Also on the back are a mini- and a micro-USB connector. The mini-USB is for connecting to a tablet, smartphone or computer the micro-USB is used to connect an external power supply. The printed circuit board contains a powerful Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA, which takes care of the main tasks (such as processing the received measurement data and creating the AWG signal). The conversion of the input signals is taken care of by an A/D converter with 100 Msamples/channel and a resolution of 8 bits. A RAM chip provides a buffer capacity of 4 Msamples/ channel. A PIC controller takes care of the communications with the computer via de USB connection. There are several relays and opamps at the inputs for the range and AC/DC selections. The bandwidth of the analog input section is 45 MHz. This is quite large compared to the sample frequency of 100 Msamples/s. This was done on purpose in order to minimize the attenuation of the input signals as much as possible. The usable input range is up to about 10 to 20 MHz (which is also stated by LabNation). One of the most important goals that the developers had in mind was that the software should run under almost any operating system, with an identical user interface. It can therefore run on a standard PC or a laptop, but also on a tablet or a smartphone. The contents of the hardware buffer can be shown at the top of the display, from where you can select a section and zoom in on it. The developers also felt that the controls on most USB scopes were somewhat limiting. The user interface is usually some sort of copy of that found on hardware scopes, which has been in existence since the fifties. The whole control panel including the knobs is often simulated on the screen, or pull-down menus are used for all kinds of settings. This was thought to be a bit out of date, and found not to be very intuitive. The software for the SmartScope had to be different and should make use of modern interfaces such as touchscreens. The result is a control surface that reminds you of your first experience with a tablet or smartphone: it is a bit strange to start with, but it soon feels right.
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