GW Instek GDS-2062 Oscilloscope with Labview 21012

[cpitsoftware]

Hi,

I work in the ICT department for a New Zealand Polytechnic. Our electrical school uses GW Instek GDS-2062 oscilloscopes and GW Instek's Freewave software to display the output for students on screen. We are moving to 64 bit next year, which GW Instek has confirmed is not compatible with Freewave.

Another department is buying a site license for Labview 2012, so my idea is to leverage this and provide a solution for the electrical school. I've been playing the trial and trying to get the the scope's output to display from the GDS-2062 within the Labview 2012 software. I'm using the driver from http://www.gwinstek.com/en/product/productdetail.aspx?pid=3&mid=7&id=34 - this is the page that the NI website links to as well. I've put the files within the Labview Program Files folder also.

Does anybody have some tips on how to get this done, whether in general or specifically with this device? All we need to do is display the scope's output on screen in Labview.

Thanks

[Dennis_Knutson]

First note that you posted to the wrong board. This is Additional NI Product Boards>High-Speed Digitizers. You should in the future post to the Instrument Control board.

Assuming that you installed the driver in the correct location, When you select Help>Find Examples, you'll get the example you need under Hardware Input and Output>>nstrument Drivers>LabVIEW Plug and Play. If something does not work, you need to provide details. You have not mentioned the type of connection you are using or any error code you might be getting. There is a lot of information on what a driver is and how to use one on the main Instrument Driver Network. If you've never used LabVIEW, you should first start with the LabVIEW 101 tutorial.

[cpitsoftware]

Thanks for your response - and apologies for posting in the wrong place.

The device is connected via USB, but once GW Instek's device driver is installed it appears in the PC's Device Manager as "DSO (COM3" - so it is seen as a Serial Device.

I have installed "NI VISA", which then gave me access to "Devices and Interfaces" in the Measurement and Automation Explorer. I can "open visa test panel" on the COM3 device, and when running the default test query (input/output tab) I get a response containing the device's model number - so yes, communication with the PC is working.

I installed the Labview driver under C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2012\instr.lib\DSO\DSO Folder - (I read somewhere that drivers go under instr.lib). Under DSO Folder is Examples, Public and Private folders, as well as files called DSO.aliases, DSO.lvlib, DSO.lvproj . If I double click an example in here from within Windows Explorer, such as "DSO Acquire Waveform.vi"LabView launches. I go Operate - Run, but after a few seconds I get:

"Error -1073807346 occurred at VISA Open in DSO.lvlib.Initiailze.vi -> DSO Acquire Waveform.vi. Possible reason(s): VISA: (Hex 0xBFF000E). The given session or object reference is invalid"

This doesn't mean too much to me! Looking under Help - Find Examples where you suggested there are only options for an "Agilent 34401" device. I've had a look at the tutorial linked but it doesn't seem too helpful in this situation.

I hope I've provided enough info - Any ideas based on the above? If any more info is needed let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

[cpitsoftware]

I've found that by setting the VISA resource name to the correct COM port it now works.

I'll have a look around to find some info about adjusting the amplitude scale and how often the device updates to the screen - thanks for your assistance. Once's it's sorted I'll mark the thread as solved.

[fishingman]

Hi, I have several scope of this reference. I use it on our bays test. I communicate via USB which is based on the RS232 protocol. I used the Labview driver given on the website of goodwill and I also used the driver Labwindows. These drivers allow you to configure your scope and measure all your signals as manual. If you need help you can contact me.