Test equipment is as old as electricity itself – or at least since electricity was harnessed for domestic and industrial use in the late 19th century. Instruments such as multimeters, oscilloscopes and function generators monitor the performance of electrical systems, circuits, appliances, projects and industrial hardware – in fact, anything that is powered by an electrical charge.

The first pieces of test equipment were oscilloscopes which captured the signals of cathode ray tubes, displaying them in electrical waveforms on a small phosphor screen. The first double beam oscilloscope was developed in the late 1930s by the British firm A. C. Cossor, and was widely used during the Second World War to monitor radar equipment.

Today test equipment encompasses a wide range of devices that measure various forms of electrical charge and energy source, as well as capturing data from external environmental sources such as weather conditions, air content and sound. Products range from handheld devices such as data loggers and multimeters to bench-mounted oscilloscopes and function generators.

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