Low cost architecture development for multifunctional digital oscilloscope (DSO) with Android system support

• Grant number: 17/20623-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: August 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Electrical, Magnetic and Electronic Measurements, Instrumentation
• Agreement: FINEP - PIPE/PAPPE Grant
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Mendes Adelino
• Grantee: Daniel Mendes Adelino
• Company: DMA Indústria e Tecnologia Eireli - EPP
• CNAE: Fabricação de aparelhos e equipamentos de medida, teste e controle
• City: Campinas
• Pesquisadores principais: Oscar Ernesto Rojas Rojas

Abstract

The main drivers of the project are the facilitation of learning, development, repair and testing of electronic devices. Multifunctional oscilloscopes are fundamental instruments in the development and maintenance of equipment, directly or indirectly, in practically all areas of knowledge. The advancement of technology (greater density of electronics embedded in products), and the initiative of several organizations to popularize Open Source hardware platforms to stimulate learning such as: Arduino, BeagleBoard, Raspberry, among others, created a greater demand and a new niche market for lower cost products. Today in Brazil, the oscilloscope is a product of medium to high acquisition cost (product imported / re-branded or manufactured from a CKD kit, without national technology) and there is no option of national products of intermediate and / or lower cost specifications, making it unreachable to many consumers such as students, self-employed professionals and micro enterprises. Through contact with current DMA customers, it has also been identified that a major market need is to make the use of the oscilloscope more practical and to abstract some of the technical knowledge required for electronics repair and testing. This objective will be achieved through the Voltage x Current curves generation function and the access to several waveforms, for comparison with the measured signal, through an integrated database. The DSO (Digital Storage Oscilloscope) to be developed is aimed at enabling a product that can be industrialized at a low cost, small size, and can be used with tablets and cell phones, as well as more conventional platforms such as Windows and Linux. It is important to note that the final product should also work on common devices, with no next-generation tablet or cell phone required to use the DSO. The project will result in two product architectures / versions, one focused on low cost and the other for more demanding customers on quality and higher sampling rates. IDC's forecast for 2017 is that 87% of devices sold will be tablets and handsets, which confirms the market trend and the advantage of the proposed project. One of the major challenges of the research in the PIPE 1 and 2 (still valid) phases was to validate whether the hardware of low cost Android tablets and mobile phones would have sufficient signal processing capacity (considering all the features of a digital oscilloscope), considering the constraints of cost, quality, and size of the oscilloscope hardware. Another great uncertainty was the integrity of signals, which would directly impact the measurement quality. DMA Electronics, as a result of the PIPE phase 1 and 2, settled the uncertainties present in the research. One of the product versions, already in the marketing version, is in partner / customer testing, with very positive feedback. The research will have as main result the end of Brazil's dependence on digital oscilloscope technology and the socialization of the product. (AU)