User manual

Table Of Contents

Glossary40

5 Glossary

Analog bandwidth. The input frequency at which the measured signal amplitude is

3 decibels below the true signal amplitude.

Buffer size. The size of the oscilloscope buffer memory, measured in samples. The

buffer allows the oscilloscope to sample data faster than it can transfer it to the

computer.

Device Manager. Device Manager is a Windows program that displays the current

hardware configuration of your computer. On Windows XP or Vista, right-click 'My

Computer,' choose 'Properties', then click the 'Hardware' tab and the 'Device Manager'

button.

Driver. A program that controls a piece of hardware. The driver for the oscilloscopes

is supplied in the form of a 32-bit Windows DLL, usbdrdaq.dll. This is used by the

PicoScope software, and by user-designed applications, to control the unit.

Maximum sampling rate. A figure indicating the maximum number of samples the

oscilloscope can acquire per second. The higher the sampling rate of the oscilloscope,

the more accurate the representation of the high-frequency details in a fast signal.

Oversampling. Oversampling is taking measurements more frequently than the

requested sample rate, and then combining them to produce the required number of

samples. If, as is usually the case, the signal contains a small amount of noise, this

technique can increase the effective vertical resolution of the oscilloscope.

PC Oscilloscope. A virtual instrument formed by connecting a PicoScope oscilloscope

to a computer running the PicoScope software.

PicoScope software. A software product that accompanies all PicoScope

oscilloscopes. It turns your PC into an oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer.

Redox potential. A measure in volts of the affinity of a substance for electrons.

Timebase. The timebase controls the time interval that each horizontal division of an

oscilloscope view represents. There are ten divisions across the oscilloscope view, so

the total time across the view is ten times the timebase per division.

USB 2.0. Universal Serial Bus. This is a standard port used to connect external

devices to PCs. The port supports a data transfer rate of up to 12 Mbps with USB

DrDAQ.

Vertical resolution. A value, in bits, indicating the precision with which the

oscilloscope converts input voltages to digital values. Oversampling (see above)

can improve the effective vertical resolution.

Voltage range. The range of input voltages that the oscilloscope can measure. For

example, a voltage range of ±100 mV means that the oscilloscope can measure

voltages between -100 mV and +100 mV. Input voltages outside this range will not

damage the instrument as long as they remain within the protection limits stated in

the Specifications table.