agilent a54845a scope configuration

[G.P.G.]

Hi all,

I am trying to configure the Agilent scope 54845a in LabView. I have installed the necessary driver (hhttp://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=E3B19B3E9118659CE034080020E74861) and placed the instrument over LAN. NI MAX succesfully sees the instrument, and I can send commands to the scope through the NI VISA test. 

When I try the labview test "hp54xx Getting started.vi" present with the driver, then the problems pop up. I can successfully set the proper IVI input (the scope name recognized by NI MAX) but I cannot set option string (the VI only runs in Simulation=1 mode); if I try to set Simulation=0, I get various kind of errors, such as:

Error -1073807339 occurred at hp548xx Read Waveform.vi

Possible reason(s):
Driver Status:  (Hex 0xBFFF0015) Timeout expired before operation completed.

Or, even applying the preset parameters:

Error -1074135024 occurred at hp548xx Configure Channel.vi

Possible reason(s):

Driver Status: (Hex 0xBFFA0010) Invalid value for parameter or property.

Secondary Error: (Hex 0xBFFC0003) Parameter 3 out of range, or error occurred while setting Parameter 3.

Elaboration: Range

Am I facing some known issues? May it be related to the fact that I connect through LAN, while the driver only mentions GPIB? 

Thanks in advance.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Did you create an IVI Logical Name and use that instead of the normal VISA name?

Is there a reason you need to use IVI? There is a native LabVIEW driver for the B model.

[G.P.G.]

Hello Dennis,

thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, I have defined the proper logical name. After some work, I got the waveform acquisition working only if I connect the instrument via GPIB. If connecting through LAN, there are sync or timing issues - probably the driver does not handle them correctly. Is there any way I can override those settings? I'd prefer to have a LAN instead of GPIB connection. 

I have also checked version B, but initialization fails. By the way, version A instrument seems not among the supported ones in the B driver. 

[Dennis_Knutson]

Fixing the initialization of the native LabVIEW driver is simply a matter of changing the expected string with the idn query. I'm not sure what else you might have to change. I'm also not sure what would have to be changed with the IVI driver to support a LAB connection. You need CVI to make any edits.

[G.P.G.]

Hi, 

thanks again. It does not look straightforward to me. However, I do not find any viable alternative (driver, etc.) to use this scope via LAN. It's a pity: I have tried newer Agilent scopes (3000x and 9000x) and they plug-and-play work both on LAN and USB.  

[Dennis_Knutson · Accepted solution]

The alternatives are to write your own driver or make the necessary modifications to the existing ones. Either are very viable if you have an understanding of the instrument manual and some LabVIEW experience. The id query in the initialize function is a simple string comparison. Have you even looked at the block diagram?

[G.P.G.]

Hello,

well thanks for your comments, I will have a look into it even though I was looking for a ready-made solution to not waste too much time on this.