Oscilloscopes, or scopes are an important tool in the armoury of the electronics engineer or tester. An oscilloscope is an item of electronics test equipment that enables waveforms to be seen and in this way makes it very much easier to see any problems occurring in an electronics circuit.
In view of the advantages which they posses, oscilloscopes are an essential piece of electronics test equipment for any electronics laboratory or area testing electronics hardware whether within RF design, general electronics circuit design, electronics manufacturing, service, repair or anywhere that electronic circuits and the waveforms on them need to be investigated.
The name oscilloscope, comes from the fact that it enables oscillations to be viewed. Sometimes the name cathode-ray oscilloscope, or CRO was used. The reason for this was that cathode ray tubes (CRT) were used to display the waveforms. Nowadays these test instruments just tend to be referred to as oscilloscopes, or just scopes.
Function of an oscilloscope
The function of an oscilloscope is to be able to display waveforms on some form of display. In the normal mode of operation time is displayed along the X-axis (horizontal axis) and amplitude is displayed along the Y axis (vertical axis). In this way it is possible to see an electronic waveform on an oscilloscope as it may be envisaged. The waveform could be likened to that of the ripples on travelling along the surface of a pond when a stone is dropped into it.
By seeing a waveform in this manner it is possible to see analyse the operation of the circuit and discover why any problems may exist.
Basic oscilloscope screen
