RIGOL MSO5072 Mixed Signal Oscilloscope Overview
The RIGOL MSO5072 is the 70 MHz, two-analogue-channel model in the RIGOL MSO5000 Series. It combines high-speed waveform acquisition, deep memory, mixed-signal capability and advanced analysis functions in a compact benchtop instrument.
The oscilloscope is built on RIGOL’s UltraVision II architecture and proprietary Phoenix chipset. This platform integrates the analogue front end, acquisition system, triggering, signal processing and display functions to provide responsive operation and a high waveform update rate.
The MSO5072 is suitable for engineers, technicians, research laboratories, educational institutions and production teams working with:
- Microcontrollers and embedded systems
- Power supplies and DC-DC converters
- Automotive electronics
- Industrial controllers
- Communication interfaces
- Sensor and actuator circuits
- Consumer electronics
- IoT hardware
- PCB troubleshooting
- Production testing
Its standard 70 MHz analogue bandwidth can be upgraded electronically when future projects require greater measurement capability. The two-channel configuration can also be expanded to four analogue channels using the appropriate upgrade licence.
70 MHz Analogue Bandwidth
The MSO5072 provides 70 MHz analogue bandwidth as standard.
It is suitable for examining signals commonly found in:
- Arduino and microcontroller projects
- Low- and medium-speed digital electronics
- Sensor interfaces
- Audio circuits
- Industrial control boards
- General-purpose power supplies
- PWM control circuits
- Consumer electronic devices
- Educational experiments
- Communication control lines
The bandwidth is sufficient for many routine measurements involving clock signals, pulse trains, switching transitions, analogue sensor outputs and communication buses.
Because digital waveforms contain harmonics above their fundamental frequency, engineers should select bandwidth according to signal rise time rather than clock frequency alone. Applications involving faster edges can be supported through available bandwidth-upgrade options.
Upgradeable Bandwidth
The MSO5072 supports software-based bandwidth expansion within the MSO5000 platform.
Depending on the selected licence and instrument configuration, the oscilloscope can be upgraded beyond its original 70 MHz bandwidth. This allows laboratories to start with an economical configuration and expand the instrument as measurement requirements grow.
Available upgrade paths can include:
- 70 MHz to 100 MHz
- 70 MHz to 200 MHz
- 70 MHz to 350 MHz
Bandwidth-upgrade licence availability should be confirmed at the time of ordering because option names, regional bundles and promotional configurations can change.
Two Analogue Channels, Upgradeable to Four
The standard MSO5072 provides two analogue input channels.
Two channels are sufficient for many common measurements, including:
- Input and output comparison
- Clock and data analysis
- Voltage and current measurements
- PWM command and response
- Sensor excitation and output
- Transmit and receive signals
- Power-supply input and output
- Reference and feedback signals
The oscilloscope platform supports an optional analogue-channel upgrade that expands the instrument from two channels to four channels.
With four channels enabled, users can observe more circuit nodes simultaneously, such as:
- Clock, data, enable and reset
- Input voltage, switching node, current and output voltage
- Three motor phases and a control signal
- Multiple power rails during start-up
- PWM, feedback, current sense and fault output
This upgradeability helps protect the initial investment when more complex debugging tasks arise.
Up to 8 GSa/s Real-Time Sampling
The MSO5072 supports a maximum real-time sample rate of 8 GSa/s.
The available sampling rate depends on the number and grouping of active analogue channels. The highest rate is available when one channel uses the acquisition resources assigned to its group.
Typical maximum allocation is:
| Analogue-channel operating condition |
Maximum real-time sample rate |
| One analogue channel active |
8 GSa/s |
| Two acquisition groups active |
Up to 4 GSa/s per active channel |
| Four analogue channels active after upgrade |
Up to 2 GSa/s per channel |
The exact sample-rate allocation depends on which channels are enabled and the selected acquisition mode.
A high sample rate improves visibility into:
- Fast rise and fall times
- Narrow pulses
- Glitches
- Overshoot and undershoot
- Ringing
- Switching transients
- Timing errors
- Clock instability
- Communication disturbances
- Short-duration noise
RIGOL officially specifies a maximum real-time sampling rate of 8 GSa/s for the MSO5000 Series.
