Made for software engineers with sufficient performance, optimized for use with development boards like Raspberry PI and a user interface that feels familiar for software developers. That's the new SmartScope from Labnation.
A small USB-powered instrument with oscillscope, logic analyzer and signal generator that is connected to the smart phone, tablet, or computer, and costs around 200€.
"We saw the need for three years ago, software developers know what they want to see, but do not know how to use an oscilloscope, says Riemer Grootjans as technology manager at Belgian Labnation."
He is referring to cards like Raspberry Pi and Arduino that really do not require any hardware knowledge. As more and more daughter cards are available, many also want to create completely custom hardware extensions. That is when the need to troubleshoot systems arise.
With a successful 3D cameras background the step to develop a scope was not far. "In addition to make a low-cost product we wanted to creat a user interface that makes sense for software developers."
In contrast to most other scopes, the SmartScope does not have any buttons nor knobs. Everything is controlled from the screen of your smartphone, tablet or computer. You can also use a mouse or a keyboard too if needed.
The SmartScope works fine with all types of operating systems like Android, OS X, iOS, Windows 7, 8, 10 as well as Linux Ubuntu and Debian. Moreover the software is open source, this invites users to contribute with various applications that make the instrument even more useful.
SmartScope comes complete with two oscilliscope- and eight logic-probes. Morover it has a synchronization input which allows you to connect two instruments together and double the number of channels.
Sampling is done with 8-bits and 100MHz which provides an analog bandwidth of 30MHz. The inputs can withstands ± 35V and the memory is at 1M Sample.
The Logic analyzer has two channels and can be set at two levels: 3.3 or 5V. It's capable to decode both I2C and SPI protocols.
The waveform generator can generate signals up to 50 MS/s with levels from 0 to 3.3V. In addition, there are four digital outputs that can generate signals up to 100MS/s at either 3.3 or 5V.
The SmartScope fits smoothly in your pocket and weighs no more than 158g. Power consumption is on avarage 0.6W, which means that your iPad mini can power the instrument for about four hours before the battery is drained.
