M1 Oscilloscope Tools™

What is a Compliance Test?

A compliance test is a series of conditional measurements being taken in a specific sequence. Which parameters need to be measured, and the conditions they must be tested against are defined in the standard specification. These measurements are generally taken using a real-time oscilloscope and some form of software.

How do I perfom a compliance test with M1 Oscilloscope Tools?

M1 Oscilloscope Tools has a built in automation scheme. Users can automate any sequence of measurements using a graphical scripting tool called ScriptBuilder™. ScriptBuilder creates files called TestScripts which can be loaded into M1 and run at the push of a button. Compliance Tests for M1 are created using ScriptBuilder. ScriptBuilder provides the ability to define multiple paths through a script so you can organize each set of measurements into logical categories.

M1 will allow you to choose which parts of the test you would like to perform. When a test is selected, M1 will proceed to acquire data and test against every condition outlined in the spec until a condition fails or it acquires a specified amount of data. If a test fails on one or more parameters, you can examine the causes of the failure using M1's compliance breakout functionality.

If a specification is updated and measurement test values are changed, any user can simply load a test into ScriptBuilder and modify it as needed with very little effort. Compliance tests can also be written from scratch for custom company created specifications.

Why is the ASA/M1 OT approach best for you?

The standard approach in the scope industry is to require certain base packages, and then sell each compliance test for, on average, $3,000 - $5,000. A user doing just one or two compliance tests can easily be spending $20-$25k just to do those two tests. If a new test comes out, that's another $3-5k coming out of their pockets for the software - and the new test may not even run on your old scope.

ASA employs a different model with M1 Oscilloscope Tools. M1 OT is designed to be the ONE software package you need with your oscilloscope. One purchase gets you everything the software has to offer. M1 OT brings to the table the ability to create tests at will. The power is in the users' hands, so they don't have to wait nine months to a year for the test to come out. Every compliance test from ASA runs on every scope that M1 supports; ScopeCo usually produces compliance tests only for a few of their scopes.

As a courtesy to our customers, we have constructed many of the popular signal standard compliance tests already. These are distributed with each installation of M1 OT, and new and updated tests are frequently posted to our website. If you would like to see what is currently available, please visit our downloads page.

ASA's approach will save you thousands of dollars if you are just doing one or two tests, and up to 10s of thousands of dollars if you need to do more. All of the popular standards are already written for you, and you will have the power to write anything you need in the future.

Why Trust ASA?

The first compliance test in the industry was created at ASA in the late 1990's. The very concept of a compliance test was created at ASA.

ASA also pioneered the concept of a compliance test existing as something that is part of the platform and not as an additional cost add-on. This is an area where our competitors have chosen not to follow us.

Prior to the current deployment model at ASA, customers have had to wait up to 18 months from the first demonstrated need until the delivery of the product to have the test in their hands. Beginning with v4 of M1 in 2005, ASA wanted to shift who wrote the compliance tests from a dozen programmers at ScopeCo to everyone who uses a scope, and created an architecture for rapidly assembling the kinds of commands and measurements that comprise any modern compliance test. In addition, ASA also created the ability to easily add new measurements that can be included in these sequences.