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53131A Counter, any chance to use .NET?

Question asked by Wernherr on Jun 11, 2010
Latest reply on Sep 18, 2014 by hp3458a3458z

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Hi,

I have a 53131A counter connected over a GPIB together with several other instruments that support IVI-COM drivers (34980A switch and E3646A power supply) hanging on the same GPIB string.

My software that communicates to the instruments is a C# .NET application.
In the Agilent drivers support section of the counter I only see a 17 years old VEE panel driver ...

Does that mean I have to write a new driver based on SCPI syntax to support the 53131A counter?
Or is there any chance to communicate to the instrument in a more modern way?

I hope this question is not too far off topic since this forum is related to VEE Software.
I just don't know any better place to post it.

Regards,
Wernherr

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MichaelWatts Jun 14, 2010 1:43 AM
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Wernherr,

The short answer is yes, you need to write your own driver. If you have VEE available you could use that ( with the panel driver ) to learn the command strings you need. Either way the task is not particularly arduous and by design it is easy to build SCPI strings. I'm assuming you're using the T & M toolkit which should take the pain out of the communications with the instruments.

The other thing about SCPI is that, as far as possible, it is designed to be independent of instrument and manufacturer so it would be worth doing a quick internet search for C# or Java code already written for a counter which you can port and/or extend for your own use.
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Wernherr Jun 14, 2010 7:24 AM
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Michael,

thanks for your recommandations.
By now I did not decide whether to use the T & M toolkit or not.
If I do I would like to use the T & M DirectIO toolkit that can be included into Visual Studio .NET.
Are there other toolkits available?

As mentioned before I have a string of 4 different devices on the GPIB that is
1. Agilent 34980A where I have an IVI-COM driver already
2. Agilent E3646A power supply also with IVI-COM driver
3. Agilent 53131A counter where I have to write something...
4. HAMEG HM8118 LCR-meter where I also have to write a driver consisting of SCPI strings

In this mixture of devices and technologies do I face a threading problem because they all are connected to the same GPIB?
I would like to write object oriented code with 4 different instances of drivers with none of them knowing each other.
E.g. in a distinct driver I would like to poll the status of some connection absolutely independent of what any other driver is doing on the same bus system at the same time.
Does the GPIB take care of that? Or do I have to synchronize the 4 drivers in a way that they do not disturb each other?

Regards,
Wernherr
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- hp3458a3458z @ Wernherr on Sep 18, 2014 1:37 PM
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  hi;
  I am just starting to try to program the 34980a in VB .Net and encountering difficulties. If you have any programming insight, suggestions or examples, that would help. I am using a GPIB-USB & also have an 6652a ps that needs to be controlled.
  rick
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MichaelWatts Jun 15, 2010 3:15 AM
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Wernherr,

There should be no problem with multiple devices on the GPIB - like all contended hardware it queues messages and all data is addressed to the particular device*. Furthermore there is no problem mixing technologies IVI-COM with SCPI**.

I should point out that like other contended devices you will need to guard against deadlock i.e. where 2 threads are interdependent and waiting for a response - there are lots of resources on the internet regarding this and you're probably unlikely to encounter it in a typical "set up source - make measurement" scenario... however if you are not familiar with the principle now would be a good time to acquaint yourself with it!

I don't know of any other toolkits: I think Agilent's is unique/open whereas everyone else wants to tie you to their programming language.

* the exception to this is where you want to do multi-device operations e.g. serial poll or parallel poll where ( in an object-oriented sense ) you may want to have a 'Poll' object against which each instrument object registers

** mixing technologies for a _single device_ e.g. using both IVI-COM and SCPI to the same instrument is not recommended

Regards, Mike
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Wernherr Jun 15, 2010 3:26 AM
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Michael,

thanks again.
So I can develop object oriented code with indepentand instances of the different devices.
I don't think I will face threading problems while the GPIB is able to direct messages to distinct devices.
Beside that I am familiar with threaded programming and the scenario of dead locks.

Btw I have found C# sample code communicating to the Agilent 53131A frequency counter:
http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/edi ... &id=887948
That's just what I was looking for.

Regards,
Wernherr
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Wernherr Jun 18, 2010 3:51 AM
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Hi,

When I was searching for the Agilent T&M Toolkit 2.1 I saw it is obsolete.
http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/pro ... =US&lc=eng

It is recommended to use the IO Libraries Suite 15.5 now.
I have installed it but I do not have any support in my Visual Studio like
when I choose "New Project..." I would like to see something like
"Agilent IO Library Suite Project" to build an application with.

Or is the support for C# different in a way that the IO Library Suite just
comes with additional files that I only have to add to my project?

Does it also work with VS2008 Express Edition?

Regards,
Wernherr
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53131A Counter, any chance to use .NET?

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