Applications: Serving Design Engineers

Helping verify embedded microcontroller or FPGA I/O programming

• Quickly see whether pins are set or cleared as expected
• Easily capture and analyze PWM waveforms and duty cycles, always with full sample rate resolution even when zoomed
• See serial I/O messages separated in time by interrupts or software or state machine loops, capturing long time ranges with individual bits always resolved at max sample rate resolution

Helping verify and debug embedded or digital system functions

• Monitor and verify transient events with full sample rate resolution even when separated by long time intervals
• Generate a repeatable or controllable input simulation to test algorithms when an interface is missing or too unpredictable in the real world
• Easily create and automate functional test scripts with data logging or .net remote control
• Add a missing tool (or tools) to your bench with any of seven instrument functions in one small, affordable MicroBench MB-500:



MicroBench MB-500:
a complete digital tool set

• Live Logic, the all new quickest and easiest way ever to browse active logic signals with an oscilloscope-like logic display maintaining full 2ns resolution (500MS/s capture) even when long time intervals separate events
• Voltmeter (inside Live Logic through the same probes)
• Logic Analyzer
• Logic Source pattern generator
• Arbitrary waveform generator
• Power supply
• Protocol test with SPI and I2C source and trace
• Go greener, reducing power consumption and cost with the small, multi-function MicroBench MB-500 replacing several instruments

Example use cases:

Capturing multiple “heartbeat” transactions

“One of the functions my microcontroller performed was to periodically send information to a control panel and receive control messages using a SPI interface. The SPI transaction occurred once each second. Sometimes the returning control message did not make sense given the information that was sent on the prior transaction. What I needed to to is capture both transactions. Watching with an oscilloscope I could get both transactions on the screen, but there wasn't enough time resolution to determine what the 8 bits were. Using the MB-500 Live Logic tool in single mode, I could capture both transitions and maintain 2ns resolution, allowing me to determine the content of the display information and debug my problem.”

Testing brown-out software

“In my battery-powered application, the microcontroller must not cause problems as the battery discharges. Brown-out interrupts allow my software to avoid sending corrupt data when the voltage level becomes too low for reliable operation. To test these software routines as the battery discharges is impractical — the discharge cycle for most batteries is too long. With the MB-500 Waveform Source, I can simulate the battery discharge cycle over minutes or seconds. This allows repeatable testing of the brown-out software routines.”

Catching PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) problems in closed loop systems

“In my robotics application, I have an optical sensor that determines the direction of travel. The microcontroller converts the analog signal to a digital value, and a feedback routine adjusts the microcontroller's PWM output, changing the voltage driving the wheels and correcting for the error. Under some conditions, however, the PWM duration reaches 100%, and the loop is no longer closed. Using the MB-500 Logic Analyzer duration triggers, I can capture the microcontroller status outputs when the PWM approaches 100% and determine what was going on just before the loop opens up.”