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automation of Agilent 89600VSA

Question asked by hanane88 on Mar 22, 2011
Latest reply on Apr 20, 2011 by andyowen

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Hello
first i'm sorry for my bad english , second i've just started with Agilent 89600VSA , my task during my internship is to automate this instrument , Develop routines for auto-configuration and how to extract information(specially im in need of power values and EVM in 802.11n ), i read the doc , i find that i can automate with different languages (MATLAB, VB ...) using COM API , the problem is what i want to do is possible or not with VB and if is possible how can do it , i want just a recommandation or a useful website to start automation
I would be grateful

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andyowen Mar 24, 2011 6:50 PM
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Did you check in the help file for the 89601A software?

Launch the software, go to "Help", and "Contents." This is the main help file and should be consider as "the manual." Go to the entry called "COM API Programming" and you will see a link that will launch a separate help file for all topics regarding programming using the COM API. In the new help file, you will see a topic called "Example Programs" and there are several written in VB.

You can also launch the help file without launching the software. In the Windows Start Menu, go to Programs, Agilent 89600 VSA, then Help. This is the default start menu entry.
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hanane88 Mar 28, 2011 12:49 AM
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actually i'm starting with writing macro in VBScript , for basic configuration it works and i'm still searching in help file , thank you very much
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andyowen Mar 28, 2011 8:01 AM
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Macros are an excellent way of learning the COM API. You can record your actions and read the resulting commands in the macro. Then you can edit it by adding branching and looping with "if," "then," "while," etc
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hanane88 Mar 31, 2011 2:39 AM
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I have just create some macros , and i want to execute it from another Python program using MS-DOS command (the ojectif is to introduce Agilent measerment in "banc cablé" with other equipment controled with Pyhton), First i tried this directly cscript "path\macro.vbs" but it doesnt work , can I already excute macros in VBScript with DOS command ??
thank you in advance and I'm sorry for my bad english
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andyowen Apr 1, 2011 4:23 PM
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Hmm... I will have to look into this some more. If your program can access the COM API itself, you can launch macros with the Application.Macro.Run() method. Stay tuned...
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andyowen Apr 5, 2011 9:10 PM
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Can you please post the text from your macro so I can read it and run it? Or you can send it to me in a private message.
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hanane88 Apr 7, 2011 3:23 AM
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this is an example of a macro wich configue VSA for OFDM 802.11n demodulation , i want to call it from an external file

Sub Main
     Measurement.Inputs.ChannelConfig = vsaInpsChanCnf2
     Measurement.Frequency.Center = 2442000000
     Measurement.Frequency.Span = 40000000
     Measurement.DemodConfig = vsaMeasDemodCnfOFDM11n
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.Normalize = True
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.FftSize = vsaOFDM11nFft64
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.PilotTrackPhase = True
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SubCarrierSpacing = 312500
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SymbolTimeAdjust = -3.125
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.EqualizerTraining = vsaOFDM11nEqTrainingChanEstData
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.PilotTrackType = vsaDigDemodOFDM11nTrkMIMOTypePreEQ
     Display.Traces(5).Active = True
     Display.Traces(5).DataName = "OFDM HT-SIG Info"
     Display.Traces(2).Active = True
     Measurement.Inputs.InpChannels(1).Range = .199526231496888
     Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SubCarrierModFormat = vsaOFDM11nSubCarrierFmtQAM64
End Sub

Thank you very much for your replays
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andyowen Apr 7, 2011 4:45 PM
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There are three things that need to be done when calling macros external to the VSA software (this assumes that VSA is already running):

1) Remove "Sub Main...End Sub"
2) Use "GetObject()" to get a reference to an instance of the VSA software ("app" in the example below) and prepend each method with the name of that reference ("app.Measurement..."). This is handled automatically when you call it from the macro menu but must be done explicitly when executing it externally. For ease, you could use a "with" statement which is supported in VB.
3) You cannot use the VSA enums when using macros externally. Therefore, anywhere you see an enum (vsaOFDM11nEqTrainingChanEstData, for example) you must replace it with the corresponding integer. I changed the macro to define each one of these in the line before it is used.

Please copy this into notepad and save as *.vbs and you should be able to call it from DOS or by double-clicking on it.

'Get reference to existing instance of VSA application
dim app
Set app = GetObject(,"AgtVsaVector.Application")

'Define vsaInpsChanCnf2
vsaInpsChanCnf2 = 1
app.Measurement.Inputs.ChannelConfig = vsaInpsChanCnf2

app.Measurement.Frequency.Center = 2442000000
app.Measurement.Frequency.Span = 40000000

'Define vsaMeasDemodCnfOFDM11n
vsaMeasDemodCnfOFDM11n = 13
app.Measurement.DemodConfig = vsaMeasDemodCnfOFDM11n

app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.Normalize = True

'Define vsaOFDM11nFft64
vsaOFDM11nFft64 = 64
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.FftSize = vsaOFDM11nFft64

app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.PilotTrackPhase = True
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SubCarrierSpacing = 312500
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SymbolTimeAdjust = -3.125

'Define vsaOFDM11nEqTrainingChanEstData
vsaOFDM11nEqTrainingChanEstData = 1
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.EqualizerTraining = vsaOFDM11nEqTrainingChanEstData

'Define vsaDigDemodOFDM11nTrkMIMOTypePreEQ
vsaDigDemodOFDM11nTrkMIMOTypePreEQ = 1
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.PilotTrackType = vsaDigDemodOFDM11nTrkMIMOTypePreEQ

app.Display.Traces(5).Active = True
app.Display.Traces(5).DataName = "OFDM HT-SIG Info"
app.Display.Traces(2).Active = True
app.Measurement.Inputs.InpChannels(1).Range = .199526231496888

'Define vsaOFDM11nSubCarrierFmtQAM64
vsaOFDM11nSubCarrierFmtQAM64 = 2
app.Measurement.DigDemodOFDM11n.SubCarrierModFormat = vsaOFDM11nSubCarrierFmtQAM64
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hanane88 Apr 15, 2011 6:08 AM
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unfortunately it doesnt work , i dont know the reasons . I think i will move to VB. thank you very much for your help
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andyowen Apr 20, 2011 4:25 PM
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Are you using Windows XP? Which service pack?

What happens if you double-click on the macro ("macro.vbs" for example)? Remember that for this example, there must be a running instance of the VSA.
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automation of Agilent 89600VSA

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