Transfering data from VNA to PC

[Asim@Radiosystems.lth.se]

Hi

My query is about Rohde&Schwarz VNA ZVC.

I have done a measurement and saved data to the harddrive of VNA.

I need hints about.. how to transer this data from VNA harddrive to a laptop's harddrive?(laptop is connected to the VNA at the GPIB port)

Hints:(& questions)

a)-Just like we can copy/transfer data from VNA harddrive to floppy manually using VNA hardkeys,Is it possible to tranfer the data from VNA harddive to PC harddrive through GPIB(SCPI..IEC/IEEE bus)port manually.(data is around 10Mb so I can not use floppy drive option of VNA)

b)-If I have to do it remotely using Labview what vi's should I use?
I have explored "read characters from files.vi" , "read file+(string).vi" but I am not sure what to use.

Looking forward for suggestions.
Thanks
Asim
aaf@es.lth.se

[Sergei]

Hi Asim, You have to do it remotely by using LabVIEW Plug and Play Instrument Driver or VXIPnP Driver, below is the link for those drivers:
http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=E3B19B3E9217659CE034080020E74861
Br,Sergei

[Asim@Radiosystems.lth.se]

Hi Sergei,

I have this mentioned driver installed,and I did the measurements using the same Plug n Play Instrument driver's vi's, but infact I could not locate a vi in the RSZV tree diagram that can transfer data to the PC.

The "RSZV Data Operation.vi" RECALLS or SAVES data to a destination in the VNA harddrive.I am not able to figure out how to tranfer this data that I have saved in VNA harddrive to the PC connected through GPIB.

Some background on Work
I have to make a software in LabVIEW that can run around 50 sweeps on VNA and collect data(channel response).
Data can be tranfered after each sweep but my preference is to collect all the data first on the VNA harddrive,then transfer it later to PC harddrive..to reduce the "measurement time" becauze data transfer significantly increases(3 times approx) the measurement time.


So far I am able to control the measurement routine remotely through RSZV LabView Plug n Play Instrument driver vis and collect data to VNA harddrive, but I am a little stuck now how to transfer this data to from VNA to PC.Do you have idea, which vi's in the Plug n Play Instrument driver that can perform this task?


I will be looking forward to your reply,

BR
Asim

[Dennis_Knutson]

The first place to look is in the manual or contact R&S to see if this function is supported by the instrument. If it is supported, then you can add that function to the driver. A driver doesn't necessarily have every function implemented. The author of the driver usually has to make some choices as to what to include and what not to. There is also a probability that there is no such function on the instrument. However, if you're using the driver to display information on a front panel of a VI, then you already have the data on the pc. You can save it directly from the VI in a format that you choose. This is the fastest method. The way you want to do it, you would be transferring the same data twice. It sounds like you might want to do some post-analysis of data captured by the instrument. If that's the case, you simply write a program to retrieve the data you saved with a format you understand.

[Sergei]

Also, You could use the VISA Read To File function which reads byte count synchronously and stores the transferred data in the file specified by filename (filename opens in binary mode). Br, Sergei

[Asim@Radiosystems.lth.se]

Hi Sergei

First of all thanks for the help.

I have explored "VISA Read To File" and other functions(Easy VISA Read,Easy VISA Register Read) but what I am not able to figure out is: How do I tell the location of the file on VNA harddrive to this function?


The files that I have saved on VNA harddrive are in ASCII format.(Each file is 100Kb).

Best Regards,
Asim

[Sergei]

Hi Asim, unfortunately you can not use this function to obtain the data write/read to-from the VNA drive. What type of information are you storing in the ASCII files?

[Asim@Radiosystems.lth.se]

Hi Sergei,


I am storing the result from each VNA sweep in an file of .ASC extension.The file contains stimulus values,real and imaginary values on each frequency point.I have pasted the data from one file below.


ZVC, 3.52

stimulus-start ; stimulus-stop ; stimulus-unit ; nof-points; parameter-type; impedance-ohm
3.10000000000E+09 ; 8.00000000000E+09 ; Hz ; 1601 ; S21 ; 50

conversion ; time-domain ; data-format ; param-unit; smoothing ; trace-math
S ; none ; COMPLEX ; none ; none ; none

sweep-mode-type ; notlinear-meas-mode
FUNDAMENTAL ; none


freq ; reS21 ; imS21
3.10000000000E+09; 0.00283919 ; 0.000511947
3.10306250000E+09; 0.00213721 ;-7.94461E-05
3.10612500000E+09; 0.00178947 ; 0.000212418
3.10918750000E+09; 0.00214409 ;-4.43975E-05........
........

I am also exploring other options to get this data out from this VNA harddrive through the COM port or parallel port by using some general data transfer protocol just like it is in the case of data transfer between two computers.This VNA has its on internal PC, but I have still not reached a solution.If you have information on these above mentioned alternate ways to get the data out please do guide me.

Best Regards,
Asim

[Asim@Radiosystems.lth.se]

Hi Sergei,

Heres one whole file attached with this mail,if you want to have a look at it.

BR,
Asim

[Sergei]

Hi, Below is my proporsal:

1. Connect your Master-PC to R&S VNA by using GPIB interface (NI-488.2)
2. Start your NI-LabView program (/name/.vi) on the Master-PC (.vi - 'init vna', 'config vna', 'meas vna' ....... and 'close vna')
3. Now you are ready to share the measurement data anywhere from your Master-PC

This is a simple way I guess so