Tektronix TekScope Analysis Datasheet
- June 7, 2024
- Tektronix
Table of Contents
Tektronix TekScope Analysis Datasheet
TekScope brings the power of the oscilloscope analysis environment to the PC.
Users have the flexibility to perform analysis tasks including serial decode,
power analysis, as well as timing, eye, and jitter analysis outside the lab.
You can continue your session from your oscilloscope at any place and share
the results. Reduces efforts to see screenshots when you need to dive deeper
or while sharing. Reload the session on your 4/5/6 oscilloscope, if you want
to redo the measurement.
Waveform data and setup in sessions from Tektronix 4/5/6 Series MSO, 5LP/6LPD
Series MSO, and waveform data from 3 Series MDO, DPO/MSO/MDO3000,
DPO/MSO/MDO4000, DPO7000C, or DPO/MSO70000C/D/DX/SX Series Oscilloscopes can
quickly be shared between team members and remote sites, resulting in improved
efficiency.
Key features
- Collaborate
- TekScope runs on your PC: Enables better time and resource utilization; view, measure, and analyze data captured in your lab, independent of the oscilloscope hardware.
- Compatible with most common save/recall waveform files: Common analysis tools independent of the hardware acquisition, including:
- .tss (4/5/6 Series session files setups and waveforms)
- .wfm, .isf (Tektronix)
- .bin (Keysight)
- .trc (Lecroy)
- .tr0 (Spice)
- .csv (general purpose)
- Analyze
- Cursors: Waveform, V Bars, H Bars, and V&H Bars
- Measurements: 34 standard
- Plots: Time Trend, Histogram, Spectrum, XY, and XYZ
- Math: Basic waveform arithmetic, FFT, and advanced equation editor
- Search: Quickly find events in your data based on specified criteria
- Clocked/unlocked Parallel Bus Decode
- Multi-Scope Analysis: Remotely connect to multiple oscilloscopes to view and analyze real-time data from many channels simultaneously. Connect up to four oscilloscopes and 32 channels.
- Low Speed Protocol Decode: Protocol Decode and Search Analysis of all common Embedded, Automotive, Aerospace, Consumer and Audio protocols.
- Advanced Jitter Measurements and Eye Analysis
- Power Electronic Analysis:
- Advanced Power Analysis
- Magnetics Analysis
- Inverter Motor Drive Analysis
- Power Integrity Analysis:
- Digital Power Management
- SPMI Serial Decode and Search
- Spectrum View Analysis: Perform time and frequency domains simultaneously.
- Easy Access to Remote Oscilloscope: Use TekScope to remotely pull data from your oscilloscope and perform offline measurements and analysis.
- Document
- Waveform and plot annotations: Share detailed analysis results; measurements, anomalies, and points of interest for future reference, collaboration with suppliers, or communicating with the team.
- Reports: Easily document measurement results and configuration details with detailed test report.
- Custom display configuration: Group plots in multiple configurations with stacked or overlaid waveform view.
Applications and uses
- Offline analysis: Analyze your waveform files from any location at any time to improve your working efficiency without any internet or intranet connection.
- Real-Time analysis: Remotely connect to the newest and most modern Tektronix oscilloscopes to acquire data directly from oscilloscope in real-time. Save time and eliminate unnecessary trips to the lab with data available at your desk, at home, or while traveling.
- Multi-Scope analysis: View and analyze data from multiple oscilloscopes on the same screen. Rearrange channel information, stack group, zoom, add cursors or measurements in a seamless interface. Increase your ability to look at a greater number of channels, all in a single view to accelerate your analysis efficiency.
- Data sharing: Share waveforms, measurements, and configuration details among distributed team members or suppliers to root cause the source of failures. Dive into the actual data rather than using static screenshots and eyeballing images.
- Enhance your measurements and analysis options: Not every oscilloscope has the latest and most modern software options. TekScope enables you to leverage our award-winning 4/5/6 Series user interface and software options and apply them to any Tektronix oscilloscope and to most of competitors’ oscilloscopes as well.
TekScope overview
Today’s systems become more complex and teams are more distributed across
geographies, functional areas of expertise, even partners and suppliers. As
many engineers move to off-scope environments, TekScope allows the engineer to
process, analyze, and share data efficiently, without having to be physically
next to an oscilloscope or in the testing environment. The ease of operating
with the TekScope software alongside other tools that you use every day allows
faster correlation and insight. These needs range from easy ways to share
data, the ability to run measurements outside the lab, and methods to
correlating lab measurements with simulation results.
