a device that connects to a target system's microcontroller or microprocessor and monitors pins and other device signals to give an accurate real view of software/hardware interaction; useful for viewing the relationships of many signals at once. It presents data in the same general way that an oscilloscope does: the horizontal axis is time, but the vertical axis is logic "high" or "low," not voltage.

A logic analyzer displays signals in a digital circuit that are too fast to be observed by a human being and presents it to a user so that the user can more easily check correct operation of the digital system. Logic analyzers are typically used for capturing data in systems that have too many channels to be examined with an oscilloscope. Software running on the logic analyzer can convert the captured data into timing diagrams, protocol decodes, state machine traces, assembly, or correlate assembly with source-level software.