1

Table of Contents
History and Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3

Cathode Ray Oscilloscope; ............................................................................................................. 4

Construction; ............................................................................................................................... 4

Electron gun; ........................................................................................................................... 5

 Anodes (hollow tubes); .................................................................................................... 5

 Grid; ................................................................................................................................. 5

Deflection system; .................................................................................................................. 5

Fluorescent screen;.................................................................................................................. 6

Types of cathode ray oscilloscope; ................................................................................................. 6

 Digital storage oscilloscope; ................................................................................................ 6

 Digital sampling oscilloscope; ............................................................................................. 6

 Handheld oscilloscopes;....................................................................................................... 6

 PC-based oscilloscope; ........................................................................................................ 6

 Mixed signal oscilloscopes; ................................................................................................. 6

The working principal of a Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO) ...................................................... 7

Vertical amplifier ........................................................................................................................ 8

Delay line .................................................................................................................................... 8

Trigger circuit ............................................................................................................................. 8

Time based (sweep) generator .................................................................................................... 9

Horizontal amplifier .................................................................................................................... 9

Blanking circuit ........................................................................................................................... 9

Power supply............................................................................................................................. 10

How the waves are formed on the screen?.................................................................................... 10

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Channel select ........................................................................................................................... 11

AC\DC\GD ............................................................................................................................... 11

X-position ................................................................................................................................. 11

Y-position ................................................................................................................................. 11

Time\div .................................................................................................................................... 11

Volt\div ..................................................................................................................................... 11

Focus ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Intensity..................................................................................................................................... 11

Ext ............................................................................................................................................. 11

Applications .................................................................................................................................. 12

Electro-cardiogram (ECG) ........................................................................................................ 12

The conduction system of the heart; ......................................................................................... 13

................................................................................................................................................... 14

Electrode; .................................................................................................................................. 14

Instrumentation amplifier; ........................................................................................................ 14

Low Pass filter; ......................................................................................................................... 14

Amplifier;.................................................................................................................................. 14

Micro-controller; ....................................................................................................................... 14

LCD; ......................................................................................................................................... 14

Radar Display; .............................................................................................................................. 14

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 15

Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 16

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History and Introduction

Waves, no matter what type, have a symmetry which can be of any shape but no matter the
shape, its purpose is understood. During tidal alterations, waves in a sea or any water body
change with a symmetry of dips and rises. Waves can be of various types, whether in water
bodies that a layman can encounter in everyday life, or even in a laboratory for convenience of
scientists to make some observations. In scientific view, waves are mostly used to represent
comparison of two quantities that interprets behavior of the two. Shape of these waves is
waveform which is of various types. In early times, the waveforms were constructed and
designed by hand according to the information collected by the scientists through difficult
methods of calculations. The difficulties of measurement led to inventions to make calculations
of waveforms simpler.

In many cases a waveform is a study of voltage with intervals of time where time is studied on x-
axis and voltage on y-axis; most of the results are of the form of sine waves. Through these
waveforms various measurements can be done; peak to peak, amplitude, instantaneous, peak and
rms value. It is possible to get different forms of waveforms, full wave, half wave, sine wave,
cosine wave or linear wave. In any of the waveform definite information can be obtained and
since the very purpose is to get information and the waveform always holds some data, it is often
termed signal. In earlier times these signals or waveforms were represented on waveform
viewers but with time this implementation changed and is now digital. Oscillograph was the
instrument used for studying alternating current in terms of current and voltage parameters.
Electromagnetic oscillograph was invented by William Duddell for measurement of electric
current by passing it from a magnetic field.

But in order to study cathode ray oscilloscope (CRO) we need to discuss cathode ray tube (CRT)
first. The tube of a CRT was invented by Heinrich Geissler who evacuated a mercury pump to
form a tube comprised of vacuum, in 1855. This model was later modified by Sir William
Crookes in 1978 which was used as signature model of the CRT tube. In 1859, Julius Plucker
proposed existence of the invisible cathode rays.
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This invention itself was a series of events. In 1869, Johann Hittorf observed that unknown
rays from the negative electrode had the power to cast a shadow on the illuminated wall in their
way which implemented that they travelled in straight line. Arthur Schuster implemented that
these rays had the tendency to endure deflection upon application of electric fields in 1890 and
the implementation that these rays could be deflected by magnetic fields was presented by
William Crookes. In 1897, J. J. Thomson named the discovery of mass of cathode the particles
which were subatomic particles later named electrons. Then, a German scientist, presented the
cathode ray tube with phosphor coated screen in 1897.

