1 GHz Oscilloscope Series with Integrated Tektronix MDO3 Spectrum Analyzer

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Combined oscilloscopes (six in one) series Tektronix MDO3 are instruments that are very useful in designing and debugging complex electronic systems containing analog and digital signals as well as RF components. The new Tektronix MDO3 series builds on the successful series Tektronix MDO3000 and repeats most of its characteristics, but unlike the MDO3000, the new MDO3 series is equipped with a large touch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and an innovative user interface that completely repeats the interface of older series oscilloscopes (MSO4, MSO5 and MSO6).

The Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope combines six instruments in one: professional digital oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, arbitrary waveform and standard function generator, 16 channel logic analyzer, serial protocol analyzer and digital volt/frequency meter. When you purchase an MDO3 series oscilloscope, you can immediately configure it for your current tasks, as well as upgrade it during operation (including bandwidth expansion) by activating software options. You can download a full description of all the characteristics below on this page in the section Documentation.

Attention, promotion (savings up to 69%)!
From January 1 to December 24, 2021, when you purchase a new Tektronix MDO3 series oscilloscope, you get an oscilloscope with a higher bandwidth (bought 100 MHz, got 200 MHz, etc.). In addition, the following options will be installed in this oscilloscope for free:
- option 3-AFG (built-in generator of standard (13 pcs.) and arbitrary signals with a bandwidth of up to 50 MHz)
- option 3-MSO (logic analyzer for 16 digital channels, complete with P6316 digital probe)
- option 3-BND (option kit for serial bus decoding, plus power analysis).

Section filters "Buy an oscilloscope":
Bandwidth: 100 MHz or less, 200 MHz, 300 MHz, 500 MHz, 1 GHz or more.
Subsections: USB oscilloscopes, best models, all models, comparison, Video reviews, basic theory.
Articles and reviews: how to choose an oscilloscope, digital phosphor technology, power supply development.

Tektronix MDO3 Series Key Features:
100 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 2 channels (Tektronix MDO32-BW-100 model).
100 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 4 channels (Tektronix MDO34-BW-100 model).
200 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 2 channels (Tektronix MDO32-BW-200 model).
200 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 4 channels (Tektronix MDO34-BW-200 model).
350 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 2 channels (Tektronix MDO32-BW-350 model).
350 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 4 channels (Tektronix MDO34-BW-350 model).
500 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 2 channels (Tektronix MDO32-BW-500 model).
500 MHz, 2.5 GS/s, 4 channels (Tektronix MDO34-BW-500 model).
1 GHz, 5 GS/s, 2 channels (Tektronix MDO32-BW-1000 model).
1 GHz, 5 GS/s, 4 channels (Tektronix MDO34-BW-1000 model).
Record length: 10 million points to the channel.
Vertical resolution: 8 bits (11 bits in high resolution mode).
Sensitivity: 1 mV/div to 10 V/div with calibrated fine tuning.
Continuous waveform capture rate: up to 280,000 waveforms/s.
Built-in spectrum analyzer 9 kHz - 1 GHz (option 3-SA1) or 9 kHz - 3 GHz (option 3-SA3).
Built-in digital voltmeter and frequency counter (included as standard).
Additional options: built-in generator of standard and arbitrary signals, built-in logic analyzer for 16 digital channels, protocol analyzer: I2C, SPI, RS-232/422/485/UART, USB 2.0, CAN, LIN, FlexRay, MILSTD-1553, audio buses and others.
29.5 cm touchscreen (1920 x 1080 resolution). Interfaces: USB, Ethernet, HDMI, etc.
Weight: 7.9 kg. Dimensions: 370 x 252 x 149 mm. Working temperature: from 0°С to +55°С.
An indispensable tool in the design, debugging and repair of modern complex electronic systems

Need more options for radio spectrum analysis? Watch the series Tektronix MDO4000C.
Necessary up to 6 FlexChannel with a band up to 1.5 GHz? Watch the series Tektronix MSO4.
Necessary up to 8 FlexChannel at a band up to 2 GHz? Watch the series Tektronix MSO5.
Need an inexpensive USB oscilloscope up to 200 MHz? Watch the series PicoScope 3000D.
Need a professional oscilloscope up to 8 GHz? Watch the series Tektronix MSO6.
Need an oscilloscope over 8 GHz bandwidth? See series Tektronix DPO/MSO70000.
Need galvanized isolated channels? See Tektronix TPS2000B or Tektronix THS3000.
Difficult to decide on a model? See helper: How to quickly choose an oscilloscope.
All series of modern oscilloscopes are presented here: Digital oscilloscopes and probes.

Tektronix MDO3 and MSO4 Series Oscilloscope Video Announcement

In June 2019, the American company Tektronix released two new series of oscilloscopes, equipped with large touch screens, a new user interface and many innovative features.

