An easy to implement logic analyzer for long-term precise measurements

• Published in: HardwareX Vol. 9; p. e00164
• Main Author: Romanov, Alexey M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: Field-programmable gate array; Jitter; Logic analyzer; Long-term measurements; Jitter; Field-programmable gate array; Logic analyzer; Long-term measurements
• ISSN: 2468-0672; 2468-0672
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00164

[Display omitted] Most of market-available logic analyzers are designed for hardware debug purposes and cannot record continuous measurement in long-term while in different fields of scientific research it is necessary to make data acquisition within small periods (less then 1 ms) during several hours or even days. The common example is real-time communication worst-case jitter analysis. This paper introduces an easy to implement approach how to create a logic analyzer for such kind of task on a basis of a low-cost Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) kit and a personal computer. The Author provides both sample FPGA design files compatible with an open-source toolchain and the approach how to collect data using standard software and Octave scripts to post-process the experimental result. Following the Author’s guidelines even with minimal knowledge in FPGA design makes it easy to modify the introduced hardware for specific laboratory team needs.