For those not really familiar with it yet, some key specs (hopefully no typos here...
):
- 100 MHz bandwidth
- 1 Gs/s (single), 0.5 Gs/s (dual) sampling rate
- 2 Analog Channels, 1 Mpoints
- 32 logic channels + 2 clock
- Serial decode I2C, SPI
- 20 MHz function generator (sine, square, triangle, ramp), 14-bits, 125MS/s update
- Multimeter : voltage, current, resistance, diode, etc.
- 3-ch DC power supply: 0-5V @ 1A, 0±25V @ 0.5A
- 8-ch digital IO
- Programmable via C or LabView API
- ~$2500USD
If you Google around, you'll find a tear down somewhere, it's basically based around a Xilinx Zynq if I'm not mistaken. Not top-of-the-line, but good enough for many types of work. The scope portion is quite low-end in fact. The selling point is that most people will be able to use this one instrument to replace everything else on the bench. That's why we acquired it, we had a guy doing embedded FPGA work with a 4-ch Tek scope and a logic analyzer would've come in handy. Rather than spring for a fully loaded logic analyzer, we decided to give this a try, just for fun. (Yes, yes, I know many people would be able to find a decent used MSO for the same cost). However, one compact package replaced the scope, logic analyzer & the power supply. Plus as it turns out, the digital IO lines are coming in handy as well.
The downside is that it doesn't really work unless you hook it up to a computer. The gamble is that everyone has a computer anyways, so it is not considered additional cost. In our case, this was true as the computer was needed for the FPGA work anyways. At most we're looking at an additional monitor.
The install was super-easy, plug in the AC power and then hook up the USB cable to your Windows PC. It doesn't seem to install anything on your PC, rather, it just runs an executable located right on the VirtualBench box itself. This makes it very easy to move around to somebody else's bench. It's quite small, I'd guess it is roughly the size of "The Art of Electronics", just a bit thicker. Oh, and it is super quiet. I think it has a fan in the back, but I don't think it's turned on yet, or it's just a quiet fan. (Let me tell you, his neighbours are very happy he's no longer firing up that massive Tek scope every day).
The user interface was quite intuitive, we had one of our "old guys" put it through its paces and he did not have to refer to the manual at all. This thing makes a good first impression. Every engineer wanted one for themselves! I could see shops were you could easily purchase one per engineer and then cut back on the number of shared, expensive instruments. It's also within reach of a home hobbyist as it is roughly the cost of a high-end computer or good quality racing bicycle or any number of equivalents. It is possibly ideal for many educational institutions as well, you could outfit entire labs with just these things and then have the students bring in their own laptops.
We did try hooking it up to a Windows 8 tablet and that actually worked fine, although the controls weren't quite optimized for a touch screen interface. So tack on a few hundred dollars (we had an old Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet) and you get that screen you needed for this instrument.
Complaints? It relies on having a Windows PC, no Linux, Mac or other alternative OS. Theoretically it is accessible via WiFi, but for some reason, you need an app, which is limited to iOS only at the current time. Realistically iPad as I can't imagine anyone trying to work the controls on a smaller device.
It does look nice & clean to have one AC power cord running into the thing, but if it ran off DC (e.g. like a laptop) that would provide way more flexibility as we could easily shove this thing somewhere with a large battery and along with an iPad, I could have it run completely unwired. By the way, the WiFi seems to have unexpectedly decent range. We left it on someone's desk and by chance we happened to be scanning around for WiFi in the lunch room and we could still see this thing through a couple of walls and past many rows of cubicles.
Also, what are the alternatives? Having a bench full of separate instruments may take up more space, but some people would find it easier to use a real knob than twiddling something on the screen with a mouse. Additionally having separate instruments increases flexibility (e.g. it is not possible for someone to "borrow" just the power supply on VirtualBench). And if/when something breaks, your entire bench full of instruments is gone while it's in for repairs.
I'm one of those who prefer separate instruments, but for my own home use, I could see myself considering this. I don't have a large home, space is very much a premium and the small size and low noise are by themselves huge benefits in this case. Yes, I am aware that you could probably get a bench full of separate instruments for same or less cost and maybe even better performance. I did try to spec that out myself, just for fun, and it is fairly easy.
However, in some parts of the world, this is not a good option. (Just to give you an example, my current abode runs ~$1000USD/sq.ft. so if you look at it that way, by not having another instrument saves me a ton of money. Yah, yah, sure you could stack things to some degree but if this thing does the job....add to that the slick design and low noise factor would keep me in the good graces of my other half.)
I am not sure I see it really making a huge dent in the "pro" market, mainly because most engineers can just ask for more space and most of the bean counters are familiar with the cost of test instruments so it is not hard to ask for better, separate tools. But it is a nice toy and there are certainly cases where the specs are more than enough.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
