Introduction to the

Oscilloscope

Professor Ahmadi

ECE002

George Washington University

 Electrical Signal
How do we classify the signals that we measure?
 Electrical Signals: D.C. Signal
 A direct current or D.C. signal is one that only flows in a single
direction.
 Typical Sources
 Batteries
 Agilent Power Supply in the ECE labs
5
Y=VOLTAGE (volts)

What is the value at 5 Seconds?

2.5 20 Seconds?

X=TIME (seconds)
-2.5 5 10 15 20

-5
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 Electrical Signal: A.C. Signal
5

Y=VOLTAGE (volts)
2.5

X=TIME (seconds)
-2.5 5 10 15 20

-5
 A.C. or Alternating Current signals are ones that change direction over time.
 As time increases our voltage fluctuates up and down.
 Typical Sources
 Function Generators
 Electrical Outlets in Buildings

 So at time=2.5s, what is the voltage?

 And again at 10seconds?...15 seconds?

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 Electrical Signals
 DC Signals are usually characterized by their voltage.
 AC Signals are characterized by their:
 Shape
 Frequency (Cycles Per Second)
 Period (Seconds Per Cycle)
 Amplitude
Common Lab Equipment
 What is the purpose of an oscilloscope
 The purpose of an oscilloscope is to measure a voltage
that changes with time and show it in a graphical format

1) Here is the oscilloscope in

our lab
-Notice the X-Y axes
2) Here is our alternating
voltage signal from before

3) If we measure our signal with the

scope, it would look like this!

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 What are the major components?
 Display Screen
 Displays an input signal with
respect to time.

 Control Panel
 Adjusts how the input signal
is displayed.

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 What do we now know about the scope?
VOLTAGE

TIME

 What must the X-Axis represent?

 What must the Y-Axis represent?

• So…what do the dials do?

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 Oscilloscope: Screen
 Notice that the screen has
ruled divisions both
horizontally and vertically.
 The axes can be scaled, for
example…
 If each vertical division is
worth 5 seconds, what time
is represented by this point?
 If each horizontal line is
worth 1 volt, what voltage is
represented by this point?

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 Oscilloscope: Control Panel
 The section to the right of the
screen contains the controls
necessary to adjust how the
waveform is displayed on the
screen.
 The controls allow you to
alter the sweep time,
amplitude, and triggering
method.

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 Oscilloscope: Input Channels
 How do we get the voltage into the scope?
 This area is broken into two parts
 Left Half for Channel 1 (X)
 Right Half for Channel 2 (Y)

 In the center is a switch that determines which channel will serve as

the input to the scope: 1, 2, Dual or Add.

Channel 1 Channel 2

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 Equipment: Function
Generator
 Purpose: Produces waves of
different
 Shapes (sinusoidal, square,
etc.)
 Amplitude
 Frequency

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 Triggering
Telling the Oscilloscope when to capture information.
 Triggering
 Electric signals change much faster than we can observe.
 To view a meaningful version of the signal, we must tell the Oscilloscope
when to refresh the display.

 We accomplish this by setting a Triggering Level.

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 Triggering

Without Triggering With Triggering

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 Triggering
 We want to tell the oscilliscope when it is the best time for it to “refresh” the
display

 In our wave below, we tell the scope to “trigger” or ‘capture’ the signal when
it is going upward AND hits 2.0Volts

SO, ‘trigger’ condition is:

When we’re

Going up!

AND
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When at 2.0 Volts on our waveform!