I
-
I
-
Automated Measurement Setup and Control
COMPUTER
CONTROLLING PROGRAM
The production of RF components often involves several steps, each step
requiring a unique set of instrument settings. Likewise, the different test
configurations at each step may require associated calibrations. Requiring
the operator to manually enter these sets of parameters (or “states”) or to
calibrate at each step in the manufacturing process is slow, prone to error,
and costly.
An automated measurement system
cil~l
be used to achieve fast and
consistent transitions between measurement setups. In an automated system,
the instrument parameters are set under program control. The control
program can be an
IBASIC
program running inside the analyzer, or be in
another language running on an external computer. The control program
sends SCPI and
IEEE-488
commands to the analyzer’s HP-IB or LAN interface.
The HP-IB commands rapidly change the instrument settings or calibration.
COMPUTER DISK
Hard Disk or External Floppy)
,““““““““”
?
Instrument State File
i
(STATEn.STA)
I
:--------I
NETWORK ANALYZER
FULL INSTRUMENT STATE
Single Parameter
SCPI
Corrmands
File Transfer Commands
I
(MMMTRANS)
or
FTP
ANALYZER D I SK
(RAM
0r
3.5”
Floppy)
SAVE/RECALL
(MMEM:LOAD:STA
T)
(MMEM:STOR:STAT)
If
,‘---------‘-‘---‘-
b:
Instrument State File
‘d
I
I
I
(STATEnSTA)
I
I
L,,,,,,,,,,,,------
pp614c
Figure 7-8. Measurement Control
7-44