Making the Most of Your TDS 2014 Oscilloscope

This document strives to provide a user-friendly guide to the Tektronix TDS 2014 digital storage oscilloscope. The TDS 2014 is extremely powerful, easy to use, and versatile.

Terminology:
Throughout this document, certain terms will be used to refer to different functions and elements of the oscilloscope. Following are some terms that are handy to be aware of, and a photograph of the screen with important elements labeled. Coupling- A signal which is AC coupled is interpreted to have no DC component; it varies evenly about the zero voltage axis. A DC coupled signal has some DC offset about which it varies. If the oscilloscope is set to display a signal as AC coupled, that can cause a DC coupled signal to appear distorted; a small signal with a large DC offset may not be visible, because the voltage offset cannot be adjusted beyond a certain point. For observations of eyeblink data, the signal should be DC coupled; neurophysiology data should be AC coupled. Trigger- The conditions under which the display is refreshed. Depending on the application, this condition can be set to Edge, Pulse, or Video. Edge triggered captures occur when a signal passes a certain voltage, either rising or falling, depending on the setting. Pulse triggered captures occur upon detection of a pulse of (or greater or less than) a certain width, above a certain level, and either positive (a rising edge followed by a falling edge) or negative (the opposite). Video mode is unimportant, since it is only used to troubleshoot video signals. Division- Overlaid on the display is a grid pattern. Each block in this grid is bounded by divisions, the scale of which is user controllable. The vertical lines form time divisions, and the horizontal lines form voltage divisions. The ranges are 2 mV to 5.0 V per vertical division and 5 nanoseconds to 50 seconds per horizontal division. Trace- This is the visual representation of the signal on the screen. Holdoff- It can be desirable to set a minimum time between triggers, to avoid jittery signals. This minimum time is called the holdoff time.

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A. Acquisition status indicator- Displays information about current triggering conditions. In this case, it reads Trigd, which indicates that a signal which meets the triggering conditions has been detected and the display is being refreshed. Other possibilities include Auto, which indicates that the display is being continuously refreshed regardless of the signal applied, Ready which indicates that the scope is ready to capture a supplied signal, and Acq Complete, which indicates that a signal has been captured and no further captures will occur until further input is received from the user. B. Time origin axis- The nominal zero for the time scale. In reality, it is highly arbitrary, since the delay of the signal can be changed as desired. C. Trigger delay marker- The actual zero for a captured signal. A line drawn vertically through this point will intersect a horizontal line drawn through the trigger level marker at the point on the signal where the oscilloscope is triggered. D. Time offset value- The actual value for the trigger delay, relative to the time origin axis. E. Menu title- Name of the group of features currently assigned to the softkeys (M). F. Signal identification marker- Shows the ground voltage of a given signal, in a color which matches the color of the trace, the button on the scope and the wire marker on the probe. If the probe tip were connected to its own ground clip, the result would be a flat line horizontally extending from this marker.

G. Trigger level marker- When the triggering signal crosses the line horizontal with this marker, the scope refreshes its display. Whether the refresh occurs when the signal is rising or falling is set in the Trigger menu seen above, by the third softkey. H. Voltage origin axis- The nominal zero for the voltage scale. Again, the offset from this can be easily adjusted. I. Channel information display- Color-coded labels indicate which traces are currently visible and what the voltage per division for each trace is. Each trace can have an independently controlled voltage scale. J. Timebase- Shows the current time per division. This is universal across all visible traces, and can range between 50 seconds and 5 nanoseconds. K. Trigger setup- Quick reference to the current trigger conditions. The above setup is edge triggered, rising, on channel 1, at 0 volts. L. Voltage offset display- Only visible while the voltage offset of a channel is being displayed, this item shows, in divisions, the current zero position of the channel in question. The example above shows an offset of 2 divisions, or 1.0V, meaning that a grounded signal on channel 1 would be 2 divisions above the voltage origin axis. M. Softkeys- Multi-use buttons which are reassigned to different functions based on the current menu displayed.

