Communication with a HP 8566B ANalyser Spectrum with GPIB protocol?

[PierreTRT]

Hi, I want to communicate with a HP 8566B ANalyser SPectrum with GPIB protocol. The problem is that there is only a HPIB port on this device. Is it possible to communicate with my NI PCI-GPIB card?

Thanks,

Pierre

[Mohammed.Ashraf]

Dear Pierre
here is a brief history for the IB buss

The original bus system, designed by Hewlett Packard (today the Test & Measurements divisions name is Agilent Technologies), was called HPIB, a short form for Hewlett Packard Interface Bus.

Because of its success and proven reliability, in 1973 the HPIB bus became an US standard, introduced by the IEEE. Since then, the name has been GPIB, for General Purpose Interface Bus. The standards number is IEEE 488.1.

In parallel, the International Electronic Commission (IEC), responsible for the world-wide standardization, approved the standard and called it IEC 625.1. Due to the introduction of a new naming scheme for all standards, it was renamed to IEC 60625.1 later.

There was a slight difference between the IEEE 488.1 and IEC 625.1: The IEC 625.1 standard used a 25 pin DSUB connector for the bus, the IEEE 488.1 standard favored a Centronics-like 24 pin connector. Today, the 24 pin connector is always used, but there are also adaptors available in case older instruments are equipped with a 25 pin DSUB connector.

For these historical reasons, there exist several names for the same interface.

the GPIB as you can figure out is the globalized standard for instrument control, and was born from the HPIB ,
so according to my humble experience in instrument control , the GPIB is backward compatible with the HPIB based instruments, but i'm not sure that you might need an adaptor in case of different PIN assignments.

Regards...
Mohammed Ashraf
Certification and Testing Engineer

[Dennis_Knutson]

The HPIB and GPIB are identical. Hewlett-Packard (now Agilent), simply continued to call the interface HPIB. Probably out of some justifiable pride in inventing it. Unless the instrument is very, very old, it should state in the manual someplace which IEEE version of the spec it complies to. That's the thing you might have to worry about and in any case, the NI controller will work as well (and probably better) as any other controller.

Message Edited by Dennis Knutson on 07-02-2008 07:34 AM

[PierreTRT]

Thanks,

I'm waiting for my PCI-GPIB card and then I will be able to communicate with the Spectrum Analyser. However I want to begin the LabView code now, do you know where I can find a driver for the device: 8566B Spectrum Analyser, there isn't any device on NI website?

Pierre

[Dennis_Knutson]

Yes, there is. From LabVIEW, use Tools>Instrumentation>Find Instrument Drivers.

You can also go to http://www.ni.com/devzone/idnet/, click the Browse Drivers link at the top and then do a search. You will find two types of LabVIEW drivers. Use the project style if you have LabVIEW 8.x.

[John_Miles]

Hi, Pierre -- If you're looking for additional application software for your HP 8566B you might want to have a look at some of my freeware GPIB applications at http://www.ke5fx.com/gpib/readme.htm.  I have an 8566B and NI PCI-GPIB board myself and can personally attest that they work great together.