32,175
edits
(Created page with "The Tektronix 11T84 Time Coincidence Trigger is a prototype 11k plug-in that did not go into production. <gallery> Tek 11t84.jpg </gallery> Category:11000 series plugins") |
No edit summary |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The Tektronix 11T84 Time Coincidence Trigger is a prototype 11k plug-in that did not go into production. | The Tektronix 11T84 Time Coincidence Trigger is a prototype 11k plug-in that did not go into production. | ||
The 11T84 was preceded by a prototype called the Universal Trigger Unit. Regarding this, [[Clark Foley]] recalls: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
There were two fully authorized right-slot plug-ins for the 11300 series. | |||
One project was called the Universal Trigger Unit (UTU). | |||
The UTU was a very ambitious project that relied on the Tek GaAs IC process. | |||
All of the signals from the left and center slots were buffered and delivered to the right slot as Auxiliary Triggers. | |||
You will see these signal pins in the Plug-in Interface schematic number 1. | |||
After thirty years, I am sure to have forgotten some of this, but here is what I remember. | |||
The UTU was fully implemented (well, nearly) and only functional in the 11300 mainframes. | |||
This was important because the UTU did not have buttons or knobs. | |||
The UTU was similar to an FPGA but you could reprogram or edit the logic | |||
in real time and observe the output immediately. | |||
If you could describe an event as a combination of time and logical expressions at arbitrary voltage levels, | |||
you could detect it with the UTU. | |||
Implemented with GaAs and Tek's high-speed silicon processes, this thing was fast and power hungry. | |||
I have forgotten the exact speed of the logic, but I think it was on the order of 500MHz. | |||
The project met its end due to the GaAs process itself. | |||
We needed to be able to set multiple voltage levels for comparators | |||
that had to remained stable regardless of signal duty cycle and rep rate. | |||
Unfortunately, the GaAs process exhibited large variation in bias level as duty cycle and rep rate changed. | |||
When faced with a major re-design and compromise in speed, | |||
the cost-time versus value ratio wasn't high enough for such an esoteric instrument. | |||
Later, and as more of an after thought, there came the [[11T5H]]. | |||
It was created to give video triggering to the 11400-scopes. | |||
It functioned in the 11300-series scopes but was only necessary if HDTV was the application. | |||
Also remember that the right-hand slot can drive the trigger path to the counter-timer hardware. | |||
It is possible to condition the signal with an 1000-series amplifier and direct it to the counter-timer. | |||
The trigger comparator output can be displayed on the scope as a Counter In or Gate signal. | |||
You can trigger the main and dly'd sweeps (forgive me, I meant Window) from the right slot. | |||
</blockquote> | |||
<gallery> | <gallery> |