Keithley 2611B Reference Manual

Series 2600B
System SourceMeter® Instrument Reference Manual Section 2:
General operation
2600BS-901-01 Rev. B / May 2013 2-101
Interchangeable Virtual Instruments (IVI) style drivers
The major problem with VXIPnP drivers was that the API was not specific to the instrument. For
something as standard as measuring DC volts on a digital multimeter (DMM), it would be a good idea
if there were a set of standard functions to do this.
The IVI Foundation
(http://www.ivifoundation.org) defined a set of application programming interfaces
(APIs) for the following instruments: DMM, function generator, DC power supply, scope, switch,
spectrum analyzer, RF signal generator and power meter. They are currently working on class APIs
for some other instrument types.
There are two types of IVI drivers: IVI-COM drivers use Microsoft
®
COM technology to expose driver
functionality, while IVI-C drivers use conventional Microsoft
®
Windows
®
DLLs to export simple C-
based functions.
For more information about IVI drivers and the differences between the COM, C, and .NET interfaces,
see Making the Case for IVI
(http://pacificmindworks.com/docs/Making%20the%20Case%20for%20IVI.pdf).
NI CVI runtime engine
IVI-C drivers that are created using National Instruments (NI
TM
) LabWindows/CVI environment
depend on either the CVI runtime (cvirte.dll), or the instrument support run-time (instrsup.dll), and
must be present on the system for them to run.
NI IVI Compliance Package
The National Instruments (NI
TM
) IVI Compliance Package is a software package that contains IVI
class drivers and support libraries that are needed for the development and use of applications that
leverage IVI instrument interchangeability. The IVI Compliance Package also is based on and is
compliant with the latest version of the instrument programming specifications defined by the IVI
Foundation.
The NI ICP installer installs the IVI shared components, CVI runtime engine, and the instrument
support runtime engine.
Keithley I/O layer
The Keithley I/O Layer (KIOL) is a software package that contains several utilities and drivers. It is
mainly used as a supplement to IVI drivers, or application software like Test Script Builder (TSB).
The KIOL contains:
• NI-VISA
TM
Runtime-Time Engine
• Keithley Configuration Panel
• Keithley Communicator
NI-VISA Runtime
NI-VISA
TM
is National Instruments (NI
TM
) implementation of the VISA standard. There are two
versions: a full version and a run-time version. The Keithley I/O Layer (KIOL) contains a licensed
version of the NI-VISA Run-Time Engine that contains only the binary files (DLLs) that allow the NI-
VISA drivers to operate.

Keithley 2611B Specifications

General

Brand	Keithley
Model	2611B
Category	Measuring Instruments
Language	English