Test and Measurement Product of the Year
Company Name: Rohde & Schwarz
Product Name: MXO 3 Oscilloscope
Supporting Statement:
The MXO 3 is the latest oscilloscope in the R&S®Essentials range that uses innovative design principles to deliver high-end features at full performance in a value-focused market.
The new instrument is built with the MXO-EP ASIC already powering top-of-the-range MXO 5 and general-purpose MXO 4 oscilloscopes. This ASIC’s 200Gbit/s processing capability provides up to 4.5 million waveforms/s, the world’s fastest update rate. Together with trigger re-arm time of just 21 ns (the market is accustomed to re-arm times in the order of microseconds), users can see rare events and anomalies that other oscilloscopes mask.
Delivers Performance and Value
The MXO-EP hardware is central to performance and value in the MXO 3, as the platform for:
• Mathematical processing at up to 700,000 operations/s
• Up to 50,000 FFTs/s
• HD filters capable of up to 4.5 million acquisitions/s
• Zone triggering at up to 600,000 triggers/s
• Mask testing at up to 4 million tests/s
• XY mode at up to 2 million plots/s
• Protocol decoding
Where other oscilloscopes in the marketplace tend to move functions like these into software, which can impose restrictions, the ASIC’s dedicated accelerators ensure operation at the full sample rate and full resolution.
It’s how the HD mode offers speed, precision, and up to 18 bit vertical resolution to show signal detail that would normally be buried in noise.
With 12-bit vertical resolution in hardware at all sample rates, the MXO 3 has 16 times more resolution than other 8-bit oscilloscopes.
By providing an unusually large offset of ±3 V at 1 mV/div, the MXO 3 lets users select a vertical scale that reveals more signal and less measurement-system noise. This offset is two-to-three times greater than others and is available on both 50 Ω and 1 MΩ paths.
There are many additional, powerful measurement capabilities:
• Spectrum analyser
• Logic analyser (MSO)
• Protocol analyser (serial buses)
• DMM
• Function generator
• Bode plot frequency response analyser (FRA)
Makes Powerful Features Usable
Behind all this lies real usability, with deep memory that lets users easily observe device or system behaviour over a long time period. The standard memory of 125 Mpoints per channel is enough to capture 50 ms of time at full 1 GHz bandwidth with 2.5 Gsample/s. The optional larger memory of 500 Mpoints can capture 200 ms of time with 2.5 Gsample/s.
The sample rate, record length and timebase settings can be selected independently of each other to ensure the optimum sample rate is always available for measurements. Both automated and manual sample rate controls are available.
The MXO 3 also features digital triggering, a Rohde & Schwarz’ patented technology that uses a single signal path for measurement and triggering. Unlike traditional analog triggering, this gives users visibility of the trigger circuit signal, relieves restrictions on trigger levels, and allows filtering in the trigger path for HD noise reduction.
Triggering is also extremely sensitive, down to 0.0001 vertical divisions, which lets engineers isolate small changes in the presence of large signals. The MXO 3 can also detect interpolated triggers between ADC samples, allowing precise triggering on any analog level. And thanks to the MXO-EP ASIC, trigger jitter is the best in the industry, at below 1 ps, for additional precision.
Zone triggering lets users define signals by drawing, giving unique power and flexibility, and works in both the time and frequency domains. Hardware acceleration lets this zone trigger react to up to 600 000 events/s, resulting in an average blind time of 1.6 µs. This is far shorter than the zone triggering blind times on other oscilloscopes.
Tools for analysing serial buses include hardware-based packet-level triggering with real-time analysis, hardware-accelerated decoding, and simultaneous time-correlated viewing.
In addition to providing high-speed frequency domain measurements, which allow up to 50,000 FFTs/s, the spectrum settings let users see both time and frequency events simultaneously. CF/span and start/stop controls allow usability comparable to a spectrum analyser, with flexibility to select the window type and adjust the resolution bandwidth (RBW) if needed. There is also a triggerless free-run mode for frequency domain debugging.
With all these powerful features, the MXO 3 has a powerful user interface to make them usable. Its 11.6″ high-resolution, multitouch display provides tabs to maximise the waveform area, user-configurable features including selectable sources and functions, and drag-and-drop customisation leveraging the R&S®SmartGrid UI.
While providing this large, clear interface, the MXO 3 also values space-saving design. At 375mm wide, 233mm (5U) high, and only 163mm deep, it’s a compact instrument that gives engineers more bench room for working and arranging any other instruments that may be needed. It’s also compatible with a 19-inch rackmount kit, available from Rohde & Schwarz.
Offers Future-Proof Flexibility
Finally, while offering great value within the R&S®Essentials portfolio, the MXO 3 sacrifices no flexibility. Owners can take advantage of Rohde & Schwarz option packs to scale capabilities, including R&S®MXO3-B1 MSO logic analysis, R&S®MXO3-B6 arbitrary waveform generator, R&S®MXO3-K36 frequency response analysis (FRA), and R&S®MXO3-K31 power analysis, plus many more.
Entry ID: 7596
