The MDO4000 mixed-signal oscilloscope's unique time-correlated span analysis capability provides a powerful tool for the development and debugging of IoT devices, such as RFID. Using the MDO4000, one can easily measure analog waveforms, spectral characteristics, and various frequency domain parameters. Furthermore, by using modulation domain traces such as AvsT, FvsT, and ΦvsT, it's easy to verify whether products comply with international and industry standards. More importantly, by correlating analog, digital, and bus signals with RF signals in time, we can verify the actual operation of the system through these signal timing relationships and identify the causes of faults through analysis of bus signals and register data. Currently, the MDO4000 is the only test instrument on the market that provides this functionality. We hope that the MDO4000 will accelerate the design of IoT products and contribute to the development of the entire industry.
With the development of modern sensor and wireless communication technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) has begun to permeate people's daily lives. IoT applications, represented by technologies such as RFID, ZigBee, and NFC near-field communication, are becoming a focus of research and innovation for many enterprises and universities. Although semiconductor manufacturers offer various dedicated chips and even highly integrated solutions for these technologies, engineers still face many challenges when designing a practical IoT device. One of the most important factors is how to measure the time-dependent time-domain and frequency-domain signals in the system. While the RF signals used in RFID and ZigBee technologies are not particularly complex, their quality, power, and timing relationships determine whether the system can function properly. These RF parameters are not only related to the RF transmitting/receiving circuits but are also affected by the baseband and control circuits. The reading and writing of internal registers, power supply conditions, and even the magnitude of system delay all determine the overall system's operating state. Traditional oscilloscopes or spectrum analyzers cannot perform this comprehensive debugging of time-dependent time-domain and frequency-domain signals.
The Tektronix MDO4000 series mixed-domain oscilloscopes offer a unique and innovative tool for debugging cross-domain time-frequency dependent systems. The MDO4000 adds a 3GHz or 6GHz spectrum analyzer to a full-featured mixed-signal oscilloscope, enabling it to perform various frequency domain measurements typical of spectrum analyzers. The completely independent oscilloscope time-domain acquisition system and spectrum analyzer frequency-domain acquisition system can operate independently or in tandem via triggering. By shifting the spectrum time, users can observe the spectrum of the RF signal at any point in the RF channel within the time window acquired by the oscilloscope. The MDO also provides modulation domain analysis capabilities for the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the RF signal relative to time. These unique features help users measure various modulation information of RF signals. A common problem faced by engineers using spectrum analyzers is accurately triggering and capturing the RF signal of interest. Due to the limited triggering capabilities of traditional spectrum analyzers, this is difficult for users to achieve. The MDO4000 can be triggered not only by various characteristics of RF signals, but also by using the triggering system of an oscilloscope to complete the triggering acquisition of RF signals through baseband or control signals. This function greatly reduces the difficulty of modulating IoT devices.
One significant challenge engineers face when debugging RFID systems is measuring the tag return signal. Because the tag return signal has a very small amplitude, it's often difficult to capture using a standard oscilloscope, let alone analyze its amplitude and frequency. This is primarily because ordinary oscilloscopes have a dynamic range of only 40dB, which is insufficient to capture the weak tag signal. The MDO4000, with its 60dB dynamic range and noise floor as low as -152dB/Hz, is well-suited for simultaneously capturing both reader and tag signals. Its unique AvsT RF signal amplitude time-domain waveform function can even display the process of tag signal amplitude changes.
