Functions of DSO
DSO is an instrument used to display and analyze electronic signals.It draws waveforms or a graph of an instantaneous signal voltage against time.
Digital Storage Oscilloscope
A digital storage oscilloscope is a special kind of storage oscilloscope that stores the input signal for years and displays it on a CRT screen when desired. Digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) is totally reversed to the working of analog storage oscilloscope. In the analog storage (ASO)oscilloscope the input signals are stored in mesh storage and whenever the signal display is needed the electron beam(or)electron gun is activated which hits the mesh storage passing through a horizontal amplifier and finally displays the signal on CRT screen. The stored signal can be used to display for up to few days as the signal has a tendency to fade away. In DSO the operation and working are totally different from that of ASO.
In DSO the signals are stored in digital form rather than in analog form. The conversion of analog signals into digital/binary form can be achieved through Analog to digital conversion(ADC) technique. The converted signal is then stored in memory which acts as a storage unit in DSO. whenever the signal is needed to display on CRT the digital signal is reconstructed to analog form with the Digital to analog conversion (DAC) technique. The below figure is the block diagram of DSO.