Automatic Marking and Measurements

“Automatic Marking and Measurements” explores the capabilities and benefits of automatic measurements and markers, standard features on Infiniium EXR, MXR, and UXR-series oscilloscopes. These features are essential for ensuring signal integrity and optimizing serial bus performance.

The video begins by introducing automatic measurements, which provide accurate and repeatable results for common defined measurements such as frequency and overshoot. These measurements are crucial for maintaining signal integrity in various applications. The video also highlights the use of markers, which allow users to take control and make custom measurements based on criteria that are not easily defined.

To demonstrate the ease of use, the video shows the drag-and-drop measurements feature on the left side of the screen. This shortcut makes setting up measurements convenient without the need for menus, allowing users to define where on the screen a measurement should be made. For example, the video shows how to ask the oscilloscope for the pulse widths of different parts of a repetitive pulse strain. Users can then right-click to set up measurement callouts, further clarifying the measurements being made. This feature is perfect for quick screenshots, easily accessible through a right-click on the screen.

The lesson also introduces the quick measurement feature, which enables 10 common measurements and begins collecting statistics. Users can customize the columns of data displayed, the size of the display plane, and its location on the screen. For those with a second monitor, results can be dragged over to focus the main screen on monitoring the waveform.

Additionally, users can add measurements manually through the Add Measurement dialogue, sorting through over 100 available measurements by type. The settings include threshold setups and other configuration options. Pressing Apply keeps the dialogue open, which is handy for adding multiple custom measurements at once. The measurement setup menu offers further capabilities, such as measuring all portions of an on-screen waveform or just the centermost qualifying measurement, selecting significant digits, and customizing data columns and measurements.

Markers are set up in the Measure / Mark - Add Markers menu, with three modes available: manual mode (on one axis or both), tracking the waveform, and tracking measurements. Users are given two markers at a time for each axis and can select the sources to tie them to, allowing for delta time or delta voltage measurements on one channel, between two channels, or between a channel and a math function or reference waveform. Multiple sets of markers can be labeled and color-coded for clarity.

Once set up, users can move the four manual markers freely on the screen and see the delta measurements in the results pane. When markers track a waveform, one axis is locked to the waveform’s vertical value. Markers can also visually track an automatic measurement, achieved by right-clicking on the measurement of interest or through the Add Marker menu.

Finally, the video shows how to save measurement and marker data as a CSV file and generate a PDF measurement report through the File - Save menu.