Keysight Scope Programming Guide

[Percival Blanco]

Tobe honest, I don't even know where to start. Currently I can communicate with the oscilloscope using the usb-usb cable (I was unable to communicate using the GPIB-usb cable), and I have the "Agilent 2000 3000 X-Series" drivers installed, but I don't know what do I have to do with all the .vi files.

Currently, the only thing I know is that there is a .vi file that is called "Configure trigger (Edge).vi" that sets the trigger to a desired value to a specific Channel (it sets the trigger, but the oscilloscpe doesn't actually trigger when it should).

I don't have problems with a particular .vi. My problem is that i thought that the drivers of a device would be a single .vi, that mimics the hardware of the oscilloscope. However, in this case the driver is a bunch of .vi files that make very specific functionalities, and I don't know how to combine them to make my purpose.

The only thing that I know how to do, is to configure the trigger (running the "Configure trigger (Edge).vi"). However, I don't know how to push the "Single" button in the device, from Labview (in order to actually trigger the oscilloscope). I also don't know how to, once triggered (at t=0), move to time t=X s and then save the data to a file... and so on.

You have the right driver for the device. If you installed it correctly you even have examples in the example finder. you COULD just open the driver project (the *.lvproj file) and explore the examples there.

There is no "Soft Front Panel" for that instrument (A shame really) so you would need to write that yourself. It is a lot easier to figure out what you need to do and just code that. After all, if you need an operator chosing from everything that scope can do- well- the instrument has a bunch of knobs for him to use right there and the PC is pointless

I opened the examples, some of them doesn't work as expected (the waveform doesn't show correctly in the plot, for example, or the device acquires the default setup before and after running an example...), anyway, if I open the block diagram, I do not understand anything!

I thought that, for example for setting the trigger, one just need to send some commands (referenced in the Programmer's Guide of the device) to the oscilloscope, but the block diagram is just intelligible to me!

If do it step by step, my next step is to trigger the oscilloscope (I already know how to set the trigger, by running the "Configure Trigger (Edge).vi"). I do it manually by pressing the "Single" button in the front panel of the device.

Yes but I don't want to simulate the "Force trigger" button. I want to simulate the "Single" button. The first one forces the signal to be captured, even if trigger conditions are not met. However, the "single" button lets the oscilloscope display signals continuously until the trigger condition is met (in my particular case, that Channel 1 rises up to 1V). When the trigger condition is met, then it stops and display the captured signal.

My understanding of "Configure Trigger (Edge).VI" and any trigger in general (excluding "Force Trigger" because the documentation explicitly says how it works) is that the acquisiton (or whatever) starts when the trigger condition is met.

One thing you can try, is to continously acquire your waveforms e.g. with Read Waveforms.VI and compare the data with some value. When the condition you want is met (it has reached 1 V), stop the task.

I would suggest taking a read through the programmers guide for Keysight. I communicate with many Keysight/Agilent/Hp devices, but not oscilloscopes from that company. They usually have very good example codes and descriptions of the commands in their manuals. I would also suggest you post the code that you are trying to run so that the community can see where there may be a problem.

It seems you understand the triggering system. Just to reiterate your last comment on the 'single' button...the single button only allows the scope to repspond to a single event. You seem to be able to do this by hand properly when physically manipulating the scope. There is likely some hidden things going on when you use the example code, and believe me it's not easy to spot when you are learning LabVIEW.

Another possibility is that if you use something like an 'initialize' vi, they typically by default will perform a reset of the device. If this is happening, settings that you thought were configured may have been set back just as if you pressed the auto-set button which is usually on scopes (I can't stand the auto-setup buttons. I hit them by accident too many times!).

You need to set the trigger in Single mode then you need to tell the scope the "run" command, which is often the text run. This will put the scope in a running state ready to acquire data. Once it gets a trigger, it will stop automatically once one waveform is acquired.

