How to use the advanced formula operations for a DS4000, DS2000 or DS6000 series oscilloscope.

New DS1000Z series offers more in X-Y mode:

In this mode, the Rigol DS1074Z oscilloscope changes 2 of the 4 channels from voltage-time display mode to voltage-voltage display mode. The phase deviation between two signals with the same frequency can be easily measured via Lissajous method. The figure below shows the measurement schematic diagram of the phase deviation.

To access the Lissajou mode of your oscilloscope press the horizontal menu button, and then change the time scale on the screen to X-Y mode. From here you can choose between CH1-CH2, CH1-CH3, CH1-CH4, CH2-CH3, CH2-CH4 and CH3-CH4 as your inputs.

NOTE: RIGOL’s new DS1000Z-series offers two features in X-Y mode: you can still see a condensed normal signal display (Y-T) at the top margin of the screen and you can also access the Trigger Menu in X-Y mode.

Selecting the correct oscilloscope probe is very important for making quality measurements. If the probe performance is not adequate or if you did not select the proper probe for your application, you will see distorted or misleading signals on your oscilloscope. There are two kinds of probes, passive and active. Active probes requires power while passive probe do not. For general-purpose measurements(<600MHz), passive high-impedance resistor divider probes are good choices in general. For high-frequency applications less than 600 MHz, active probes are the way to go. They cost more than passive probe and their input voltage is limited, but because of their significantly lower capacitive loading, they give you more accurate insight into fast signals. Selecting the right probe is the first step for your application towards correct measurements. Below is the RIGOL scope probe table which can help you to select a proper probe for your application.

Please note…

• You must enter the product key exactly as it appears on the certificate.
• The serial number is made up of capital letters and numbers only – There are no lower case letters and no spaces.
• Please take care when entering the serial number! If you enter an incorrect but valid serial number, the generated software licence code will not be accepted by your instrument.
• You might find that entering the software licence code into your instrument via the front-panel is rather tedious. Please note that it is possible to enter the code remotely from a PC, using the SCPI control panel within Ultra Sigma. Copying the software licence code from the webpage generator to Ultra Sigma reduces the risk of error. For further information, please refer to the Ultra Sigma Help Document and the Programming Guide for your instrument. Both of these documents and the Ultra Sigma software download can be found on the webpage for your instrument, under the ‘DOCUMENTS, SOFTWARE & VIDEOS‘ tab.
• For some models it is possible to download the generated software licence code as a ‘.lic’ file, save it to a USB memory stick, then import it into your Rigol instrument from the USB memory stick. For further information, please refer to the User Guide for your instrument.

Yes, you’re right: a WAIT status message is normal behaviour for the Trigger when the scope is not being given quite the right signal for its trigger to fire:
– You’ll probably remember on all analogue scopes, there are at least two modes: Auto and Normal (sometimes also Single).
– Normal is where the trace waits for each trigger before it starts to trace across the screen (we all remember the blank trace on old fashioned scopes, until you put it on Auto!).
– Same with all digital scopes… and because all channels work off same trigger, you won’t see any channels at all.

All RIGOLs indicate this Normal “untriggered” state by putting up the WAIT announcement. It just means the trigger condition is not being met.

There are three things you can do here:
1) Set your trigger mode to Auto
2) Push the force button, which will invoke just one sweep manually
3) If there is any readable signal, you can also keep it on Normal, and simply adjust the whatever is receiving signal, and then use the trigger threshold knob to ensure the dotted trigger threshold line on the screen is within the signal levels (just make sure the trigger is spy-ing on the right channel though!

The advanced trigger types are best avoided too, as they might add more conditions, so just use Edge to begin with.)

Glad to see you are having fun exploring your scope. Please let our RIGOL-UK team here at Telonic know if this seems right for your set up.

First of all, install and run Ultra Sigma,
– Then make sure you can see your scope (Type shown in the Instruments window of Ultra Sigma)
– AND that the scope response with its serial number to a *IDN? command. (Rt-click on instrument and choose SCPI Panel Control window, then click Send&Receive a *IDN?)

Once this is OK, Change the setting shown as Base to Advanced (U’Sigma setting drop down next to the word Base – then change Base to Advanced)
– Click Options – set Timeout to 12000 (not 2000) and Bytes To Read to 11024 (not 1024).
– Enter in the command line the commands:
i) :WAV:SOUR CHAN1
ii) :WAV:MODE NORM
ii) : WAV:DATA? and click Send&Read after each – a bunch of data should now appear in the window below
– Select the second tab below, called Current Return Value (data window)
– Right-click the data and choose Save Current Data To File-> Save for Byte -> Give your CSV file a name

This CSV file can be opened directly in e.g. Excel, to graph data.

NOTE: This grabs the SCREEN datapoints at the time of executing the :WAV:DATA? query. Works whether scope is running or not!
To grab the MEMORY datapoints (which can be much longer and require different Options settings!!) you must first :STOP the scope and ensure your command is in :WAV:MODE RAW.