Collaborate – TekScope runs on your PC, enabling analysis of data captured in your lab. Sessions can easily be saved on your Tektronix oscilloscope and recalled at any given time. In addition to Tektronix waveforms, other file formats are supported including .wfm, .isf, .tss, .bin, .trc, .csv, and .tr0, to enable correlation.
Analyze – Measurements performed on TekScope use a common measurement library with 4/5/6 Series Tektronix oscilloscope to correlate the results. TekScope supports a range of measurements including power, jitter, and eye measurements. Plots can be customized and are interactive with zoom and cursor controls allowing custom views to share.
Document – Results and views can be saved as a session file and archived for later use or sent to a colleague or supplier for a debug session. Alternatively, results can be archived and saved in the .pdf or the .mht format using the report generator. The report can be customized to include the information of interest including: configuration details, measurement results, and plots. Plot and measurement data can also be saved to a .csv format file for archiving or data analysis in external applications.
Collaboration and setup sharing
Sharing data acquired on the oscilloscope for use with TekScope is as simple
as saving 4/5/6 Series session and recalling in the application. Waveforms
captured on any Tektronix oscilloscope can also be loaded using TekScope
application.
Workflow improvements
Sessions from the 4/5/6 Series Oscilloscope enables improvements to your
workflow. Saving a session from your oscilloscope is easily recalled in
TekScope for further analysis and annotations. Using TekScope to tell your
data story improves the ability to provide clarity over static images like
screenshots. With a 4/5/6 Series Oscilloscope, you can also make changes to
settings and restore your session back on your oscilloscope to resume where
you left off without needing to reconfigure the oscilloscope from the
beginning.
Analysis
Start to add annotations, measurements, decode, and plots after capturing your
data. Free up your oscilloscope for colleagues, work from the comfort of your
desk or even from home. By adding analysis when you want to, your data story
unfolds for more flexibility in creating presentations and sharing results
than relying only on static screenshots. Post-analysis lets you go back to
past captures to double check results without needing to set up the
oscilloscope again. Rather than starting from scratch when you do need to re-
measure, simply reload your session file on the 4/5/6 Series MSO with any
changes you need in settings and rapidly get back to work.
Measurements
Most oscilloscopes measure only on the first cycles of the waveform. TekScope
measurement system allows measurements on all occurrences in the record. This
improvement increases your measurement insights from all other waveforms and
from other oscilloscopes. To gather measurement statistics, generates
statistics from a single waveform rather than requiring multiple waveforms.
Our measurement algorithms are also clearly documented in our Help system,
which ensures the confidence in your results.
Reports for data archive
After completion of analysis, a report is generated to share or archive.
Options, including the ability to include plots or configuration details,
allow the user to specify the information that goes in the report. Reports can
be archived as an .mht or .pdf file.
Waveform correlation between lab or simulation results
A common issue that arises when taking lab measurements is correlation between
instrumentation and simulation. The source of differences can be related to a
difference in measurement algorithms. TekScope allows the user to import
multiple waveform formats from different sources, including .wfm, .isf, .tss,
.csv, .bin, .trc, and .tr0, enabling the use of common analysis tools,
eliminating the differences due to differing analysis tools. For example, the
user can simultaneously compare the eye opening of a waveform captured in the
lab vs. a simulated waveform or waveform captured on a different oscilloscope.
Multi-Scope remote analysis
Developing test applications that require many oscilloscope channels,
sometimes from two or more oscilloscopes, can impose significant feasibility
challenges as well as greater development efforts and longer time to market.
You can now add more channels to your testing environment while setting the
multi-scope system to behave as one unit and save a lot of time analyzing many
channels from different oscilloscopes and trying to synchronize all of them
together.
View and analyze data from multiple oscilloscopes on the same screen.
Rearrange channel information, stack group, zoom, add cursors or measurements
in a seamless interface. This capability supports up to four oscilloscopes and
32 channels.
The Multi-Scope analysis solution enables you to remotely control the
acquisition settings on all oscilloscopes simultaneously without the need to
set up each oscilloscope individually. It provides a way to catch very fast
glitches in high resolution across many channels at the same time. Once the
data is acquired and captured on TekScope, you can then run measurements and
analyze across all channels from different
oscilloscopes at once.
Data transfer modes
- Simple data transfer without triggering remote oscilloscopes Get what you see on the oscilloscope. [Use Refresh Waveforms button].
