Rohde & Schwarz has entered the oscilloscope market with a bang, launching two- and four-channel digital instruments with real-time bandwidths to 2 GHz and sampling rates to 10 GSamples/s.
Oscilloscopes are those workhorse instruments that belong on every test bench, next to a digital multimeter. They are invaluable, and models suited for microwave work have been available for some time from trusted names in test. But Rohde & Schwarz was not one of them, until now. The supplier has finally entered the digital scope market with its R&S RTO series with bandwidths to 2 GHz and its R&S RTM series with bandwidths to 500 MHz.
The R&S RTO oscilloscopes (see figure) number four models with either 2- or 1-GHz real-time bandwidths, sampling rates to 10 GSamples/s, and two or four measurement channels, while the R&S RTM series boasts two- and four-channel models, both with realtime bandwidth of 500 MHz.
The R&S RTO series includes the 2-GHz model R&S RTO1024 with four channels, the 2-GHz model R&S RTO1022 with two channels, the 1-GHz model R&S RTO1014 with four channels, and the 1-GHz model R&S RTO1012 with two channels (see table). All run at 10 GSamples/s per channel and can capture as many as 1 million waveforms per second and an effective number of bits (ENOB) of more than 7.
The standard acquisition memory is 20 MSamples per channel or 80 MSamples when only one channel is enabled. Optional memory can be puchased to bring these totals to 200 and 400 MSamples, respectively.
The R&S RTO series oscilloscopes contain sophisticated triggering systems that can perform edge, glitch, width, runt, window, interval, and pattern triggering. The instrument sensitivity can be set from 1 mV/div to 1 V/div at 50 Ohms input impedance and from 1 mV/div to 10 V/div at 1 MOhm input impedance.
For general-purpose measurements, the compact R&S RTM models include the R&S RTM1052 with two channels and bandwidth of 500 MHz, and the R&S RTM1054 with four channels and the same real-time bandwidth. The sampling rates for the R&S RTM1052 are 2.5 GSamples/s for two channels and 5.0 GSamples/s for one channel, and for the R&S RTM1054, 2.5 GSamples/s for four channels and 5.0 GSamples/s for two channels.
The instruments also provide many "convenience" functions, such as two front-panel Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports for moving data to a personal computer, mask functions, and touchscreen interfaces in the R&S RTO units. For more information on the scopes, visit the special site at www.scopeof-the-art.com. Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, Muehldorfstrausse 15, 81671 Munich, Germany ; +49- 89/4129-12164, Internet: www.rohdeschwarz.com.