Transferring a cable correction file from from computer to E4407B using GPIB/VISA

[ohboy5678]

Not sure how to remotely transfer a cable correction file from my laptop to an E4407B using GPIB/VISA

[GerdW]

Hi boy,

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@ohboy5678 wrote:

Not sure how to remotely transfer a cable correction file from my laptop to an E4407B using GPIB/VISA

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Whatever that "correction file" might be: you will find all the possible options (and commands) in the manual of your device!

[ohboy5678]

Actually the ESAs only has external VISA cmds to move files around on the machine itself.  PSAs have FTP and Telnet ability as well as others to push/pull from the machine.  I can save the screen shot to the machine's hard drive then transfer it to binary and then to my laptop however I don't know how to transfer a txt file or similar file to and from the machine. Haven't been able to find anyone that has done that via VISA.

[NIquist]

Did you look at the drivers for that instrument?  There is Configure Correction VI that looks like it sends arrays of Frequency and Amplitude arrays for correcting the antenna and cable.

Try Tools > Instrumentation > Find Instrument Drivers and search for Agilent Technologies E4407.  

Otherwise they're on the NI IDN:  Agilent Technologies / Keysight Technologies E4407B ESA Spectrum Analyzer - Instrument Driver - Nati...

Hopefully that's what you need.

[ohboy5678]

I don't have any issue turning on any correction factors.  The VI you showed is just to turn corrections on and off remotely via VISA. I don't have any issues talking to the machine over GPIB/VISA with the usual cmds.   Problem is I don't know how to push or pull a file like cable corrections that has a .CBL extension on it.  These older machines don't use comma delimited CVS or txt files.  They have unique extensions for antenna, cable etc.  I don't think the extension is the issue though.  Just don't know if its possible to transfer a file to an ESA machine over GPIB.  

[santo_13]

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Just don't know if its possible to transfer a file to an ESA machine over GPIB.  

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Were you able to check the instrument programmer's manual to see if there is such a command? On the other hand, you can also reach out to Keysight support to check if the instrument has a feature to transfer the corrections file over GPIB.

[rolfk]

Looks to me like that import CBL, Antenna of whatever correction file upload feature is something that your software provides that you used in the past. It simply loads that file parses the values and then sends it off to the instruments using the command that NIquist showed you.

If that file is not in CVS or other text format, then it should be documented somewhere. It sounds very unlikely to me that the device has a download file function.

If the original software was not written in LabVIEW using this instrument driver, there is a pretty good chance that the data is simply in the HP Binary Data Transfer syntax that they usually use when downloading large binary data to or from an instrument.

The VI as pointed out by NIquest does most likely encode the two arrays into such binary strings to send them to the device. How exactly the two arrays are placed in that file is of course something you have to find out and the file ending most likely determines the Correction Set parameter, but it could also be contained in the file as a header in binary or text form.

[NIquist]

I think I found the SCPI commands you need to load the .CBL and .ANT files though GPIB.  There are two main user manuals.  Volume 1 has the commands you need.

Go here:  Technical Support: E4407B ESA-E Spectrum Analyzer, 9 kHz to 26.5 GHz [Obsolete] | Keysight

Select User Manuals (there are 17!) and download both volumes of the User-Programmer References.  In Vol 1, page 294 it shows the commands.  Here is the part you probably need:

Load a Corrections Table from a File
:MMEMory:LOAD:CORRection
ANTenna|CABLe|OTHer|USER,<file_name>
Loads the data in the file <file_name> to the specified correction set.
Example: :MMEM:LOAD:CORR ANT, “A:TEST5.CBL”
Front Panel
Access: File, Load, Type, Corrections

You will still need to write a script to open the VISA connection and write to the instrument of course.  I do have an E4407B in my lab so I can try to help with that if you get stuck (and I have time)...

Good Luck!

[ohboy5678]

Hi.  I'm familiar with that command.  That is the remote cmd to load the correction into memory prior to turning it on.  The issue I have it getting it onto the machine from a PC.  Only way I can do it right now it via a 3 1/4" floppy like a cave man. 

If you have some code to transfer a file from a PC to a 4407 that would be great.  Can be in any format since there is a copy cmd that takes the original file name and coverts it to what ever you need.  

:MMEM:COPY ‘C:\oldname.sta’,’A:\newname.sta’ copies
C:\OLDNAME.STA to A:\NEWNAME.STA

Other issue is I don't know exactly what the correction file format is yet.  Waiting for my USB to floppy drive to arrive so I can download the correction file from the 4407, place it on the PC and analyzer the file format.  

Thanks for your time.

[ohboy5678]

below is what I've tried so far.

The first renames the file on the 4407.  The second is my attempt to transfer the file from the 4407 to my PC.  First one works fine but second is the issue.