User Manual

Chapter 6 513
Programming Fundamentals
Improving Measurement Speed
Programming Fundamentals
Avoid unnecessary use of *RST.
Remember that while *RST does not change the current Mode, it
presets all the measurements and settings to their factory defaults.
This forces you to reset your analyzer’s measurement settings even if
they use similar mode setup or measurement settings. See Minimize
DUT/instrument setup changes. below. (Also note that *RST may put
the instrument in single measurement/sweep for some modes.)
Put ADC Ranging in Bypass for FFT Measurements
Setting ADC ranging to the Bypass mode can speed FFT measurements
up by 10% to 50%. (Use ADC:RANG NONE) Bypass allows triggered
FFT measurements to occur at the trigger time instead of following an
autoranging time, so it can improve measurement speed. It does,
however, add additional noise degrading your signal to noise level, so it
should be used carefully.
Minimize DUT/instrument setup changes.
• Some instrument setup parameters are common to multiple
measurements. You should look at your measurement process with
an eye toward minimizing setup changes. If your test process
involves nested loops, make sure that the inner-most loop is the
fastest. Also, check if the loops could be nested in a different order to
reduce the number of parameter changes as you step through the
test.
• Are you are using the measurements under the
MEASURE key?
Remember that if you have already set your Meas Setup parameters
for a measurement, and you want to make another one of these
measurements later, use READ:<meas>?. The MEASure:<meas>?.
command resets all the settings to the defaults, while READ changes
back to that measurement without changing the setup parameters
from the previous use.
• Are you are using the Measurements under the
MEASURE key?
Remember that Mode Setup parameters remain constant across all
the measurements in that mode (e.g. center/channel frequency,
amplitude, radio standard, input selection, trigger setup). You don’t
have to re-initialize them each time you change to a different
measurement.