100 Mpts Standard Memory, Expandable to 200 Mpts
The RIGOL MSO5072 includes 100 Mpts acquisition memory as standard. An optional licence expands the maximum memory depth to 200 Mpts.
Deep memory allows the oscilloscope to capture a longer period while retaining a high sample rate.
This is valuable when recording:
- Complete system start-up sequences
- Long serial communication transactions
- Intermittent faults
- Power-supply protection events
- Motor acceleration cycles
- Long PWM sequences
- Random system resets
- Burst-mode signals
- Extended sensor activity
- Production-test cycles
After acquisition, users can zoom into a short section of the record while preserving the context of the complete event.
The maximum memory is shared according to the active-channel configuration. The full 200 Mpts capacity is not independently available on every enabled channel.
RIGOL lists 200 Mpts as the optional maximum memory depth for the MSO5000 Series.
Up to 500,000 Waveforms per Second
The MSO5072 supports a maximum waveform capture rate of up to 500,000 waveforms per second under specified acquisition conditions.
Waveform capture rate indicates how frequently the oscilloscope can acquire and display a new waveform. A high update rate reduces acquisition dead time and increases the probability of observing rare signal abnormalities.
The oscilloscope can help identify:
- Random glitches
- Missing pulses
- Timing violations
- Signal dropouts
- Noise bursts
- Intermittent resets
- Unstable switching behaviour
- Occasional communication errors
- Metastable transitions
- Pulse-width variation
The intensity-graded waveform display shows frequently occurring signal paths more prominently than low-probability events, making abnormal behaviour easier to distinguish.
The official RIGOL product page specifies a maximum waveform capture rate of 500,000 waveforms per second.
Hardware Waveform Recording and Playback
The MSO5000 platform supports hardware waveform recording and playback of up to approximately 450,000 frames.
Segmented recording stores waveform events that meet the selected trigger condition while avoiding unnecessary recording of inactive intervals.
This makes efficient use of acquisition memory during long-duration monitoring.
Typical applications include:
- Intermittent circuit-fault analysis
- Serial-bus error capture
- Power-supply shutdown investigation
- Automotive electronic troubleshooting
- Motor-control fault recording
- Random noise monitoring
- Repeated production failures
- Oscillator instability analysis
- System reset investigation
- Long-term reliability testing
Captured frames can be reviewed individually or played back sequentially to show how signal behaviour changes over time.
16 Digital Channels with Optional PLA2216 Logic Probe
The MSO5072 supports 16 digital channels for mixed-signal analysis.
To access the digital inputs, the compatible RIGOL PLA2216 logic probe is required. The digital-channel capability is part of the MSO5000 platform, but the probe may need to be purchased separately depending on the selected package.
The digital channels are useful for monitoring:
- Parallel data buses
- Digital control lines
- Microcontroller ports
- FPGA logic signals
- State-machine outputs
- Enable and reset lines
- Address and data activity
- Communication interfaces
- Timing relationships between analogue and digital signals
Mixed-signal capability allows users to correlate analogue conditions with digital activity.
For example, engineers can view:
- Power-rail behaviour alongside reset logic
- Analogue sensor output alongside digital control lines
- PWM voltage alongside controller states
- Serial-bus electrical activity alongside decoded data
- Motor current alongside digital commutation signals
The digital-input system supports sampling rates up to 1 GSa/s when used with the PLA2216 probe.
Optional Dual-Channel Arbitrary Waveform Generator
The MSO5072 can be expanded with an optional dual-channel arbitrary waveform generator.
The MSO5000-AWG option provides two waveform-generator channels with a maximum output frequency of 25 MHz.
Supported waveform types include commonly required signals such as:
- Sine
- Square
- Ramp
- Pulse
- Noise
- DC
- Arbitrary waveforms
The built-in generator can be used for:
- Circuit stimulation
- Frequency-response testing
- Sensor simulation
- Filter evaluation
- Amplifier testing
- Control-loop experiments
- Educational demonstrations
- Troubleshooting input-response relationships
Combining stimulus generation and waveform acquisition in one instrument reduces the need for a separate function generator during routine bench testing.
