Series Keithley Instruments through IVI Instrument Drivers MATLAB® is a well-known interactive software environment Before you start and programming language with more than 1,000,000 users. Before installing software drivers for your instrument, make sure MATLAB is used to generate waveforms for instruments, acquire you can communicate with your hardware. Keithley Instruments and analyze measurements, and build test systems. You can products have a number of PC interface options. For example, analyze and visualize data in MATLAB using interactive tools and the Model 3706 System Switch/DMM can be controlled via GPIB, command-line functions for data analysis tasks such as signal LXI (Ethernet), or USB. The IVI driver supports all of these processing, statistical analysis, digital filtering, and curve fitting. connection types. MATLAB supports using IVI instrument drivers with the MATLAB Instrument Control Toolbox. Follow the instructions that came with your instrument to connect it physically to your PC using the interface of your This note demonstrates how to use Keithley’s Model 3706 choice. Six-Slot System Switch with an integrated DMM to illustrate Before installing the IVI driver, two software utilities must be how to configure and control Keithley instruments from the installed on your system: MATLAB software environment using Keithley IVI instrument drivers. Although we are using an IVI instrument driver for a • Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA) Keithley 3706 switch in this example, all Keithley IVI drivers can • IVI Shared Components be installed and operated in much the same way. Following the • If you already have these utilities installed, continue on to steps outlined here allows you to use MATLAB easily to interface the next section. Otherwise, the Keithley IOLayer, which with any Keithley instrument that is supplied with an IVI-COM or will install both of these components, can be downloaded IVI-C instrument driver. at: http://www.keithley.com/data?asset=50932. Note: Check the release notes included with the version of Introduction the IVI driver you plan to install to verify its compatibility with the versions of VISA and the IVI shared components you plan IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instrument) drivers are designed to use. to allow a software development environment to control instruments using a set of commands common to a group or Installing the Keithley IVI Driver class of instruments. For instance, all DMMs have many of the same capabilities, regardless of the manufacturer. Using Once you have installed the Keithley IOLayer (or the IVI shared an IVI instrument driver helps system designers create tests components and VISA separately), you are ready to install the IVI and solutions that are independent of a particular individual driver for your instrument. Locate the driver on the product CD instrument model because the same IVI command set can or the specific instrument page at www.keithley.com. be interpreted by a number of similar instruments. Keithley The name of the installer for the Model 3706 System Switch/ Instruments provides IVI drivers for many of its most popular DMM is Ke37XX.1.0.2.0.msi, which indicates the model family instrument models. and driver version. Installers for other instruments employ similar naming conventions. Copy the file to your hard drive and MATLAB software supports open instrument standards then open it. An installation wizard will appear (Figure 1). including IVI instrument drivers with the MATLAB Instrument Control Toolbox. Once the IVI instrument driver Once the installation process is complete, the IVI driver will is installed on your computer, you can automatically generate be installed and operational. a MATLAB driver (wrapper) from the IVI instrument driver by following the instructions in the MATLAB IVI chapter in the Installing the MATLAB driver documentation. As a convenience to Keithley instrument users, Next, locate the MATLAB driver designed for use with the we have created many of these MATLAB drivers for you. This Keithley product with which you will be working. These guide will walk you through installing and configuring the drivers use the file extension *.mdd and can be downloaded Keithley IVI driver and then the associated MATLAB driver for at www.keithley.com or on MATLAB Central available through your instrument. This guide will also provide helpful hints on www.mathworks.com/keithley. Note: MATLAB Central is getting started using MATLAB to acquire your data. maintained by The MathWorks, the creators of MATLAB. For Step 1: Connect to the instrument >> connect(obj) This command opens a VISA session with the instrument, enabling further communication. Make sure to call the connect function immediately after creating the object.
Step 2: Verify instrument connection
>> display(obj) Instrument Device Object Using Driver: ke37xx Instrument Information Type: IVI Instrument Manufacturer: Keithley Instruments Model Ke37XX Driver Information DriverType: MATLAB IVI Figure 1. Installation wizard for Model 3706 IVI driver DriverName: ke37xx DriverVersion: 1.0 example, the filename for the Model 3706 MATLAB driver is called: ke37XX.mdd. Communication State Status: open Download this file to your local hard drive and make sure it is in your MATLAB working directory. The display(obj) function returns information about your instrument, such as the IVI driver version number and the MATLAB needs to locate the MATLAB instrument driver, so communication status. The communication Status should be now make sure MATLAB is installed on your computer. Note: “open” once the connect(obj) function has been called. MATLAB version R2008a or newer is required to use MATLAB with IVI instrument drivers such as those discussed in this Step 3: Resetting the instrument application note. >> devicereset(obj) After you start MATLAB, you should see the *.mdd file appear The ‘devicereset(obj)’ function resets the 3706 instrument to in the current directory window. If not, browse to the driver file its default state. you downloaded and save the file to your working directory. Step 4: Open the Driver Editor Now that you have loaded the MATLAB driver as well as the IVI driver for your instrument, you can take control of the >> midedit 'ke37XX.mdd' instrument from the MATLAB command line by executing the This command opens the MATLAB Instrument Driver Editor following command to create the object (obj): (see Figure 2). From here, you can view the organization of the >> obj = icdevice('ke37XX.mdd','GPIB0::16::INSTR') MATLAB functions and properties and see how to access the commands that are applicable to your application. For these commands, 'ke37XX' is the name of the IVI driver, 'ke37XX.mdd' is the name of the MATLAB driver (*.mdd file), and "GPIB0::16::INSTR" is a VISA reference used to find the instrument location. In this example, we are using GPIB (General Purpose Instrument Bus) to connect to the instrument. VISA can also use USB or Ethernet to connect to this instrument. Interface options vary by instrument model. If you chose to install the Keithley IOLayer as part of the “Before You Start” section, you can use the Keithley Configuration Panel to help discover the instrument location for you.
