Technical data

Connecting Instruments to USB 4
Agilent Connectivity Guide 73
Step 1: Install Agilent IO Libraries Suite on Your PC
Install Agilent IO Libraries Suite and other I/O software on your PC
before you connect instruments to USB. See Installing Agilent I/O
Libraries Suite in Chapter 2 for details.
Step 2: Connect Instruments to USB
This step provides a USB interface overview, shows how to connect
USB Instruments using the USB ports on your PC, or by using the
Agilent 82357B USB/GPIB Interface Converter.
USB Interface Overview
When a USB device that implements the USBTMC (Universal Serial
Bus, Test and Measurement Class) or USBTMC-USB488 protocol is
plugged into the computer, the Agilent IO Libraries Suite automatically
detects the device. It is important to note that only USBTMC and
USBTMC-USB488 devices are recognized by the IO Libraries Suite.
Other USB devices such as printers, scanners, and storage devices are
not recognized and cannot be programmed with the Agilent IO Libraries
Suite. “USB instruments” in the remainder of this chapter refers to
devices that implement the USBTMC or USBTMC-USB488 protocol.
Connecting an Instrument via USB or Converter. The Universal
Serial Bus (USB) is a quick and easy way to connect instruments to PCs
on a benchtop. Some newer instruments have USB interfaces built in;
for those that do not, you can use the Agilent 82357B USB/GPIB
Interface Converter to connect GPIB instruments to a USB port on
your PC. You can use USB to connect a single instrument to a PC; or,
with the 82357B, you can connect up to 14 GPIB instruments.