The waveform-generator function requires the applicable licence and compatible physical outputs.
Seven Instruments in One Platform
Depending on installed probes and software options, the RIGOL MSO5072 integrates several measurement instruments into one system:
- Digital oscilloscope
- 16-channel logic analyser
- Protocol analyser
- Spectrum-analysis and enhanced FFT tools
- Dual-channel arbitrary waveform generator
- Digital voltmeter
- Frequency counter and totaliser
Some functions require optional licences or accessories.
This integrated design saves bench space and allows measurements from different domains to be correlated on the same display.
9-Inch Capacitive Multi-Touch Display
The MSO5072 includes a 9-inch capacitive colour touchscreen with a resolution of 1024 × 600 pixels.
The large display provides sufficient space for viewing:
- Analogue waveforms
- Digital channels
- Serial-bus decoding
- Automatic measurements
- FFT traces
- Cursors
- Histograms
- Trigger settings
- Search markers
- Analysis menus
Touch gestures can be used to:
- Move waveforms
- Adjust the horizontal time base
- Change vertical scale
- Set trigger level
- Position cursors
- Zoom into waveform records
- Navigate long acquisitions
- Select measurement functions
- Configure protocol decoding
Dedicated knobs and front-panel buttons remain available for conventional oscilloscope operation. Mouse control is also supported.
The MSO5000 datasheet identifies the display as a 9-inch capacitive multi-touch screen.
Full-Memory Hardware Measurements
The MSO5072 can calculate automatic measurements across the complete acquisition memory rather than analysing only the waveform section visible on screen.
This is especially useful for:
- Long waveform records
- Burst signals
- Modulated signals
- Start-up sequences
- Intermittent pulses
- Communication packets
- Changing duty cycles
- Power-conversion sequences
- Signals with widely different frequencies
Full-memory measurement reduces the risk of excluding important events outside the visible display window.
The oscilloscope supports 41 automatic waveform parameters and can display multiple measurement results simultaneously.
Automatic Waveform Measurements
Available measurements cover voltage, timing, pulse, phase and statistical parameters.
Voltage measurements
- Maximum
- Minimum
- Peak-to-peak
- Amplitude
- Top
- Base
- Average
- RMS
- Overshoot
- Preshoot
Timing measurements
- Frequency
- Period
- Rise time
- Fall time
- Positive pulse width
- Negative pulse width
- Positive duty cycle
- Negative duty cycle
- Delay
- Phase
Pulse and statistical measurements
- Positive pulse count
- Negative pulse count
- Rising-edge count
- Falling-edge count
- Area
- Cycle area
- Standard deviation
Measurement statistics help engineers evaluate how a parameter changes across repeated acquisitions instead of relying on one reading.
Advanced Trigger System
The RIGOL MSO5072 includes multiple trigger modes for capturing specific waveform conditions.
Standard trigger types include:
- Edge
- Pulse
- Slope
- Video
- Pattern
- Duration
- Timeout
- Runt
- Window
- Delay
- Setup and hold
- Nth edge
- Zone
These trigger modes allow acquisition to be based on:
- Voltage level
- Edge direction
- Pulse width
- Rise or fall rate
- Logic pattern
- Timing relationship
- Signal duration
- Abnormal pulse shape
- Waveform position
Optional protocol triggers add support for common embedded, automotive and industrial communication buses.
Zone Triggering
Zone triggering provides a graphical method for isolating unusual waveform behaviour.
Users can draw regions directly on the touchscreen and configure the oscilloscope to trigger when a waveform:
- Enters the selected zone
- Avoids the selected zone
This function is helpful when a fault is visually recognisable but difficult to define through conventional trigger settings.
Zone triggering can help identify:
- Excessive overshoot
- Ringing
- Missing transitions
- Amplitude instability
- Timing jitter
- Abnormal pulse shapes
- Signal excursions
- Unexpected waveform paths
- Incomplete settling
- Intermittent modulation
-
Serial-Bus Trigger and Decode
The MSO5072 supports optional serial-protocol trigger and decoding applications.
