Oscilloscope

An oscilloscope (commonly abbreviated to scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test equipment that allows signal voltages to be viewed, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences (vertical axis) plotted as a function of time or of some other voltage (horizontal axis). The oscilloscope is one of the most versatile and widely-used electronic instruments. ^[1]

Oscilloscopes are widely used when it is desired to observe the exact wave shape of an electrical signal. In addition to the amplitude of the signal, an oscilloscope can measure the frequency, show distortion, and show the relative timing of two related signals. Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, telecommunications, and industry. General-purpose instruments are used for maintenance of electronic equipment and laboratory work. Special-purpose oscilloscopes may be used for such purposes as adjusting an automotive ignition system, or to display the waveform of the heartbeat.

Originally all oscilloscopes used cathode ray tubes as their display element, but modern digital oscilloscopes use high-speed analog-to-digital converters and computer-like display screens and processing of signals. Oscilloscope peripheral modules for general purpose laptop or desktop personal computers can turn them into useful and flexible test instruments.

Features and uses

 Description

Exterior

A typical oscilloscope has a display screen, numerous input connectors, and control knobs and buttons on the front panel. Portable instruments are small enough to carry to a work site and may even be battery operated. Laboratory grade 'scopes, especially old instruments using vacuum tubes, are bench-top devices. Special purpose 'scopes may be permanently mounted in a rack. To aid measurement, a grid called the graticule is drawn on the face of the screen. Each square in the graticule is known as a division. On old low-cost CRT 'scopes the graticule was a printed piece of plastic; higher-cost instruments have the graticule printed on the face of the CRT, to eliminate parallax errors. Digital 'scopes generate the graticule markings on the display in the same way as the trace.

Large bench-top oscilloscopes were sometimes mounted on carts to allow sharing one expensive instrument by several work areas. Miniaturized oscilloscopes were of great value for field service equipment repair. Today even a very capable laboratory instrument can be lifted by a single person, and hand-held digital oscilloscopes are made by several manufacturers.

Inputs

The signal to be measured is fed to one of the input connectors, which is usually a coaxial connector such as a BNC or N type. Binding posts or banana plugs may be used for lower frequencies. If the signal source has its own coaxial connector, then a simple coaxial cable is used; otherwise, a specialised cable called a "scope probe", supplied with the oscilloscope, is used. General-purpose oscilloscopes have a standardised input resistance of 1 megohm in parallel with a capacitance of around 20 picofarads. This allows the use of standard oscilloscope probes. Scopes for use with very high frequencies may have 50-ohm inputs, which must be either connected directly to a 50-ohm signal source or used with Z₀ or active probes.

The trace

In its simplest mode, the oscilloscope repeatedly draws a horizontal line called the trace across the middle of the screen from left to right. One of the controls, the timebase control, sets the speed at which the line is drawn, and is calibrated in seconds per division. If the input voltage departs from zero, the trace is deflected either upwards or downwards. Another control, the vertical control, sets the scale of the vertical deflection, and is calibrated in volts per division. The resulting trace is a plot of voltage against time, with the more distant past on the left and the more recent past on the right.

If the input signal is periodic, then a nearly stable trace can be obtained just by setting the timebase to match the frequency of the input signal. For example, if the input signal is a 50 Hz sine wave, then its period is 20 ms, so the timebase should be adjusted so that the time between successive horizontal sweeps is 20 ms. This mode is called continual sweep. Since the calibrated oscilloscope timebase may not exactly match the period of the input signal, the trace will drift across the screen making measurements difficult. If the time base is adjusted to stabilize the trace, the time per horizontal division is altered, and usually uncalibrated.

 Trigger

Type 465 Tektronix oscilloscope.

To provide a more stable trace, modern oscilloscopes have a function called the trigger. When using triggering, the scope will pause each time the sweep reaches the extreme right side of the screen. The scope then waits for a specified event before drawing the next trace. The trigger event is usually the input waveform reaching some user-specified threshold voltage in the specified direction (going positive or going negative).