- Acquire new waveform data upon triggering remote oscilloscopes. Trigger/Horizontal/Vertical settings are controlled by TekScope. [Use Utility > I/O > TekScope Remote Control button set to ON and use Acquire button to acquire the data]
- Acquire new waveform data upon triggering remote oscilloscopes. Trigger/Horizontal/Vertical settings are not controlled by TekScope, but instead TekScope uses the locally-configured settings on each oscilloscope. [Use Utility > I/O > TekScope Remote Control button set to OFF and use Acquire button to acquire the data]
Synchronizing channels across instruments
For the Multi-Scope analysis solution to be most accurate, it is important to
set up your instruments so that all channels can be tightly synchronized and
less skewed. Skew is the time difference between instrument channels from the
perfect ideal alignment. DE skewing removes different forms of errors such as
jitter, delta-time accuracy, and cable delay. There are multiple ways to skew
channel data.
As time correlation among channels from different oscilloscopes is dependent
on the instruments’ setup, cases can range from 350 ps of skew between all
channels using an easy setup to below 50 ps using a setup that involves more
steps. Following are the examples of two edges:
350 ps Skew example
Easy setup
- Use matched phase cables into the Aux input.
- Set Aux input for trigger.
< 50 ps Skew example
Best performance setup
- Use matched sync cables.
- Use CH
for trigger (not aux input). - DE skew each CH to trigger input.
- Attach ref clock sync cable between instruments if capturing >2 µs of time.
- Measure to validate the amount of skew coming through all the channels.
You can watch videos for more understanding on Multi-Scope analysis.
- For Multi-Scope analysis 24-channel example refer www.tek.com/video/TekScope-multi-scope-analysis
- To know more about how to set up Multi-Scope analysis on a TekScope, refer www.tek.com/video/how-to-set-up-multicopeanalysis-on-tekscope-pc-software%20
Serial protocol decode and analysis
Enhance your productivity through serial protocol decode tools to rapidly
decode and search on results in your waveforms. Recognizing errors or
correlating control results to other behaviors rapidly speeds up your ability
to identify and resolve issues in your system.
Easy access to your remote oscilloscope
TekScope allows you to remotely connect to your Tektronix oscilloscope and
retrieve data in real-time. Once the data is automatically transferred into
the TekScope PC software, you can continue to run your analysis offline. All
new Tektronix oscilloscope models are supported – TBS 1000 Series, TDS 1000
Series, TBS 2000 Series, TDS 2000 Series, 3 Series MDO, 4 Series MSO, 5 Series
MSO, 5 Series Low-Profile MSO, 6 Series MSO, 6B Series MSO, 6 Series Low-
Profile Digitizer, and DPO/MSO/DPS 70000 SX/DX/C.
TekDrive collaborative workspace
Using TekDrive, you can upload, store, organize, search, download, and share any file type from any connected device. TekDrive is natively integrated into the TekScope PC Software for seamless sharing and recalling of files – no USB stick required. TekDrive is purpose built for integration, automation, and security. Visit www.tek.com/software/tekdrive to learn more.
Customizable display
Waveform analysis is no longer constrained to a single oscilloscope display.
TekScope allows you to control the analysis environment.
Two options are available for waveform viewing, either overlay mode or stacked
mode. You can simply toggle between the two modes based on the required
analysis. For example, when looking at edge crossings between two data
signals, overlay mode may be preferred. As the number of waveforms grows,
stacked mode is typically preferred.
Other scenarios require the evaluation of waveforms and plot data, including
eye diagrams, spectrums, bathtub plots, or histograms. Plots can be viewed in
the same window as the waveform or in cases where additional screen real
estate is needed a group of plots can be created and displayed on a second
monitor. Within the group of plots, the user has the flexibility to customize
the layout by simply dragging and dropping the plots within the display. For
example, as shown below when viewing the jitter spectrum or FFT of a waveform,
a stacked view is preferred.
You can also have a side-by-side view.
When a single display is not sufficient to view the necessary plots, they can quickly be grouped and moved to a second monitor. Once grouped, the user has the flexibility to customize the layout and the ability to view the plots in either tabbed or grid mode. Tab mode provides a maximized view of an individual plot while allowing you to click on the other tabs to toggle between the plots. Grid mode provides a single view of all the plots in the group.
Waveform zoom and cursors
Interactive plots with zoom and cursors Plots provide a deep level
understanding of system behavior. It is often desired to zoom in on plot data,
some common reasons to zoom on plots include placing cursors to take
measurements at precise locations. Zooming enables precise viewing of the
portion of the plot of interest. While zoomed in the overview window, it
always provides context of the zoomed area in relation to the entire plot.