Supported protocols include:
- RS232 and UART
- I²C
- SPI
- CAN
- LIN
- FlexRay
- I²S
- MIL-STD-1553
Decoded information can be displayed alongside the electrical waveform, helping engineers relate protocol data to physical-layer signal quality.
This is valuable for diagnosing:
- Noise
- Incorrect voltage levels
- Slow edges
- Ringing
- Missing acknowledgements
- Invalid data
- Bus contention
- Timing errors
- Communication dropouts
The instrument can be used for embedded communication, automotive networking, industrial controllers, audio interfaces and avionics communication analysis.
Parallel-Bus Analysis
With the PLA2216 logic probe connected, the MSO5072 can analyse parallel digital buses.
Parallel-bus analysis is useful for:
- Address buses
- Data buses
- Microprocessor interfaces
- FPGA systems
- Memory interfaces
- Digital control systems
- State-machine troubleshooting
Digital activity can be displayed as individual logic lines or grouped into a bus representation.
Enhanced FFT and Frequency-Domain Analysis
The MSO5072 includes an enhanced Fast Fourier Transform function for analysing signals in the frequency domain.
FFT analysis can help identify:
- Harmonics
- Switching noise
- Power-supply ripple
- Clock feed-through
- Oscillator spurs
- Modulation components
- Resonance
- Unwanted frequency content
- Electromagnetic interference sources
The enhanced FFT supports:
- Long FFT records
- Automatic peak detection
- Colour probability display
- User-defined thresholds
- Multiple window functions
Available window types include:
- Rectangular
- Blackman-Harris
- Hanning
- Hamming
- Flattop
- Triangle
Colour-grading helps differentiate repetitive spectral components from intermittent frequency activity.
Mathematical Waveform Operations
The MSO5072 provides mathematical functions for deriving additional information from acquired signals.
Arithmetic
- Addition
- Subtraction
- Multiplication
- Division
Calculus and advanced mathematics
- Integration
- Differentiation
- Base-10 logarithm
- Natural logarithm
- Exponential
- Square root
- Absolute value
- Linear transformation
Logic operations
These functions can be used to:
- Compare input and output signals
- Derive differential waveforms
- Calculate instantaneous power
- Analyse control-loop behaviour
- Evaluate phase relationships
- Remove common signal components
-
Digital Filtering
Available digital filters include:
- Low-pass
- High-pass
- Band-pass
- Band-stop
Filtering helps isolate relevant frequency content and suppress unwanted noise or interference.
Waveform Histogram Analysis
Histogram analysis displays the statistical distribution of waveform positions or measurement values across repeated acquisitions.
It is useful for evaluating:
- Timing jitter
- Amplitude variation
- Noise distribution
- Pulse-width stability
- Frequency variation
- Duty-cycle consistency
- Production tolerances
- Long-term drift
Histograms help reveal outliers and signal variations that may not be obvious from a single acquisition.
Hardware Pass/Fail Testing
The MSO5072 includes hardware-based pass/fail testing.
A mask is created around an acceptable waveform. Each subsequent acquisition is compared with that mask to detect violations.
The instrument can be configured to:
- Count failures
- Stop acquisition
- Save abnormal waveforms
- Generate an output indication
- Continue monitoring
Pass/fail testing is useful for:
- Production-line inspection
- PCB testing
- Component screening
- Signal-quality verification
- Power-supply testing
- Reliability monitoring
- Educational laboratory assessment
-
Built-In Digital Voltmeter
The integrated digital voltmeter provides convenient voltage readings through the analogue input channels.
It can be used for:
- DC supply verification
- Bias-voltage measurements
- RMS voltage checks
- Average voltage monitoring
- Slowly varying signal analysis
- Comparison between circuit stages
The DVM reduces the need to use a separate multimeter for basic voltage checks during waveform troubleshooting.
Frequency Counter and Totaliser
The integrated frequency counter and totaliser support:
- Clock-frequency verification
- Oscillator testing
- Pulse counting
- Sensor-output analysis
- Repetition-rate measurement
- Timing-system evaluation
- Production inspection
The totaliser counts signal events over a selected measurement interval.
