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Triggerscope Panel

Control a Triggerscope or Triggerscope Mini from your browser: set DAC voltages and TTL pins, watch a live scope and pin render, and read the serial traffic.

Works in Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera on a desktop computer. It talks to your Triggerscope or Triggerscope Mini over USB from this page, and the commands and replies stay in your browser. No hardware yet? Press Demo inside the panel to try it.

How to use it ↓ Open in its own window ↗

How to use it

Set DAC voltages and TTL pins with your mouse, watch what they do on a scope and a drawing of the front panel, and read every command the board receives. It speaks the Triggerscope-MM serial command set, the same one Micro-Manager uses.

  1. 1.

    Connect

    Close Micro-Manager and any serial monitor first, because a port can only be open in one program. Press Connect Triggerscope and pick your board. The panel asks it for its ID with * and lays out the Mini (2 DACs, 4 TTL) or the 16-channel board (16 DACs, 16 TTL) to match.

  2. 2.

    Set TTL pins

    Click a TTL pin in the front-panel drawing to toggle it, or press All TTL low under the TTL block. The panel sends the whole group as one bitmask (SDO0-5 means pins 1 and 3 high), the way the firmware expects it.

  3. 3.

    Set DAC voltages

    Drag a slider or type a voltage. The panel converts it to the right code for the board: 12-bit over 0–5 V on the Mini, 16-bit over the channel’s range on the 16-channel board. On the 16-channel board, choose each channel’s range first, or let the panel set it the first time you move that channel.

  4. 4.

    Try blanking

    The blanking controls sit beside the TRIG input in the drawing. Enable blanking ties every output to the trigger input, and you choose whether outputs are blanked while the trigger is LOW or HIGH. While blanking is on, the panel reads the trigger input and the real TTL pin levels from the board about three times a second, so you can see the pins follow the trigger. In a demo you can flip a simulated trigger to see the outputs gate.

  5. 5.

    Watch the scope

    Each change is time-stamped when the board acknowledges it. Pick a time window, pause, hide traces from the legend, and hover for values. Read back asks the board for its own report (STAT?) of the trigger level and the TTL pin levels, and live read-back repeats that once a second.

  6. 6.

    Debug with the log

    Every command and reply is listed with a time stamp, plus a plain-language note such as “DAC 2 to 2.500 V (code 2048)”. Errors are red. Type any raw command in the box below the log, then copy the log or save it as a text file for a support request.

What you need

  • Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera on Windows, macOS, Linux or ChromeOS. Firefox and Safari don’t support Web Serial.
  • A Triggerscope Mini or 16-channel Triggerscope running Triggerscope-MM firmware. Older Windows 7 and 10 PCs may need the Mini’s serial driver from the Support page.

What the scope shows

  • The board can’t report analog voltages, so the DAC traces are what the panel commanded and the board acknowledged, not a measurement. A real oscilloscope on the output is still the final check.
  • The board can report TTL pin levels and the trigger input. The panel reads them when you connect, whenever you press Read back, with live read-back on, and continuously while blanking is on. It samples a few times a second, so a trigger pulse shorter than about a third of a second can be missed; use a real oscilloscope to check fast timing.

Good to know

  • The board can’t report a DAC’s range either, so the panel marks it “range assumed” until you set it. Setting a range resets that output to 0 V.
  • With blanking on and a bipolar range, a blanked DAC writes code 0, which is the bottom of the range (for example −10 V), not 0 V.
  • The Mini’s two DAC outputs are fixed at 0–5 V. Its range setting is accepted and ignored.
  • Nothing you type or receive leaves your browser.

If something doesn’t work

  • The port won’t open. Close Micro-Manager, the Arduino serial monitor and other tabs that use the port, then connect again.
  • No Triggerscope answered. Check power and the USB cable. If you’re sure of the model, choose it from the Model menu to connect anyway and read the log.
  • The board isn’t in the list. Untick “Only list ARC-compatible ports” to see every serial port.
  • Still stuck? Save the log and email it to info@advancedresearch-consulting.com.