Cursor support for plots and waveforms can provide additional measurement
details. For example, the amplitude and period of a
Cursor measurements with prominent readouts provide quick results for both plot and waveform data waveform can be determined using cursors, or measurement results variation can be determined by evaluating the trend plot.
Key capabilities
TekScope is available with three license tiers to meet your needs. This table summarizes the core capabilities TekScope offers.
Add analysis packages for the capabilities you need. Powerful additions are designed to save your time in protocol decode, power measurements, jitter analysis, and ensure that you have the tools you need at your fingertips.
Multi-Scope analysis provides you with the ability to remotely connect to four oscilloscopes and acquire 32-channel data directly from them without the need to manually load/recall waveforms.
Serial protocol enables faster time to answer by highlighting packet information and errors that can be correlated with events in your acquisitions. Decoded serial data may also be searched, enabling rapid identification of events in longer captures.
Power analysis enables deeper insight into the performance of your system with measurements and plots created with a power designer in mind.
TekScope with jitter analysis uses the same DPOJET measurement framework available on Tektronix oscilloscopes. Comprehensive jitter and eye-diagram analysis, along with decomposition algorithms, simplify the discovery of signal integrity and jitter problems in today’s high-speed serial, digital, and communication system designs.
Perform spectrum view analysis from your local machine while having the option to work anywhere and apply these analysis capabilities on any historical data files.
Specifications
General
www.tek.com/manual/oscilloscope/4-5-6series-mso-5-series-mso-mixed-signal- oscilloscope
Waveform controls
Zoom Horizontal and/or Vertical
Cursors Waveform or Screen
Plot controls
Zoom Horizontal and/or Vertical
Cursors Waveform or Screen
Number of views
Waveform views One with the ability to configure in stacked, overlay, or
mixed modes. Up to 32 waveforms are viewed simultaneously
Available outputs
Report Comprehensive report with measurement results, plots, and system
configuration details are available in .pdf or .mht formats
Composite setup Single file for saving waveforms, measurements, and configuration details
Plot and measurement data Export plot and measurement data in .csv formats
Minimum system configuration
System requirements
64-bit Windows 10
8 GB or higher of RAM recommended
Intel® Core™ i5 or AMD Athlon® X4 processor (2GHz or faster)
5 GB of available hard disk space, 10 GB recommended (exact space is dependent
on the number of waveforms and their size)
1920×1080 or greater at 100% scaling recommended
OpenGL® 2.0, 32-bit color, and 1 GB of VRAM
Internet Browser – Chrome or Firefox (for software and license download)2
For the best experience when using advanced features such as Serial Bus
Protocol Decode, Power Measurements, Jitter Analysis, Multi-Scope, or when
analyzing large numbers of waveforms and long records, we recommend more
capable PC systems with additional RAM, disk space, and processor capability.
It’s highly recommended to ensure you have the latest updates from Microsoft
to your Windows PC as well as Visual Studio standard redistributable library.
For more details, refer to this Microsoft page support.microsoft.com/en-
us/topic/the-latest-supported-visual-cdownloads-2647da03-1eea-4433-9aff-
95f26a218cc0.
2 Internet connection is needed to download the software and any license file. Once completed, Internet connection will no longer be needed. The software does not require online Internet connectivity in order to use it for its regular operation.
Ordering information
Register and download TekScope PC software from www.tek.com/software
/tekscope-pc-analysis-software. Software is enabled by a license file that can be
downloaded from the TekCloud website using a trial or a paid license.
Base license
Legacy Licenses
License Comparison
Pro Licenses
Serial Decode : CAN, CAN FD, LIN, Flex Ray, USB2.0, eUSB2.0, Ethernet, espy, I3C, NRZ, SPMI, MDIO, SVID, SDLC, 8b/10b, Audio, MIPI C-PHY, MIPI D, PHY, Space wire, Manchester, 1-Wire, and CXPI
Power : Advanced Power Analysis, Digital Power, Management Analysis, Magnetic Analysis, Frequency Response Analysis, Inverter & Motor Drive Analysis, Inverter & Motor Drive Analysis, IMDA DQ0, and Serial Decode: SPMI, SVD
Aerospace & Defense: Jitter Analysis, Mask/Limit Testing, and Serial Decode: Mil-Std-1553, ARINC429, Space wire, NRZ, Manchester
Automotive : Jitter Analysis, Mask/Limit Testing, Inverter & Motor Drive Analysis, IMDA DQ0, and Serial Decode: CAN, CAN FD, LIN, Flex Ray, 100Base-T1, SENT, PSI5, I3C
Installing prerequisite software
Pay special attention to install the prerequisite software needed in order to
run properly any licenses that you have subscribed in TekScope. The
prerequisite software can be downloaded from:
scope.tekcloud.com/#/help/prerequisites
(you need to sign in first to your account to access this page).
