- Following in the footsteps of Japanese manufacturer Yokogawa and Americans Teledyne Lecroy, Tektronix and Keysight, German manufacturer Rohde & Schwarz announces its first 8-channel oscilloscopes in the R&S MXO 5 series.
- In particular, the MXO 5 oscilloscopes offer greater performance than their MXO4 series predecessors, launched in 2022, although they share the same user interface and a number of other features.
- They feature a larger screen (15.6″ vs. 13.3″), 4 or 8 channels (MXO4s only 4) and, depending on the model, a scalable maximum bandwidth of 2 GHz (MXO4s 1.5 GHz).
- Like the MXO4 family, MXO5 oscilloscopes convert signals to 12 bits, and feature a digital trigger system with jitter of less than 1ps.
- While MXO4 series oscilloscopes offer the option of displaying one spectral analysis (FFT) on the oscilloscope screen, MXO5s can display four in parallel over the full bandwidth of the instrument.
- Rohde & Schwarz’s new R&S MXO 5 series oscilloscopes feature four or eight inputs, depending on the model. They exploit the new-generation MXO-EP ASIC for on-board processing developed by Rohde & Schwarz and used for the first time by the R&S MXO 4 oscilloscope.
- The oscilloscopes in the R&S MXO 5 range come in different models offering 4 or 8 inputs. The 4-channel models can cover bandwidths of 350 MHz, 500 MHz, 1GHz and 2GHz. The 8-channel models can cover bandwidths of 100 MHz, 200 MHz, 350 MHz, 500 MHz, 1 GHz and 2 GHz.
- MXO5 family oscilloscopes sample signals at a maximum speed of 2.5 Gech/s per channel for 4-channel models, and 5 Gech/s per channel when only two channels are used. The 8-channel models digitize signals at 5 GS/s per channel, and 2.5 GS/s per channel when only 4 channels are used.
“Everything that has made the MXO4 family so successful is to be found in the MXO5 oscilloscopes, including the digital trigger, a larger touch screen and the ability to process and display four spectral analyses (FFT) simultaneously on screen, with settings independent of each other, as well as those for capturing signals in the time domain”, summarizes Rohde & Schwarz’s Arnaud Combe.
Another difference between the MXO4 and MXO5 oscilloscopes is that the former use an ARM processor, while the latter use an x86 processor and a removable hard disk.
According to Rohde & Schwarz, the R&S MXO 5 series oscilloscopes are the first eight-channel oscilloscopes on the market capable of 4.5 million acquisitions per second and capturing 18 million waveforms per second on multiple channels. They feature digital triggering on all eight channels. Their ability to perform 45,000 FFTs per second provides a visualization of signal spectra that is particularly useful when measuring electromagnetic interference and harmonics.
Memory depth, digital triggering and FFT
The R&S MXO 5 series oscilloscopes come as standard with a simultaneous acquisition memory of 500 Mpoints on all eight channels. As an option, this can be doubled to 1 Gpoints, to meet the needs of even the most demanding applications.
According to Rohde & Schwarz, the R&S MXO 5 is the first eight-channel oscilloscope to feature digital triggering. It offers a sensitivity of just 0.0001 div. This sensitivity makes it possible to accurately isolate small signal anomalies in the physical layer, even in the presence of larger amplitude signals. The digital triggering system is combined with a function for digitally increasing the vertical digitizing resolution to 18 bits, while limiting the instrument’s bandwidth.
R&S MXO 5 series oscilloscopes are capable of performing 45,000 FFTs (Fast Fourier Transforms) per second. This speed is combined with their ability to display four separate time-independent spectra simultaneously.
The R&S MXO 5 series oscilloscopes feature a 15.6″ Full-HD capacitive touchscreen. With their small footprint and VESA mounting interface, these oscilloscopes are designed to fit into any workspace.
Entry-level price
The oscilloscopes in the R&S MXO 5 range are equipped with four or eight channels, depending on the model, and cover frequency bands of 100 MHz, 200 MHz, 350 MHz, 500 MHz, 1 GHz and 2 GHz. Eight-channel models start at 19,500 EUR.
To enhance the instrument’s capabilities, various upgrade options are available for users with additional requirements, such as 16 digital channels thanks to the MSO (mixed-signal oscilloscope) option, an integrated two-channel 100 MHz arbitrary generator, protocol decoding and triggering options for industry-standard buses, and a frequency response analyzer.
