LeCroy Introduces WaveRunner 6000 Series Oscilloscopes with Top Performance and Low Price for Everyday Bench DSOs

LeCroy Corporation launches the WaveRunner® 6000, a new series of its popular WaveRunner digital oscilloscopes (DSOs) that features five models covering the bandwidth range from 350 MHz – 2 GHz. The WaveRunner 6000 Series of DSOs has the most advanced signal capture technology and easiest user interface in the 350 MHz – 2 GHz DSO class, and represent a new industry standard for performance in a bench oscilloscope used by design/test engineers in the development and troubleshooting of typical circuit problems.

LeCroy has developed the WaveRunner Series to be the new price/performance leader within this bandwidth class. Each channel of every WaveRunner 6000 Series oscilloscope (except for the WaveRunner 6030) has a 5 GS/s real time ADC. This ADC can be interleaved to 10 GS/s on two channels on the 1 GHz (model 6100) and 2 GHz (model 6200) units. With 1 Mpoint of memory per channel, 5 ppm clock stability, and an 8.4” color touch screen all standard, the new WaveRunner 6000 Series delivers unmatched performance. It also carries an industry-leading product support package that includes a three-year warranty and seven-year end-of-life support.

The WaveRunner 6000 Series offers a robust set of trigger features, options for a variety of application-specific test packages, and is compatible with a wide variety of active and passive probes. As standard features, LeCroy includes the new model PP007 2.5 mm 500 MHz passive probe (one per channel), 100-Base T LAN, a touch screen and CD-ROM with every unit.

The LeCroy WaveRunner 6000 Series delivers outstanding performance and unmatched utility and usability - at a surprisingly low price. The WaveRunner 6000 Series’ price/performance sets the standard for general-purpose bench top oscilloscopes in the 350 MHz - 2 GHz category.

Based on a wide ranging set of customer interviews and beta testing, LeCroy also refined the acclaimed WaveRunner user interface for the 6000 Series to meet the needs of the general-purpose oscilloscope user. The intensive customer research program led to a front panel layout with dedicated controls for all basic functions, and easy touch-screen access to the most commonly used features. The new interface puts basic tools for viewing signals literally at users’ fingertips, while maintaining one- or two-touch access to commonly used signal troubleshooting features.

For example, each channel has its own V/div and offset controls. Cursor and zooming controls have dedicated knobs. Basic triggers can be set from the front panel. The most popular controls, such as Analog PersistenceTM, Zoom and Print (screen, email or internal or external printer) have dedicated buttons. All knobs that control waveform position may be pressed to set as zero or return the wave to its original position. It’s also easy to make signal measurements or to troubleshoot circuit problems. The menus for all traces, timebase, and triggering can be entered by a single touch.

The WaveRunner 6200 is a 2 GHz DSO with a 5/10 GS/s (4/2 channels) sampling rate, 1 Mpoint of acquisition memory per channel, 225 ps rise time, and a $25,990 price tag. The WaveRunner 6100 is a 1 GHz DSO with a 5/10 GS/s (4/2 channels) sampling rate, 1 Mpoint of acquisition memory per channel and a $15,990 price tag. The WaveRunner 6050 is a 500 MHz instrument with 5 GS/s ADC per channel. It is priced at $10,990. The WaveRunner 6030 is a 350 MHz scope with a 2.5 GS/s sample rate and 1 Mpoint of memory. There is also a 2-channel 500 MHz model, the WaveRunner 6051. Customers can purchase 2 Mpts, 4 Mpts, 8 Mpts or 12 Mpts per channel memory options. If only one or two channels of the oscilloscope are in use, the available memory doubles.

All WaveRunner 6000 Series DSOs come with a standard 8.4” color touch-screen display, advanced triggers for troubleshooting, and a wide variety of signal measurement capabilities. Though the WaveRunner 6000 Series is targeted for general purpose use as everyday bench DSOs, LeCroy also offers options for specific applications. These options include advanced waveform math (XMATH), measurement of signal jitter/timing (JTA2), power device measurements (PMA2), a digital filter package (DFP2), testing of serial datacom signals using standardized test masks (SDM), and a package for testing Ethernet signals (ENET).

The Windows 2000 operating system and 10/100BaseT Ethernet port (standard on all models) make it easy to control the DSO from a PC via the network, and to transfer screen images or waveform data for viewing, analysis or printing. The user can simply press “Print Screen” on the DSO and print to a networked printer or store images to a file server. ScopeExplorer (available free from www.lecroy.com) is a self-contained program for data acquisition and display. ActiveDSO, another utility available as a free download, allows the user to write macros for oscilloscope control and data retrieval. Of course, as with any Windows-based oscilloscope, it is easy to transfer files to other Windows applications, such as MATLAB, Mathcad, Excel or Visual Basic.

