
It uses the principle of sampling to measure analog signals. A DC signal is a signal whose voltage or current is constant in polarity.Ī digital oscilloscope is an instrument that digitizes and displays a waveform on the screen.

An AC signal is a signal whose voltage or current is subject to frequent and repeated reversals in polarity.The waveform displayed on the screen can be either an AC (alternating current) signal or a pulsed DC (direct current) signal. It can be thought of as how far along in its cycle the waveform is.Īn analog oscilloscope is a measuring instrument used to display time-varying analog signals as waveforms on the screen. Phase: Phase is how much "behind" or "ahead" of time a waveform is compared to another waveform with the same frequency and magnitude. If you multiply each frequency by its corresponding normalized amplitude measurement, you can use frequency as an independent variable. For example, if we have two sine waves with different frequencies but equal amplitudes, they would be indistinguishable on an oscilloscope unless we normalized their amplitudes first. If we divide each voltage measurement by the amplitude of the signal, then we can use voltage as an independent variable.įrequency: The angular frequency of a waveform is the number of radians per second that it oscillates through, and it can be measured in hertz (cycles per second).

For example, if we had two sine waves with different amplitudes but equal frequencies, they would be indistinguishable on an oscilloscope unless we normalized their amplitudes first. Magnitude: The voltage of an AC sine wave is proportional to both its peak-to-peak value as well as its average value. It can also be used to sweep the frequency over a given rangeĪnalog signals contain three types of information:
SIGNAL DEFINITION GENERATOR

The input signal from a circuit being tested is sent from an input channel to the "horizontal" input on the scope, and then displayed as a waveform on the screen.
