Test software improves designer productivity

Tektronix Inc. has unveiled a software offering that claims to enhance the visualisation, analysis and reporting capabilities found on Tektronix oscilloscopes to Windows-based PCs, tablets and servers. According to the company, the TekScope Anywhere allows engineers and designers to do much of their work away from the lab and collaborate more effectively with colleagues across the globe.

Increasingly, development teams are distributed across multiple geographic areas driving the need for more efficient tools that leverage the cloud and speed up workgroup analysis. TekScope Anywhere enables users to collect, analyse and collaborate without being tied to the instruments in their lab. In addition, more analysis is being done prior to arrival of silicon in simulation. For these scenarios, TekScope Anywhere enables measurements on simulation data using the same algorithms that the oscilloscope will use during silicon PHY characterisation post-fabrication, the company stated.

The use of TekScope Anywhere starts with an oscilloscope to collect waveform data and measurement results. From there, a set of common analysis tools are available independent of the hardware used to make the acquisition. A broad set of waveform formats from oscilloscopes or simulation environments are supported including .h5, .wfm, .csv, .bin, .trc and .tr0.

To speed up analysis, TekScope Anywhere features a composite save/recall function to help users get started at the right place every time. An included measurement library offers more than 70 measurements, including parametric, jitter and eye diagrams. Powerful visualisations include waveform and plot displays with interactions for zooming, cursors and annotations along with math support for basic operations including operands (-, +, etc.), FFT and arbitrary filters. Advanced jitter measurements are available when equipped with Option DJA.

Session files, including configuration and measurement details, can be saved on any Tektronix MSO/DPO5000, DPO7000 or MSO/DPO70000 series oscilloscope and used within TekScope Anywhere, eliminating the need to re-configure hardware setups. Adding to its collaboration capabilities, measurement results can be compared simultaneously across multiple waveforms and reports easily generated with the results.

Presently in limited release for evaluation, TekScope Anywhere will be available to order in March 2015 worldwide. Pricing starts at $895. Option DJA for in-depth jitter analysis is priced at $5,000.