Can I use NI Scope for a hardware other than that of NI?

[Nayan]

Hi there..

I want to make an Oscilloscope and I want it to be same as the NI Scope.

So, My questions are :

1. Can I use NI softwares (e.g. NI scope) for non-NI hardware?

2. Can I customize the NI software (e.g. NI scope) according to my needs?

[Dennis_Knutson]

The functions in NI-Scope are only for NI hardware but you can create your own driver that performs the same functions. What is the connection type? VISA supports GPIB, serial, Ethernet, USB, pci, vxi. There are numerous scope drivers available that you can look at. Details of the low level commands would of course be different.

[Nayan]

Thanks Dennis for the fast reply.

As you said that I can create my own driver.

How can I do that?

Also you said there are numerous oscilloscope drivers available.. Can you name some of them?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Go to the instrument driver network at http://www.ni.com/downloads/instrument-drivers/

You will find tutorials on creating a driver and you can search for existing drivers. Agilent and Tek are two of the largest manufacturers of scopes. Their drivers are generally for GPIB, USBTMC, and Ethernet connections and the instruments implement the SCPI command set. How far are you planning on going? Commercial use, hobbyist, one-off?

And if you post again, please provide the details I asked for. Your question is pretty generic.

[Nayan]

Okay..

My connection type is yet to be decided.

It would either be Serial or USB.

It depends on the speed of rceiving data. If it will be possible serialy then we can use serial data.

can serial data be useful and be trusted to acquire real time data at sufficient speed ??

I know how to communicate with serial data trough VISA. But I haven't used USB and do not know how the communication happens, as I am very new to Labview.

The oscilloscope will be there for Commercial use.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Real Time and sufficient speed are meaningless terms. Certainly serial can be used as you can see from the communication options from existing vendors. It will certainly be slower than USB (depending on the type of implementation). The acquisition itself is independent of the connection type. What is affected is the transfer of data after the acquisition is complete and the time between acquisitions.

[Dennis_Knutson]

As a quick follow up, there is a series of nuggets on USB communication with VISA written by Intaris. Well e worth the search. Check usb.org for the USB specs.

[Nayan]

Okay Dennis. Thank you very much for your Suggestions.