Experiment 01

Introduction to Instruments

(Digital Oscilloscope and Digital Function Generator)

OBJECTIVES

 Basic understanding of creating arbitrary waveforms using function generator.

 Basic understanding of viewing a time varying voltage waveform on digital oscilloscope
and understanding various control knobs of digital oscilloscope.

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

 Digital Function Generator
 Digital Oscilloscope with Probes.

Theory:

Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope is a graph displaying device. It is used to visualize time-varying electronic signals
on a screen. The signals are graphed using an analog circuitry or a digital apparatus.

Analog Oscilloscope:

It works on the functionality of Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). A beam of electrons is made to fall on
a screen where it becomes visible as a bright blue dot. The beam is then moved along a
horizontal line using a saw-tooth voltage applied along the horizontal axis. The fast moving dot
gives the appearance of a blue line. Then the signal to be graphed on the screen is applied
vertically so that the beam of electrons moves in a vertical access accordingly. The result is a
plot of the time varying applied signal on the oscilloscope screen.

Digital Oscilloscope:

It works on the functionality of Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter. The applied input analog
signal is sampled at a high rate, the received samples are then plotted on the screen.

Digital Oscilloscopes have some obvious benefits over analog counterparts. The advent in
digital circuitry has made the oscilloscopes cheaper. Moreover the sampled signal in a digital
oscilloscope can be stored in memory, can be easily modified or transferred to a computer for
further analysis. In this lab we shall conduct all experiments using digital oscilloscopes.

Important Features of Oscilloscope:

Auto –Scale Feature:

Input a Signal:

Using the Run Control Buttons:

Horizontal Scale:

Triggering:

The oscilloscope provides these trigger modes:

 Edge — can be used with analog and digital circuits. An edge trigger occurs when the
trigger input passes through a specified voltage level with the specified slope.
 Pulse — is used to find pulses with certain widths.
 Video — is used to trigger on fields or lines for standard video waveforms.

Vertical Controls

Function Generator
A function generator is a device to generate arbitrary time varying waveforms. It is used for
testing and designing circuits in a lab environment. It is used with Oscilloscope in order to see
the resultant wave.
 OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS
Task 1:-

Procedure:

 Turn on Oscilloscope and Function generator.

 Note down the values of Channel 1 status and Time base status on the oscilloscope
screen. Write them down in the table.
 Generate a sinusoidal wave of 2 KHZ and 5Vp-p. Connect the signal using probes to the
oscilloscope. Press Auto Scale.
 Press channel (1) button, make sure from the menu that coupling is DC, bandwidth limit
is off and probe is set at (1X).
 Play with the horizontal and vertical position and scale knobs and try to understand
their effect. Finally auto-scale again.
 Note down the new values of Channel 1 Status and Time base Status. Interpret the
graph displayed using these values.
 Change the offset to -1V then 1.5V then 2V then. Observe the change in waveform.
Change the vertical scale i.e. the whole waveform is again at the centre of screen. Note
down the new values of Channel 1 Status and Time base Status.
 Press “measure” button, press “Voltage” and then press soft keys to determine values
of Vpp, Vrms, Vmin and Vmax. Similarly press “Time” and determine the values of
frequency, period etc. Fill the table.
 Change the coupling to AC. What do you observe?

Observations:

We observe that by playing with the horizontal knob time delay is

increased/decreased w.r.t direction in which we move it. Similarly by playing with
vertical knob POS changes

CH-1 status Time Base CH-1 Time Base

Status status(after Status(after
offset) offset)
2V 500 μs 1V 200 μS
 Voltage Vpp= 5.04V, Vrms= 1.79V, Vmin=-2.519V, Vmax=2.561V
Measurements

Time f=2kHz, Period= 498μs, Rise Time=145μs, Fall Time= 150μs

Measurements

Task-2:-
Procedure:

 Generate a square wave pulse between 0-5V. Let the frequency be 4KHZ. What is the
time period ?
 Change the duty cycle to 25%.
 What is the value of time base status? For how much timethe waveform is +5Volts (0n
time). For how much time the waveform is 0Volts (Off-time). Find the ratio of On-time
and the time period of the square wave.
 To measure the time (off or on) note down the time base status. It represents how
much time one division (box) on the horizontal axis represents. Using this information
calculate the time i.e. divisions for which the wave is +5V and for which it is 0volts.
 Another method is to press “measure” button of oscilloscope. Press “Time” (press soft
key again to view next set of measurements) and note down the value of “+width” (on-
time) and “-width” (off-time).
 Change the duty cycle to 70% and repeat the experiment.

Observations:

We observe that by varying the duty cycle we see that the on and off time of
wave is affected. The percentage of duty cycle means for how much percent of
the time period will the signal will be in on state. Varying duty cycle yields
different on and off times
Time Period Duty Cycle Time Base On-Time Off-Time Ratio
Status
250 μs 25% 100 μs 63 μs 187 μs 0.252

250 μs 70% 100 μs 175 μs 75 μs 0.7

Task-3:-

Procedure:

 Generate a Sine wave of 1 KHz (note down its value in radians/sec using w = 2πf), 10Vp-p.
 Press “Ref” and press “save” to save this waveform as reference.
 Now change the horizontal position knob, the reference wave remains static but the live
voltage waveform will change position. On lower left corner of the screen the time delay
will be displayed.
 Delay the wave using horizontal position knob until the live waveform is at 180 degrees
out of phase with the reference (π radians). 180 degrees means the wave becomes
exactly the inverted version of the reference waveform. Note the numerical value of the
time delay.
 Change the frequency to 3 KHz and 3.5 KHz and repeat the experiment. Fill the table.

Observations:

We observe that for each varying delay in waves of different frequency the time
delay is nearly the same
Frequency f (kHz) Frequency w(rad/sec) Time delay t(msec) w*t
1 6.28 x 10³ 490 μs 3.077
3 18.84 x 10³ 468 μs 3.165
3.5 22 x 10³ 424 μs 9.32
Section -3 (Post Lab Discussion)
 What is meant by offset?
A DC Offset is an amount by which the average value of the periodic function is not
centered around the x-axis.

 What is meant by duty cycle?

Duty cycle is the proportion of time during which a component, device, or system is
operated

 What is the relationship of phase shift, frequency and time?

Angular frequency “ω” is a scalar measure of rotation rate. It refers to the angular
displacement per unit time or the rate of change of the phase of a sinusoidal waveform.
ω=2πf
ω x t gives phase shift

 What is meant by DC and AC coupling?

AC coupling is useful because the DC component of a signal acts as a voltage offset, and
removing it from the signal can increase the resolution of signal measurements. AC coupling
is also known as capacitive coupling. DC coupling allows both AC and DC signals to pass
through a connection.

Conclusion:
The given experiment has been carried out and the observed measurements have been noted.