LeCroy has launched a new line of WaveRunner digital oscilloscopes that it claims eliminates the tradeoff between high performance, display size, and bench footprint.
For years scope manufacturers have adhered to CRT era design rules that dictated an oscilloscope form factor that could accommodate a deep CRT and the associated electronics. This has resulted in a large, and often heavy, package that was difficult to move around or fit on a design engineer's bench. Further, display sizes were often small, contrary to the users' desire for a large viewing area. Even as CRTs were replaced by thin panel LCDs, oscilloscope form factors did not change appreciably - most newer oscilloscopes maintained a LxWxD ratio that was remarkably similar to older designs, showing a notable lack of creativity on the part of oscilloscope manufacturers.
Nearly two years ago, LeCroy created the first Big Display/Small Footprint form factor oscilloscope - a unique combination that won industry acclaim, including product of the year awards. LeCroy has now brought this form factor to its high performance WaveRunner line of digital oscilloscopes. Like its WaveSurfer line, these oscilloscopes boast big, bright, 10,4" displays and only 15 cm of depth.
The new WaveRunner oscilloscopes boast of sample rates up to 10 GSps (interleaved) on the 600 MHz unit, and standard 2 Mpt/Ch memory (with optional memory up to 24 Mpt/Ch interleaved). These high sample rates (at least 10X oversampling) result in significantly better signal fidelity for fast edges or high frequency signals, and ensure accurate timing measurements when using all channels. LeCroy claims that these sample rates exceed those of most competitive scopes that are rated at 1 or 1,5 GHz bandwidth.
In addition, LeCroy offers a mixed-signal option (MS-32) that allows you to add 32 digital channels, each with 1 Mpt/Ch (32 Mpts total) to a 4 channel WaveRunner Xi to expand 4-channel scope capability to 4+32. This significantly enhances mixed-signal and embedded controller debug.
The new WaveRunner Xi Series oscilloscopes are currently available in 400 and 600 MHz bandwidths. The 400 MHz unit is available in four channels only, while the 600 MHz is available in two and four channel units. All models sample at 5 GSps on all channels simultaneously, and the 600 MHz model interleaves to 10 GSps. All models provide 2 Mpts/Ch of memory (4 Mpts/Ch interleaved), which equates to a long 400 0181 s capture time (at full sample rate). Up to 12 Mpts/Ch (24 Mpts/Ch interleaved) of memory is available optionally.
For more information contact Professional Technology Africa, +27 (0)82 773 5744.
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