Digital PC Oscilloscope

Table of Contents:

Overview Design and Manufacturing Process Final Hardware Product

Analog to Digital Stage Clock Circuit Digital to Analog Scalar Stage Analog to Digital Conditioning Stage Aliasing Detection Circuit

Final Software Programming

Visual Basic and Flow Chart Decision Box Software Triggering

Background References

OV RV! "

Overall Block Diagram click here!

Our grou" decided to "ick the #ersonal Com"uter Oscillosco"e $ecause it sounded ver% interesting to a""roach& 'e also felt it would hel" us in understanding man% as"ects of hardware and software interfacing& 'e also wanted to do something that we felt was consumer electronic related to the current market and was interesting in working with& This "articular digital "c oscillosco"e that we "roduced was successful in running( although it did not meet all of our ho"es and goals stated in the "ro"osal& Briefl%( the s%stem contained man% stages of o"erations necessar% in a successful model& First of all( the s%stem contained an external circuit la%out that was used to do the Analog to Digital converting( the Digital to Analog scaling( the clocking( and the aliasing detection& The other stages are internal to the com"uter( such as) the *+O card interface( and the Visual Basic "rogramming which dis"la%ed the data& *n this write u" we will $e descri$ing all the necessar% com"onents and how the% are im"lemented into the s%stem functions& 'e will also $e descri$ing the

s%stem software and the necessar% "rogram that allows the com"uter to interface with the external circuit& Finall%( we will give a descri"tion of the $ackground information we received from a local com"an%( stating the current marketing digital oscillosco"e that o"erates on the "ersonal com"uter& D S!#$ %$D M%$&F%C'&R PROC SS 'hen we started working on the "ersonal com"uter oscillosco"e we first needed an excellent A+D converter& The first one we tried was a com"lete mistake& The "ro$lem with this integrating converter was that its sam"ling fre,uenc% was reall% slow -./!( which onl% allowed us to look at fre,uencies under 0./( and even those waveforms were ugl%& Then we decided to "ut in a reall% fast 0123h/( $ut we could not get that converter to work& The 0123h/ converter was ver% difficult to work with( for it re,uired a lot of "recision $iasing& So( we installed the final converter 42k./! which isn5t the greatest converter( %et it was easier to work with and sam"led at a high enough rate for this "articular "ro6ect& 'hile working on the "ro"er A+D converter( we $egan the com"uter interfacing "rocess& This "rocess re,uired a good *+O card and Visual Basic "rogramming to read the card& This "rocess was ever $uilding in the "ro6ect designing( we sim"l% ke"t including extras in the "rogram for ease in o"erating& The *+O card was eas% to decide on $ecause it "rovided us with the a$ilit% to u"grade and it was "rogramma$le for) read( write( or $i7directional& Also( the *+O card had the necessar% amount of $it locations to $e used in our $i7directional interface "rogramming& One "ro$lem that we found with this s%stem was that we could onl% in"ut data with maximum voltage of 8V( otherwise the A+D chi" would $urn u"& So( in order to save the chi" we "ut in 0&4V /ener cli""ing diodes and $uilt a D+A conditioner& This D+A stage circuit divides the voltage down immediatel% from the in"ut signal( runs it through the A+D converter( which sends it to the com"uter& The "rogram then reali/es how much it needs to scale the signal such that the A+D converter gives the $est resolution& And the last thing we did was the aliasing detection circuit& This circuit5s "ur"ose was to recogni/e that the in"ut fre,uenc% was to large for the sam"ling rate& Once this s%stem recogni/ed aliasing( it would send a high signal to the "ort and the window would dis"la% A9*AS on the gra"h& The circuit consisted of a fre,uenc% to DC voltage converter and a com"arator& The s%stem was sur"risingl% coo"erative and we ran into little com"lications( which allowed us to have a successful working model( and a s%stem that $asicall% simulates the market "c oscillosco"e& D S!#$ %$D M%$&F%C'&R PROC SS

