Lab 1

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY KARACHI CAMPUS

Department of Electrical Engineering

ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS

LAB EXPERIMENT # 1(a)

Oscilloscope
OBJECTIVE:-

 Familiarization with the Oscilloscope.

EQUIPMENT:-

1. Oscilloscope with probe

THEORY:-

The oscilloscope is a device that measures voltages. In the usual case, it displays the
voltage as a function of time. In this document, we introduce basic usage of this
apparatus. It is intended for people with little or no background in using this instrument.

Different Manufacturers and Models

For basic usage, all scopes have essentially the same functionality. However, the controls
on the front to achieve this functionality are put in different places on the face plate for
different manufacturers and even different models by the same manufacturer. Thus when
confronted with a scope for the first time, one of the challenges is to locate the
appropriate controls. The first of these is often finding the Power Button so that you can
turn the unit on.

When first using a particular make and model of an oscilloscope, taking a few moments
to familiarize yourself with the location of the major controls and how they work is
strongly recommended. Randomly turning knobs and flipping switches is almost certain
to not produce the display that you desire.

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Near the upper right corner of the generic scope is a rotary knob labeled TIME/DIV. All
scopes will have such a control, which may have a different label such as TIME/cm, or TB
(for time base), or something similar. Not only will the position of this control be
different for different scopes, but it can be a rotary knob as in our generic scope or a
rocker switch. Regardless of the position or label we shall call this the Timebase Control.

Finding an Invisible Beam

We began by discussing how one of the first somewhat difficult tasks in using an
oscilloscope is locating and identifying all the required controls.

Sometimes you connect a signal to a scope, turn it on, and don't see anything! This can be
another bit of a challenge. Some scopes have a control to try to make a reasonable set of
guesses for the settings of the other controllers. This sometimes does not work, and many
other scopes don't even have this capability. Here is a set of steps to try to find where a
missing beam has gone.

1. Make sure the scope is set up to display the beam you are trying to find.
2. Set the trigger to automatic.
3. Set the input signal to ground if possible.

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4. Set the Voltage Control to the least sensitive value possible. This is the largest
value of the voltage per division.
5. Set the Time base Control to a value approximately in the middle of the range of
possible values.
6. Adjust the controls for horizontal and vertical position of the beam. If all goes
well you will eventually end up with a beam spread out across the screen
horizontally and centered in the middle of the vertical axis.

The Time Base

As mentioned, usually the scope measures a voltage as a function of time, with the time
being the horizontal axis. The Time base Control controls the scale of the time axis.

As shown, as the Time base Control is set to smaller values of time per division the beam
sweeps faster across the screen. When the value gets small enough it looks like a
continuous line, but in fact it is still sweeping across the screen from left to right.

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Usually on or near the Time base Control is another control that allows the time per
division to be continuously adjusted around a small range of values. This can be used to
see a detail more clearly. This second control will have a position in which the value
displayed by the Time base Control is the actual time per division within the accuracy of
the instrument. Thus it is usually called CAL (for calibrated) or something similar. Since
time is the horizontal or x axis, usually near the Time base Control is another one that
controls the horizontal position of the beam. It is often called X-POS or something similar.
If the input to the scope is a changing non-zero voltage than the beam will not always be
in the same vertical position.

For the two largest shown values of the Time base Control we can calculate the period T
of the oscillating voltage. Here is the result of calculating the period:

Value of Time base Calculating the Period T

1 complete oscillation takes 4 divisions. Thus the period is:
0.50 secs/division
T = 4 divisions × 0.50 secs/division = 2 seconds
1 complete oscillation takes 8 divisions. Thus the period is:
0.25 secs/division
T = 8 divisions × 0.25 secs/division = 2 seconds

For the time base set to 0.1 msec/division, the beam is sweeping too fast for its motion to
be visible. Nonetheless, the apparently solid line oscillates up and down with a period of
It is easy to get confused if you forget that even if the beam looks like a solid line, it is
not: it is sweeping across the screen from left to right at a speed controlled by the Time
base Control2 seconds, the period of the input voltage. Even at high sweep rates, i.e.
small values for the Time base Control when the beam looks like a line, if an input
voltage is varying, say, sinusoidally at a high frequency, then increasing the sweep rate
spreads the wave form more widely across the screen.