Required for Remote Oscilloscope Access
-
Install TekVISA on the PC where TekScope software is installed.
Note: Ensure you have the right firewall settings configuration. You can configure the firewall settings during the TekScope installation using the installer menu, or check our User Manual for more information on how to update your firewall settings. -
Install Myrtle on the oscilloscope, if it runs a Windows operating system.
Required for Programmable Interface for Automation
- Install TekVISA on the PC where TekScope software is installed.
Recommendation for overcoming connection issue while trying to remotely access your oscilloscope
The company’s IT firewall settings sometimes impact the ability to remotely connect to your oscilloscopes. To overcome this challenge, make sure Domain, Private, and Public checkboxes are all checked for the TekScope application in your Windows firewall list. Look at the below image for an example.
License activation
All license options are available for a 14-day trial. At the end of the 14-day
trial, you may continue using the licenses after purchasing them. Customers
can purchase advanced licenses in one of two ways:
-
Placing a Purchase Order (PO) with any Tektronix Sales channels. Upon placing a PO, you will receive a software activation key. The activation key can be entered during the sign-up process or after your account is set up.
-
Using a credit card directly on the TekCloud website [Available only to U.S. Customers].
License types and software updates
The following definitions apply to the TekScope license types:
Maintenance for Software: Maintenance for software offers continuous
delivery of software updates when purchased with perpetual licenses or time-
based licenses. Perpetual licenses include maintenance for the first year but
will require a new maintenance license to continue to receive updates after
the first year. If you have a time-based license, maintenance is active during
the period of the time-based license only.
Perpetual License: The software can be used indefinitely; license does
not expire but updates/support only available for the first 12-months. Support
can be extended by purchasing a maintenance license. If a perpetual license
goes out of support, all features will be frozen to the last released version
before the support expired. The software will continue to work, but you cannot
get any updates newer than the support expiration date.
Maintenance License: Apply to perpetual licenses only. Maintenance
license is an extension license that extends the period of support of an
original perpetual license for 12 months.
Time-Based License: The software can be used through the term of the
license only. Software updates and support through the term of the license are
included. When the Time-Based license expires, all features will no longer
work, but a new Time-Based license may be purchased.
Every TekScope license is a Node-Locked License and is used on a PC. Upon
purchasing a TekScope license, you have the option to use it for two software
installations on individual PCs. However, bear in mind that these are not
floating or enterprise licenses that can be moved from one PC to another.
Customers can install the license on two different PCs or on the same PC while
using two different users to log into this PC. Once installed, these two
software installations can be used simultaneously.
Tektronix is registered to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 by SRI Quality System
Registrar.
Product(s) complies with IEEE Standard 488.1-1987, RS-232-C, and with
Tektronix Standard Codes and Formats.
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Taiwan 886 (2) 2656 6688
- European toll-free number. If not accessible, call: +41 52 675 3777
Austria 00800 2255 4835
Brazil +55 (11) 3759 7627
Central Europe & Greece +41 52 675 3777
France 00800 2255 4835
India 000 800 650 1835
Luxembourg +41 52 675 3777
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Poland +41 52 675 3777
Russia & CIS +7 (495) 6647564
Sweden 00800 2255 4835
United Kingdom & Ireland 00800 2255 4835*
Balkans, Israel, South Africa and other ISE Countries +41 52 675 3777
Canada 1 800 833 9200
Denmark +45 80 88 1401
Germany 00800 2255 4835
Italy 00800 2255 4835
Mexico, Central/South America & Caribbean 52 (55) 56 04 50 90
Norway 800 16098
Portugal 80 08 12370
South Africa +41 52 675 3777
Switzerland 00800 2255 4835*
USA 1 800 833 9200
For Further Information. Tektronix maintains a comprehensive, constantly
expanding collection of application notes, technical briefs and other
resources to help engineers working on the cutting edge of technology. Please
visit www.tek.com.
Copyright © Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved. Tektronix products are
covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending. Information in this
publication supersedes that in all previously published material.
Specification and price change privileges reserved. TEKTRONIX and TEK are
registered trademarks of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are
the service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
9 Jul 2021 48W-61673-3 www.tek.com
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