'hen we started working on the "ersonal com"uter oscillosco"e we first needed an excellent A+D converter& The first one we tried was a com"lete mistake& The "ro$lem with this integrating converter was that its sam"ling fre,uenc% was reall% slow -./!( which onl% allowed us to look at fre,uencies under 0./( and even those waveforms were ugl%& Then we decided to "ut in a reall% fast 0123h/( $ut we could not get that converter to work& The 0123h/ converter was ver% difficult to work with( for it re,uired a lot of "recision $iasing& So( we installed the final converter 42k./! which isn5t the greatest converter( %et it was easier to work with and sam"led at a high enough rate for this "articular "ro6ect& 'hile working on the "ro"er A+D converter( we $egan the com"uter interfacing "rocess& This "rocess re,uired a good *+O card and Visual Basic "rogramming to read the card& This "rocess was ever $uilding in the "ro6ect designing( we sim"l% ke"t including extras in the "rogram for ease in o"erating& The *+O card was eas% to decide on $ecause it "rovided us with the a$ilit% to u"grade and it was "rogramma$le for) read( write( or $i7directional& Also( the *+O card had the necessar% amount of $it locations to $e used in our $i7directional interface "rogramming& One "ro$lem that we found with this s%stem was that we could onl% in"ut data with maximum voltage of 8V( otherwise the A+D chi" would $urn u"& So( in order to save the chi" we "ut in 0&4V /ener cli""ing diodes and $uilt a D+A conditioner& This D+A stage circuit divides the voltage down immediatel% from the in"ut signal( runs it through the A+D converter( which sends it to the com"uter& The "rogram then reali/es how much it needs to scale the signal such that the A+D converter gives the $est resolution& And the last thing we did was the aliasing detection circuit& This circuit5s "ur"ose was to recogni/e that the in"ut fre,uenc% was to large for the sam"ling rate& Once this s%stem recogni/ed aliasing( it would send a high signal to the "ort and the window would dis"la% A9*AS on the gra"h& The circuit consisted of a fre,uenc% to DC voltage converter and a com"arator& The s%stem was sur"risingl% coo"erative and we ran into little com"lications( which allowed us to have a successful working model( and a s%stem that $asicall% simulates the market "c oscillosco"e& F!$%( H%RD"%R PROD&C' %nalog to Digital Stage) To dis"la% analog signal onto a digital com"uter( such as %our #C( the continuous analog voltage needs to $e converted into a discrete digital num$er that the com"uter can then take and mani"ulate& The conversion $etween analog to digital is done using an A+D converter chi"& The fact that we are changing continuous signal into discrete im"lies that the faster of an A+D converter we have( the $etter we will re"resent the continuous analog signal into discrete digital as well as the fact that we will $e a$le to accuratel% re"roduce higher fre,uenc% waves& Toda%( two methods in A+D technologies seem to give the $est s"eed "erformance&

One( is se,uential a""roximation( in which the analog voltage is a""roximated $% se,uentiall% moving from the most significant $it to least significant $it and com"aring the digital voltage to the analog voltage& The method works similarl% to a $inar% search in which we do a $inar% search for the digital num$er that $est re"resents the analog voltage& One draw$ack to this method is the fact that the chi" must also contain a digital to analog stage to transform the digital voltage into analog and com"are it with the analog in"ut& The second( and $% far the most "o"ular method for use in high s"eed electronics( is a flash A+D converter& Su""ose that one uses an : $it converter& Then( 01; 0<:! com"arators are stacked one on to" of each other and the in"ut voltage is "assed through a 01; resistor network ladder& 'ithout going into too much detail( the resistor network will distri$ute the in"ut voltage evenl% on each resistor and the com"arators com"are each node signal against a fixed reference voltage& Based on how man% com"arators are =on= at one time( a digital num$er re"resenting the in"ut voltage can $e o$tained& *n our design( we decided to use 3otorola5s tri"le :7Bit Video ADC 3C--012!& This flash A+D converter has the following feature which made it extremel% well suited for our "ro6ect> ?13./ Sam"ling @ate& Single 1Volt #ower Su""l%& 8 Flash A+D converters on one chi"& Ver% well suited for future u"grades where we would like our digital sco"e to have two or three in"ut channels!& Click here for schematic&

