Introducing Labrador
On-board is a complete arsenal of electronic engineering instruments: an oscilloscope, function generator, power supply, logic analyzer and multimeter. Yet, it's as small as a flash drive and costs as much as a single Arduino shield.
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| A. Power Supply Outlets |
| B. Digital Output |
| C. Function Generator Outputs |
| D. Oscilloscope/Multimeter Inputs |
| E. Logic Analyzer Inputs |
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Electronics made accessible
These instruments are vital, and no professional engineer can practice their craft without them. Yet, until now, each instrument can cost hundreds of dollars, they are so bulky they require their own dedicated bench, and they are covered with so many knobs and dials that even experienced users are sometimes baffled.
The EspoTek Labrador changes all that by creating a new kind of lab. It has all the same instruments, but it's different in three important ways. The Labrador is:
- more affordable
- much smaller
- far easier to use
It's an electronics lab you can slip into your pocket that costs a fraction of regular bench-top tools. So now, grad students living on lentils and rice, inventors working from a postage stamp-sized apartment, and the next generation of makers from every country on Earth can have access to all of the tools of the trade. Let's take a detailed look at how the Labrador achieves this.
It's easy to use
The EspoTek Labrador plugs directly into a solder-less breadboard and connects to any Windows, Mac, or Linux computer via microUSB. A custom software interface lets you see and interact with your waveforms on-screen. Careful planning and a lot of work has been put into making the interface intuitive for those new to electronics, while keeping it powerful for those familiar with the instruments. Experienced engineers, don't fear - you can do things like manually adjust the ADC gain and UART parameters. These kinds of function have just been moved away from the main screen, keeping things clean and simple for newer users.
It's affordable
From day one, the goal of the Labrador project has been to produce a tool that everyone could afford, from an unpaid intern in San Francisco to a high school student in São Paulo. Multiple revisions have been made over the past year and a half, with every component being carefully selected to deliver performance and reliability while keeping costs down. Whole designs have been scrapped and components ripped off of live boards, and the net result speaks for itself. Labrador is the most affordable electronics lab in the world.
It's very, very small
Labrador is tiny. The current prototype measures up at 31mm x 38mm x 23mm and weighs just 10g. The next prototype will be even smaller. Suffice to say, Labrador doesn't eat up your apartment's precious storage space and can be taken with you anywhere you go. Debugging robots on the train, anyone?
It's fully Open Source
All software is licenced under the GPL, and all hardware under Creative Commons. This makes it possible for you to improve or extend your Labrador in any way you want - and then share this with the growing open source community.
Technical Specifications
Please note that these specifications represent the typical performance of the current prototypes and may be subject to some slight changes in future.
Specs at a Glance:
- Oscilloscope (2 channel, 750 ksps)
- Arbitrary Waveform Generator (2 channel, 1 MSPS)
- Power Supply (4.5 to 15 V, 1.5 W max, closed-loop)
- Logic Analyzer (2 channel, 3 MSPS per channel, with serial decoding)
- Multimeter (V/I/R/C)
- Software compatible with Windows, OSX, and Linux
Full specs
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| Oscilloscope |
Sample Rate |
750 ksps (shared) |
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Bits per Sample |
8, 12¹ |
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Bandwidth |
~100kHz² |
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Input Voltage Range |
-20 V to +20 V |
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Input Impedance |
1 MΩ |
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No. of Channels |
2 |
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Coupling |
AC/DC |
| Arbitrary Waveform Generator |
Waveform types |
Sin, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Arbitrary |
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Sample Rate |
1 MSPS |
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Sample Depth |
64 samples (CH1), 1500 samples (CH2) |
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Output voltage range |
0.15 V to 9.5 V |
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Bits per Sample |
8 |
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Max. Current |
10 mA³ |
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Output Resistance |
50 Ω |
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No. of Channels |
2 |
| Variable Power Supply |
Voltage Range |
4.5 V to 15 V |
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Max. Power |
~1.5 W |
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No. of Outputs |
1 |
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Source Impedance |
Negligible⁴ |
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Ripple Voltage |
+-300 mV @ 10 V 10 mA, +-700 mV @ 10 V 100 mA |
| Logic Analyzer |
Sample Rate |
3 MSPS per channel |
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Supported voltage |
3.3 V, 5 V, 12 V |
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No. of Channels |
2 |
| Digital Output |
Voltage |
3.3 V |
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Source Impedance |
50 Ω |
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Multimeter⁵ |
Input Impedance |
1 MΩ |
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Measured Parameters |
V, I, R, C |
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Voltage Range |
-20 V to +20 V |
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Current Range |
100 uA to 10 A |
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Resistance Range |
1 Ω to 100 kΩ |
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Capacitance Range |
10 pF to 1 mF |
¹ - 12-bit sampling is available at 375 ksps, single-channel only.
² - This figure is an approximate "maximum detectable frequency" dictated by the sample rate.
³ - This figure is for source current. Current is sunk partially into the opamp driving the signal gen and partially into a 1k resistor. Thus, maximum sink current can be calculated by dividing the output voltage by 1k and adding 50µA. This configuration was chosen so that capacitive loads could be driven without significant nonlinearities. In simpler terms, this means that if you’re trying to drive current into the waveform generator through use of an external current source, then the maximum current that the waveform generator can handle is reduced. (This is not something that would be an issue for most people.)
⁴ - The Power Supply is controlled by a closed-loop feedback loop that ensures the DC voltage across output remains constant. Thus, it has nonlinear elements, but can still be approximated by a Thévenin circuit with Vth = Vo and Rth = 0.
⁵ - Multimeter ranges vary with reference resistor used.