How do I?
increase the size of the trace on the screen? Adjust the VOLTS/DIV knob for the channel in question. The channel information display will change, showing the new scale of the trace. The smaller the value in the channel information display, the larger the signal will appear; for example, a signal viewed at 500 mV per division will appear ten times larger than the same signal viewed at 5 V per division. capture a signal to be reviewed more thoroughly? There are two ways to do this: single sequence mode and Normal trigger mode. To activate single sequence mode, press the SINGLE SEQ button in the upper right of the control panel. The scope will capture on the next trigger and will not capture again until either RUN/STOP or SINGLE SEQ is pressed again. Normal trigger mode can be activated under the TRIGGER menu (press button TRIG MENU). The Mode option will be assigned to either the 3rd or 4th softkey, depending on whether the Type option is set to Edge or Pulse. The scope will then capture a screenful of data each time the trigger condition is met, and will hold

the data until the next trigger occurs.

obtain information about a signal? Signals can be measured by cursor or automatically. Press the Measure button at the top of the control panel to bring up a list of measurements; pressing a softkey allows the settings to be changed for a particular measurement, allowing selection of a source and type of measurement. For captured signals, or signals which are not periodic, the use of the cursors is a better method. Press the Cursor button to activate the cursors; the softkeys can then be used to change the settings, while the Position knobs on channels 1 and 2 are used to adjust the locations of the cursors.

Functions of the TDS 2014

Settings of the independent channels Each channel has a number of settings which can be accessed independently of the other three. Lets first explore those available on the control panel, pictured at right. A. Position knob- Controls the voltage offset of a signal. Adjustments of this knob will be seen on screen by a shift in the position of the signal identification marker, as well as a change in the voltage offset display. B. Channel menu button- Brings up a menu on the right side of the scope display. That menu is where most of the controls for a channel are found. C. Voltage scale knob- Adjusting this knob changes the scale of the signal. A change here will be reflected in the channel information display; a lower number means increased magnification of signals. Scale is displayed in Volts or millivolts (V or mV); 1 V is 1000 mV. D. Signal input connector- A BNC connection from which the signal is captured. This can be connected either to a probe or directly to a signal source, and can have T-connectors attached to it to allow the signal to be

fed to other destinations as well. Each channel is completely electrically isolated from each other channel. As previously mentioned, the channel menu button brings up a menu along the right edge of the display. The five controls available in this menu are important but will be used far less often than the voltage scale and position knobs. Coupling- Controls the coupling of the signal. See the terminology section for more information; for eyeblink data, this should be set to DC. For electrophysiology, it should be set to AC. BW Limit- A limitation on the frequency range the oscilloscope will display. Not important for our purposes. Volts/Div- Coarse implies much greater steps between scales; with the Fine option selected, the scale can be varied in 1% steps. Probe- Probes are available which attenuate the signal being monitored, thus affecting the signal much less. Attenuation can be set to 1x, 10x, 100x, or 1000x, meaning that the Volts/Division are multiplied by that factor for display purposes. Invert- Flips the signal around the ground axis, which is shown by the position of the signal identification marker. Trigger functionality

In the Trigger section of the control panel, youll find buttons and knobs related to setting up the triggering conditions. A description of these elements follows: A. Trig View button- Holding this button causes a summary of the current trigger settings to appear at the bottom of the LCD. B. Force Trig button- Pressing this button refreshes the display, whether the trigger conditions have been met or not. C. Set to 50% button- Samples the current trigger channel and sets the trigger level to midway between the highest and lowest values found. This is an AC coupled process; DC offsets are ignored. D. User Select LED- Indicates that the trigger level knob is now being used to adjust the holdoff rather than the trigger level. See the Horizontal functionality section for more details. E. Trigger Level knob- Used to adjust either the trigger level or holdoff. F. Trig Menu button- Calls up the trigger menu, the contents of which are detailed below.

The specific conditions under which the oscilloscope refreshes its display are set under the Trigger menu. There are three types of triggers available: Edge, Pulse, and Video. We will ignore Video mode, because that is really only of interest when troubleshooting NTSC or PAL video signals, neither of which are important to our work. First lets look at Edge triggering, since this is the most common and simplest. Source- Which channel is used to trigger display refresh. Not only are the four regular inputs available, but there are also options to trigger on a 5th special trigger channel as well as to trigger on the cycles on the AC power supply. Slope- When set to Rising, the scope will trigger on a positive sloped signal passing the trigger threshold. Falling is the opposite. Mode- Auto constantly updates the display, while Normal will only refresh upon a trigger. Coupling- DC allows for an offset voltage, while AC ignores offset voltages. Pulse mode triggers based on characteristics of pulses occurring on a given channel. These characteristics can include pulse width, amplitude, and polarity, and are given in two menus. Source- As above, only in Pulse mode, no AC line triggering is available. When- Sets the condition to check for- either pulses greater than, less than, equal to, or not equal to the pulse width, set below. Set Pulse Width- When selected, the User Select LED in the trigger section (pictured above) will light. The trigger level knob can then be used to adjust the pulse width to be sought. Polarity- When set to Positive, the oscilloscope considers a pulse to be a rising edge followed by a falling edge. Negative polarity is the opposite, a falling edge followed by a rising edge. Mode- Same as above. Coupling- Same as above. The remaining element of the Trigger functionality is found below the Horizontal controls: the external trigger input. This BNC connector allows a 5th signal to be fed into the oscilloscope, which cannot be viewed but can be used to provide triggering information upon which the other four channels are sampled.

