Seeking LabVIEW drivers for Anritsu 37xxxC "lightning" VNA

[Matt Moose]

Hello,

I'm currently waiting to hear from Anritsu (US) as to whether they
have a definitive set of LV drivers for this RF vector network
analyser.

Meanwhile, does anyone out there have these drivers, or know where
they might be obtained please?

Best wishes,

Matt Rhys-Roberts.

[Dennis_Knutson]

There's one for the 37200A VNA here that you can download. I don't know the differences between the A and C model but I would imagine that they're close enough that you can use it as a starting point.

Message Edited by Support on 10-03-2007 02:17 PM

[Matt Moose]

Hi Dennis,

Thanks - already got this, but was worried about driver
incompatibilities due to my sheer lack of knowledge. (I recall that
Anritsu said it'd *probably* be OK, but minus the more exotic and
hopefully less-used features!)

My problem is that I'd hate it if the job I need to do drags on due to
shortage of the right softs.

In the absence of a suitable driver, I wonder how much more laborious
it would be to use LabView's Instrument I/O Assistant? Do you (or
anyone else) think this would be just as effective?

Regards,
Matt.


Dennis Knutson wrote in message news:<506500000005000000FD770100-1079395200000@exchange.ni.com>...
> There's one for the 37200A VNA
> href="http://zone.ni.com/idnet97.nsf/9b2b33e1993d877786256436006ec498/a433
91701f2975ec862568ab005f...
> that you can download. I don't know the differences between the A and
> C model but I would imagine that they're close enough that you can use
> it as a starting point.

[Dennis_Knutson]

That would depend on how many commands you need and how familiar you are with the instrument's programming language. The assistant, imho, is best suited for small tasks and limited abiltiy for code reuse. I think it's easier to modify a small number of VIs in a driver than use a large number of assistant VIs in a program but then I've been doing LabVIEW and instrument drivers for a long time. The best solution for you might be to use a combination of the two. Compare the functions in the driver to how you expect to use the instrument and see what works.

[Ray.R]

Hi Matt,

Have you looked at the "Lightning Command Encyclopedia (LCE)"?

You can find it at the bottom of this link..

http://www.us.anritsu.com/downloads/default.aspx?kind=prod&ID=92&DownType=6

JLV

[Matt Moose]

Hi all,

Glad to say that it didn't take long for us to write a new driver!
It's basically a wrapper around the sending of different GPIB command
strings, with lots of room for alteration and expansion.

Although there were plenty of specific VI's for the Anritsu 372xxA, we
decided to write a driver that encapsulated at least what we needed
our analyser to do for the time being, and call it from a higher
level.

Special thanks to Steve Watts and his excellent book (see
www.ssdc.co.uk), and the ever helpful folk at Anritsu.

The Lightning Command Encyclopedia has been invaluable in saving time
looking up GPIB codes, searching for command descriptions etc.

Regards,
Matt.



JoeLabView wrote in message news:<5065000000050000006D780100-107939520
0000@exchange.ni.com>...
> Hi Matt,
>
> Have you looked at the "Lightning Command Encyclopedia (LCE)"?
> [snip]