*f one is to use the chi" at its full s"eed then the ground la%er should $e se"arated into an analog and a digital ground( with enough s"ace in $etween them to minimi/e cou"ling in the a$ove drawing the triangle re"resents analog ground( while the 8 line triangle re"resents digital ground!& 'hen running at s"eeds around 42A./ we did not find it necessar% to worr% a$out cou"ling& 'e were a$le to get awa% with using the same "ower su""l% and same ground for $oth the analog and digital "art of our design& Bach "ower su""l% "in should $e decou"led to ground as close to the "ackage as "ossi$le see reference ?!& De"ending on the environment in which the circuit is $eing $uilt( a large cou"ling ca"acitors might $e necessar% in order to remove an% excessive noise around the com"onents one environment in which this a""lies is when the circuit is $uilt using a $read$oard!& @? is used for current $iasing( and 1&?A is recommended for o"timal "erformance&

Clock Circuit)

Our A+D converter re,uires a clock running at s"eeds u" to ?13./& *n our "ro6ect our s"eed was not limited $% the external hardware( $ut rather $% the "rogramming language we decided to use& .ence( using a ver% high s"eed clock would not have $een of much hel"& *nstead( for our clock we used the $asic asta$le circuit descri$ed $elow see reference 0!& 'ith @? e,ual @0 and C? C 2&2?u we o$tained extremel% good 12 D dut% c%cle! s,uare waves in the range of a$out ?22A./& Again( caution should $e taken on where and how the clock is mounted in the circuit& On a $read$oard( the high clock fre,uencies will cause excessive noise causing certain com"onents to malfunction& *n our setu" we had to mount the clock on a circuit awa% from the $read$oard& Click here for schematic&

Digital to %nalog Scalar Stage) Click here for schematic

'e decided that it would $e nice to have the a$ilit% to measure a ?22V "eak to "eak wave& .owever the D+A converter is rated for onl% 01V& B% using the 8A and ?A resistors we made sure that we have a 01V in"ut to the DAC when the original wave is ?22V& The rest of the circuit acts 6ust like an inverting amlifier where we are using the DAC as the feed$ack voltage& Esing this setu" we are a$le to divide the in"ut signal $% a factor ranging from - to ?20-& B% the fact that we alwa%s divide the in"ut signal one must reali/e that this is not the o"timal configuration for a scalar& *deall% one would like the scalar to have the a$ilit% to $oth am"lif% and attenuate the in"ut signal!

%nalog to Digital Conditioning Stage) Our A+D converter re,uires the in"ut voltage for Vin to range from around ?&4 volts to a$out -&F volts( with an average range of a$out 8 volts& 3oreover( since the A+D data s"ecs did not contain an% information on the in"ut

im"edance it would $e nice to have something that would "rovide high im"edance to the analog in"ut as well as shift the voltage in the G0V to G1V range& The $elow circuit "rovides us with exactl% what we need& The two /ener diodes will clam" the in"ut voltage to "lus or minus 8&-V 2&4 G 0&4!& Ad6usting the gain on the am"lifier( via @0( we can o$tain a translation in the range G0&1V( 70&1V to a range of G0&2V( G1&2V& with no in"ut wave distortion& Click here for schematic

%liasing Detection Circuit) 'hen sam"ling continuous signals caution should $e taken to "revent aliasing& B% definition alias is a false signal caused from $eats $etween signal fre,uenc% and sam"ling fre,uenc% see 'indow Dis"la% for

