As vehicle systems grow in complexity, the speed and accuracy of your diagnostic tools become the deciding factor in your shop’s efficiency. The latest PicoScope 7 Automotive Early Access (EA) updates, spanning versions 7.2.8 through 7.2.12, introduce a suite of powerful features designed to streamline your waveform analysis and expand your diagnostic reach.
From the precision of locked phase rulers for mechanical timing to the addition of the NMEA2000 serial decoder for marine applications, these enhancements go beyond simple bug fixes. In this guide, we’ll explore how to leverage new waveform playback controls, copyable tracking ruler values, and flexible amplitude strategies to get to the root cause of a fault faster than ever before.
Whether you are performing a complex pressure transducer analysis or decoding high-speed serial data, these workflow-centric updates ensure your PicoScope 7 software evolves as fast as the technology you’re testing.
New features in PicoScope 7.2.8 Early Access
Phase rulers can now be locked together to aid relocation
Following on from the introduction of our Phase rulers here https://www.picoauto.com/support/viewtopic.php?p=99874#p99874, they can now be locked together when the Time rulers are active in the graph view.
- Click Rulers
- Set Phase rulers to On
- Set Time rulers to On
- Click the Padlock to lock the Rulers
In the image above, we have positioned the Phase rulers to denote 0-720° of crankshaft rotation and the Time rulers at 0 and 360°, respectively
Note: At point 4, we have locked the Phase rulers and seamlessly dragged them to the subsequent compression towers (Refer to image below)
Feedback on the design and function of the locking Phase ruler feature would be most welcome. Click on More > Help and support > Send Feedback within the software.
Other important items to note:
- Spectrum view data can now be exported to the MATLAB file format.
- PS7 will no longer install on MS Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and earlier versions of 10.
New features in PicoScope 7.2.10 EA
Ruler delta and tracking ruler values can now be selected and copied.
With reference to the image above, note how we have highlighted 4 values in the ruler legend. These include tracking rulers 1, 2 and delta values for both time and tracking rulers.
Each highlighted value can be copied using Ctrl-C on your keyboard and pasted using Ctrl-V into other documentation.
As an example, the following values were copied from the psdata above
- -75.76 mbar
- 11.91 bar
- 11.99 bar
- 537 ms
Feedback on the design and function of the Ruler legend values copy feature would be most welcome. Click on More > Help and support > Send Feedback within the software
New Amplitude Strategy for Rise/Fall Time Measurements
Please also refer to our Knowledge base here: https://www.picotech.com/library/knowledgebases/oscilloscopes/measurement-indicators
We can now apply differing amplitude strategies to our measurements, which are displayed using both the measurement lozenge dialog and measurement indicators.
In the image above, we have added a Fall time measurement to channel A (between rulers) and chosen the amplitude strategy Peak-to-peak.
The measurement indicators display how the Fall time will be calculated based on peak-to-peak values.
In the image below, we have now changed the amplitude strategy to Top/Base
Note how the Fall time has changed because of these new measurement points.
The same amplitude strategy also applies to Math channels, where once again we have chosen the fall time (see image below).
The Math channel incorporates the peak-to-peak strategy falltime(A,20, 80, (PkToPk) where A is the channel, 20 & 80 are the low and high signal thresholds (%), respectively and (PkToPk) is the amplitude strategy.
Note, the Fall time Math channel using the Top/Base amplitude strategy would be falltime(A,20, 80, (Top/Base)
Feedback on the design and function of the new “Amplitude strategy” feature would be most welcome. Click on More > Help and support > Send Feedback within the software.
New features PicoScope 7.2.12 EA
Capture Playback functionality has been added to the Waveform Navigator.
This feature allows captured waveforms to be replayed, enabling review in both the forward and backward directions, with adjustable playback speed.
In the image above, we have 36 waveforms captured in the Waveform buffer.
Clicking on the waveform navigator lozenge (1) will reveal the Waveform navigator menu panel.
Note, below, how the waveforms can now be viewed in their entirety using the playback controls.
See the video below on the functionality of the Waveform navigator playback controls.
Feedback on the design and function of the new Waveform navigator playback feature would be most welcome. Click on More > Help and support > Send Feedback within the software.
New NMEA2000 serial protocol decoder added
As PicoScope continues to appeal across many industries, so must the features within. We are once again proud to announce a new serial decoder in the form of NMEA2000 for marine applications.
- Click on More in the left-hand tool panel to reveal the Serial decoding button. Note: Clicking on the Star symbol to the left of the Serial decoding button will place the Decoding feature in the left-hand tool panel, where it will remain ready for use without having to select More
- Clicking on the Serial decoding button will open the Serial decoding wizard
- Select the NMEA2000 decoder and follow the setup wizard to configure your decoder
Feedback on the design and function of the new NMEA200 serial decoder feature would be most welcome. Click on More > Help and support > Send Feedback within the software.