Nowadays, oscilloscope is the instrument used for that purpose which was adapted from cathode
ray tube by Karl Ferdinand Braun in 1897. Construction of a cathode ray oscilloscope itself
depicts that it is an adaptation of cathode because where CRT is used to form a beam of electrons
and direct it at a certain point, CRO has components to perform the same job although it is a bit
more modified for where CRT shot a straight line of electrons illuminating the screen, CRO
directs the pathway of the beam of electrons and allows a linear or even a sine wave to form
according to the voltage-time relationship of the system.

Invention of the triggered sweep oscilloscope in 1946 was an adaptation of CRO. In coming
years more adaptation took place but CRO offered more control and the basic mechanism was
always the same.

Cathode Ray Oscilloscope;

A cathode ray oscilloscope (CRO) is used to represent a waveform on an instrument and CRO
provides best source as a digital instrument for representing and studying the waveforms. It can
be said as an adaptation of CRT and its structure is somewhat varied for different applications; in
case of television it requires a multiple beam electron gun so as to give the capability of showing
different colors in the images on the TV screen.

Construction;
Its construction involves a number of components that each have a certain role to play in the
mechanism of the CRO. They are enlisted below;
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Electron gun;
This part of the circuit includes;

 Anodes (hollow tubes); these are modified from the CRT to allow the passage of


accelerated electrons and to lead them towards the deflection system.
Grid; this part of the system is connected to the negative potential which is controlled by
the brightness knob on the system. This is because if the negative potential connected to
the system is very high, then since grid will also be highly negative, it will emphasize the
beam of electron hence organizing a strong electron beam to enter the deflection system,
which is the real purpose of the electron gun.

Deflection system;
This region operates upon;

 Y-plates; these are called Y-plates because they control the vertical image that the
oscilloscope is to form upon the screen. These are connected to the voltage scale of the
system which controls the deflection of the Y-plates which in turn controls the deflection
of the electron beam. That is, if a certain voltage is applied and the upper Y-plate is
positively charged and the lower Y-plate is negatively charged, it causes beam to be
reflected upwards and downwards if the polarity is reversed. If no voltage is applied, the


electron beam will give a single spot in the center of the screen.
X-plates; these direct the beam according to the time base alterations. If the time base
has a value other than 0, it causes a horizontal linear waveform on the screen. If no
alteration in the time base part of the circuit occurs, then the beam illuminates a single
spot on the screen.
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Fluorescent screen;
It is made of a material that electrons are sensitive to. It is designed with squares as in the graph
which makes it convenient for taking measurements.

Types of cathode ray oscilloscope;

Cathode ray oscilloscope was not directly invented as its history tells and the two major divisions
of cathode ray oscilloscope types are digital and analog. Digital type has been modified with
time but analog has drawbacks which makes it redundant. It uses varying voltage on x and y axes
that locate the movement of a spot on the screen. Digital oscilloscope although uses binary
numbers as voltage equivalent. Their types are;

 Digital storage oscilloscope; trigger event initiates the making of waveform, the data is
stored in the system and then the resultant waveform appears on the screen. It is more
convenient because it has a plotter attached to it which makes a sketch of the waveform
reducing the trouble of saving it, not to mention that this scope stores the data of the
signal in its system. It comes with the ability to increase the brightness of the resultant of


the waveform as desired by the user.
Digital sampling oscilloscope; a real time oscilloscope requires measurement at each
trigger event and constructs a waveform at each new trigger, but a digital sampling
oscilloscope uses trigger events and gives one points at trigger events and resultant
waveform is formed. Each new trigger encounters some delay before a new point is


interpreted for the waveform.
Handheld oscilloscopes; these are portable scopes and run on batteries eliminating the
need of connecting an external power supply to run the mechanism. They come with two
as well as four input channels. They are rendered preferable because they present better


accuracy of instrument.
PC-based oscilloscope; they cost lower than an alone scope perceiving that the consumer
already has a PC but a professional-grade PCO can be rather expensive as it goes up to
the range of megahertz for its bandwidth. It is portable if used in laptop technology. It can
give alternative waveforms for result and also holds the ability to construct waveforms in
different colors thus making it easier to decipher each waveform from the other. Some
are even smaller in size than portable scopes. It needs a software to be installed in the
device and has a few drawbacks too as it reduces the life span of the device as compared


to the hardware oscilloscopes.
Mixed signal oscilloscopes; it uses two sorts of inputs; two to four analog channels and
about sixteen digital channels and any combination of these can provide a trigger. It
combines measurement techniques of analog and digital storage oscilloscope. These are
used in analog to digital or digital to analog converters.
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The working principal of a Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO)