The effect is to resynchronize the timebase to the input signal, preventing horizontal drift of the trace. In this way, triggering allows the display of periodic signals such as sine waves and square waves. Trigger circuits also allow the display of nonperiodic signals such as single pulses or pulses that don't recur at a fixed rate.

Types of trigger include:

• external trigger, a pulse from an external source connected to a dedicated input on the scope.
• edge trigger, an edge-detector that generates a pulse when the input signal crosses a specified threshold voltage in a specified direction.
• video trigger, a circuit that extracts synchronizing pulses from video formats such as PAL and NTSC and triggers the timebase on every line, a specified line, every field, or every frame. This circuit is typically found in a waveform monitor device.
• delayed trigger, which waits a specified time after an edge trigger before starting the sweep. No trigger circuit acts instantaneously, so there is always a certain delay, but a trigger delay circuit extends this delay to a known and adjustable interval. In this way, the operator can examine a particular pulse in a long train of pulses.

 Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a measure of the range of frequencies that can be displayed. The bandwidth of the 'scope is limited by the vertical amplifiers and CRT (in analog instruments) or by the sampling rate of the analog to digital converter in digital instruments. The bandwidth is defined as the frequency at which the sensitivity is 0.707 of the sensitivity at lower frequency (a drop of 3 dB). The rise time of the fastest pulse that can be resolved by the scope is related to its bandwidth approximately:

Bandwidth in Hz x rise time in seconds = 0.35 ^[2]

For example, a 'scope intended to resolve pulses with a rise time of 1 nanosecond would have a bandwidth of 350 MHz.

For a digital oscilloscope, a rule of thumb is that the continuous sampling rate should be ten times the highest frequency desired to resolve; for example a 20 megasample/second rate would be applicable for measuring signals up to about 2 megahertz.

 X-Y mode

Most modern oscilloscopes have several inputs for voltages, and thus can be used to plot one varying voltage versus another. This is especially useful for graphing I-V curves (current versus voltage characteristics) for components such as diodes, as well as Lissajous patterns. Lissajous figures are an example of how an oscilloscope can be used to track phase differences between multiple input signals. This is very frequently used in broadcast engineering to plot the left and right stereophonic channels, to ensure that the stereo generator is calibrated properly.

 Other features

Some oscilloscopes have cursors, which are lines that can be moved about the screen to measure the time interval between two points, or the difference between two voltages.

Oscilloscopes may have two or more input channels, allowing them to display more than one input signal on the screen. Usually the oscilloscope has a separate set of vertical controls for each channel, but only one triggering system and timebase.

Better quality general purpose oscilloscopes include a calibration signal for setting up the compensation of test probes; this is (often) a 1 kHz square-wave signal available at a test terminal on the front panel.

Sometimes the event that the user wants to see may only happen occasionally. To catch these events, some oscilloscopes, known as "storage scopes", preserve the most recent sweep on the screen. This was originally achieved by using a special CRT, a "storage tube", which would retain the image of even a very brief event for a long time.

Some digital oscilloscopes can sweep at speeds as slow as once per hour, emulating a strip chart recorder. That is, the signal scrolls across the screen from right to left. Most oscilloscopes with this facility switch from a sweep to a strip-chart mode at about one sweep per ten seconds. This is because otherwise, the scope looks broken: it's collecting data, but the dot cannot be seen.

Oscilloscopes were originally analog devices. In more recent times digital signal sampling is more often used for all but the simplest models.

Many oscilloscopes have different plug-in modules for different purposes, e.g., high-sensitivity amplifiers of relatively narrow bandwidth, differential amplifiers, amplifiers with 4 or more channels, sampling plugins for repetitive signals of very high frequency, and special-purpose plugins.

 Examples of use

Lissajous figures on an oscilloscope, with 90 degrees phase difference between x and y inputs.

One of the most frequent uses of scopes is troubleshooting malfunctioning electronic equipment. One of the advantages of a scope is that it can graphically show signals: where a voltmeter may show a totally unexpected voltage, a scope may reveal that the circuit is oscillating. In other cases the precise shape of a pulse is important.