The oscilloscope user who wants to use these popular third-party programs to analyze data captured by a WaveRunner 6000 Series instrument can do much better than simply exporting the data. Using LeCroy’s X-Stream Technology, scripts written in these third-party programs can be inserted into the processing stream of the oscilloscope. Both standard math and parameters, as well as customized calculations, run 10-100 times faster than other open Windows environment oscilloscopes, not counting the time saved by running the calculations in a single application.

The WaveRunner 6000 Series also includes the LeCroy proprietary technology for capturing multiple waveforms in an Analog Persistence oscilloscope display mode. With one touch of the “Analog Persist” button, this display technique allows the DSO to capture many acquisitions of a signal which are then displayed in persistence mode on the bright 8.4” TFT screen. The data has brightness-graded intensity, similar to an analog oscilloscope, and the data can be digitally “aged” (with a time constant set by the user) to simulate the action of phosphor on an analog screen. Analog Persistence capability allows the user to see voltage vs. time, and also a third dimension of signal activity - the intensity of the signal over a period of time.

Alternatively, the persistence display can also have “thermal” grading, using colors ranging from red (hot) to blue (cool). The display can even show 3D views of the persistence map – a new way of viewing signal aberrations.

The WaveRunner 6000 Series of oscilloscopes includes a powerful set of SMART Triggers that are often absent in DSOs of this price range. Standard triggers include edge, glitch, pulse width, window, interval width, state and edge qualified, and dropout. Time and events holdoff are also standard.

There are also times when an oscilloscope user knows the shape of a typical signal but wants to trigger on abnormal wave shapes. For that situation, LeCroy offers exclusion triggering based on signal timeout, glitch/pulse width, pattern width, or signal/pattern interval. The exclusion trigger allows the DSO user to have a maximum chance of capturing rare events by keeping the trigger circuit active nearly 100% of the time. All the triggers are easy to access and easy to set up.

All WaveRunner 6000 Series oscilloscopes are provided with one PP007 probe per channel. This is another facet of LeCroy industry leadership  other manufacturers charge extra for passive probes with their 1-2 GHz DSOs. The PP007 is a 500 MHz BW passive probe with excellent physical and electrical characteristics. When connected to a WaveRunner DSO, the PP007 displays 9.5 pF of capacitance at its 2.5 mm tip. The PP007 delivers an impressively flat response, is compatible with over 30 accessories (15 are standard).

One benefit of a Windows-based platform is that there are unlimited ways to manage DSO data and setups. WaveRunner 6000 Series models ship with a standard 40 GB hard disk, and a CD-R (upgradeable to CD-RW) drive. The WaveRunner 6000 Series also includes five USB ports, including a convenient one on the front-panel – allowing the use of popular storage devices, such as Flash memory sticks, Zip and floppy drives. Standard 10/100 BaseT LAN, parallel, RS-232 ports and an optional GPIB adapter allow even more flexibility.

For those who want a fast internal printer, an optional thermal graphics printer produces full-resolution screen printouts in less than 10 seconds. In landscape mode, the printer can produce fully detailed hard copies of long waveforms by making printouts up to 100 feet long.

The models will double their memory length when using two or one channels.

• 8.4” Color Touch Screen Display
• SMARTMemory Management System
• SMART Trigger
• Signal Averaging and Envelope Mode (1 million sweeps)
• Selectable Sine x/x or Linear Interpolation
• Enhanced Resolution Mode up to 11 bits
• Analog Persistence Mode
• Floppy Disk Drive
• 10/100 Base T Network Port
• RS-232, Parallel and USB Interfaces
• SVGA Output
• Audio In/Out
• PP007, 10:1 10 Mohm Passive Probe (1 per channel)
• Optical 3 Button Wheel Mouse
• Windows 2000 Operating System
• Operator’s Manual and Remote Control Manual
• Quick Reference Guide, CD ROM Manuals and Utility Software
• Front Panel Protective Cover
• Performance Certificate
• 3 Year Warranty

A wide variety of current probes and differential probes is available

Delivery is 6-8 weeks ARO.

Engineers who would like more information can call 800-4LECROY (800-453-2769) or visit www.lecroy.com.

LeCroy, a U.S. corporation established in 1964, designs, manufactures and markets digital storage oscilloscopes, analog oscilloscopes and waveform digitizer instrumentation. Manufacturing facilities are located at corporate headquarters in Chestnut Ridge, NY. Direct sales and service offices are located throughout the United States, in all major European countries, and throughout Asia.

Media contact: Patrick Brightman, SG&W (973) 263-5475

Editors' Technical contact: Dr. Michael Lauterbach, LeCroy (845) 578-6057

Customer contact: LeCroy Customer Care Center (800) 453-2769

Website: www.lecroy.com