Whether you are innova diagnostic on a new consumer electronics product or a sophisticated piece of test equipment, the design, verification, and debugging process requires an oscilloscope to analyze the many electrical signals that make it come alive. These signals contain information about how the device is functioning – or not. What you can measure from these signals is what we refer to as the signal shape, or more generally speaking, the waveform of the signal, or how it is varying with time.

Understanding Oscilloscope Measurements: What Does an Oscilloscope Measure

You can view and measure DC or AC voltages up to the scope’s BW using its standard voltage vs time mode of operation. You can also view current values by connecting a low value current shunt resistor to the scope’s “low” channel and use Ohm’s law and its scale multiplier setting to determine its measured value. Many modern digital storage oscilloscopes have a measurement menu that directly displays these values rather than forcing you to count vertical divisions (also known as graticules).

When observing periodic signals, you can measure how much the frequency of the signal is changing with time by viewing its amplitude vs frequency representation. You can also enclose parts of the signal within a set of gates that you control from the gate tab in the measurement setup window.

There are other measurements that can be made with your oscilloscope such as a current or capacitance, but these require special probes and additional setup steps. Long wires, even those that are shielded, can have intrinsic inductance and capacitance that will affect your scope’s readings unless you use a special type of active probe.