Vertical Range and Offset

Vertical range is the peak-to-peak voltage span that a digitizer can measure at the input connector. Most digitizers have several choices for vertical range.

Vertical offset is the voltage the vertical range is centered on. Vertical offset positions the vertical range around an arbitrary DC value. Using this offset allows you to examine small changes in the input signal, which can improve the accuracy of your measurement.

For example, imagine that you are acquiring the waveform shown in the following figure that outputs 0.75 V to 1.25 V. Without using vertical offset, you would need to specify a range of 2.5 V (±1.25 V) to capture the waveform.