What is an Oscilloscope Trigger?

There are three common trigger mode controls: normal, auto, and single.

1. In normal mode, the sweep starts only when the trigger settings are met. If the trigger is not met, the screen is not updated. This can be useful when capturing a transient event that may only happen once.
2. In auto mode, the sweep is triggered automatically and continuously.
3. In single mode, the sweep only occurs when the trigger is activated manually. This can be useful when you want to capture a particular single trigger event or signal condition.

The trigger level is the voltage at which the trigger condition is met. For example, if the trigger is configured to start the sweep on the rising edge of a signal, then the trigger level would be the voltage at which the rising edge occurs. The trigger slope is the direction of the signal that causes the trigger to occur. If the trigger type is set to begin the sweep on the rising edge of a signal, then the trigger slope would is positive.

The trigger level and slope control can be adjusted manually or automatically. For example, to modify the trigger level manually, you would use the oscilloscope's vertical controls to position the trace at the desired voltage level. To adjust the trigger slope, you would use the trigger controls to select the desired edge (rising or falling). You would use the oscilloscope's auto-trigger function to adjust the trigger level and slope automatically.

What Is Trigger Hold-Off?

Trigger hold-off is a function that prevents the trigger from occurring too often. This can be useful when trying to capture a transient event at a very high frequency. When the trigger hold-off is enabled, the oscilloscope will wait for a period of time after the trigger has occurred before it will allow the trigger to occur again. This can also be useful for capturing high-speed signals or for investigating noisy signals.

A trigger dialog box is a window in the digital oscilloscope software that allows you to configure the trigger settings. The trigger dialog box will allow you to select the trigger icon mode, trigger source, trigger level, and trigger slope. It will also allow you to enable or disable the trigger hold-off function. This is useful for quickly changing the trigger settings without accessing the oscilloscope display menu, saving time when trying to capture a signal that only lasts for a short time.

What Is Trigger Jitter and False Triggering?

Trigger jitter is the difference between the moment the trigger condition is met and the moment the measurement sweep starts. False triggering is when the trigger condition is met, but the measurement sweep does not start. Jitter and false triggering can be caused by electrical noise, incorrect trigger settings, or other factors. Jitter can cause problems when you are trying to capture high-speed signals or when you are investigating electrical noise.

There are a few things you can do to reduce jitter and false triggering:

• Use a trigger hold-off function to prevent the trigger from occurring too often
• Reduce the trigger level
• Change the trigger slope
• Use a software trigger instead of a hardware trigger
• Increase the number of samples per measurement
• Use a higher timebase setting

When using an oscilloscope, you will need to set the position and volts per division controls. The position control moves the trace up and down on the screen. The volts per division control are used to change the vertical scale of the trace. These controls are important because they allow you to see small signals that would otherwise be hidden by noise or to see large signals that the oscilloscope's input range would otherwise clip.

The position and volts per division controls are usually adjusted using the vertical controls on the oscilloscope. To adjust the position, you would use the vertical offset control. To adjust the volts per division, you would use the vertical scale control. These controls are usually located on the front panel of the oscilloscope.

Some digital oscilloscopes have position and volts per division control in the trigger dialog box. This can be useful for quickly changing the vertical scale without accessing the oscilloscope's menus thus saving time.

• Helps to capture otherwise hidden signals
• Reduces electrical noise
• Increases measurement accuracy
• Can be used to fine-tune the alignment of the trigger and data so that they are in sync
• Makes it easier to investigate fast signals or electrical interference