PicoScope is computer software for real-time signal acquisition of Pico Technology oscilloscopes. PicoScope is supported on Microsoft Windows,

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

, Debian and

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...

platforms.A USB scope for Linux fans
EDN Magazine, Christoph Hammerschmidt -February 19, 2014 PicoScope is primarily used to view and analyze real-time signals from PicoScope oscilloscopes and data loggers. PicoScope software enables analysis using FFT, a

spectrum analyser A spectrum analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals. The input signal that most co ...

, voltage-based triggers, and the ability to save/load waveforms to disk. PicoScope is compatible with parallel port oscilloscopes and the newer USB oscilloscopes. The software has been described as "very good for laptops" and can be used with desktop or laptop PCs. The Linux version has been described as "lightyears ahead fQpicoscope and other attempts at Linux scope software" and "well capable of replacing a professional benchtop scope". Beta versions of the software also work on the ARM-based

BeagleBone Black The BeagleBoard is a low-power open-source single-board computer produced by Texas Instruments in association with Digi-Key and Newark element14. The BeagleBoard was also designed with open source software development in mind, and as a way of de ...

and

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...

development hardware. PicoScope software requires a USB or LPT oscilloscope from the PicoScope range developed by Pico Technology. Such oscilloscopes are available with bandwidths up to 1 GHz, up to four input channels, hardware vertical resolutions up to 16 bits,

sampling rate In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous-time signal to a discrete-time signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of "samples". A sample is a value of the signal at a point in time and/or s ...

s up to 5 GS/s, buffer sizes up to 2 GS, and built-in signal generators. Other features available on some models include flexible hardware resolution, switchable bandwidth limiters, switchable high-impedance and 50 ohm inputs, and differential inputs. PicoScope for Linux won the ''EDN Hot 100 Products of 2014'' award, under the Test & Measurement category, for "converting a Linux PC into an oscilloscope, FFT spectrum analyser and measuring device".

Features

Windows

PicoScope for Microsoft Windows is the full-featured oscilloscope application, and was first released in 1992 by Pico Technology. PicoScope software enables real-time scope display with zooming and panning, and buffers captured waveforms on the PC to enable engineers to view previous measurements. PicoScope uses configurable triggers, which are available for digital and analog waveforms. Triggers include pulse width, interval, window, window pulse width, level dropout, window dropout, runt pulse, variable hysteresis, and logic. Mixed signal variants combine digitised analogue triggers with edge and pattern triggering on the digital inputs. Screen size and resolution are unrestricted, and depend on the PC connected. For developers that require integration, PicoScope includes a free

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...

(SDK) with that can be programmed from C#,

VB.NET Visual Basic, originally called Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on .NET, Mono, and the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visua ...

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Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for App ...

LabVIEW Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. The graphical language is named "G"; not to be confused with G-c ...

MATLAB MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementa ...

. ;Supported features *Scope, XY, spectrum and persistence views *Advanced digital, analog and mixed-signal triggers *Automated measurements *Signal generator with AWG editor *Serial decoding for 70+ serial standards including

I2C I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

, SPI,

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, CAN,

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, FlexRay,

RapidIO The RapidIO architecture is a high-performance packet-switched electrical connection technology. RapidIO supports messaging, read/write and cache coherency semantics. Based on industry-standard electrical specifications such as those for Ether ...

, PCI Express and Serial ATA. *Resolution enhancement *Segmented waveform buffer *Zoom and pan *Signal, time and phase rulers *Support for all USB & LPT PicoScope devices *Runs on Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8

Linux

PicoScope 6 converts a Linux PC into an oscilloscope, FFT

and measuring device. While only the most important features from PicoScope for Windows are included, Pico Technology assures that more functions will be added over time.Latest News
Pico Tech On-device buffering ensures that the display is updated frequently and smoothly enough even on long timebases. Users can save waveform captures for off-line analysis, share them with other PicoScope users on Windows or Linux platforms, or export them in various formats including text, CSV and

Mathworks MathWorks is an American privately held corporation that specializes in mathematical computing software. Its major products include MATLAB and Simulink, which support data analysis and simulation. History The company's key product, MATLAB, was ...

4 formats. PicoScope for Linux is supported on Debian 7.0,

12.xx and 13.xx as well as other Debian-based distributions with the Mono Runtime 2.10.81 installed. Drivers are available for current scopes from the PicoScope 2000 to 6000 series. ;Supported features *Scope, XY, spectrum and persistence views *Advanced digital triggers *Automated measurements *Signal generator with AWG editor *Resolution enhancement *Segmented waveform buffer *Zoom and pan *Signal, time and phase rulers *Support for all USB PicoScope devices *Runs on Debian 7.0, Ubuntu 12.xx, Ubuntu 13.xx

OS X

PicoScope for

includes the essential features, while advanced features are still being developed.PicoScope for Mac
Pico Tech ;Supported features *Scope, XY, spectrum and persistence views *Advanced digital triggers *Automated measurements *Signal generator with AWG editor *Resolution enhancement *Segmented waveform buffer *Zoom and pan *Signal, time and phase rulers *Support for all USB PicoScope devices *Runs on OS X 10.9 and 10.10

References

{{Oscilloscopes Science software

Features

Windows

Linux

OS X

See also

References