Author Topic: eevBLAB #8 - New Tektronix AGO3000 Oscilloscope (Read 34997 times)

EEVblog · « **on:** March 31, 2015, 09:26:03 am »

Dave talks about Tektronix's new unreleased AGO3000 Gravity Compensated Oscilloscope with a high precision TCXO timebase with 2G tip-over gravity compensation.
Datasheet: http://info.tek.com/rs/tektronix/images/AGO3000_Gravity-Compensated-Oscilloscope_DataSheet.pdf
Preliminary product launch page: http://info.tek.com/ago3000-scope.html

leppie · « **Reply #1 on:** March 31, 2015, 09:58:51 am »

Quote from: wilfred on March 31, 2015, 09:54:58 am

I saw no glitches in this video. Fingers crossed, it is fixed.

The video is using the Sony Gravity Compensation post-processing filter to cater for northern hemisphere viewers.

trevwhite · « **Reply #2 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:18:31 am »

What is the Agilent counter you use in the video?

EEVblog · « **Reply #3 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:22:18 am »

Quote from: trevwhite on March 31, 2015, 10:18:31 am

What is the Agilent counter you use in the video?

53131A

German_EE · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:36:18 am »

I have a ten-digit counter in my workshop that has a TXCO, I also have a 10 MHz source that is locked to the 77,5 KHz DCF77 signal. Yes, I have seen variations of +/- 0.5 mHz depending on the orientation of the TXCO but I have also seen variations due to the following:

Ambient temperature
Humidity levels
Mains supply
Time of day
Vibration
Internal equipment fans
Magnetic and RF fields from other equipment

I wonder how the engineers in Tektronix compensate for these other variations, some of which cause 10x as much effect as gravity?

kcs · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:36:50 am »

I got my post deleted without any explanation. Nice!

rolycat · « **Reply #6 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:41:04 am »

Quote from: kcs on March 31, 2015, 10:36:50 am

I got my post deleted without any explanation. Nice!

Did you really need an explanation, given its content?

Subtlety is a good thing.

kcs · « **Reply #7 on:** March 31, 2015, 10:52:20 am »

Quote from: rolycat on March 31, 2015, 10:41:04 am

Did you really need an explanation, given its content?

Actually, yes. "Given its content" here are a few non exhaustive reasons:
- Could be wrong
- #2 not affected
- Inevitable

daqq · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2015, 11:23:20 am »

The next stage is quite obvious: Relativistic effects compensated oscilloscope - you choose your frame of reference, enter your speed, the speed of the measured system, any additional gravitational fields in place and you're in!

DavidDLC · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2015, 12:22:09 pm »

Dave mentioned:

The only difference between the AGO and the MDO is the gravity compensation.

He forgot to mention a maybe huge difference on the price as well

rolycat · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2015, 12:27:07 pm »

Brilliant

Cutting-edge innovation like this is just what Tek needs to recover its market share. I just wish they had added POM compensation as well - a lot of my gear seems to suffer from that dependency.

electr_peter · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2015, 12:42:04 pm »

It will be interesting to see how much range of Tektronix instruments get this upgrade in the future. 4000 series is likely the next candidate.

Noize · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2015, 01:05:07 pm »

How many years will you be able keep doing this? lol

mux · « **Reply #13 on:** March 31, 2015, 01:15:16 pm »

If you really go into the fundamentals, it's possible to make incredibly well-compensated (better than 0.1ppb) MEMS oscillator ICs. I am not sure if they are produced at all outside of research purposes, but I could see devices like that (which have an oscillator which is incredibly closely coupled to a thermal sensing element, gravitational sensing element, feedback loop, etc. etc. all the compensation guts on one IC) eventually being produced for this kind of market. If the frequency stability craze continues a company like Rigol might very well have enough production volume to warrant something custom (but fundamentally cheap) like that.

grumpydoc · « **Reply #14 on:** March 31, 2015, 01:20:33 pm »

It's a bit out of my price league, but do you have to send them the GPS co-ordinates of where it will be used so that they can fine-tune for local gravity variations.

Will this affect the resale value as, obviously, if you move it the compensation will be out!

electr_peter · « **Reply #15 on:** March 31, 2015, 01:30:07 pm »

Quote from: grumpydoc on March 31, 2015, 01:20:33 pm

It's a bit out of my price league, but do you have to send them the GPS co-ordinates of where it will be used so that they can fine-tune for local gravity variations.

Will this affect the resale value as, obviously, if you move it the compensation will be out!

Varying gravity field is taken into account, of course, so it won't affect compensation. Such instruments could be sold and used in any part of the world (with respect to ITAR regulations, etc.) - TekTronix knows what they are doing.

KedasProbe · « **Reply #16 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:02:44 pm »

Quote from: daqq on March 31, 2015, 11:23:20 am

The next stage is quite obvious: Relativistic effects compensated oscilloscope - you choose your frame of reference, enter your speed, the speed of the measured system, any additional gravitational fields in place and you're in!

They will call it the Einstein Scopes

Maybe they should work first on their voltage resolution

arjengerstel · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:04:18 pm »

Sorry Dave, this one is not for you. It works for the Northern Hemisphere only. Using this baby on the Southern Hemisphere will only result in a double error. Maybe next year Tek will issue a probe that compensates?

Fungus · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:15:11 pm »

Quote from: kcs on March 31, 2015, 10:36:50 am

I got my post deleted without any explanation. Nice!

Gee, I wonder why....

Neganur · « **Reply #19 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:25:17 pm »

Some of the top analogue scopes had, in addition to trace rotation adjustment, trace gravitation adjustments. Glad to see DSOs are finally catching up

JoeO · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:51:22 pm »

If only this scope decoded Morse Code, it would be perfect.

Hams are always left out.

Relaxe · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:53:12 pm »

Ok, I totally understand the real intention of this video.
However, about the orientation of that frequency generator... is it a true thing? Or is it... well... a "cunning" subterfuge?

ultranalog · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:54:32 pm »

Of course there will be a real price hike for the AGO upgrade, given that they have to fly to within .1 parsec of a black hole event horizon to calibrate the thing over a useful range of gravity values.

Fungus · « **Reply #23 on:** March 31, 2015, 02:56:17 pm »

Quote from: Relaxe on March 31, 2015, 02:53:12 pm

Ok, I totally understand the real intention of this video.

What do you mean? The datasheet is on the tek.com website...

http://info.tek.com/rs/tektronix/images/AGO3000_Gravity-Compensated-Oscilloscope_DataSheet.pdf

Trey · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2015, 03:17:58 pm »

For applications where the timebase is SO critical, why not just use an external frequency reference (e.g., disciplined rubidium, cesium)? It seems that one might well need precision on the source side and other instruments too.


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Author Topic: eevBLAB #8 - New Tektronix AGO3000 Oscilloscope (Read 34997 times)

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