Digital Oscilloscope Based on PICAXE

The device was developed using PICAXE microcontroller as the heart of the digital oscilloscope for troubleshooting, and monitoring the electrical signals in a circuit in detail.

The microcontroller is responsible for controlling all the other parts of the circuitry. The 8-bit microchip PIC16F886 has basic interpreter and built-in bootloader which makes it more beginner friendly. It functions by setting up the scope’s sample logic, setting the input amplifier’s gain and offset, reading the captured samples from memory, and communicates with the PC using the RS232 interface. This will provide help in setting up the hardware while waiting for the data to be sent back.

Depending on the signal level, the analog frontend conditions the input signals and attenuates or amplifies them. This stage is essential for making use of the fixed voltage range that is converted by A/D converter into digital information.

A cheaper cost will be gained from the microcontroller because the firmware download circuit is made up of only 3 resistors R2-4 while the download cable is a simple RS232 serial with a stereo phono plug which is being used during operation as the connection between the scope and the PC.

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