After six years of analysis and improvement, EEVenger’s premiere open supply {hardware} challenge, ThunderScope, is now accessible for pre-order on Crowd Provide. Three years in the past, the challenge’s chief, Aleksa Bjelogrlic, previewed the four-channel 350 MHz oscilloscope that samples at 1 GSa/s. Its marquee characteristic is that it streams the acquisition knowledge on the full pattern fee to a PC over Thunderbolt (USB 4) and prices lower than $1,000, making it an open, highly effective, and reasonably priced addition to your electronics check bench!
Years of improvement (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Hackster beforehand coated ThunderScope when it was “simply” an FPGA challenge after which when the marketing campaign first went reside on Crowd Provide. That was three years in the past. At the moment, it’s now accessible for pre-order.
ThunderScope is an open supply (OSWHA CA000017) PC-attached oscilloscope with as much as 350 MHz bandwidth that samples at 1 GSa/s. It is available in two kind components: a PCI-Specific x4 (Gen 2) card or a Thunderbolt-enabled standalone enclosure. The Thunderbolt model is basically the PCI-Specific card in a {custom} enclosure. The (main) person interface is an open supply PC shopper referred to as ngscopeclient, which runs on Home windows, macOS, and Linux.
ThunderScope in motion wtih two probes! (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Laptops with ThunderBolt (USB4) flip ThunderScope into a totally moveable resolution. Neither the standalone nor PCIe model requires an exterior energy provide as a result of EEVengers saved the facility necessities underneath 15 watts!
The ADC is a 12-bit ADC that samples at 1 Gigasamples per second. The entrance finish additionally features a selectable 50 ohm and 1 Mohm termination. This selection makes ThunderScope appropriate with conventional passive probes and 50-ohm terminated lively probes — such because the open supply 2 GHz probe from James Wilson.
ThunderScope PCIe (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Regardless that the ADC is 12-bit, ThunderScope at the moment solely helps eight-bit acquisitions. The required hooks are in place, however Bjelogrlic says extra improvement is required. Additionally, when working in 12-bit mode, the pattern fee drops to 500 MSa/s.
ThunderScope’s native bandwidth is at the least 500 MHz. Nevertheless, EEVengers limits the measurement bandwidth to 350 MHz with an anti-aliasing filter that gives 3.5X oversampling. You’ll be able to, nevertheless, flip off that filter. One trade-off to think about is that the analog channels share the 1 GSa/s ADC. When utilizing a couple of channel, ThunderScope’s efficient bandwidth reduces to 200 MHz (two channels) or 100 MHz (4 channels).
ThunderScope Entrance-Finish (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Like another PC-attached oscilloscopes, ThunderScope doesn’t have an acquisition buffer. As a substitute, it streams the ADC samples at full velocity to the PC at 1 Gigabyte per second — one thing no different oscilloscope does! ThunderScope opens up a brand new realm of research capabilities by combining that stream with GPU-accelerated software program.
There are two open supply shopper software program choices (at the moment). One challenge, nonetheless underneath lively improvement, led by whitequark is known as thunderscope-rs. This feature is a light-weight triggering and management shopper to get to probing alerts rapidly.
ngscopeclient displaying waveforms, measurements, and a watch diagram
ThunderScope’s main person interface is Andrew Zonenberg’s feature-rich ngscopeclient. This software program is a front-end for the acquisition {hardware} (check tools like oscilloscopes) and gives evaluation capabilities. For instance, it has a node editor that lets the person chain collectively filters, embedded-clock restoration, and evaluation instruments like eye diagrams. It additionally helps most serial protocols. Along with ThunderScope, it will probably connect with different oscilloscopes!
The gifted crew behind ThunderScope (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Over the previous three years, Bjelogrlic has assembled an unimaginable {hardware}, FPGA, and software program engineering crew. It’s improbable to see every little thing come collectively and much more astonishing that this measurement functionality is totally open supply. The ThunderScope GitHub repository incorporates firmware, TS-specific software program libraries for ngscopeclient, and {hardware} schematics. One other welcomed change for the reason that first announcement is that Bjelogrlic is updating the (future) design information to KiCad!
ThunderScope is offered for pre-order at the moment. The PCIe card prices $800. For $950, you get a calibrated ThunderScope in an aluminum enclosure with a USB-C cable rated for 40 Gbps and a custom-fitted Pelican-brand transit case. Each value factors embody free worldwide delivery, however neither comes with probes.
Standalone ships in a {custom} transit case (📷: EEvengers through Crowd Provide)
Go to the ThunderScope Crowd Provide product web page to put a pre-order or discover hyperlinks to associated open supply tasks. The web page additionally lists Bjelogrlic’s talks over the previous three years, which touched on many features of ThunderScope’s improvement.
