Rohde & Schwarz has enhanced some of the features of its R&S Scope Rider oscilloscope. The key enhancements by the company include the addition of a triggering and decoding software for the CAN flexible data (CAN-FD) rate and single edge nibble transmission (SENT) bus systems. Owing to this, the R&S Scope Rider oscilloscope is currently the only portable oscilloscope capable of analysing CAN, LIN, CAN-FD and SENT bus signals, making it the perfect tool for troubleshooting automotive applications – from commissioning to drive tests.

According to the company, the oscilloscope offers the functionality of eight testing and measurement (T&M) instruments including protocol, logic and spectrum analysers, and a data logger for long-term monitoring in a compact and robust design. This functionality makes the R&S Scope Rider suitable for signal integrity measurements. Further, the fully isolated oscilloscope permits quick and easy differential measurements without the expensive extra equipment typically needed for serial protocols in automotive applications. This is significantly less expensive than a test set-up with a lab oscilloscope and differential probes.

The R&S Scope Rider is a portable oscilloscope with protocol analysis functionality for SENT, a serial point-to-point protocol defined specifically for sensor communications in the automotive segment. To this end, the new R&S RTH-K10 SENT triggering and decoding software offers extensive triggering options for acquiring specific events, data and error status from the fast and slow SENT protocol channels. It also supports the short and enhanced message format and the various available CRC check methods.