All-In-One high resolution & speed MultiPurpose DSO

[naftilos76]

Hi everyone,

This is my first serious project but also a huge challenge for me as i am not doing this out of spare free time, as i don't have any, but because i want to know more about electronics, programming and most of all be part of something that just isn't there. Ever since the early days (maybe not that early) of DSOs first both pc-connectable and standalone portable devices, i wanted to get my hands on a high speed, but not 8-bit, portable DSO that could eliminate the use of a multimeter. What i am saying is that i want to be able to actually see what i am measuring in terms of waveform, distortion, frequency, harmonics etc (except of course DC). That is why this is my attempt to approach a design of a multipurpose multimeter-like DSO that does all the things that a high speed & resolution digital oscilloscope is capable of but also offers all kinds of measuring capabilities of advanced high resolution expensive bench multimeters including V, A, R, L, C and lots of other functions. If you take a look at bench DSOs that integrate a LCD on them you will notice that most of them are 8 bit and 320x240px or a little bigger than that. Higher resolutions are indeed there but usually cost much more and tend to be difficult to be reached by an average hobbyist or even professional. Something else which i totally consider a must as far as portable DSOs as concerned is the presence of touch panel capabilities which may exist in the market but in a limited range (at least for now). Buttons can simply be no more by using touch panel enabled devices which will make the design less complex as far as the pcb design is concerned but also when you reach the point of 3D designing the plastic/metal enclosure that will hold the pcb, lcd and batteries.

The current hardware is based on a STM32F4 discovery board, a LCD 800x480 configured to work with the FSMC of the STM32F407 and a touch panel that came with the LCD. The mcu seems to be fine for now but i will probably move to another ARM mcu probably clocked at >500MHz. Time will show as the processing demands will increase.

It is not necessary but i will say that ChibiOS & uGFX will star in this device as i think that both ChibiOS & uGFX are quite remarkable pieces of software.

So i will give you an idea of my target features for this project whose completion is not to be expected in a few months but rather in a few years time, hopefully not more that 2-3.

1) LCD 800x480 or higher resolution TFT <=16bit colors

2) Resistive touch panel

3) 1 channel x 24bit 4Msps mostly for low frequency but high precision multimeter like measurements of V, A, R.

4) 2 channels x 16bit greater than 200Msps for high freq content being able to measure both non-repetitive and repetitive signals (in much higher frequency).

5) Power analyzer (W/VA/PF etc) for up to 100KHz with integrated current transformers (2 channels to compare with each other - will use the 24bit adc to capture) and optional external Rogowski coils (1 channel 3 phase capable - will use the 24bit adc to capture) displaying both HV and A waveforms (cool) including extended (days) logger of consumption (W, VA, PF) all simultaneously appearing on the lcd with zoom-in & out capabilities.

6) FFT analyzer

7) LC high precision meter.

8) (Considering) Logger of V, A, R, Temperature, Lux, Pressure and virtually every single type of sensor out there.

9) (Considering) Megger test up to 600V

10) (Considering) 10 channel digital logger for analysis of various protocols such as RS232, SPI etc

My first video for this project is already on Youtube one month after i started the project.

Wish me luck and lots of patience!

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Joel Bodenmann]

That's really impressive, thanks for sharing!

I added your video to our demos section 8-) I also let the people from the ChibiOS/RT community know.

Please keep us up to date.

~ Tectu