BNC 835 Programmer Manual - Manual (Page 10)

Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation 2955 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone: 415-453-9955, Fax: 415-453-9956, Email: [email protected], Web: www.berkeleynucleonics.com
NI-VISA 3.0 or later allows you to communicate as a controller to BENCHTOP MICROWAVE
SOURCE devices. NI-VISA is configured to detect USBTMC compliant instruments such as the
BENCHTOP MICROWAVE SOURCE. To use such a device, plug it in and Windows should detect the
new hardware and launch the New Hardware Wizard. Instruct the wizard to search for the driver,
which in this case is NI-VISA. If NI-VISA is properly installed, the device will be installed as a USB
Test & Measurement Class Device. Open Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). The new
device will appear in MAX under Device and Interfaces » USB Devices. You can then use this
resource name as you would use any GPIB resource.
2.2.2 USB-TMC Interface Connection and Setup using Berkeley Nucleonics API
Berkeley Nucleonics API programming interface supports direct communication to instruments using
Berkeley Nucleonics’s proprietary DLL driver libraries.
Please contact Berkeley Nucleonics for more detailed documentation, programming samples, and
updates on the DLL library.
2.3 GPIB Interface Connection and Setup
2.3.1 General GPIB information
GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) is an interface standard for connecting computers and
peripherals, which supports the following international standards: IEEE 488.1, IEC-625, IEEE 488.2,
and JIS-C1901. The GPIB interface allows you to control the APPH from an external computer. The
computer sends commands and instructions to the APPH and receives data sent from the APPH via
GPIB.
You can connect up to 15 devices in a single GPIB system.
The length of cables to connect between devices must be 4 m or less. The total length of connecting
cables in a single GPIB system must be 2 m × the number of connected devices (including the
controller) or less. You cannot construct the system in which the total cable length exceeds 20 m.
The number of connectors connected to an individual device must be 4 or less. If you connect 5 or
more connectors, excessive force is applied to the connector part, which may result in failure.
You can choose the device connection topology from star, linear, and combined. Loop connection is
not allowed.
2.4 SCPI Commands
The Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation (SCPI) provides a uniform and
consistent language to control programmable test and measurement devices in instrumentation
systems. The SCPI Standard is built on the foundation of IEEE-488.2, Standard Codes and Formats. It
requires conformance to IEEE-488.2, but is pure software standard. SCPI syntax is ASCII text, and
therefore can be attached to any computer test language such as BASIC, C, or C++. It can also be
used with Test Application Environments such as LabWindows/CVI, LabVIEW™, or Matlab®. SCPI is