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4.7
Analyzing a Differential
Communication Signal
You are having intermittent problems with a serial data communication
link and suspect poor signal quality. Set up the oscilloscope to show a
snapshot of the serial data stream so you can verify the signal levels and
transition times.
Because this is a differential signal, you can use the math function of the
oscilloscope to view a better representation of the waveform.
To activate the differential signals connected to channel 1 and channel 2,
follow these steps:
1.
Press the CH 1 button and set the Probe option
attenuation to 10X.
2.
Press the CH 2 button and set the Probe option
attenuation to 10X.
3.
Set the switches to 10X on the probes.
4.
Press the AUTO button.
2.
Press the “MATH” button to see the Math Menu.
3.
Press the “Operation” option button and select “ – ”.
4.
Press the “CH1– CH2” option button to display a new
waveform that is the difference between the displayed
waveforms.
5.
You can adjust the vertical scale and position of the
Math waveform. To do so, follow these steps:
i.
Remove the channel 1 and channel 2
waveforms from the display.
ii.
Turn the CH 1 and CH 2 VOLTS/DIV and
VERTICAL POSITION knobs to adjust the vertical
scale and position.
NOTE:
First be sure to compensate both probes. Differences in
probe compensation appear as errors in the differential signal.