• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Test & Measurement Tips

Oscilloscopes, electronics engineering industry news, how-to EE articles and electronics resources

  • Oscilloscopes
    • Analog Oscilloscope
    • Digital Oscilloscope
    • Handheld Oscilloscope
    • Mixed-signal Oscilloscope
    • PC-based Oscilloscopes – PCO
  • Design
  • Calibration
  • Meters & Testers
  • Test Equipment
  • Suppliers
  • Video
  • EE Learning Center
  • FAQs
You are here: Home / FAQ / Instrument road test: The Liquid Instruments Moku:Pro

Instrument road test: The Liquid Instruments Moku:Pro

August 13, 2021 By David Herres Leave a Comment

Liquid Instruments, an Australian company (there is also a U.S. office near San Diego), is offering a new diagnostic and product development tool that enhances the ability of laboratories and educators to see ever deeper into waveforms of interest.

Previous instruments were Moku:Lab and Moku:Go. While these units were robust diagnostic engines, Moku:Pro puts it all together in an intuitive benchtop array that will find a place in electronic labs and diagnostic facilities everywhere.

Moku_Pro test setup
At right, a Moku:Pro and iPad Pro connected to a Tektronix Series 3000 oscilloscope and a Tektronix Arbitray Function Generator.

As a demonstration, Moku:Pro can be connected to a user-supplied benchtop oscilloscope and to a stand-alone arbitrary function generator. From the AFG, run two BNC cables to two of the Moku:Pro input ports on the left and from Channel One in the oscilloscope, run a third BNC cable to one of the Moku:Pro outlet ports on the right. In the AFG, choose one of the internal waveforms and it will display in the oscilloscope. Here for now the Moku:Pro is performing a passive role, simply conveying the signal from the AFG to the oscilloscope.

The Moku:Pro is intended to be used with a Mac iPad, which the manufacturer includes. (The Moku:Lab also uses an iPad for control and display functions. The Moku:Go, designed primarily for student use, works instead with a Mac or PC laptop.) The iPad controls the Moku:Pro, displays the signals, and in fact is an integral part of the instrumentation. It receives the software that is downloaded from Liquid Instruments’ website, subsequently transferring it to the Moku:Pro. The iPad touchscreen is the user interface. If you are not a pre-teen with extensive knowledge of such things, working the iPad can be the more challenging part of the procedure.

The challenge for Liquid Instruments has been to combine the great number of measuring instruments into a single box that could perform many of these functions strictly according to software. As first launched in 2014, the single box consisted of three instruments, oscilloscope, phasemeter and spectrum analyzer. The ensemble is known as software-defined hardware. At present, one device can function as any of twelve stand-alone measuring and display instruments.

The Moku:Pro, in conjunction with the iPad, contains these instruments:
Lock-in amplifier
Oscilloscope
Waveform generator
Spectrum analyzer
Digital filter box
FIR filter builder
Arbitrary waveform generator
PID logger
Logic analyzer/pattern generator
Laser lock box

A Moku:Pro configured with all the above instruments and a 12.9-in iPad Pro is called a full suite. There is also a build-your-own suite available for a lower price point where the user selects five of the above instruments and which includes an 11-in iPad Pro. Accessories consist of a 500-MHz, 1.3-m-long DUT connection probe that sports a 300-V input voltage, 10 MΩ/9.5 pF input impedance, and will support a 700 psec risetime.

A lock-in amplifier can extract a signal with a known carrier wave from a noisy environment. Signals up to a million times smaller than noise components, potentially at nearby frequencies, can be detected. In contrast to previous lock-in amplifiers that use analog frequency mixers and RF for demodulation, the latest lock-in amplifiers implement both steps by fast digital signal processing, as in an FPGA.

A digital filter performs mathematical operations on a sample discrete-time signal. It can either enhance or reduce certain aspects of the signal. This is distinct from an analog filter. In high-performance applications, an FPGA or ASIC is used rather than a conventional microprocessor. Digital filters are widely used in modern radios, cellphones and AV receivers.

A logic analyzer is capable of capturing and displaying multiple signals from one or more digital circuits. It may convert the data into timing diagrams, protocol decodes, state machine traces, assembly language or it may correlate assembly with source-level software. These instruments have advanced triggering capabilities and are valuable for users who want to view the timing relationships between multiple signals in a single digital system.

A pattern generator may take the form of either hardware or software. It is used to generate digital electronic stimuli to be applied to electronic equipment or circuitry to facilitate product development or diagnosis. The digital pattern generator can produce either repetitive or single-shot signals, in which case an internal or external triggering source is required.

The technology for Moku:Lab and its successors was inspired by the Field Programable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) employed in the first attempts at gravitational wave detection. Moku:Lab, the first of the three precision measuring devices, emerged from this work on the LIGO project. Basically, it is a single device containing a powerful FPGA. FPGAs have three aspects making the device important in the Moku:Pro. The first of these is a lot of processing power–for example, the Xilinx Ultrascale+ employed in Moku:Lab provides 64-bit processor scalability while combining real-time control with soft and hard engines for graphics, video, waveform, and packet processing. And of course, FPGAs are completely reconfigurable and field programable.

Liquid Instruments in the U.S. is at 740 Lomas Santa Fe Dr. Suite 102, Solana Beach, CA 92075, (619) 332-6230. In Australia, 243 Northbourne Avenue Suite 2, Lyneham, ACT 2602, +61 2 6171 9730.

You may also like:

  • Havana syndrome
    Microwaves and the Havana Syndrome
  • 5G
    Will 5G be lethal?
  • rental instruments
    The modern economics of renting test instruments
  • no you can't detect ghosts with a gauss meter
    No, you can’t detect ghosts with a gauss meter
  • Lee-Teschler
    Old Scopes aren’t just for Old Codgers

Filed Under: FAQ, Featured, Test Equipment Tagged With: FAQ, liquidinstruments

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Test & Measurement Handbook


Oscilloscopes Finder

Search Millions of Parts from Thousands of Suppliers.

Search Now!
design fast globle

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe to test and measurement industry news, new oscilloscope product innovations and more.

Subscribe Today

EE TRAINING CENTER CLASSROOMS

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

ee classroom

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • How to simulate (equivalent) noise (charge) of CSA?
  • Weird transformer result in ads
  • Error in Ansys HFSS
  • No Reverse recovery in LLC operating above resonance?
  • GPS signal level

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • 24v dc relays not de-energising
  • Positive and negative sides of voltage source
  • Automotive 6 Volt Generator Transistor Voltage Regulator
  • DIY Mini 12v Router UPS malfunction
  • Relaxation oscillator with neon or...

Footer

EE World Online Network

  • DesignFast
  • EE World Online
  • EDABoard
  • Electro-Tech Online
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • Wire and Cable Tips
  • 5G Technology World

Test & Measurement Tips

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookFollow us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy