HP-IB/IEEE-488/GPIB Interfacing

Hi

I wonder if there's someone around which is experience in controlling measurement gear through the HP-IB/IEEE-488/GPIB interface. I consider the purchase of a HP 3577A network analyzer, but I'm unsure of the easy ability to export measurement data to a PC (e.g. as text file). Anyone?

Thanks,
Samuel

We use GPIB at work.  I can ask the programmer for you.  I know he uses VB to control our spec-ans/o-scopes/other gear all through GPIB and he also gets data from them through GPIB too.  They have some sort of set protocol as well as set registers you read but I don't think you get anything like a text file through GPIB.

EZGPIB (free)
http://ulrich-bangert.de/html/downloads.html

Prologix USB GPIB controller (149 USD)
http://store.prologix.biz/gpco.html

I can ask the programmer for you.

Click to expand...

That'd be great, thanks. I want to read out measurement data and save to disk, that's (at the moment) all.

Samuel

If the export of data is supported (it's not uncommon that GPIB and RS232 interfaces are present, but very often reading larger data only works with GPIB) it shouldn't be to hard.

Nonetheless you will have to write programs to read out the data. You also need to know the GPIB commands to program the device. I found a service manual here, at a first glance there seems to be a description of the commands.

If you only want to read out the data, EZGPIB will probably be the easiest way.
For Visual Basic is a language interface available from National Instruments (here). But it might be that you need a NI GPIB card. Afair I had problems with a noname GPIB card in Labview. With Visual Basic or Labview you also have the possibility to control the device completely from the PC (after lots of programming ). That seems to be harder with EZGPIB.


Chris

Thanks for all the responses.

If the export of data is supported.

Click to expand...

That's exactly the question. I don't mind a bit of programming, but I need to know if it is at all possible. When stepping through the programming reference there is no obvious way of retrieving data.

Someone else pointed me to this document: intui_data_capture_54620_54640_2_0.pdf. It is suspicious that "data capture" is not possible for the 3577A, even with that Agilent tool...

Samuel

In this operating manual there is a command for dumping a trace listed (page 3-36 or 131 of the pdf). I don't know the HP3577A and the document is for the HP3577A & HP35677 A/B, so I'm not sure whether it's the right manual.

On the other hand, in the linked document for the Agilent Screen Capture software, there is a footnote that the software is intended as a substitude for a plotter. And even only with a screen capture some data must be transfered. I don't think that the screen data as such is transferred.


Chris

Thanks, that looks indeed like something I'd want (it's the right manual). I haven't looked at the programming details yet--the commands with @Na are commands sent to the analyzer, and the Real_arry1 is a local (=the PC memory) variable which can be used to save the data on disk, right?

Samuel

Samuel Groner said:

the commands with @Na are commands sent to the analyzer, and the Real_arry1 is a local (=the PC memory) variable which can be used to save the data on disk, right?

Click to expand...

That's right.

The "OUTPUT" and "ENTER" are commands for the in the manual mentioned HP PC (I think these old HP PCs had a GPIB/HPIB interface"on board"). This will probably be handled different in Visual Basic or EZGPIB, but in generall you send commands as ascii sting and get an ascii string with data (not shure there with the real formats FM2/FM3).


Chris

Thanks.

Samuel

Just got the first waveform from the HP 54501A through the Prologix USB GPIB controller; I use Matlab to send and receive data--super quick to program and easy to post process/plot/store data. Just took about two hours to make it work. Thanks again for the help!

Samuel

Nice to know!
Me too I'm planning to use a Prologix USB GPIB adapter with my Advantest R9211E spectrum analyzer.

On a side note, if you have some data coming from a parallel port, the B&B electronics 232SPS2 [parallel to serial & serial to parallel converter] does a great job.
Really easy to setup a listener/decoder on linux boxes, too.
Only thing, I've found you _must_ use an external DC source for powering it, DTR and RTS port-powering isnt working for me.

Samuel Groner said:

Just got the first waveform from the HP 54501A through the Prologix USB GPIB controller; I use Matlab to send and receive data--super quick to program and easy to post process/plot/store data. Just took about two hours to make it work. Thanks again for the help!

Click to expand...

I just got a 54501A yesterday, and I'm considering getting a GPIB card also. Can you get a "screenshot" from the scope through GPIB, and if so in what format?

The scope does have a print screen button, but I have never seen a printer with GPIB

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen