What are Oscilloscopes? When Do You Need Them?

New technology isn’t always the easiest to understand. Unfortunately, neither is old technology. While we struggle to understand technological advancements, we often forget about the technological obsolescence that was yesteryear’s advancement. When it comes to the oscilloscope, both of these phenomena can cause quite a bit of frustration.

What is an Oscilloscope?

In general terms, an oscilloscope is a device that allows you to measure a variety of functions of a circuit board. Because of the high level of diversity from one oscilloscope to another, that’s really the best general definition that one can give.

A more specific definition that is accurate most of the time but not all of the time is that oscilloscopes are devices capable of measuring the voltage, amplitude, and frequency of a circuit while providing you with a visual means of monitoring said circuit.

A common analogy is that an oscilloscope is to an engineer what a stethoscope is to a doctor. While the doctor uses the stethoscope to monitor the health of their patients, the engineer uses the oscilloscope to monitor the “health” of their circuits.

When Were Oscilloscopes Invented?

What a loaded question! Throughout the history of this technology, there have been countless new versions and variations on the style, design, and of course the function of the machine. However, the oscilloscope’s history can officially be drawn back all the way to 1897.

Inventor Karl Ferdinand Braun created the first oscilloscope (known then as a cathode-ray oscilloscope) with the goal of creating a device capable of providing a visual representation of the voltage of a separate device’s circuits.

Nowadays, the majority of oscilloscopes are entirely digital, with no physical body whatsoever aside from a USB drive used to download the software. This advancement has made obtaining a high-quality oscilloscope much easier than ever before, further enhancing the efficiency of many electronics labs and hobbyists the world over.

What Do Oscilloscopes Do?

The function of an oscilloscope, as we’ve said earlier, is to provide a visual representation of the voltage (among other things) of a circuit. In the old days, oscilloscopes would be set up next to the circuit that was to be tested. Then they would be connected through a series of cables in order to allow the oscilloscope’s measurement devices to detect the circuit’s functions.

Modern oscilloscopes do the same thing, but with countless additional benefits. Those additional benefits include analyzing any of the circuit’s operating properties, harmonics, transformers, transistors, and more.

In the words of Mark Gordon, CEO of Circuit Specialists, “Today’s oscilloscopes can be compared to the original oscilloscope in the same way that today’s smartphones can be compared to the original telephone.” Whereas the one can do everything under the Sun, the other had only one singular function.

How Do You Use an Oscilloscope?

Fortunately for the electrical engineers of today, using an oscilloscope has become far easier over the past twelve decades.

It all starts with accessing the software. Once you’ve got the oscilloscope up and running, make sure that it is connected to and receiving information from the circuit that you wish to test. From there, you should begin to see the standard metrics begin to appear on screen, depending on your oscilloscope’s settings.

After setting that up, there are a wide variety of functions that you can initiate in order to customize your readings. Depending on the oscilloscope that you’re using, you could have anywhere from a dozen to 30 or more knobs, buttons, and triggers to be used for controlling the readings.

Are There Any Substitutes for Oscilloscopes?

Yes and no.

Unfortunately, there’s just nothing that does exactly what an oscilloscope does. To continue with the smartphone-telephone analogy, there’s not really anything that can function as a reliable substitute for the smartphone. The oscilloscope functions in a similar manner.

That said, there are countless different types of oscilloscopes from which to choose. Depending on your goals and what readings you’re trying to take, you might choose an analog oscilloscope or a digital phosphor oscilloscope.

Within each overall category, there are even more subcategories from which to choose. Whereas the overall category is dependent more on the specialization of the oscilloscope, the subcategories seem to depend more so on the oscilloscope’s brand and design than on its actual functions or purpose.

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