The introduction of these two series was preceded by painstaking work and hundreds of consultations with leading development engineers to ensure that the capabilities of the new oscilloscopes included all their wishes. As a result, a series MDO3 (up to 1 GHz) and MSO4 (up to 1.5 GHz). This dynamic video reveals the strengths of these two new series.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes contain six of the instruments most engineers need: professional digital oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, signal generator, 16 channel logic analyzer, serial bus protocol analyzer and digital volt/frequency meter. By integrating all of these capabilities into a single instrument, Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscopes offer their owners an excellent price/performance ratio.

As mentioned above, the Tektronix MDO3 series builds on the successful Tektronix MDO3000 and repeats most of its characteristics. Therefore, for reference, you can see this is a short video according to the MDO3000 series and this overview of its capabilities. But unlike the MDO3000, the new MDO3 series is equipped with a large 1920 x 1080 dot touch screen and an innovative user interface that is completely identical to the interface of older series oscilloscopes (MSO4, MSO5 and MSO6).

Since the main task of an oscilloscope is to visualize electrical signals, having a large screen with the highest possible resolution becomes a serious advantage compared to simpler models. This is especially true when working with a variety of analog and digital signals, as well as the results of automatic measurements. For comparison, this photo shows the 1920 x 1080 MDO 3 Series oscilloscope screen, which highlights two areas that are typical for screen resolutions of other models: 800 x 480 and 1280 x 800. The difference is obvious.

Professional digital oscilloscope

The MDO3 Series oscilloscopes are high-end instruments with a variety of features to speed up every step of debugging, from quickly detecting and capturing anomalies, to searching the waveform record for events of interest, analyzing event patterns and device behavior. This series of oscilloscopes contain many innovative features, one of which is DPO digital phosphor technology, which greatly simplifies the search for various anomalies in electrical signals.

To effectively detect signal anomalies, Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscopes provide measurement up to 280,000 waveforms per second. The oscilloscope's dedicated real-time processor analyzes thousands of waveforms and color-codes infrequent events. This feature of the MDO3 series oscilloscopes allows you to reliably detect single signal deviations, even with a duration of 3.5 µs. The photo below shows an example of how this feature works. Constantly present signals are displayed in shades of red and yellow, and infrequently appearing in dark blue.

Finding a device malfunction is only the first step. Now we need to capture the event of interest in order to determine the cause of its occurrence. The MDO3 series oscilloscope provides over 125 launch combinations, providing a complete set of options to speed up the search for an event of interest. Triggers can be triggered on runt, logic pattern, pulse width/glitch, setup and hold time violations, serial packets, and parallel bus data. And with a record length of up to 10 million points, you can capture several events of interest at once and even thousands of consecutive packets while maintaining high resolution, which allows you to examine the smallest details of the signal in detail. A menu with options for launch conditions is shown on the right side of this screenshot.

In order to check the compliance of the technical characteristics of the device under study with the required standards and to make sure that it is capable of solving the tasks, it is necessary to analyze all modes of operation of this device. This work can require a wide variety of measurements, from simple rise time and pulse width tests to sophisticated power loss analysis of individual components, clock signal quality, and noise sources.

The Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes offer a wide range of built-in analysis tools, including waveform or screen-based cursors, automated measurements, advanced math functions including equation editor, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT, FFT), statistics, and more. The screenshot shows a rectangular signal (meander), the parameters of which are determined by the automatic measurements function. For each activated measurement, a separate rectangular badge is displayed on the right side of the oscilloscope screen, containing updated results.

The large recording length of modern oscilloscopes allows you to get thousands of screens of information with one capture. On the one hand, this is good, because it makes it possible to analyze large amounts of data, but on the other hand, the analysis itself turns into a time-consuming process, since it is very difficult to manually find an event of interest among thousands and millions of similar events.

But the Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes include the industry's best navigation and auto-search tool to help you find events of interest in seconds. The types of events that can be automatically searched for include: signal rise and fall, rise and fall times, pulse width, timeout, runt, settling and holding times, logic pattern, serial or parallel bus specific data, etc.

For example, at the top of this Tektronix MDO3 screen shot, the entire channel 1 signal sample is shown, containing 10 million samples. It looks like a long yellow rectangle, on which no details of the signal are visible. Throughout this sample, the oscilloscope conducted an automatic search for signal runs (pulses that have a lower level than all other pulses) and found three such events.

All three found events are marked with small white triangles above the top sample. In the central part of the screen, there is a greatly enlarged sample fragment containing the second of the three rants found. It is possible to easily move from one detected event to another by simply pressing the left and right arrows, as well as change the zoom using the front panel knobs, or simply using the touch screen.