In a piece of electronic equipment, for example, the connections between stages (e.g. electronic mixers, electronic oscillators, amplifiers) may be 'probed' for the expected signal, using the scope as a simple signal tracer. If the expected signal is absent or incorrect, some preceding stage of the electronics is not operating correctly. Since most failures occur because of a single faulty component, each measurement can prove that half of the stages of a complex piece of equipment either work, or probably did not cause the fault.

Once the faulty stage is found, further probing can usually tell a skilled technician exactly which component has failed. Once the component is replaced, the unit can be restored to service, or at least the next fault can be isolated.

Another use is to check newly designed circuitry. Very often a newly designed circuit will misbehave because of design errors, bad voltage levels, electrical noise etc. Digital electronics usually operate from a clock, so a dual-trace scope which shows both the clock signal and a test signal dependent upon the clock is useful. "Storage scopes" are helpful for "capturing" rare electronic events that cause defective operation.

Another use is for software engineers who must program electronics. Often a scope is the only way to see if the software is running the electronics properly.

^{Pictures of use}

Heterodyne	AC hum on sound.	AM signal.	Bad filter on sine.
Dual trace, showing different time bases on each trace.

 Selection

Oscilloscopes generally have a checklist of some set of the above features. The basic measure of virtue is the bandwidth of its vertical amplifiers. Typical scopes for general purpose use should have a bandwidth of at least 100 MHz, although much lower bandwidths are acceptable for audio-frequency applications. A useful sweep range is from one second to 100 nanoseconds, with triggering and delayed sweep.

The chief benefit of a quality oscilloscope is the quality of the trigger circuit. If the trigger is unstable, the display will always be fuzzy. The quality improves roughly as the frequency response and voltage stability of the trigger increase.

Analog oscilloscopes have been almost totally displaced by digital storage scopes except for the low bandwidth (< 60 MHz) segment of the market. Greatly increased sample rates have eliminated the display of incorrect signals, known as "aliasing", that was sometimes present in the first generation of digital scopes. The used test equipment market, particularly on-line auction venues, typically have a wide selection of older analog scopes available. However it is becoming more difficult to obtain replacement parts for these instruments and repair services are generally unavailable from the original manufacturer.

As of 2007, a 350 MHz bandwidth (BW), 2.5 giga-samples per second (GS/s), dual-channel digital storage scope costs about US$7000 new. The current real-time analog bandwidth record, as of February 2007, is held by the Tektronix DPO70000 and DSA70000 oscilloscope families with a 20 GHz BW (non-interleaved) and a sample rate of 50 GHz. The current equivalent time sampling bandwidth record for sampling digital storage oscilloscopes, as of June 2006, is held by the LeCroy WaveExpert series with a 100 GHz bandwidth.

 Software

Many oscilloscopes today provide one or more external interfaces to allow remote instrument control by external software. These interfaces (or buses) include GPIB, Ethernet, serial port, and USB.

 How it works

 Cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO)

The earliest and simplest type of oscilloscope consisted of a cathode ray tube, a vertical amplifier, a timebase, a horizontal amplifier and a power supply. These are now called 'analogue' scopes to distinguish them from the 'digital' scopes that became common in the 1990s and 2000s.

Before the introduction of the CRO in its current form, the cathode ray tube had already been in use as a measuring device. The cathode ray tube is an evacuated glass envelope, similar to that in a black-and-white television set, with its flat face covered in a phosphorescent material (the phosphor). The screen is typically less than 20 cm in diameter, much smaller than the one in a television set.

In the neck of the tube is an electron gun, which is a heated metal plate with a wire mesh (the grid) in front of it. A small grid potential is used to block electrons from being accelerated when the electron beam needs to be turned off, as during sweep retrace or when no trigger events occur. A potential difference of at least several hundred volts is applied to make the heated plate (the cathode) negatively charged relative to the deflection plates. For higher bandwidth oscilloscopes where the trace may move more rapidly across the phosphor target, a positive post-deflection acceleration voltage of over 10,000 volts is often used, increasing the energy (speed) of the electrons that strike the phosphor. The kinetic energy of the electrons is converted by the phosphor into visible light at the point of impact. When switched on, a CRT normally displays a single bright dot in the center of the screen, but the dot can be moved about electrostatically or magnetically. The CRT in an oscilloscope uses electrostatic deflection.

