Owner's manual
8
Model 845-M Programmer’s
Manual
V1.1 2011
NI-VISA
3.0 or later allows you to
communicate as
a
controller
to
Model
845-M
. NI-VISA is
configured to detect
USBTMC compliant instruments such as
the
Model
845-M
.
To
use such
a
device,
plug it in and Windows
should
detect the new hardware and
launch
the New Hardware Wizard.
Instruct
the
wiza
rd
to
search
for the driver,
which in this
case is NI-VISA.
If
NI-VISA is
properly
installed,
the
device
will be
installed as
a
USB Test
&
Measurement
Class Device.
Open Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). The new
device
will appear in
MAX under
Device
and
Interfaces
»
USB Devices.
You
can
then
use
this
resource
name
as
you would
use
any
GPIB
resource.
USB-TMC
Interface Connection and Setup using BNC API
BNC API
programming interface
supports
dire
c
t
communication
to
Model
845-M
using
BNC’s proprietary
DLL
driver
libraries.
The library allows setup a
communication channel
though
USB, LAN
, or
GPIB
from any
programming environment.
Please
cont
a
c
t
Berkeley Nucleonics
for more detailed documentation, programming
samples,
and
updates
on
th
e
DLL
library.
GPIB
Interface Connection and Setup
This
documentation
is
available in an updated
version
of this
programmer’s
manual.
Using
SCPI
for Mode1 845-M
The
Standard Commands
for
Programmable
Instrumentation
(SCPI) provides
a uniform and consistent
language to control programmable test and
measurement devices
in instrumentation
systems.
The
SCPI
Standard
is
built on the foundation of
IEEE-488.2, Standard Codes
and
Formats.
It requires
conformance
to
IEEE-488.2,
but
is
pure software
standard.
SCPI
syntax
is ASCII
text, and therefore can be attached to any
computer test language,
such as BASIC, C,
or
C++.
It
can also
be
used
with Test
Application
Environmen
t
s
such
as
LabWindows/CVI, LabVIEW™,
or Matlab®.
SCPI is
hardware
independent.
SCPI strings can
be sent over any
instrument interface. It works equally well over USB- TMC,
GPIB, RS-232, VXIbus
or
LAN
networks.
Please see
the
chapter
4 for detailed
description
of supported
SCPI
commands.