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Most scopes are capable of displaying two voltages at once. These are usually called
Dual Beam Oscilloscopes. The beams are usually labeled A and B, or 1 and 2. The generic
scope whose picture we accessed above is a dual beam scope and labels the beams 1 and
2.Each beam will have a Voltage Control which controls the scale of the vertical axis. As
with the Time base Control, a Voltage Control can have different labels and types and is
located in different places depending on the manufacturer and model. The generic scope
calls them both VOLTS/DIV.

Somewhere near a Voltage Control will be a control for the vertical position of the
corresponding beam. There will also be a control to continuously adjust the volts per
division, with a calibration position. Also somewhere near it will be the place where you
plug in the input signal.

Usually the plug is a BNC type. The figure to the right shows a BNC socket and the BNC
connector on the end of a cable that will be connected to the plug. The figure is
approximately life size.

Some cables do not have BNC connectors, but instead end with a Banana Plug, such as
shown below; the picture is smaller than a real banana plug. For a cable with this
connector you will need an adaptor from the banana plug to a BNC connector.

The effect of the Voltage Control on the vertical axis is similar to the effect of the Time
Control on the horizontal one: lower values spread the voltage over a wider range of
vertical values.

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The difference between the maximum voltage and the minimum voltage of the input
signal in the animation is about 5.2 divisions when the Voltage Control is set to 10
mV/div. This is 5.2 divisions × 10 mV/division = 52 mV, and is called the peak-to-peak
voltage. A similar but less precise result can be obtained from the animation when the
Voltage Control is set to 20 mV/div.

To close this section, usually somewhere near the Voltage Control is a control for the
type of voltage we will measure with the corresponding beam. It typically allows for
three different possibilities, which are often named something like:

Ground
Turns off the input signal entirely. This can be useful to see the reference vertical
position of the beam if there were no input signal. It is labeled GD on the generic
oscilloscope. Of course, the control can also have other names, such as 0.
DC
A slightly misleading name: this setting just displays the voltage.
AC
Imagine we have a sinusoidally varying sine wave plus a DC voltage of some
constant value. This choice filters out the DC component, just leaving the AC part
displayed.

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Controlling the Beam

Oscilloscopes have a control for the beam intensity, i.e. how bright the beam is. It should
be adjusted for the minimum clearly visible value.

There will also be a focus control. It should be adjusted so that the beam is as "sharp" as
possible.

For scopes capable of displaying two or more beams, there will be a control somewhere
for which beams are shown. For the generic scope, these are located at the bottom and the
centre of the control panel. If the button labeled DUAL is up, then the button labeled CH
I/II controls which of the 2 beams will be displayed. If the button labeled DUAL is down
then both beams will be displayed.

The Trigger

It can often happen than you have the Time base Control set for a high sweep rate (i.e. a
small amount of time per division) and are displaying a wave that is varying with time,
but the display is not stable.

What is going on is that as the beam sweeps from left to right it does not always start at
the same point on the input voltage. A Trigger Controller is actually a set of controls that
deter if this controller is not set correctly; the beam can actually appear to be a jumble of
multiple traces jumping around on the screen instead of the simple movement shown in
the previous animation determines when each sweep of the beam begins.

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In either case, adjusting the Trigger Controller is how to make the display stable. In
simple cases, you will usually want to trigger the sweep on the beam that you are looking
at. If you are displaying two beams at once, you will usually want to choose one of them
to trigger on. Alternatively, most scopes allow a separate input for the trigger; on the
generic scope accessed above this input is labeled TRIG INP and is just to the right and
down from the Time base Control. There will be a control somewhere to determine what
signal you wish to trigger on. It is common for one of the controls for the trigger to allow
the trigger to be set to automatic mode, which is usually the first thing to try. On the
generic scope, this is the button in the far upper-right corner labeled AT/NORM, and when
the button is out the mode is automatic. Virtually all scopes will have a trigger control for
the level of the input signal that triggers the start of the next sweep of the beam.

Teacher Signature: ________________________

Student Registration No.: ________________________