Read measurements directly from TDS3012B oscilloscope

[nihobbist]

Is there a way to read measurements (e.g., frequency) directly from TDS3012B oscilloscope using SignalExpress? I know you could use Instrument I/O Assist to accomplish this. But you would have to build a VI for it. Also, I don't want to read the signal and do the calculation again in SignalExpress. The measurements are already done in the scope. It seems easy to just read them directly.

Thanks. 

[jallen88]

nihobbist,
Tektronix distributes a special Tektronix Edition of NI LabVIEW SignalExpress that includes built-in support for the TDS3012B.

I would recommend using this software as it will require very little configuration on your part.

Alternatively, you can download an IVI instrument driver for the TDS3012B and use it in SignalExpress.

[nihobbist]

I did try SignalExpress with the IVI driver. But I cannot find a function to read measurements directly from the scope. Thanks for the reply.

[Nathan-P]

That functionality that you are looking for, in the IVI Driver definition (http://www.ivifoundation.org/downloads/Class%20Specifications/IVI-4.1_Scope_2011-02-14.pdf)  is called "IviScopeWaveformMeas".  It doesn't seem that its a function that is supported by the niSCOPE driver or the "tkds 30xx" driver.  If it was supported it *should* (not exactly sure), appear in the Select Channel menu.  

Sorry, but you will just have to have it calculate the frequency at this time.

[DFGray]

The SignalExpress NI-SCOPE and IVI-SCOPE steps do not support reading measurements directly from the instrument.  I am not familiar enough with the Tektronix scope steps to say for sure, but they are based on the National Instruments IVI-SCOPE steps, so I would expect them to not support reading measurements directly either.  I would recommend you ask for this feature on the SignalExpress improvements thread.  Be aware that Tektronix controls the Tektronix steps.

Note that the LabVIEW APIs for both NI-SCOPE and IVI-SCOPE support reading measurements directly from the instrument.  You could use this to make a user step, if desired.  It would, however, be easier to use the SignalExpress steps on the output waveform, even though it is less efficient.