Oscillosco"e $elow! > in this "icture a ver% high fre,uenc% sine wave is sam"led at a fre,uenc% lower than ?+0 its own and we see something that is "erceived to $e a slower fre,uenc% sine wave!& *n ?F0: H%,uist discovered that in order to "revent aliasing the signal must $e sam"led at a fre,uenc% twice its own& .ence( we thought that it is onl% a""ro"riate to incor"orate an alias detection circuit in our #C Oscillosco"e& Click here for 'indow Dis"la% for Oscillosco"e

The circuit $elow converts fre,uenc% to voltage and then using the 9388F com"arator we com"are this voltage with a "reset voltage ad6usted $% @?8& The voltage at @?8 is ad6usted to $e e,ual to the voltage from the fre,uenc% to voltage stage when the in"ut fre,uenc% is at the aliasing "oint& The com"arator will $e low when we are o"erating in the good fre,uenc% range( and high when we are aliasing&

Click here for Schematic

C? will filter out the DC voltage com"onent( allowing onl% the fre,uenc% to go through& I? and I0 act as two o"en collector high gain am"lifiers& @?( @0( @- and @1 are $iasing transistors I? and I0 'ithout emitter resistors I? and I0 have extremel% high gain and will transform an% sha"e ac in"ut into a s,uare wave of fre,uenc% e,ual with that of the in"ut signal& C8 and @4 are used as a high "ass filter to sha"e the s,uare wave into s"ikes still of e,ual fre,uenc% with the original in"ut signal! necessar% to "ro"erl% trigger the 111 timer& On "in 8 of the 111 timer we will have a monosta$le "ositive "ulse of time e,ual with @?? times C- see reference 8!& As the in"ut fre,uenc% changes so does the distance $etween the "ositive "ulses as in diagram! Click here for Diagram

 @?0 and C1 convert the out"ut wave from "in 8 into DC voltage "ro"ortional with the initial in"ut fre,uenc% see diagram!& @?- is re,uired for the com"arator to work& F!$%( SOF'"%R PRO#R%MM!$#) Visual Basic and Flow C*art The Visual Basic "rogram must accom"lish the following tasks> + Collect digital data from t*e %,D converter and properl- displa- it. + Decide if t*e input needs to /e scaled and if so /- *ow muc*0 + "rite to t*e D,% converter a num/er t*at will properl- scale t*e input. + Handle t*e rest of t*e miscellaneous tasks suc* as) + Provide time /ase control and amplitude scaling. + Provide t*e a/ilit- to programma/l- control triggering. + Provide support for printing t*e scope output The first three tasks are tightl% $inded together and the correlation $etween them can $e descri$ed $% the following flow chart& Click here for Flow Chart

Click here for Visual Basic #rogram

The "rogram works as follows& Originall% the attenuator divides the in"ut signal $% 01;& *f our in"ut is a large voltage then the A+D converter will $e a$le to dis"la% a clean wave( and the "rogram follows "ath =a=& .owever( if the in"ut