Search and Navigation
Deep acquisitions can contain millions of waveform points and many individual events.
The MSO5072 includes search and navigation tools that help users locate:
- Specific edges
- Pulse widths
- Runt pulses
- Signal patterns
- Protocol events
- Timing abnormalities
Matching events can be marked within the record and reviewed individually.
Web Control and Remote Operation
The MSO5072 supports browser-based remote control through its LAN interface.
Authorised users can remotely:
- View the instrument display
- Configure analogue channels
- Adjust the time base
- Set trigger conditions
- Start and stop acquisition
- Perform measurements
- Save waveform data
Remote control is useful for:
- Automated test systems
- Production lines
- Environmental chambers
- Restricted-access laboratories
- Shared engineering facilities
- Classroom demonstrations
- Long-duration monitoring
The instrument can also communicate with PC software through USB and LAN. GPIB operation is available through a compatible USB-to-GPIB adaptor.
Compact Benchtop Design
The MSO5072 combines a large touchscreen with a compact instrument body.
Its approximate dimensions are:
- Width: 367 mm
- Height: 200 mm
- Depth: 130 mm
- Weight: approximately 3.5 kg
The compact design makes it suitable for crowded engineering benches, training laboratories and portable troubleshooting setups.
Applications
Embedded-System Development
The MSO5072 can be used to debug:
- Microcontroller clocks
- Reset and enable signals
- PWM outputs
- Sensor interfaces
- Communication buses
- Power sequencing
- Analogue front ends
- Digital control logic
-
Mixed-Signal Debugging
The combination of analogue and digital channels allows engineers to correlate analogue waveform behaviour with digital state changes.
Typical examples include:
- Power-rail drops during logic transitions
- Sensor voltage alongside digital controller activity
- PWM waveform quality alongside control states
- Reset timing during power start-up
- Communication data alongside physical bus voltage
-
Power-Supply Testing
The instrument can evaluate:
- Input and output voltage
- Ripple
- Start-up behaviour
- Shutdown behaviour
- Switching frequency
- Gate-drive signals
- Feedback response
- Protection events
-
Automotive Electronics
Applications include:
- ECU troubleshooting
- Sensor testing
- Actuator analysis
- CAN and LIN communication
- Battery-management circuits
- Ignition control
- Motor-drive electronics
- Power-conversion systems
-
Industrial Electronics
The MSO5072 is suitable for:
- PLC-associated circuitry
- Industrial control boards
- Variable-frequency drives
- Servo systems
- Factory automation
- Sensor and actuator interfaces
- Robotics
- Machine-monitoring systems
-
IoT and Consumer Electronics
Engineers can use the oscilloscope to test:
- Wireless-module control circuits
- Battery-powered electronics
- Sensor nodes
- Smart appliances
- Display interfaces
- Audio circuits
- Charging systems
- Low-power embedded products
-
Education and Training
The touchscreen interface, mixed-signal capability and upgradeable architecture make the MSO5072 suitable for:
- Engineering colleges
- Universities
- Electronics training centres
- Research laboratories
- Technical institutes
- Student project laboratories
-
Manufacturing and Quality Control
Pass/fail testing, waveform recording and remote-control functions can support:
- Repetitive production testing
- PCB inspection
- Component screening
- Failure analysis
- End-of-line verification
- Long-term reliability testing
-
Why Buy the RIGOL MSO5072 from Revine Technologies?
Revine Technologies supplies professional test and measurement instruments for electronics design, manufacturing, research, automotive testing, industrial development and educational laboratories across India.
Customers can receive assistance with:
- Selecting the correct oscilloscope bandwidth
- Choosing between two- and four-channel configurations
- Planning future bandwidth upgrades
- Selecting the 200 Mpts memory option
- Choosing the PLA2216 logic probe
- Configuring the optional waveform generator
- Selecting serial-protocol decode packages
- Choosing passive, differential and current probes
- Integrating the instrument into automated test systems
- Matching accessories to bandwidth and voltage requirements
- Post-sales technical and application coordination
Purchasing through Revine Technologies helps ensure that the oscilloscope, software licences, probes and accessories are correctly matched to the intended measurement application.