Between the electron gun and the screen are two opposed pairs of metal plates called the deflection plates. The vertical amplifier generates a potential difference across one pair of plates, giving rise to a vertical electric field through which the electron beam passes. When the plate potentials are the same, the beam is not deflected.

When the top plate is positive with respect to the bottom plate, the beam is deflected upwards; when the field is reversed, the beam is deflected downwards. The horizontal amplifier does a similar job with the other pair of deflection plates, causing the beam to move left or right. This deflection system is called electrostatic deflection, and is different from the electromagnetic deflection system used in television tubes. In comparison to magnetic deflection, electrostatic deflection can more readily follow random changes in potential, but is limited to small deflection angles.

The timebase is an electronic circuit that generates a ramp voltage. This is a voltage that changes continuously and linearly with time. When it reaches a predefined value the ramp is reset, with the voltage reestablishing its initial value. When a trigger event is recognized the reset is released, allowing the ramp to increase again. The timebase voltage usually drives the horizontal amplifier. Its effect is to sweep the electron beam at constant speed from left to right across the screen, then quickly return the beam to the left in time to begin the next sweep. The timebase can be adjusted to match the sweep time to the period of the signal.

Meanwhile, the vertical amplifier is driven by an external voltage (the vertical input) that is taken from the circuit or experiment that is being measured. The amplifier has a very high input impedance, typically one megohm, so that it draws only a tiny current from the signal source. The amplifier drives the vertical deflection plates with a voltage that is proportional to the vertical input. Because the electrons have already been accelerated by hundreds of volt, this amplifier also has to deliver almost hundred volts, and this with a very high bandwidth. The gain of the vertical amplifier can be adjusted to suit the amplitude of the input voltage. A positive input voltage bends the electron beam upwards, and a negative voltage bends it downwards, so that the vertical deflection of the dot shows the value of the input. ^[3]

The response of this system is much faster than that of mechanical measuring devices such as the multimeter, where the inertia of the pointer slows down its response to the input.

When all these components work together, the result is a bright trace on the screen that represents a graph of voltage against time. Voltage is on the vertical axis, and time on the horizontal.

Observing high speed signals, especially non-repetitive signals, with a conventional CRO is difficult, due to non-stable or changing triggering threshold which makes it hard to "freeze" the waveform on the screen. This often requires the room to be darkened or a special viewing hood to be placed over the face of the display tube. To aid in viewing such signals, special oscilloscopes have borrowed from night vision technology, employing a microchannel plate in the tube face to amplify faint light signals.

Tektronix Model C-5A Oscilloscope Camera with Polaroid instant film pack back.

Although a CRO allows one to view a signal, in its basic form it has no means of recording that signal on paper for the purpose of documentation. Therefore, special oscilloscope cameras were developed to photograph the screen directly. Early cameras used roll or plate film, while in the 1970s Polaroid instant cameras became popular.

The vertical amplifier and timebase controls are calibrated to show the vertical distance on the screen that corresponds to a given voltage difference, and the horizontal distance that corresponds to a given time interval.

The power supply is an important component of the scope. It provides low voltages to power the cathode heater in the tube, and the vertical and horizontal amplifiers. High voltages are needed to drive the electrostatic deflection plates. These voltages must be very stable. Any variations will cause errors in the position and brightness of the trace.

Later analogue oscilloscopes added digital processing to the standard design. The same basic architecture - cathode ray tube, vertical and horizontal amplifiers - was retained, but the electron beam was controlled by digital circuitry that could display graphics and text mixed with the analogue waveforms. The extra features that this system provides include:

• on-screen display of amplifier and timebase settings;
• voltage cursors - adjustable horizontal lines with voltage display;
• time cursors - adjustable vertical lines with time display;
• on-screen menus for trigger settings and other functions.

