High Performance Logic Analyzer Module from Tektronix

“Digital developers continue to build systems that manage and process greater amounts of data,” said Steve Witt, vice president, Logic Analyzer Product Line, Tektronix. “To debug and validate these systems, digital developers look to logic analyzers to provide capabilities not found on any other tool. The new TLABC4 module advances the state-of-the-art in logic analysis.”

The high performance of new and recent modules is partially due to enhancements in the patented MagniVu technology. The sampling resolution of 20 ps in the TLA7BBx and TLA7BC4 modules represents a 6x improvement in timing resolution over previous generation Tektronix logic analyzers and is 12 times better than any other logic analyzer on the market. This ultra-high timing resolution allows designers to both troubleshoot difficult problems and verify tight timing margins across hundreds of channels.

The TLA7BC4 and TLA7BBx modules extend the performance of iCapture by 50% to 3 GHz. iCapture enables the use of an external oscilloscope to view the analog features of a signal using a single probing configuration for both the logic analyzer and oscilloscope saving time and minimizing setup complexity – a capability unmatched by any other logic analyzer vendor.

In addition to being invaluable in the debug and validation process, many engineering characterization teams have found it ideal to build test platforms around the combination of high-density DMax probes and iCapture to selectively route analog signals of choice to other test equipment. In some cases, users have reported a 60 times throughput improvement over previous RF switch-based solutions.

The company also announced the new TLA7ACx modules which offer 2 Mb of standard record length – a 16x increase over the prior TLA7Axx modules and 8 times that offered by competitive products. With today’s high-speed buses and complex challenges, a minimum of 2 Mb of record length is needed to effectively debug problems where the root cause and symptom are widely separated in time. All Tektronix logic analyzers, from the entry-level TLA5000B products to the industry’s highest-performance TLA7BC4, offer 2 Mb of memory standard. Tektronix announced that it is removing the TLA7AAx and TLA7ABx modules from the product list and replacing those with the new TLA7ACx modules.

The TLA7ACx modules are offered in configurations of 68, 102, and 136 channels with state speed starting at 235 MHz that can optionally be increased to 450MHz. Record length starts at 2Mb and can be increased to 8 Mb, 32 Mb, or 128Mb.