Jitter measurement is a hot topic right now, and it will become even more important. Oscilloscope performance in making jitter measurement depends heavily upon both the stability of its time base and the accuracy of the inputs. Not only will the performance of the oscilloscope be enhanced with regard to jitter, so will the ancillary jitter packages.
Logic and prototype analyzers are becoming a must for engineers in many sophisticated design situations, particularly in the telecommunications and wireless sectors. Consequently, T&M manufacturers will accelerate a trend already launched, which is to bring these additional capabilities to traditional oscilloscopes.
The mixed-signal capability of oscilloscopes will increase. The state-of-the-art in mixed-signal oscilloscopes is now two analog channels and 16 digital timing channels that enable timing-analyzer functionality. Expect to see the number of analog channels and digital-timing channels increase.
The demand for deep-memory oscilloscopes will become more widespread because of the need to capture longer intervals of time at a fast sample rate. Looking at it the other way around, with a given time window of interest, designers must capture signals at the maximum sample rate possible. Sample rates now are in the 1- to 8-Gsample/s range and will soon head higher.
Because it's essential to access the signals without disturbing the system, use of active probes will increase, not only in gigahertz-class oscilloscopes but also in 500-MHz oscilloscopes. By putting an amplifier out at the probe tip, loading is diminished, which means far less intrusive probing is realized.
As we become more familiar with the programs and tools of the PC, it's natural that oscilloscopes will either be bundled with PCs or will at least save data in compatible analysis programs that can be easily fed to a nearby PC. In many cases, users can already directly connect their oscilloscope to their PC, so transfers occur transparently.
Sampling rates are now in the neighborhood of 20 Gsamples/s on one channel. Coming soon will be higher sampling rates and multiple channels.
See associated timeline.