 Dual beam oscilloscope

A dual beam oscilloscope was a type of oscilloscope once used to compare one signal with another. There were two beams produced in a special type of CRT. Unlike an ordinary "dual-trace" oscilloscope (which time-shared a single electron beam, thus losing about 50% of each signal), a dual beam oscilloscope simultaneously produced two separate electron beams, capturing the entirety of both signals.

Two pairs of vertical plates deflect the beams. Vertical plates for channel A had no effect on channel B beam. Similarly for channel B, separate vertical plates existed which deflected the beam B only.

On some scopes the time base, horizontal plates and horizontal amplifier were common to both beams; on more elaborate scopes like the Tektronix 556 there were two independent time bases and two sets of horizontal plates and horizontal amplifiers. Thus one could look at a very fast signal on one beam and a slow signal on another beam.

Most multichannel 'scopes do not actually have multiple electron beams. Instead, they display only one dot at a time, but switch the dot between one channel and the other either on alternate sweeps (ALT mode) or many times per sweep (CHOP mode). Very few actual dual beam oscilloscopes were built.

With the advent of digital signal capture, true dual beam oscilloscopes became obsolete, as it was then possible to display two truly simultaneous signals from memory using either the ALT or CHOP display technique, or even possibly a raster display mode.

 Analogue storage oscilloscope

An extra feature available on some analogue scopes is called 'storage'. This feature allows the trace pattern that normally decays in a fraction of a second to remain on the screen for several minutes or longer. An electrical circuit can then be deliberately activated to store and erase the trace on the screen.

The storage is accomplished using the principle of secondary emission. When the ordinary writing electron beam passes a point on the phosphor surface, not only does it momentarily cause the phosphor to illuminate, but the kinetic energy of the electron beam knocks other electrons loose from the phosphor surface. This can leave a net positive charge. Storage oscilloscopes then provide one or more secondary electron guns (called the "flood guns") that provide a steady flood of low-energy electrons traveling towards the phosphor screen. The electrons from the flood guns are more strongly drawn to the areas of the phosphor screen where the writing gun has left a net positive charge; in this way, the electrons from the flood guns re-illuminate the phosphor in these positively-charged areas of the phosphor screen.

If the energy of the flood gun electrons is properly balanced, each impinging flood gun electron knocks out one secondary electron from the phosphor screen, thus preserving the net positive charge in the illuminated areas of the phosphor screen. In this way, the image originally written by the writing gun can be maintained for a long time. Eventually, small imbalances in the secondary emission ratio cause the entire screen to "fade positive" (light up) or cause the originally-written trace to "fade negative" (extinguish). It is these imbalances that limit the ultimate storage time possible.

Some oscilloscopes used a strictly binary (on/off) form of storage known as "bistable storage". Others permitted a constant series of short, incomplete erasure cycles which created the impression of a phosphor with "variable persistence". Certain oscilloscopes also allowed the partial or complete shutdown of the flood guns, allowing the preservation (albeit invisibly) of the latent stored image for later viewing. (Fading positive or fading negative only occurs when the flood guns are "on"; with the flood guns off, only leakage of the charges on the phosphor screen degrades the stored image.)

 Digital storage oscilloscope

A digital storage oscilloscope manufactured by Agilent Technologies

The digital storage oscilloscope, or DSO for short, is now the preferred type for most industrial applications, although simple analogue CROs are still used by hobbyists. It replaces the unreliable storage method used in analogue storage scopes with digital memory, which can store data as long as required without degradation. It also allows complex processing of the signal by high-speed digital signal processing circuits.