A cathode ray oscilloscope has a simple working method. It working is very similar to a TV.
Now as the name suggests it contains emission of electrons. The oscilloscope contains an
electron gun which contains a filament, cathode, control grid, accelerating and focus anodes
When the negative voltage is supplied to the circuit the filament rods with in the circuit is heated
and produces a beam of electrons or charged particles that passes between two types of
deflecting plates, vertical and horizontal plates after going through these deflection plates
respectively, this beam of electron hits the screen which is coated with phosphorus also called
fluorescent screen with necessary energy to light up the screen. In this case we see the screen
light up in the form of waves and shows a graph on the screen. This cathode ray tube is the heart
of the cathode ray oscilloscope.

Given below is the block diagram of the CRO:

Now keeping the above fig in account we analyze the principle operation of a CRO.

When the electron beam is shot towards the screen it passes through the vertical deflection
plates. The voltage which is to be shown on the screen is amplified with the vertical amplifier.
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Vertical amplifier: The input signal is applied to voltage amplifier. It simply amplifies the weak
signal so that the amplified signal can produce desirable signals.

The magnetic field around the plates makes the electrons deflect vertically. The polarity of the
signal will determine the direction in which the electrons will be deflected vertically, i.e. up or
down.

Then the output of this amplifier is then applied to the delay line

Delay line: Delay line retards the input waveform at the vertical deflection until the trigger and
time based circuit’s starts the sweep of the beam. This delay line produces the delay of
approximately 0.25 microsecond. A sweep is the horizontal speed of the CRT which is used to
trace. This ensures that the signal which is being tested is looked and does not drift. It is also
known as the saw tooth pulse, it is required to deflect the beam of electrons in the horizontal
section of the CRO.

The delay line is used because part of the signal gets lost .

Trigger circuit: A sample of the input waveform is fed to the trigger circuit which produces a
trigger pulse at some instant point in the input waveform. This very trigger pulse is used to start
the time based generator which intern starts the horizontal sweep of CRT from the left side of the
screen of the machine.

After this the beam of electrons passes through the horizontal deflection plates which is
connected to the time bases circuit.
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Time based (sweep) generator: This generator controls how fast the beam of electrons can
sweep from left to right by using the sweep knob on the machine by controlling this we can
compress or expand the trace or wave. This sweep voltage is then applied to the horizontal
amplifier. This process is also called synchronization, it synchronizes the sweep and the signal
being measured. It is also called triggering.

Horizontal amplifier: Horizontal amplifier amplifies the sweep voltage which is coming from
the time base circuit. While it is amplified it goes through phase inversion, a positive phase and a
negative phase which are then applied to both the horizontal deflection plates of CRT.

Blanking circuit: A retrace can occur on the CRT screen as it moves from right side to the left
side of the screen which can confuse the user. So, blanking circuit is used to eliminate this
retrace. It uses a banking voltage produced by the time base circuit

When the sweep voltage is applied to the horizontal plates and input signal to the vertical plates
the vertical input signal is displayed on the screen as a function of time. The vertical axis of the
screen of the CRO is the time and the horizontal axis is the voltage

Consider the above fig as an example.

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Power supply: the voltage required for the CRT, vertical amplifier and horizontal amplifier to
work in the first place is provided by the power supply.

 The high voltage supply of the power supply is used by the CRT
 The low voltage supply of the power supply is used by the above mentioned circuits of
the CRO.

How the waves are formed on the screen?

The vertical and horizontal plates within the cathode bends the electron to make the pattern of
the signals on the screen. The beam move back and forth so fast to make it look like a continuous
wave pattern.

Some of the common controls of a CRO are explained below with the help of the
following figure;
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Channel select: it is used to select a channel or both channel on a CRO or both channels in
which case we select a dual channel button.

AC\DC\GD: to set the type of input signal.

X-position: it is used to adjust the horizontal trace on the screen of the CRO

Y-position: it is used to adjust the position of the vertical trace on the screen of the CRO

Time\div: for selecting the desired time period of the waveform.

Volt\div: to select the desired voltage of the wave form

Focus: this is used to improve the sharpness of the wave so that we can see and take
measurements correctly. In other words it removes the blurriness.

