Is Science the Sum of All Knowledge - Video

Not so High on High-Resolution

Like many people in this industry, I love technology. Working for Tektronix, I am excited when we are the first to introduce new technology, like the Tektronix MDO4000 Mixed-Domain Oscilloscope. But I am also interested to innovation from other test and measurement suppliers. 

Last year, Teledyne LeCroy introduced the WaveRunner HRO, or High-Resolution Oscilloscope. They rebranded it this year as the HDO, or High-Definition Oscilloscope. The idea is to use a 12-bit digitizer instead of an 8-bit digitizer to acquire a waveform. With an 8-bit digitizer, there are 256 voltage levels that define the wave shape. In theory, 12-bits means that there are 4096 distinct voltage levels, a great improvement in resolution. More recently, Agilent introduced the DSO9000H, a competing product that also promises 12-bits of performance through oversampling and processing. Such an oscilloscope should allow you to see small signals in the presence of big ones, provide greater accuracy of DC gain, and less noise on a signal.

So why doesn’t Tektronix provide a 12-bit oscilloscope? Aren’t more bits always better? Let’s review.

Graduation Address - Is Science the Sum of All Knowledge?

 Transcript of Joel Avrunin's Address to the Undergraduate and Graduate Students at
Towson University's 148th Commencement Exercise

January 6, 2013 Commencement - 10 AM - Towson Center Arena

Graduation from University of Baltimore / Towson University Joint MBA Program        

    
      Thank You Lisa Jackson our GSA president for that introduction. Good morning President Loeschke, distinguished guests, honored faculty, family and fellow graduates.  With my undergraduate degree in engineering, I sought to answer the question, “Is science the sum of all knowledge?”  Society accepts that if you learn the science behind a system, you are now an expert who can tackle any problem.  With that mindset, I started at Towson to become an expert in business, specifically wanting to know how to manage organizational change.  If science truly is the sum of all knowledge, then just as an expert in the science of engineering can design, an expert in the science of business should be able to manage.  I foresaw going to class and learning the skills needed to not only motivate employees and monitor their productivity, but also to be an expert in all aspects of the business.  My course schedule certainly read that way – finance, project management, marketing, and accounting.  And yet it was in an economics course that I read the prescient words of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek who asserted that the knowledge of the circumstances of time and place were more important than all of the science we can learn.  Hayek teaches us that since a manager cannot be at every decision point, he must empower those he employs to make decisions on their own.  He teaches that the further removed a decision maker is from the point of knowledge, the slower an organization will be able to adapt to change.  But if the key to management is to be hands-off, then why go to business school at all – what is the role of a manager?

Why Would an Engineer Work in Sales?

Recently I had a chance to revisit my path from the design bench to the world of sales. Our sales organization was in the process of adding some field applications engineers (FAE), and I found myself advising prospects about how life would be different if they were to become FAEs. While I am currently a regional sales manager, my first job off the bench was as an applications engineer for Tektronix. Since this is a choice many design engineers may consider at some point, I thought it would be good blog fodder. Before you trade in your soldering iron for a minivan (mine on the left, Tektronix FAE Alan Wolke’s on the right), it’s important to consider all aspects of the FAE role.

Putting the Logic in Logic Analyzers

Crossed posted at: Bandwidth Banter Blog

Tektronix recently introduced the TLA6400, a performance leap in the world of value-priced monolithic bench-top logic analyzers.  Performance like this used to require more expensive card-modular systems, more suitable to ASIC designers than FPGA programmers or general purpose users.  However, with faster parallel bus signals (such as new high-speed COTS ADC’s and DDR memory), many designers find themselves needing performance logic analyzer specifications at budget-friendly prices. While a high-end performance logic analyzer can cost over $100k, the TLA6400 starts at around $13k.

Solid-State Drives Offer Easy Speed Boost for Scopes

This is my first cross-posted blog post.  I recently started blogging at Tektronix Bandwidth Banter, so I will cross post my writings here.  Link to Bandwidth Banter Post (same as below).

The DPO5000 oscilloscope gives easy access to the hard drive bay.

Tektronix recently added solid state hard drive option to several of its higher performance oscilloscopes known as Option SSD. Why would you want a solid state hard drive, and what value would it add to your lab?

Analyzing SpaceWire Bus - Creating the Clock with Oscilloscope XOR

SpaceWire is one of the most exciting new technologies in the space electronics industry.  Previous designs used MIL-STD-1553, but are limited in speed to 1MB/s. SpaceWire (IEEE 1355.2) uses low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) to push speeds from 2MB/s to 400MB/s.  For those who are in the commercial world, it may not sound incredibly fast, but it represents a huge improvement in the harsh environment of a spacecraft.  Today you can buy SpaceWire bus analyzers to see the detailed protocol, but as designs move from faster, many designers are discovering the need to look at the actual bits for signal integrity work.  Fielded designs are still using speeds below 100MB/s, but in the future it will likely be pushed to its limit.  In this first blog post, I will discuss how to generate the clock using the MATH system on your oscilloscope.  In future posts, I will discuss simple bit level decode and more advanced jitter and timing measurements.

What's Wrong with my Function Generator? (hint: nothing)

You sit at your bench and in front of you is a a function generator and a basic oscilloscope.  You connect the function generator to the oscilloscope with a BNC cable and proceed to create a simple signal to measure.  Surprise, the amplitude measured on the oscilloscope does not match what you set on the function generator.  The sine wave may read 1V peak-to-peak (Vpp) on the function generator, and yet on the oscilloscope, it says 20Vpp or 2Vpp.  Now is when you ask,

"What is wrong with my function generator?"

EEWeb Featured Engineer Interview

Check it out - I'm the Featured Engineer on EEWeb.

Here is the link - www.eeweb.com/spotlight/interview-with-joel-avrunin

How to Make an Oscilloscope into a Network Analyzer

Ever been searching for a network analyzer but couldn’t find one nearby?  Ever wanted to measure the front-end response of your oscilloscope, but didn’t know how?  A network analyzer can do a lot of things, but one of the most common tasks is insertion loss.  Believe it or not, there is an easy way to do insertion loss without a network analyzer, and all you need is….

Probe Attenuation - The Overlooked Specification

The other day I plugged my iPod into my car stereo.  The music was soft so I cranked up the stereo volume.  The music was now loud enough, but it sounded terrible and hollow.  Suddenly I realized my iPod volume was too low and I was amplifying a very small signal.  As I turned up my iPod to supply a large signal to my stereo (and simultaneously turned down my stereo volume), I could achieve the same net loudness while getting a fuller sound.  How does this relate to measuring a signal with your oscilloscope?

Radar Analysis with the Tektronix MDO4104-6

This week, Tektronix introduced the "scope revolution", the new Mixed Domain Oscilloscope.  There is a ton of material already available describing the architecture of the oscilloscope and how it can be used for some common applications, such as Zigbee, power supply design, PLL settling, etc.  I won't repeat today what you'll find on the Tektronix site.  I want to blog on some less common applications.  In this case, I am using the MDO4104-6 to analyze a wideband chirped radar.

What are some common measurements I need to make in radar design, what tools are used today, and why would I use an MDO to analyze my radar?