The vertical input, instead of driving the vertical amplifier, is digitised by an analog to digital converter to create a data set that is stored in the memory of a microprocessor. The data set is processed and then sent to the display, which in early DSOs was a cathode ray tube, but is now more likely to be an LCD flat panel. DSOs with color LCD displays are common. The data set can be sent over a LAN or a WAN for processing or archiving. The screen image can be directly recorded on paper by means of an attached printer or plotter, without the need for an oscilloscope camera. The scope's own signal analysis software can extract many useful time-domain features (e.g. rise time, pulse width, amplitude), frequency spectra, histograms and statistics, persistence maps, and a large number of parameters meaningful to engineers in specialized fields such as telecommunications, disk drive analysis and power electronics.

Digital oscilloscopes are limited principally by the performance of the analogue input circuitry and the sampling frequency. In general, the sampling frequency should be at least the Nyquist rate, double the frequency of the highest-frequency component of the observed signal, otherwise aliasing may occur.

Digital storage also makes possible another unique type of oscilloscope, the equivalent-time sample scope. Instead of taking consecutive samples after the trigger event, only one sample is taken. However, the oscilloscope is able to vary its timebase to precisely time its sample, thus building up the picture of the signal over the subsequent repeats of the signal. This requires that either a clock or repeating pattern be provided. This type of scope is frequently used for very high speed communication because it allows for a very high "sample rate" and low amplitude noise compared to traditional real-time scopes.

To sum this up: Advantages over the analogue oscilloscope:

• Brighter and bigger display with color to distinguish multiple traces
• Equivalent time sampling and Average across consecutive samples or scans lead to higher resolution down to µV
• Peak detection
• Pre-trigger
• Easy pan and zoom across multiple stored traces allows beginners to work without a trigger
  • This needs a fast reaction of the display (some scopes have 1 ms delay)
  • The knobs have to be large and turn smoothly
• Also slow traces like the temperature variation across a day can be recorded
• The memory of the oscilloscope can be arranged not only as a one-dimensional list but also as a two-dimensional array to simulate a phosphorus screen. The digital technique allows a quantitative analysis (E.g. Eye diagram)
• Allows for automation, though most models lock the access to their software

A disadvantage of digital oscilloscopes is the limited refresh rate of the screen. On an analog oscilloscope, the user can get an intuitive sense of the trigger rate simply by looking at the steadiness of the CRT trace. For a digital oscilloscope, the screen looks exactly the same for any signal rate which exceeds the screen's refresh rate. Additionally, it is sometimes hard to spot "glitches" or other rare phenomena on the black-and-white screens of standard digital oscilloscopes; the slight persistence of CRT phosphors on analog scopes makes glitches visible even if many subsequent triggers overwrite them. Both of these difficulties have been overcome recently by "digital phosphor oscilloscopes," which store data at a very high refresh rate and display it with variable intensity, to simulate the trace persistence of a CRT scope.

 Mixed signal oscilloscope

A mixed signal oscilloscope (or MSO) has two kinds of inputs, a small number (typically two or four) of analog channels, and a larger number (typically sixteen) of digital channels. These measurements are acquired with a single time base, they are viewed on a single display, and any combination of these signals can be used to trigger the oscilloscope.

An MSO combines all the measurement capabilities and the use model of a Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO) with some of the measurement capabilities of a logic analyzer. MSOs typically lack the advanced digital measurement capabilities and the large number of digital acquisition channels of full-fledged logic analyzers, but they are also much less complex to use. Typical mixed-signal measurement uses include the characterization and debugging of hybrid analog/digital circuits like: embedded systems, Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), Digital-to-analog converters (DACs), and control systems.

 Hand held oscilloscope

An OWON HDS-N Series Hand Held Oscilloscope

Hand held oscilloscope are useful for many test and field service applications. Today, a hand held oscilloscope is usually a digital sampling oscilloscope, using a liquid crystal display. Typically, a hand held oscilloscope has 2 analog input channels, but 4 input channels version are also available. Some instruments combine the functions of a digital multimeter with the oscilloscope.