All Tektronix MDO3 professional oscilloscopes, MSO4, MSO5 and MSO6 equipped with touch screens with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels and the same type of superbly designed user interface, which greatly speeds up and simplifies the work process. The similarity of the interface and logic of interaction with the oscilloscopes of these series allows you to save the accumulated techniques when moving from simpler series (MDO3 and MSO4) to the most functional ones (MSO5 and MSO6).

An important feature of the MDO3 series oscilloscopes is that, if necessary, the bandwidth can be increased after the purchase of the device. Bandwidth options are purchased based on current and required bandwidth. The bandwidth can be increased to 200, 350 or 500 MHz directly by the owner of the device, by purchasing a software key. To increase the instrument bandwidth to 1 GHz, contact a Tektronix service center.

Built-in Spectrum Analyzer (Options 3-SA1 and 3-SA3)

All Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes include complete hardware spectrum analyzer with a separate RF input equipped with a standard 50 Ohm connector for radio measurements, type N(f). The spectrum analyzer hardware is present in absolutely all instruments of the MDO3 series, but is activated by purchasing option 3-SA1 (analyzer frequency range 9 kHz -1 GHz) or option 3-SA3 (analyzer frequency range 9 kHz -3 GHz). These options are activated by a program code and can be set both when ordering the device and during its operation.

Since many modern devices contain a radio path, you need to make measurements not only in the time domain, but also in the frequency domain. At the same time, traditional FFT-based solutions are of little use, since they have a very low sensitivity. And the full-fledged spectrum analyzer of the Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope significantly expands the scope of useful application of this device. The appearance of the RF connector of the built-in spectrum analyzer is shown in this photo.

When using the RF input of the spectrum analyzer, the display of the MDO3 Series oscilloscope will change to a full-screen display of the waveforms in the frequency domain. All key spectrum parameters such as Center Frequency, Span, Reference Level, and Resolution Bandwidth (RBW) are quickly and easily configured using the touch screen menu or the familiar front panel knobs and buttons. device.

It is possible to perform three types of automated RF measurements: channel power (Channel Power), occupied bandwidth (Occupied Bandwidth) and the power factor in the adjacent channel (Adjacent Channel Power Ratio). When any of these measurement modes is activated, the MDO3 automatically switches to the "Average" detection method.

In addition to the standard spectrum analysis features, the MDO3 Series oscilloscopes display multiple spectra in a stacked spectrogram, which is ideal for tracking slowly changing events in RF signals. When the instrument is in this mode, the x-axis contains frequency values (as in a normal spectrum graph), the y-axis corresponds to the measurement time of a particular spectrum, and the amplitude level is indicated by different colors. Cold colors (shades of blue and green) show small amplitudes, and hot colors (shades of red and yellow) show high amplitude signals.

Arbitrary Waveform and Standard Function Generator (Option 3-AFG)

The MDO3 Series oscilloscopes include an optional built-in arbitrary waveform and standard function generator (option 3-AFG), ideal for simulating a variety of signals while debugging your device. To simulate adverse operating conditions, it is possible to add noise to the useful signals generated by the generator.

The built-in arbitrary waveform and standard function generator generates various waveforms: sine (up to 50 MHz), square, sawtooth and pulse, constant voltage, noise, cardinal sine (Sinc), Gaussian and Lorentzian, exponential rise and fall, haversine, cardiosignal, etc.

In addition to many standard waveforms, the built-in Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope generator can generate any arbitrary waveform preloaded into the instrument's internal memory.

16 Channel Logic Analyzer (Option 3-MSO)

The Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope's 3-MSO option adds a 16-channel digital logic analyzer that is fully integrated into the oscilloscope's user interface. This simplifies the work and makes it easier to solve problems when analyzing signals in different areas. The logic analyzer is connected to the digital buses using the P6316 16-channel digital probe, which is part of the 3-MSO option. Appearance of the probe P6316 look at this Photo.

An example of the operation of a logic analyzer is presented in this screenshot, which shows the input 8-bit parallel DAC bus and its analog output (the first channel of the oscilloscope is a yellow sine).

Serial triggered protocol analyzer (optional)

Serial bus signals typically contain address, control information, data, and clock frequency, making it difficult for an engineer to interpret the oscilloscope screen and manually isolate events of interest. On the other hand, automatic triggering, decoding and searching for events and conditions in serial bus signals allows fully automate routine work and create a robust set of serial bus debugging tools.

With the appropriate options, Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes can automatically capture, decode, and analyze the following serial communications protocols:
- option 3-SRAERO (MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429);
- option 3-SRAUDIO (I2S, LJ, RJ and TDM);
- option 3-SRAUTO (CAN, CAN FD, LIN and FlexRay);
- option 3-SRCOMP (RS-232, RS-422, RS-485 and UART);
- option 3-SREMBD (I2C and SPI);
- option 3-SRUSB2 (USB2.0, LS, FS and HS).
To activate all these features at once, a single option is offered 3-BND, which is sold at a significant discount and includes the following options: 3-SRAERO, 3-SRAUDIO, 3-SRAUTO, 3-SRCOMP, 3-SREMBD, 3-SRUSB2, as well as the option 3-PWR (measurement and analysis of the characteristics of power electronics components) .

