5 features of oscilloscopes or once unknown.
1,Protocol decoding
Manual decoding of the serial bus based on the oscilloscope waveform display is both time consuming and error prone. There may be a problem in this relatively simple I2C signal. Can you easily find the problem? Can you even tell what the signal represents? To decode this packet manually, look for the packet header, data bits, and packet tail. Use the clock status (**) to confirm all data signal states (blue) against each other and then convert them to hexadecimal values.
2,Network analyser
What if I need to measure return loss (Sdd11) or insertion loss (Sdd21) but don't have a TDR or VNA? You can use a high-bandwidth oscilloscope to make some measurements that approximate network analysis, although this seems to be a bit out of scope and certainly has some limitations. Traditional frequency response time testing involves measuring fast pulses and looking at the response FFT. In addition to this measurement, you can also measure return loss and insertion loss with some fairly basic setups.
3. Playing a film on a DVD drive
What else can a large LCD screen be used for? You can certainly watch signal integrity analysis guides on an oscilloscope, but more happily, you can also watch recent films (but not yet 3D video).
4. Filtering
Do you need to measure low frequency signals with a high bandwidth oscilloscope but don't want high frequency noise? Many oscilloscopes have digital signal processing that allows filtering, including low-pass filtering. The next time you want to measure a 100MHz clock on your 12GHz oscilloscope, use the bandwidth limiting feature to get a better signal-to-noise ratio and more accurate measurements.
5. Wideband Radar Testing
Digital oscilloscopes have long been equipped with FFT functions. With radar and other broadband RF systems entering the digital realm, oscilloscopes are now equipped with transient or wide bandwidth RF signal analysis. You can perform pulse analysis, digital demodulation, and EVM measurements on broadband radar, high data-rate satellite links, or frequency-hopping communication systems without external downconverters.