signal was small to $egin with( then the A+D converter will not $e a$le to read a correct re"resentation of the in"ut signal& 'e will then see a mere =2=& The "rogram will then find the maximum num$er coming from the A+D& This num$er will $e much smaller than our threshold value and num$er 0 from the decision $ox turns out true& Therefore the "rogram will tell the hardware to divide the in"ut $% a num$er twice as small as $% what we were "reviousl% attenuating( and the "rogram follows "ath =$= until the decision $ox turns ? to $e true and the "rogram changes to "ath =a=& How su""ose the we are at a nice voltage( we see a clean wave on the sco"e and ever%thing is ad6usted 6ust right we are following "ath =a=! when all of a sudden the in"ut voltage either dro"s or increases dramaticall%& .ow will the "rogram $ehaveJ 'ell( let5s take each case one at a time& *f the voltage dro"s $ellow the threshold voltage then the collected digital data will have a num$er $elow the threshold num$er and the decision $ox turns num$er 0 as true and we will follow "ath =$= until the collected digital data is a$ove the threshold num$er& Once that ha""ens the "rogram switches $ack to running "ath =a=& Hext( if the "rogram is going along "ath =a= and all of a sudden a high voltage comes at the in"ut( the D+A converter will read a num$er ver% close to FF7hex "lease note that the D+A converter will not damage $ecause of the /ener diodes on the analog to digital conditioning stage!& The num$er read $% the A+D converter will $e larger than the ceiling num$er and the decision $ox will turn out num$er 8 as true& The "rogram tells the attenuator to attenuate to the maximum we are now following "ath =c=!& As soon as this ha""ens the next stage the "rogram will follow "ath =$= can %ou tell wh%J!& *f we were to watch the "rogram for a while one would note that "ath =a= is the e,uili$rium "ath& An%thing that ha""ens our software will tr% to $ring the state of the machine in the state descri$ed $% "ath =a=& Decision Bo1) The A+D converter will alwa%s give a num$er $etween FF and 22 with 4F at e,ual distance $etween the two& An%thing a$ove 4F is "ositive and $elow 4F is negative& B% taking the a$solute value we can deal onl% with the "ositive "art& 'e divide the u""er range as in the following "icture Click here for #icture

Our ADC will give the $est resolution when the am"litude of the signal is $etween 0 and -& See software "rogram on how this is solved sco"e11 ! and scal ! are the functions doing this!

Software 'riggering) The idea $ehind triggering is $est ex"lained $% the following "icture> Click here for #icture

Because the time to sam"le the digital data and the time to dis"la% it are not e,ual we need to add a time dela% to s%nchroni/e the gra"hed( otherwise the gra"hed data will $e 6um"ing around the screen as the screen is u"dated&

B%C2#RO&$D !$FORM%'!O$

Marketing Personal Computer Digital Oscilloscopes Rapid S-stems3 !ncorporated R4 &niversal Digital Oscilloscopes A ver% interesting as"ect of this "ro6ect was talking with engineers that $uild these #C oscillosco"es for actual consumers& One "articular "lace we were a$le to talk with was @a"id S%stems& @a"id S%stems was ver% hel"ful in answering all of our ,uestions& The% even "rovided us with a manual on the three s%stems( Analog to Digital Converter Chi" names( and a demo disk "ertaining to the actual o"erating window& 'hen talking with @a"id S%stem we learned that their s%stem was ,uite similar in $lock diagram la%out that we designed& Due to lack of necessar% time and mone% we were una$le to meet the s"ecifications that the marketing #C oscillosco"e are running at& The three #C oscillosco"es that @a"id S%stems "rovides for the consumer are>
R1000 Digital Oscilloscope (click for details)

R1000 Digital Oscilloscope Retail Price) 56789.::

Hardware)

@?222 out$oard digital sco"e "eri"heral 3icro 9inear 00;?BC# :7$it 122A./ A+D converter! @822 digital signal "rocessing DS#! interface card or @*7?0 standard interface card $oth a 023./!
Software)

C Assem$ler *+O controlling! 3atrix 9a%out signal viewing!

Features)

122A./ maximum sam"le rate "er channel 80k data $uffer for each channel From ?22D "re7trigger to ?22D "ost7trigger ca"a$ilit% ? 3eg ohm 82"F in"ut im"edance AC to DC cou"ling of the signal in"ut "rotection to G+7 822 volts Software selecta$le gain range from 2&01;V to 1?0V "eak7to7"eak Full analog triggering with external analog trigger in"ut Trigger ad6ust "otentiometer Small si/e case with "ower su""l% $% com"uter Connect four units together for ?; channels Digital triggering

Data Referenced from ;Rapid S-stems3 !nc. R4 &niversal Digital Oscilloscope Manual;
R1200 Digital Oscilloscope (click for details)

