Atec Agilent-N3300A - Manual (Page 3)

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Control the electronic load how you
want to:
GPIB, RS232, and manual
use of the front panel all provide
complete control of these electronic
loads. There are also analog program-
ming and monitoring ports for those
applications that utilize nonstandard
interfaces, require custom wave-
forms, or utilize process control
signals. Custom waveforms can also
be created by downloading a “List” of
load parameters. In addition, there is
a built-in transient generator, which
operates in all modes.
Quickly create powerful and
consistent software: All Agilent
Technologies electronic loads use
the SCPI (Standard Commands for
Programmable Instruments) com-
mand set. This makes learning the
commands easy, because they are
the same format as all other SCPI
instruments. The resulting code is vir-
tually self-documenting, and therefore
easier to troubleshoot and modify
in the future. Plug-n-Play drivers are
also available to help you to integrate
the loads into your standard software
packages.
Make Measurements
Easily and Accurately
The 16-bit voltage, current and power
measurement system provides both
accuracy and convenience. The
alternative is using a DMM (digital
multimeter) and MUX (multiplexer)
along with a precision current shunt
and a lot of extra wiring. Avoiding
this complexity increases system
reliability and makes the system
easier to design and support. Current
measurements in particular are
more consistently accurate using
the electronic load’s internal system,
because the wiring associated with
an external precision current shunt
may pick up noise.
Measure with all load modules
simultaneously:
Testing multiple
output DC power supplies and DC
to DC converters can be very time
consuming if each output must be
tested sequentially. If measurements
are being made through a MUX using
one DMM, this is what will happen.
Using the built-in measurement
capabilities of the N3300 electronic
loads, all outputs can be measured
simultaneously. Alternatively, multiple
single output power sources can be
tested simultaneously.
Measure voltage and current
simultaneously:
The N3300 measure-
ment system has individual but linked
current and voltage measurement
systems. This means that voltage
and current measurements are taken
exactly simultaneously, which gives
a true picture of the power supply
under test’s output at a particular
moment in time. Some other elec-
tronic loads which feature internal
measurement systems actually take
current and voltage measurements
sequentially, and therefore do not give
as accurate a picture of momentary
power.
Observe transient behavior using
waveform digitization:
Transient
response and other dynamic tests
often require an oscilloscope. The
N3300 has a flexible waveform
digitizer with a 4096 data point
buffer for voltage and a 4096 data
point buffer for current. Under many
circumstances, this internal digitizer
will be adequate for power supply
test needs. Current and voltage are
digitized simultaneously, and the
sampling rate and sample window
are programmable. Some analysis
functions are provided, including
RMS, max and min.