I have a similar question as this one but the solution there did not apply to my problem. I can connect and send commands to my Keysight B1500 mainframe, via pyvisa/GPIB. The B1500 is connected via Keysight's IO tool "Connection Expert"

However, when I try to run a pulsed voltage sweep (change voltage of pulses as function of time and measure current) I do not get the measured data out from the tool. I can hook the output lead from the B1500 to an oscilloscope and can see that my setup has worked and the tool is behaving as expected, right up until I try to extract sweep data.

There is a lot of information in the user's guide (on the same site you have linked to) about reading data from various devices. I have used the visa library a few times on different devices, and it always requires some fiddling to get it to work.

There are several approaches you can take to work remotely with Tektronix oscilloscopes. The available techniques differ somewhat between instruments that run the Windows operating system and instruments that do not. This guide is designed to help you interface with your oscilloscope without needing to physically interact with the instrument after the initial setup. This document applies to most Tektronix oscilloscopes that do not have a PC operating system installed.

Details on remote oscilloscope usage can also be found in Help manuals. Please contact Tektronix technical support if deeper assistance is needed, either through www.tek.com/support or by asking your local Tektronix support contacts.

Many modern Tektronix oscilloscopes feature a built-in webserver called e*Scope. On the 4 Series MSO, 5 Series MSO, and 6 Series MSO, e*Scope is an easy to set up, realtime display and interface that runs on a web browser as if you were at the instrument with a mouse and keyboard. Anyone with the IP Address can simultaneously access and control the oscilloscope.

e*Scope requires a network connection between a modern web-browser and an oscilloscope. The web-browser may be running on a computer, smartphone, or other device. The network connection can be a direct connection with an Ethernet cable, a Local Area Network connection with a network switch or router, over a VPN, or via an externally accessible IP Address. You may need your IT Department's assistance or permission to connect the instrument to a network.

Enter the oscilloscope's IP Address into the address bar of a web-browser. When you navigate to that IP Address as if it were a website, the oscilloscope will present you with a Home page with several connection and configuration options, including a link to e*Scope. Click the link to e*Scope to connect to the oscilloscope for remote control.

For additional instrument-specific guidance on e*Scope, please refer to the Primary User Manual or Online Help Manual for that oscilloscope model on Tek.com. You can also contact Tektronix technical support through www.tek.com/support or by asking your local Tektronix support contacts.

Tektronix offers a PC-based analysis application called TekScope that can allow you to analyze previously-saved waveforms for free, without connecting to an oscilloscope. You can also connect to one or more oscilloscopes as a paid service to pull real-time data from the remote scopes. You can access this software and see more details at scope.tekcloud.com.

This software allows engineers to collaborate without necessarily having to share physical access to an oscilloscope and provides increased flexibility in each individual's workflows. Consider the following examples of workflows that this software enables:

The TekScope interface duplicates the features and userfriendly interface of 4/5/6 Series MSOs. Any engineers that are familiar with those oscilloscopes will feel right at home with this software, and any unfamiliar users should find the interface easy to pick up.

TekScope supports importing waveforms in a variety of formats from a variety of vendors. Typical oscilloscope measurements, math capabilities, plots, cursors, etc. are available for free, while application-specific analysis features are available as paid services. For a summary of features and options, please see scope.tekcloud.com/#/packages.

Every modern Tektronix oscilloscope has the capability to save Waveforms and Setups to internal and external storage. Habitually saving your work can make it easier to collaborate on-the-fly and look back at old projects. Anything from a TDS3000C oscilloscope to a 4 Series MSO to a DPO70000SX can save waveforms to a USB drive, for example. Many oscilloscopes can also be connected as a client to network drives for remote file management.

Both direct and networked file management options can usually be accessed in the File menu of an oscilloscope. In the following example from a 6 Series MSO, the Recall selection can be used to load waveforms, setups, "sessions" (an all-inone save type) and masks. The Save and Save As selections can be used to store screen captures, waveform data, setups, sessions and generate reports. The File Utilities selection is where you can connect to a network drive or do things like copy and paste, delete, and rename files on the oscilloscope's local memory

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