Intensity: this knob is used to increase the number of electron beam so we can see the wave
clearly and dark in case the wave is light and cannot be seen properly.

Ext: this is used when the timing of the CRO is not determined by the internal waveform but
some other external wave form it has a port right beside it to connect it to the external input.
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Applications
Since electricity has become a basic necessity of the modern world, its parameters such as
current, voltage and the effective resistance are considered vital in order to understand an
electrical signal at hand. Cathode Ray Oscilloscope is one such device that has been modified in
various ways, in order to study the electrical impulses associated with signals with varying
sources.

Electro-cardiogram (ECG)
One such formulated device is the ECG machine. As humans, the lives of our species are
considered extremely vital and so the feelings associated with every such situation including the
ECG machine are quite intense. Thus, this machine is, to a great extent, a very important device
invented.

“The ECG is one of the medical equipment that can measure

the heart rate, convert it into a signal and present the data on
a piece of paper or on a monitor. An ECG is a recording of
the electrical activity on the body surface generated by the
heart.”
(PDF)

(CO2-Monitors-s/2555.htm)

This application of CRO contains this oscilloscope at the output with a certain circuitry used for
the conversion of the input pulses into the required form, which are the electrical signals.

CRO has its Y-deflection plates to receive the input. The input that is fed to the CRO passes
through a number of steps in case of ECG machine. The following block diagram demonstrates
the process involved;
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The conduction system of the heart;

To understand the electrical signals received by the machine, the conduction system of the heart
needs to be understood. This fascinating generation of electrical impulses within the heart is
responsible for its pumping action.

(Youtube)
The right atrium is the place where the sinoatrial node is present. The electrical pulses are
generated in this region which is then transferred initially and simultaneously to the left atrium
via conducing fibers. This pulse causes the atria to contract and the blood is transferred to the
right and left ventricles at the lower end of the heart. The electrical impulse also reaches the
ventricles but this signal is delayed for the blood to collect in the ventricles and when the
electricity finally reaches this part, the contraction of the ventricles causes the blood to be
supplied to the rest of the body.
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Electrode;

The electrical impulses of the fibers are basically read by the electrodes of the ECG machine and
then forwarded to the instrumentation amplifier.

Instrumentation amplifier;
The signals coming from the electrode are amplified in this portion of the circuit. The input
voltage is very low so, this part of the circuit is used to bring the signal to the required range.

Low Pass filter;

With a frequency range up till 150 Hz, this part of the circuitry is used to eliminate any noise or
unwanted signals.

Amplifier;
This amplifier does not invert the signal. Just amplifies the incoming signal.

Micro-controller;
This part measures the heart rate by determining the input signal and counting the waves for one
minute.

LCD;
This portion displays the final result, after being fed to the CRO.

Radar Display;
Radar is the system in which electromagnetic waves are used to detect an object at a distance. It
can measure the depths of oceans or other distances. This system is also suitable to determine the
broken parts of a complex machine by examining the scattering of the incident electromagnetic
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waves. These reflected waves are fed to the CRO as an input and the result is examined on the
LCD screen.

(marei.ie)

Passing through a number of adjustments, the reflected waveform from a targeted material is
finally fed into the CRO to obtain a final result. The above diagram represents a waveform that
can be obtained as a consequence of the radar.

Summary
With the input being fed to the Y-plates of the cathode ray oscilloscope, a number of circuits can
be devised in order to obtain a certain output. The deflection of the electron beam along the
vertical axis demonstrates the parameters of the required output signal. The input circuitry can be
adjusted to be applied in various fields of which the EG machine and the radar system are two of
the vital applications.
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Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved from PDF:
file:///C:/Users/Noor/Desktop/Kinnaird/Semester%205/Electrical%20Instrumentation/IJE
SIT201303_63.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZT9vlbL2uA

(n.d.). Retrieved from marei.ie: marei.ie

CO2-Monitors-s/2555.htm. (n.d.). Retrieved from medicaldevicedepot:

http://www.medicaldevicedepot.com/CO2-Monitors-s/2555.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y7LgpBxuwY

http://analogueoscilloscope.com/the-history-of-the-analogue-oscilloscope/

http://theinventors.org/library/inventors/blcathoderaytube.htm

http://www.tek.com/blog/oscilloscope-basics-waveforms-101

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/cathoder.htm

https://www.britannica.com/technology/cathode-ray-oscilloscope