RE: Agilent / Keysight Spectrum Analyzer N9322C – Programming and Remote Control

michaelkellett — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 07:47:18 GMT

I notice that you've used the VI horror and bloatware (sorry I have an allergy to VISA [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-8dcdd82f-409c-4cee-8d08-c34a6b2aef21/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]) to interface C with the N9322C. But once you've done this you're still sending SCPI commands as text strings. I've had a lot less trouble just talking directly through a TCP socket - one is sending just the same text strings but you don't need to install any additional software or drivers.

I recently bought a Keithly Dual SMU (2614B) which I control the same way. Keithly call the direct interface the "raw" interface but interestingly this instrument doesn't really support SCPI but uses Lua internally and as its command language. Once you get used to it it's very nice and you can develop a test sequence sending commands one at a time but then, because the commands are just lines of Lua, you can build them into a script which you download to the instrument and they can all run as a block.

The point of all this is to get round to asking you if the N9322C supports any higher level remote control protocol/command set than SCPI commands.

Thanks for blog 1 !