Introducing the 2 Series MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope)

Tektronix’ 2 Series MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope) is the industry’s most compact and versatile bench oscilloscope, featuring a modern design, intuitive user interface, advanced debugging capabilities, bandwidth up to 500 MHz, and a battery-powered option. This is the first benchtop scope that goes wherever it’s needed, from lab to field, without sacrificing functionality.

  

Innovative Solutions for Engineers

What does real innovation in an oscilloscope look like? For us at Tektronix it looks like building relationships with our customers, asking a lot of questions, and listening to discover what barriers were previously standing in their way. Ultimately, it’s providing solutions our customers truly want and need to continue pushing the limits and boundaries of what the future of innovation will be.

In developing the new 2 Series MSO over the past three years, we partnered with more than 100 customers at 40 organizations across various industries. Taking a customer-centered approach to developing this new scope unlocked key insights and led us to identify the big problem we could solve for them: engineers wanted to be able to test and measure whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted without the need to choose between performance and portability.

 

Top Pain Points of Today’s Oscilloscope Engineer

Our extensive conversations with customers uncovered several unaddressed pain points in test and measurement that led us to this innovation:

• Engineers need to test and measure both in the lab AND in the field, which typically requires using at least two different scopes. The 2 Series MSO was designed to be lightweight and portable, so it can be used anywhere without sacrificing functionality.
• Students and new engineers told us that it can be intimidating to learn and use traditional oscilloscopes because of the number of buttons and knobs. A high-resolution touch-screen display was much more approachable for the new engineer, but the tactile reinforcement of pressing a button or turning a knob to get a precise measurement was still needed. The 2 Series MSO combines the touch-screen display with a few critical knobs and buttons making it easy-to-use and accurate.
• A critical pain point expressed was that an oscilloscope’s user interface (UI) can change significantly from one scope to the next, requiring customers to relearn how to use each instrument. With the 2 Series MSO, an engineer only has to learn the UI once because we use the same UI across our 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 series oscilloscopes.
• Our conversations revealed that not all engineers power their oscilloscopes using batteries, but having battery power is crucial when out in the field. That led us to designing a detachable external battery pack that customers could use only as needed, while keeping the scope’s slim profile.

 

Setting a New Standard with Several Industry Firsts

We designed the new 2 Series MSO to meet the needs of engineers like no other instrument on the market can, resulting in a numerous industry firsts:

• This is the industry’s first entry-level oscilloscope to fit into a backpack, at just 1.5 inches thick and weighing in at less than 4 pounds.
• It’s the first to feature a high resolution 10.1 inch touch-screen display along with its sleek, modern design.
• It’s the only benchtop oscilloscope that can be battery-powered with its detachable battery pack option.
• It's the only entry-level oscilloscope with a common user interface across platforms ensuring integration across the bench and workflows, because we use the same user interface across our 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 series oscilloscopes.
• With bandwidth up to 500 MHz, the 2 Series MSO offers the widest bandwidth in the category.

For detailed product information and to learn how the 2 Series MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope) could benefit you and your work.