquisition and display of transient or intermittent interference.

The FFT function is much faster than with other oscilloscopes available on the market. This is due to the hardware-assisted precalculation and frequency conversion into the baseband. On the screen, the high acquisition rate conveys the impression of a live spectrum. Using the persistence mode, rapid signal changes, sporadic signal interference or weak superimposed signals can easily be made visible.

For optimum trigger sensitivity.

The R&S^®RTO oscilloscope’s digital trigger system allows the user to adjust the trigger hysteresis in order to match the trigger sensitivity to the characteristics of each signal. The result is stable and reliable triggering.

For stable triggering on low-level noisy signals.

The world’s first realtime digital trigger system precisely relates the trigger event to the measurement signal. This not only helps to detect errors with extreme reliability, but also to accurately locate them. In order to achieve stable triggering - also for signals with small amplitude - the user can adjust the trigger hysteresis for the oscilloscopes depending on the signal’s noise level.

For high signal fidelity and measurement accuracy on fast, low-amplitude signals.

The R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes offer high vertical input sensitivity of up to 1 mV/div. They always operate at high measurement accuracy because the full bandwidth of the oscilloscope can be used at even the lowest sensitivity levels. Furthermore, the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes do not use software-based zooming. They show the signal’s real test points at all sensitivity levels.

To prevent interleaving that automatically occurs when multiple slow ADC cores are combined.

Traditionally, 8-bit A/D converters have been used in digital oscilloscopes. These converters consist of multiple slow time-interleaved converters that are connected. However, the higher the number of components that are combined, the larger the errors that arise due to the fact that the behavior of the individual converters is not uniform. Unwilling to accept such compromises, Rohde & Schwarz developed a monolithic A/D converter for a sampling rate of 10 Gsample/s. This chip’s single-core architecture minimizes signal distortion.

The higher the effective number of bits, the higher the dynamic range of the oscilloscope’s frontend and A/D converter.

The effective number of bits (ENOB) is a composite specification that helps to quantify the overall accuracy and signal fidelity of the instrument. 8-bit ADCs are the industry standard for digital oscilloscopes. Noise and distortion reduces the “effective” system resolution to something less than 8 bits. The low-noise frontend and the single-core ADC both contribute to the R&S^®RTO’s industry best ENOB.

For high measurement accuracy; measurement of multiple channels minimizes crosstalk.

In some oscilloscopes, the measurement accuracy for a channel deteriorates when additional channels are used. The good channel-to-channel isolation in the R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes ensures that the measurement signal from one channel has the lowest possible influence on the signals from the other channels: Their characteristic of > 60 dB up to 2 GHz is really convincing.

For a well-structured, accurate display of multiple waveforms.

The Rohde & Schwarz SmartGrid function helps users arrange multiple diagrams on the screen. Individual waveforms can be displayed in a clear, well-structured manner. The A/D converter range is optimally used for highest accuracy waveforms.

Access to previously-stored, time-stamped waveforms makes it easier to analyze errors and their “historic” cause.

What is the source of that interference pulse in the signal? What caused the loss of a data bit? In many cases, you cannot pinpoint the actual cause of an error until you look back on a signal sequence’s history. The R&S^®RTO oscilloscopes always provide access to prior waveforms. Regardless of the function from which the measurement was stopped, the measurement data stored in memory is immediately available for analysis. Additionally, a time stamp for the waveform makes it possible to clearly identify when the events took place. Depending on the memory option, extensive data for effective debugging is available to the user.

For easy control of the oscilloscope; functions such as Run/Stop can be assigned to the micro button.

The situation is all too familiar: The user has carefully positioned the probes on the device under test and now wants to start measuring – but doesn’t have a free hand. That will not happen with the active probes from Rohde & Schwarz. They are equipped with a micro button on the probe tip. Different oscilloscope control functions such as Run/Stop, Autoset or Adjust Offset can be assigned to this button. 

Yes! Test embedded designs quickly and accurately with the MSO option.

A new hardware option turns the R&S^®RTO into an MSO. It provides 16 additional digital channels with an input frequency of up to 400 MHz.

The advantages at a glance:

• 5 Gsample/s sampling rate for detailed signal analysis across the entire 200 Msample memory depth
• Extremely high acquisition rate of 200 000 waveforms/second for accelerated debugging
• Hardware-implemented trigger and numerous trigger types for pinpointing faults
• The ease of use you have come to rely on