Advantest R3261A Spectrum Analyzer

[sjl006]

Hi,

I'm currently trying to communicate with an Advantest R3261A Spectrum Analyzer through LabView 8.0. Currently, there aren't any drivers for this specific model, but I'm using advantest_r3xxx_series driver with some success (I've been looking at the commands that they give out and they seem to be compatible with the model that I have). Also, I don't have an operator's manual to find out what commands I can send it to.

In the driver VIs, I haven't found anything that can let me copy whatever's on the spectrum analyzer screen directly onto a waveform graph in my VI and save the data onto a .txt file. Does anyone know if I can do that with the Advantest R3261A Spec. Anal? Or if anyone knows of the command to get the Xinitial, Xincrement, as wel as the measurement waveform for all the array values?

Thank you,

Sammy 

[Dennis_Knutson]

The first thing you should do is get the programming manual. I found one for the 3264/3267/3273 at http://green.advantest.co.jp/techinfo_e/www_e/catalog_document_e/list_e/R3273_e.html. You should be able to get confirmation from Advantest that it is the same or different.

I don't have the instrument and have only glanced at the driver but the application example would seem to be a good place to start. Are you unable to retrieve the trace data or is just a problem with the format. There is the Frequency Settings Read which will return the start frequency and the Frequency Step Size Read. With these, you should be able to scale the x-axis of the LabVIEW graph. an easy way to do this iw with the bundle function. Set the first element of the bundle to x0 (frequency start), the next element is delta-x (frequency step size), and the last element is the Y data array. Wite the output to a graph.

As far as saving the data in a text file, you can use the Write LabVIEW Measurement File or the Write to Spreadsheet File.

Message Edited by Dennis Knutson on 08-03-2006 09:24 AM

[sjl006]

Thanks Dennis!

I've called Advantest to double check, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. But I was able to use some of the commands in the manual. So far, I've been able to extract the data from the spectrum analyzer and place it on my graph in the vi. However, the y-values are extremely off. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm thinking it is the typecasting that has changed the numbers drastically. The first set of write and read for the "Binary Transfer" section, I extracted from an Advantest driver for another model from the NI website. The commands seem to work, but after running the program once, I run into fatal errors: "Insane TypeID "186" in "SpecAnal.vi"" and "Insane object at BDHP+BEC in "SpecAnal.vi" in : {id} (0x6): Prop Item Info (GNRC)" Then LabView closes all of its windows. Is there anyway to get around this?

I've attached my vi as well. I'm currently using LabView 8.0

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Sammy

[Dennis_Knutson]

I can't look at your VI since I only have 7.1 but most insane errors are the result of some corruption on the block diagram. One of the more recent posts on the subject is at http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=186132&query.id=0#M186132. If the VI is not too large, simply re-creating it from scratch may be best solution. Carefule about copy and pasting from the bad VI to a new one.

If you're able to save the VI as 7.1, I can try to look at it.

[sjl006]

Hi Dennis,

Here's the 7.1 version of my VI. Thanks for the help. I'll probably try and recreate that part from scratch.

- Sammy

[Dennis_Knutson]

I don't know about the data, but the insane errors are gone in the version I loaded. Here it is back if you want to reload it and see if the problem is still there.

[krispiekream]

what card do we need to buy and cable do we need in order to run this?

[billko]

Resurrecting a thread that is nearly eight years old must me some sort of record.

Besides, isn't that a little backwards?  Why would you want to buy hardware to run some software?  Sounds like an extremely expensive solution to me.  Besides, it's a reasonable assumption that the software won't even work on a contemporary computer.

[Dennis_Knutson]

It's just a 7.1 VI that will load in any current version of LabVIEW.

krispkie,

What interface does the instrument have - GPIB, RS232? If GPIB, any of the controllers from NI will work.

[billko]

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@Dennis_Knutson wrote:
It's just a 7.1 VI that will load in any current version of LabVIEW.

krispkie,

What interface does the instrument have - GPIB, RS232? If GPIB, any of the controllers from NI will work.

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I thought it was a third party driver.  Usually they "cheat" and make the LabVIEW driver a wrapper for their dll.