Transducer Setup

Use the Transducer Setup dialog to specify changes in gain, offset, signal inversion (negative gain), and measurement units that are introduced by an external device in your test setup. This allows FlexDCA to report measurement values and show vertical scaling as if the measurements were made before the transducer rather than at the oscilloscope's channel input. For example, if the output of an E/O device is connected to an optical channel, amplitude measurements will be displayed in Watts. With transducer conversion factors entered, amplitude measurements will be shown in volts with the corrected value.

The following example shows an E/O transducer with a gain of 2.0 W/V and 0V offset. A 50.0 mV one level at the transducer's input would result in a 100 mW optical signal to the oscilloscope's optical channel input. After entering the transducer conversion factors, the oscilloscope would indicate a 50 mV one level. For an offset signal, you would normally adjust the Offset value in the dialog to center the signal on the display. Transducers may produce a positive or negative offset voltage at their output. Enter an Offset value that corresponds to the offset magnitude but with the opposite polarity of the transducer offset. For example, enter a value of –0.5V to compensate for a transducer with an offset of +0.5V. If the transducer inverts the signal, select Invert.

The following table show the relationship between transducer input, gain, and offset measurement units and the oscilloscope's displayed vertical scale.

Transducer Compensation Units

Transducer Measurement Units				Oscilloscope Vertical Scale/Division
Transducer Input Units	Gain Conversion Factor Units		Offset Units
	Electrical Output	Optical Output
VOLTs	V/V	W/V	V	V/div
AMPere*	V/A	—	A	A/div
WATT	V/W	W/W	W	W/div
UNKown	V/U#	V/U	U	U/div
*. Electrical channel only. #. Unknown units.