PicoScope 2000 Series oscilloscopes

Serial decoding and analysis

The PicoScope 2000 Series oscilloscopes include serial decoding capability as standard. The PicoScope 6 software has support for 20 protocols including I2C, SPI, CAN, RS-232,

Manchester and DALI. Decoding helps you see what is happening in your design to identify programming and timing errors and check for other signal integrity issues. Timing

analysis tools help to show the performance of each design element, identifying parts of the design that need to be improved to optimize overall system performance.

You can capture and decode several protocols at a time, in any combination, the only limit being the number of available channels – 18 for MSO models, as you can decode serial

data on all analog and digital inputs simultaneously. The ability to observe data flow across a bridge (such as CAN bus in, LIN bus out) is incredibly powerful. The deep memory of

the PicoScope 2000B models makes them ideal for serial decoding, as they can handle many thousands of frames of data.

GRAPH FORMAT shows the decoded

data (in hex, binary, decimal or ASCII)

in a timing diagram format, beneath the

waveform on a common time axis, with

error frames marked in red.

You can zoom in on these frames to

investigate noise or distortion, and each

packet field is assigned a different color,

so the data is easy to read.

TABLE FORMAT shows a list of the

decoded frames, including the data and

all flags and identifiers. You can set up

filtering conditions to display only the

frames you are interested in or search for

frames with specified properties.

The statistics option reveals more detail

about the physical layer such as frame

times and voltage levels. PicoScope 6 can

also import a spreadsheet to decode the

data into user-defined text strings.