This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of oscilloscopes and their use in troubleshooting and testing electronic circuits. Topics covered include the basic operation of an oscilloscope, the various types of oscilloscopes, the use of probes and other accessories, and the interpretation of waveforms.
An oscilloscope is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying voltages of one or more signals as a function of time. Their main purpose is capturing information on electrical signals for debugging, analysis, or characterization. The displayed waveform can then be analyzed for properties such as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval, distortion, and others. Originally, calculation of these values required manually measuring the waveform against the scales built into the screen of the instrument. Modern digital instruments may calculate and display these properties directly.