As an example, this screenshot shows the screen of a Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope in trigger mode on a specific I2C serial bus address. The yellow waveform is the bus clock signal, and the blue waveform is the data transmitted over it. Below them is the decoded contents of the bus packets, including Start, Address, Read/Write, Data, and Stop.

Digital voltmeter and frequency counter (free of charge when registering the device)

MDO3 oscilloscopes include a built-in 4-digit digital voltmeter and a 5-digit frequency counter. The signal from any analog input of the oscilloscope can be fed to a voltmeter or frequency counter without switching probes. Measurement results are dynamically updated on the instrument display in numerical or graphical form. Depending on the selected multimeter mode, the results may include: current, average, maximum and minimum values. A digital voltmeter and frequency counter are available on all models of the MDO3 series and are activated when the device is registered.

Quality Probes - Quality Measurements

Oscilloscope probes are as important a part as the oscilloscope itself. Since the probe is located between the object of measurement and the oscilloscope, the quality of the measurement performed largely depends on it. An ideal probe should have a good bandwidth, low input capacitance, sufficient voltage tolerance, and at the same time be convenient and very reliable.

Tektronix MDO3 standard oscilloscope probes offer all of these features. Their design has been perfected over the years, and their electrical performance and reliability are among the best in the industry. Depending on the frequency range, Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscopes are equipped with different probes: one for each analog channel. The 100 MHz and 200 MHz MDO3 models are equipped with TPP0250 passive probes (250 MHz bandwidth, 3.9 pF). And MDO3 models from 350 MHz to 1 GHz are equipped with passive probes TPP0500B (with a bandwidth of 500 MHz and a capacitance of 3.9 pF).

When ordering an oscilloscope with the 3-MSO (16 digital logic analyzer) option, the oscilloscope comes with a P6316 digital probe. The appearance of the P6316 probe is shown in the photo below. In general, many types of quality probes are available for Tektronix MDO3 series oscilloscopes: passive, active, high voltage, current, galvanically isolated, etc. See the full list of compatible probes below on this page in the section Options and accessories.

State of the art communication interfaces

As standard, Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscopes are equipped with all the interfaces necessary for remote control of these instruments or for inclusion in automated measurement systems. This photo shows a fragment of the rear panel of the MDO3 oscilloscope, on which the following communication interfaces are located: Ethernet with LXI support, USB 2.0 (for connecting to a computer), USB 2.0 (for connecting a flash drive), HDMI (for connecting an external display).

To the left of the communication interfaces is the function generator output (option 3-AFG).

Tektronix MDO3 Series Oscilloscope Specifications

Below is a list of key technical specifications for Tektronix MDO3 Series oscilloscopes. For detailed technical specifications, see below on this page in the section Documentation.

Tektronix MDO3 Series Oscilloscope Package Contents

Options and Accessories for Tektronix MDO3 Oscilloscopes

Main options:
- option 3-SA1 (built-in spectrum analyzer from 9 kHz to 1 GHz with a separate 50 ohm RF input)
- option 3-SA3 (built-in spectrum analyzer from 9 kHz to 3 GHz with a separate 50 ohm RF input)
- option 3-MSO (logic analyzer for 16 digital channels, complete with P6316 digital probe).
- option 3-AFG (built-in generator of standard (13 pcs.) and arbitrary signals with a bandwidth of up to 50 MHz).
- option 3-SRAERO (serial bus decoding and analysis: MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429).
- option 3-SRAUDIO (decoding and analysis of serial audio buses: I2S, LJ, RJ, TDM).
- option 3-SRAUTO (decoding and analysis of serial buses: CAN, CAN FD, LIN, FlexRay).
- option 3-SRCOMP (decoding and analysis of serial buses: RS-232/422/485/UART).
- option 3-SREMBD (decoding and analysis of serial buses: I2C, SPI).
- option 3-SRUSB2 (USB decoding and parsing: USB2.0 LS, FS, HS).
- option 3-PWR (measurement and analysis of the characteristics of power electronics components).
- option 3-BND (option kit including: 3-SRAERO, 3-SRAUDIO, 3-SRAUTO, 3-SRCOMP, 3-SREMBD, 3-SRUSB2 and 3-PWR, sold at a significant discount).
- option RM3 (kit for mounting the oscilloscope in a rack).
- option SC3 (soft shipping bag with protective cover for the front of the oscilloscope).
- option HC3 (hard transport case for oscilloscope and accessories).

Basic probes and accessories.
Here are the main probes and accessories compatible with the Tektronix MDO3 oscilloscope series. For detailed information on options, probes, etc., see below on this page in the section Documentation.