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Agilent ENA E5071C and LabView

First off, a brief overview of what I'm trying to accomplish and what I need to measure. I have an E5017C network analyzer connected to two horn antennas, one that emits microwaves in a frequency span of 10GHz-20GHz and one that receives the microwaves. I have an obstacle in the middle on a rotation stage that I can control remotely. I would like rotate the stage and measure the S21 (transmission) parameter after every rotation (in steps of 1 degree or 2 or 5 degrees).

I have Labview 8.0, but no experience with it. I have a test program for the controlling of the rotation stage, but I am not sure how to program the ENA. The ENA is hooked to the computer via GPIB. Can anyone please provide me with advice or a working program for this? I would highly appreciate any help. Thank you very much for your time. Please ask for further questions.
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There is a driver for that instrument here. On the main Instrument Driver Network page, there are links that explain what a driver is and how to use one. I Haven't looked at the driver or used this instrument but most drivers come with an example program that demonstrates how to use some of the functions.
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I found that there is an error in the configure sweep vi.  It causes a syntax error message to show up on the ENA and causes it to beep.  This occurs

in the example programs.  Does anyone know if there is a fix for this?

 

 

here is a link to another discussion on agilents website discussing it.

http://forums.tm.agilent.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25353

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Have you isolated the function that causes the error and the statement inside the function? You can run one function at a time and then look at the block diagram.

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I have noticed another problem using the latest version of the Agilent ENA Series Labview instrument driver. Using the 5071C, I can configure the fixture simulator with no problem at all using the front panel of the instrument. When I try to automate this with the Configure Fixture Simulator.vi I get an error on the network an in the lower left-hand corner which says 'Option Not Installed' (and a 'beep'). I get the same response with many different permutations of inputs, and I think it has to do with port configurations and not handling the 2-port 5071C Case within this vi.

 

Thank you,

-Tim

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Seems the 5071C model has a BAL option which was not available in previous models (SBAL,BBAL, SSB).

You can try the VI below which includes the BAL option to see if it helps (possibly other modifications are required).

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Thanks a lot, I will try this out. It would be great if NI could fix this driver so that we can distribute it across our network of test equipment more efficiently (rather than re-bundling a 'patched' driver)

 

-Tim

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If everything works correctly we can add this update to the driver on IDNet.  Just let us know the results of your testing.

 

Thanks

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