148 Agilent InfiniiVision 2000 X-Series Oscilloscopes User's Guide
11 Acquisition Control
 
Oscilloscope Bandwidth Required
The oscilloscope bandwidth required to accurately measure a signal is 
primarily determined by the signal's rise time, not the signal's frequency. 
You can use these steps to calculate the oscilloscope bandwidth required:
1 Determine the fastest edge speeds.
You can usually obtain rise time information from published 
specifications for devices used in your designs.
2 Compute the maximum "practical" frequency component.
From Dr. Howard W. Johnson's book, High- Speed Digital Design – A 
Handbook of Black Magic, all fast edges have an infinite spectrum of 
frequency components. However, there is an inflection (or "knee") in the 
frequency spectrum of fast edges where frequency components higher 
than f
knee
 are insignificant in determining the shape of the signal.
f
knee
 = 0.5 / signal rise time (based on 10% - 90% thresholds)
f
knee
 = 0.4 / signal rise time (based on 20% - 80% thresholds)
3 Use a multiplication factor for the required accuracy to determine the 
oscilloscope bandwidth required.
See Also Choosing an Oscilloscope with the Right Bandwidth for your 
Application, Agilent Application Note 1588 
("http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-5733EN.pdf")
Required accuracy Oscilloscope bandwidth required
20% f
BW
 = 1.0 x f
knee
10% f
BW
 = 1.3 x f
knee
3% f
BW
 = 1.9 x f
knee