A logic analyzer receives and displays digital circuit signals, with storage capacity. It can be programmed to trigger alerts and can display both digital and analog signals. Portable logic analyzers use laptops for simplified functions.
A logic analyzer is test and monitoring equipment that receives or acquires various digital circuit signals, then displays, with storage capacity, the test digital inputs. For example, in the two-input AND gate, a simple digital device, all three sensing points, which include two inputs and one output, can be captured by a computer with sampling and storage capabilities. When software-intensive digital circuits weren’t so common, the logic analyzer was able to help engineering personnel master the complicated states of purely hardware logic circuits. At some point, building a more complicated digital device based on hardwired logic was no longer a viable option. Even the best logic analyzer won’t match a software-based digital solution, which can generate debug dumps that are the equivalent of logic analyzer displays and functionality.
The logic analyzer may have several dozen input ports that are terminated in various ways. A common termination is a micro-clip that can tap into a leg of an integrated circuit under test. If a combination of inputs and sequences is supposed to produce a certain result, specific input combinations can be programmed as a trigger which will allow the technical analyst to be alerted when a particular combination has occurred. For example, in a 10-input AND gate, the presence of all “1s” at the inputs should produce a “1” at the output. The logic analyzer can verify that this condition actually occurs and may also be able to provide a scrollable list of states before the trigger event.
Some logic analyzers can provide both digital and analog displays and this is very useful for testing and troubleshooting digital devices that also have related analog signals. For example, in measuring the performance of certain circuits, the level of an analog test point could serve as the trigger event needed to start a particular process. Analog and digital analyzer probes are available for interfacing with a laptop. In RF test applications, analog spectrum analyzers use a sampling device that collects analog signals for real-time display, while signal processing, storage, and display function are handled by an application for computer. A change in the design of the analyzer could be a simpler software upgrade than purchasing new hardware modules.
Portable logic analyzers take advantage of the computing power of laptops to simplify most functions within a logic analyzer. For example, a 24-input digital sampling device might have a Universal Serial Bus (USB) adapter. The USB interface then sends the samples to a computer application for archiving, viewing and even customized analysis.
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