What’s an oscilloscope? Oscilloscopes, also called Digital Storage Oscilloscopes (DSOs) or Mixed Signal Oscilloscopes (MSOs), are a common type of test instrument used to capture, analyze, and troubleshoot electrical or real world physical signals.

Definition of Oscilloscope: Oscilloscopes observe the change of electrical signals over time, continuously graphed on a display as voltage or amplitude vs. time. During observation, oscilloscopes can analyze waveforms parametrically (i.e. frequency, RMS, peak-to-peak amplitude, rise time, etc.) Non-electrical signals, especially mechatronic signals such as vibration, strain, temperature, or current can be converted to voltages and displayed.