Hi. I’m Clint Cole, founder and CTO of Digilent.
I’m excited to introduce the Analog Discovery 2,
our next-generation mixed-signal oscilloscope.
The Discovery 2 is actually much more than just an oscilloscope,
It is really more of a tool box
that includes all of the most useful circuit design and test instruments
that engineers need when they create and work with new circuits
It packs a lot of performance
into a small, USB-powered instrument – more
than any other device is its class.
It includes a Two-Channel Oscilloscope, a two-channel waveform generator,
16 digital I/Os, 2 power supplies for powering external circuits,
And an audio jack for working with audio files.
But it costs less than a textbook, and it's small enough to fit in your pocket.
We worked closely on the design with some of the world's best engineering companies
including: Analog Devices, National Instruments, and Xilinx,
and also with a lot of professors, to
to create a product that students could use to build and test circuits anywhere they want to work:
In the lab, in the field, or in their room,
wherever they have access to a notebook computer.
The Discovery 2 features two 100-megasample,
14-bit oscilloscope channels that can measure
and record signals at frequencies up to 30MHz
– incredibly powerful features for an instrument
like this. Here’s a plot showing the input
frequency response – you can see we’re
within half a dB at 10MHz, and the 3dB point
is beyond 30MHz. Most USB scopes use an 8-bit
analog-to-digital converter that can only
measure signals as one of 256 different values.
Our dual 14-bit converters can each measure
more than 16,000 different values, and that
lets us record very small input signals – as
low as 1mV – with excellent precision. The
Discovery’s inputs are also fully differential
and each input can handle up to +/- 25V, meaning
you can precisely measure up to 50V across
components like resistors or capacitors, instead
of only measuring voltage with respect to
ground. Further, you can view waveforms in
the time domain and frequency domain simultaneously,
you can view X-Y plots, and you can do complex
math on the traces as well.
There’s also a two-channel, 100-megasample
function generator that can generate sine,
triangle, sawtooth, and other common waveshapes
at any frequency up to 10MHz, with amplitudes
up to 10V peak to peak. The waveform generator
has a sweep function that can automatically
change frequencies between user-settable limits,
making it easy to stimulate circuits (like
filters) with an input signal that changes
frequency over time
- great for visualizing a circuit's frequency response.
Here is a bread-boarded filter circuit, you can see the stimulating input signal in yellow
and the decreasing magnitude of the output signal in blue.
AM and FM modulated signals can also be produced to
provide signal sources for radios or demodulation
circuits. And, you can easily create your
own custom waveforms as well.
The Discovery also includes 16 digital signals
that can be configured as inputs or outputs.
When used as inputs, they form a powerful
100 megasample logic analyzer and bus decoder
– plenty fast enough to debug microprocessor
systems. When used as outputs, they can create
multi-bit digital patterns like counters,
or they can drive user-defined digital waveforms,
or they can drive common buses like SPI.
Two user-programmable power supplies, offering
up to +5V and -5V, are available to power
user circuits. The outputs from these voltage
supplies can be set anywhere in their 5V range,
and they can each deliver up to 50mA of current
when the Discovery is powered from a USB port,
or up to 700mA each when an external wall-plug
supply is used.
All circuit connections use simple jumper
wires, making it easy to work with breadboard
circuits. But if you want to use conventional
scope probes, and adaptor board is available.
The Analog Discovery 2offers the best cost
and performance of any device in its class.
But without equally powerful software, it
wouldn’t be much use. The newly designed,
totally free Waveforms2105 software package
unlocks all the hardware performance, and
brings 10 powerful instruments to your USB-connected
PC, Linux, or Apple computer.
In addition to the oscilloscope, waveform
generator, logic analyzer, digital pattern
generator, and programmable power supplies
we’ve discussed, the Analog Discovery 2
also includes voltmeters, a spectrum analyzer,
a network analyzer, a digital or discrete
I/O interface, and a scripting interface that
allows users to build customized solutions
for more complex problems.
The voltmeters measure DC, true RMS, and AC
RMS and show both the latest measurement and
a historical time plot of past measurements.
The Spectrum analyzer performs an FFT or CZT
algorithm on analog input channels, and displays
the power spectrum in a linear or logarithmic
scales. The network analyzer automatically
drives a circuit with a swept-sine input,
and displays the frequency and magnitude response
at each frequency as Bode, Nichols, or Nyquist
plots.
Cross-triggering between instruments is supported,
and all data can easily be exported into Word,
Excel, or other tools. There are quite literally
too many features to discuss here – please
visit our website where you will find a full
list of all of Discovery’s features and
functions, as well as long list of educational
and reference materials, including complete
and free university courseware.
For reference material, including reference manual, user guides or anything else,
visit our wiki.
This little devise lets you take the functionality of an entire electronics lab,
put it in your pocket and bring it to the coffee shop, your dorm room, or anywhere else you may want to work.
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Thanks, and we'll see you next time.