 PC-based oscilloscope (PCO)

Oscilloscope software running in Windows that uses the computer's sound card as a cheap ADC

Although most people think of an oscilloscope as a self-contained instrument in a box, a new type of "oscilloscope" is emerging that consists of a specialized signal acquisition board (which can be an external USB or Parallel port device, or an internal add-on PCI or ISA card). The hardware itself usually consists of an electrical interface providing insulation and automatic gain controls, several hi-speed analogue-to-digital converters and some buffer memory, or even on-board DSPs. Depending on the exact hardware configuration, the hardware could be best described as a digitizer, a data logger or as a part of a specialized automatic control system.

The PC provides the display, control interface, disc storage, networking and often the electrical power for the acquisition hardware. The viability of PC-based oscilloscopes depends on the current widespread use and low cost of standardized PCs. Since prices can range from as little as $100 to as much as $3000 depending on their capabilities, such instruments are particularly suitable for the educational market, where PCs are commonplace but equipment budgets are often low. The acquisition hardware, in certain cases, may only consist of a standard sound card or even a game port, if only audio and low-frequency signals are involved.

The PCO can transfer data to the computer in two main ways - streaming, and block mode. In streaming mode the data is transferred to the PC in a continuous flow without any loss of data. The way in which the PCO is connected to the PC (e.g. USB) will dictate the maximum achievable speed using this method. Block mode utilizes the on-board memory of the PCO to collect a block of data which is then transferred to the PC after the block has been recorded. The PCO hardware then resets and records another block of data. This process happens very quickly, but the time taken will vary according to the size of the block of data and the speed at which it can be transferred. This method enables a much higher sampling speed, but in many cases the hardware will not record data whilst it is transferring the existing block, meaning that some data loss will occur.

The advantages of PC-based oscilloscopes include:

• Lower cost than a stand-alone oscilloscope, assuming the user already owns a PC. Professional-grade PCO hardware (e.g. with bandwidth in the MHz rather than in the kHz range) tends to be more expensive than e.g. a typical PCI sound card, and some can even cost more than a new PC [1].
• Easy exporting of data to standard PC software such as spreadsheets and word processors.
• Ability to control the instrument by running a custom program on the PC.
• Use of the PC's networking and disc storage functions, which cost extra when added to a self-contained oscilloscope.
• PCs typically have large high-resolution color displays which can be easier to read than the smaller displays found on conventional scopes. Color can be utilized to differentiate waveforms. It can also show increased information including more of the waveform or extras like automatic waveform measurements and simultaneous alternative views.
• Portability when used with a laptop PC.

There are also some disadvantages, which include:

• Power-supply and electromagnetic noise from PC circuits, which requires careful and extensive shielding to obtain good low-level signal resolution.
• Data transfer rates to the PC, which are dependent upon the connection method. This affects the maximum sampling speed achievable by the PCO when streaming.
• Need for the owner to install oscilloscope software on the PC, which may not be compatible with the current release of the PC operating system.
• Time for the PC to boot, compared with the almost instant start-up of a self-contained oscilloscope (although, as some modern oscilloscopes are actually PCs or similar machines in disguise, this distinction is narrowing).

As more processing power and data storage is included in oscilloscopes, the distinction is becoming blurred. Mainstream oscilloscope vendors manufacture large-screen, PC-based oscilloscopes, with very fast (multi-GHz) input digitizers and highly-customized user interfaces.

Software for a PC may use the sound card or game port to acquire analog signals, instead of dedicated signal acquisition hardware. However, these devices have very restricted input voltage ranges, limited precision, and very restricted frequency ranges. The ground reference for these inputs is the same as the ground for the PC logic and power supply; this may inject unacceptable amounts of noise into the circuit under test. However, these devices can be useful for demonstration or hobby use.

If a sound card is used, frequency response is usually limited to the audio range, and DC signals cannot be measured. The number of inputs is limited by the number of recording channels and the inputs can handle only audio line-level voltages without the risk of damage.

If the game port is used as the acquisition hardware, the sampling frequency is very low, typically below 1 kHz, and the input voltages can only vary over a range of a couple of volts. In addition, the game port cannot easily be programmed for a specific sampling rate, nor can it be easily assigned a precise quantization step. These limitations only make it suitable for low-precision visualization of low frequency signals.