Using the driver in MATLAB Figure 2. The MATLAB Instrument Driver Editor
Now you can access the instrument driver from the MATLAB For example, you can navigate through that list of command line using the IVI driver functions. First, let’s look at components to Groups/Measurement/Functions and find the some basic functions you can use to get familiar with the object function called ‘measure’. To access this command, first create a we created: group (called “Measurement” in the example) by entering: >> Measurement = get(obj,'Measurement') In this way, MATLAB users can access all the features of an Then, you can find the help for that function from the instrument through its IVI driver interface. command line like this: Note: The MATLAB Instrument Control Toolbox also provides >> instrhelp(Measurement,'Measure') a graphical tool called Test & Measurement Tool that allows The Help message for this function reads: Performs a you to configure and control your Keithley instruments without measurement and returns the last reading taken. writing MATLAB script. In fact, Test & Measurement Tool To execute the function in MATLAB, use 'invoke': automatically generates MATLAB script as you interact with the >> meas = invoke(Measurement,'Measure') tool. Visit www.mathworks.com/tmtool for more information on using Test & Measurement Tool. Calling this function prints a response like this to the commands line: meas = 0.0065 Here is an example of a test that shows you how to use many In this example, this command returned a measurement of the common IVI functions in MATLAB and then returns a of 6.5mV. series of readings:
Example of a MATLAB Test:
**************************************** %This example test Measures and plots 100 DC voltage %readings with the Model 3706 DMM using a reading buffer.
% The text following a '%' (percent sign) on a line are
%comments explaining the following code.
%Creates an object 'obj' which we will use to communicate to an
%instrument through the IVI instrument driver. obj = icdevice('ke37XX.mdd','GPIB0::16::INSTR');
%Connects us to the instrument by opening a VISA session
%using GPIB in this case. connect(obj);
%These 4 lines create variables that link to the Groups
%in the driver we will access. Measurement = get(obj,'Measurement'); Measurementbuffer = get(obj,'Measurementbuffer'); Measurementbufferreadingdata = get(obj,'Measurementbufferreadingdata'); Measurementbuffertimestampdata= get(obj,'Measurementbuffertimestampdata');
%Setting 3 properties in the Measurement Group using the set function.
%3706 by invoking the Create function in the %Measurementbuffer group. This function takes the %Buffer name and size as parameters. invoke( Measurementbuffer, 'Create','MyBuf',100);
%Filling the buffer 'MyBuf' with readings by invoking
%the MeasureMultiple function in the Measurement Group. %This function takes the Buffer name as a parameter. invoke(Measurement,'MeasureMultiple','MyBuf');
%Retrieving the buffer readings in 'MyBuf' by invoking the
%GetAllReadings function in the Measurementbufferreadingdata Group. %This function takes the Buffer name as a parameter. %The readings are placed in a variable called readings. readings = invoke(Measurementbufferreadingdata,'GetAllReadings','MyBuf');
%Retrieving the relative timestamps from the buffer 'MyBuf'
%by invoking the GetAllRelativeTimeStamps function in the %Measurementbuffertimestampdata Group. %This function takes the Buffer name as a parameter. %The readings are placed in a variable called timestamps. timestamps = invoke(Measurementbuffertimestampdata, 'GetAllRelativeTimeStamps','MyBuf'); %Plots the readings vs. timestamps on a graph and %sets the axis labels appropriately. plot(timestamps,readings); xlabel('Time (sec)'); ylabel('DC Volts');
%disconnect VISA session with Model 3706
disconnect(obj);
***************************************
Conclusion MATLAB® is a well known software environment and programming language used to generate waveforms for instruments, acquire and analyze measurements, and build test systems. MATLAB supports using IVI instrument drivers with the MATLAB Instrument Control Toolbox. Connecting MATLAB to the IVI driver structure for an instrument offers a quick and easy method of getting your Figure 3. MATLAB plot showing measurement data from example test
instrumentation up and running in the MATLAB software
environment. Combining the power of MATLAB as an analytical tool with precision measurement capabilities from Keithley For More Information Instruments simplifies advanced measurement and analysis challenges by eliminating many of the difficulties users have 1. Overview of MATLAB software: traditionally faced learning how to interface their instrument and www.mathworks.com/matlab their software environment. 2. Overview of MATLAB Instrument Control Toolbox: www.mathworks.com/products/instrument Getting Started 3. Overview of using MATLAB with Keithley Instruments: Request a trial of MATLAB and Instrument Control Toolbox: www.mathworks.com/keithley http://www.mathworks.com/products/instrument/tryit.html MATLAB® is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.
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