Agilent Technologies 22A, 54621D, 24A, 42A, 54621A, 41A manual Vectors On/Off

MegaZoom Concepts and Oscilloscope Operation

Display modes

Vectors On/Off

The 54620/40-series oscilloscopes have been designed from the ground up to operate in Vectors On mode. This mode gives the most realistic waveforms in most every situation.

When enabled, Vectors draws a line between consecutive waveform data points.

•Vectors give an analog look to a digitized waveform.

•Vectors allow you to see steep edges on waveforms, such as square waves.

•Vectors on allows subtle detail of complex waveforms to be viewed, much like an analog scope trace, even when the detail is just a small number of pixels in size.

Turn vectors off to prevent misconnections at fast sweep speeds (< 200 ns/div for 54620-series and <50 ns/div for 54640-series) when viewing changing waveforms, such as eye diagrams. Consider using Realtime acquire mode for these signals also.

Turn vectors off to remove any interpolation artifacts of Single or Realtime acquire modes. Vectors off mode displays only actual A/D samples.

You can turn vectors on and off, or switch from peak detect to normal acquire modes after you acquire data. If you acquire data in Normal mode, then switch to peak detect, you will see all the peaks in memory. You are not guaranteed, however, of seeing every peak.

Digital channels on the mixed-signal oscilloscope are not affected by the Display menu. They are always displayed with peak detect and vectors on. They also only contain one trigger worth of information.

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