R1200 Digital Oscilloscope Retail Price) 54<89.::

Hardware)

@?022 out$oard digital sco"e "eri"heral Own Design Successful A""roximation ?07$it ?3./ A+D converter! @822 digital signal "rocessing DS#! interface card or @*7?0 standard interface card $oth at 023./!
Software)

C Assem$ler *+O controlling! 3atrix 9a%out signal viewing! Features) ?3./ maximum sam"le rate "er channel B3* "rotected dou$le7shielded metal case Self contained linear "ower su""l% From ?22D "re7trigger to ?22D "ost7trigger ca"a$ilit% ? 3eg ohm 82"F in"ut im"edance AC to DC cou"ling of the signal in"ut "rotection to G+7 822 volts #rogramma$le gain range from 2&-2F;V to -2F&;V "eak7to7"eak Full analog triggering with external analog trigger in"ut Trigger ad6ust "otentiometer Digital triggering on two in"ut channels Data Referenced from ;Rapid S-stems3 !nc. R4 &niversal Digital Oscilloscope Manual;
R2000 Digital Oscilloscope (click for details)

R2000 Digital Oscilloscope Retail Price) 54<89.::

Hardware)

@0222 out$oard digital sco"e "eri"heral 3otorola 3C?28?F :7$it 023./ A+D converter! @822 digital signal "rocessing DS#! interface card or

@*7?0 standard interface card $oth at 023./!

Software)

C Assem$ler *+O controlling! 3atrix 9a%out signal viewing! Features) 023./ maximum sam"le rate "er channel ;-k ex"anda$le to ?0:k data $uffer for each $uffer From ?22D "re7trigger to ?22D "ost7trigger ca"a$ilit% ? 3eg ohm 82"F in"ut im"edance AC to DC cou"ling of the signal in"ut "rotection to G+7 822 volts Software selecta$le gain range from 2&01;V to ?0:2V "eak7to7"eak Full analog triggering with external analog trigger in"ut Trigger ad6ust "otentiometer Out$oard "eri"heral with a full B3* "rotected dou$le shielded metal case for signal integrit% Self contained linear "ower su""l% Switcha$le 12 Ohm in"ut termination with warning light Digital triggering Data Referenced from ;Rapid S-stems3 !nc. R4 &niversal Digital Oscilloscope Manual;

These three oscillosco"es all use C assembler for "rogramming the *+O "ort descri$ed in the details& The% also use Matrix Layout as the software "rogram that allows them to design a well detailed window for viewing "ur"oses& Hoticing the a$ilities of these three well thought out oscillosco"es for the #C( we now can determine what to do differentl% in the future& For one thing( we would like to use an *+O card that sam"les in the 3./ range @a"id S%stems develo"ed their own *+O card!& 'e felt our ma6or set $ack( was the Visual Basic software we used to "rogram the *+O card and viewing window& Visual Basic is reall% excellent in monitoring s%stems or running visual "rograms at lower sam"le rates( $ut is a$solutel% terri$le in running sam"le rates in the A./ range& The limitations of the two interface card and software! were the main contri$utors to the 122./ maximum sam"ling rate& Although( we were a$le to o$serve ver% interesting aliasing wave forms over the 122./ range& Although we o$tained detailed information regarding material used on marketing oscillosco"es( we were una$le to convince them of giving out design information& This information would have $een extremel% hel"ful in answering the more s"ecific ,uestions( regarding the circuit design and software interfacing& One wa% of us o$taining this information would $e to go out and "urchase one of these s%stems( taking it a"art and anal%/ing it&
REFERENCES

(1) Motorola Semiconductor Technical Data MC44250 (2) Radio Shack En!ineer"# Mini $ Note%ook 555 Timer (&) Ra'id S(#tem# )nc* +R2 Di!ital ,#cillo#co'e Manual+ (R1000 R1200 - R2000)