Horizontal functionality The horizontal controls are less imposing than the triggering controls, with fewer knobs and fewer menu items, but are just as important. A. Set to Zero button- This button removes any delay the user has placed on the signal, restoring the trigger delay marker to the time origin axis. B. Horizontal Position knob- Adjusts the delay of the signal, allowing the user to see more or less of the information either preceding or following the trigger. C. Help Scroll LED- Indicates that the current function of the horizontal position knob is to scroll through help information, rather than perform any adjustments on the settings of the oscilloscope. D. Horiz Menu button- Pulls up the menu associated with the horizontal functionality of the oscilloscope. E. Sec/Div knob- Used to make adjustments to the timebase of the oscilloscope, or to the size of the visible window. The Horizontal menu contains settings associated with the time scaling of the signals on the oscilloscope. Main- When highlighted, adjustments of the Sec/Div knob will adjust the viewable area of the display. If there is an delay set, the delay will remain fixed, which could cause the trigger to occur before the signal is rendered in the viewable area. Window Zone- Allows the user to set a window, either greater than or less than the current viewable area, and then modify the edge positon of that window relative to the trigger delay marker. Window- Displays the contents of the window set previously. Further adjustments to the Sec/Div knob and horizontal position knob will adjust this view, rather than the main view. Trig Knob- When set to Level, the level select knob changes the level at which a trigger should occur. When set to Holdoff, the level select knob changes the minimum time between triggers.

Measurement functionality The TDS 2014 offers a number of automatic measurements which can be performed on either active or captured signals. Press the Measure button, at the top center of the control panel, to activate the Measure menu. The items on the menu when it pops up will reflect the prior settings made: each measure will still be set to the channel and measurement it was previously configured as. First, well look at the menu used to set a measurement as desired, and then well look at the measurements available. Source- Pressing this softkey will cycle through the available sources. Channels which are not active will say Ch x Off, and the external trigger channel is not available. Type- Eleven different measurements are available. They can be cycled through using the second softkey. Value- The current value of the selected measurement on the select channel is shown here. Back- Return to the root Measure menu. Five different measurements can be observed at once; they can all be different, and can be from different channels. Following is a list of available measurements, along with a description of what the information represents. If the measurement appears on the menu with a question mark after it, adjust the Volts/Div knob for that channel until the question mark disappears. Freq- A measurement of the frequency of the selected channel. Given in Hertz (Hz), kilohertz (kHz), or megahertz (MHz), frequency is the inverse of the period. Period- A measurement of the time between identical points on a waveform. Mean- The average voltage level of a signal over its period. This measurement is used only infrequently, because it provides no information about a signal centered around ground, as the mean in that case is zero. Pk-pk- Perhaps the most intuitively useful measurement of a signal, peak-topeak voltage is the voltage difference between the highest and lowest voltages in a signal. It does not, however, provide any information about the relative voltage of the signal; a signal centered around 0V and a signal centered around 5V could have the same pk-pk reading. Cyc RMS- RMS (root-mean-square) voltage is useful when dealing in period signals; calculation of RMS voltage involves integration over one period and division by the length of the period. It is chiefly used with sine wave functions, and many times when a sine wave is specified its amplitude will be given as an RMS voltage. Min- The bottom of the signal curve. This value represents the lowest voltage present. Max- Exactly the opposite of min; that is, the highest point on the curve. Rise Time- The time the signal takes to go from 10% of its highest value to 90% of its highest value. Fall Time- The opposite of rise time; that is, the time it takes for the signal to go from 90% of its highest value to 10% of its highest value.

 Pos Width- The time between the first rising edge and the first falling edge, taken from the 50% value of the waveform. Neg Width- The time between the first falling edge and the first rising edge, taken from the 50% value of the waveform. Also available are cursors. Press the cursor key, found directly below the measurement key. Cursors are lines across the display which can be manipulated using the channel 1 and channel 2 position knobs. The images below show screenshots of voltage and time cursors in usage.

The voltage cursors measure relative to the ground point of the signal selected under the Source menu item. This means that the value shown for each cursor will be the actual value at the point it intersects the trace, regardless of the offset of the trace. Generally, however, it is best to use both cursors and look at the Delta value, which gives the difference between the two.