Benchtop Measurements in Seconds from NI and Tektronix
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Figure 1. Improve your benchtop measurement productivity with NI SignalExpress Tektronix Edition.
From verifying a prototype to troubleshooting a circuit, many measurements do not need full automation and are better performed interactively. However, the majority of these measurements require analysis beyond what the instrument can provide, so connection to a computer is still necessary. In a 2005 National Instruments and Tektronix design engineer survey, 87 percent of the respondents reported that they perform some type of offline analysis on their acquired data and 74 percent stated that they would prefer an entirely interactive approach to controlling multiple instruments on the benchtop from a PC.
To address these needs, National Instruments teamed up with Tektronix to release NI SignalExpress Tektronix Edition, optimized for the new DPO4000 oscilloscope from Tektronix. SignalExpress Tektronix Edition combines the interactive SignalExpress drag-and-drop environment with the USB, GPIB, and Ethernet/LAN connectivity of the Tektronix DPO4000 and AFG3000 series instruments so you can connect, generate, acquire, analyze, and document your measurements quickly and easily.
USB Plug-and-Play Oscilloscope Connectivity
Featuring USB plug-and-play connectivity based on the USB Test and Measurement Class (USBTMC), the DPO4000 and SignalExpress Tektronix Edition give you the ultimate benchtop oscilloscope-to-PC connectivity experience. Immediately after connecting the DPO4000 to the PC via the USB cable, the PC detects the oscilloscope and shows an autoplay dialog. A single mouse click connects SignalExpress Tektronix Edition to the DPO4000 to begin capturing and displaying live measurement data from the oscilloscope onto the PC immediately. You then can control the DPO4000 either from the PC or directly from the oscilloscope, and manage setting and data synchronization easily with the single press of a button.
“The PC-standard I/O connectivity on the DPO4000, featuring the USB plug-and-play oscilloscope-to-PC integration with SignalExpress Tektronix Edition, represents the industry-leading vision of National Instruments and Tektronix toward improving benchtop measurement productivity through virtual instrumentation,” said Dr. James Truchard, National Instruments president, CEO, and cofounder.
Live Analysis and Reporting
Offline analysis typically requires saving the instrument data to a file and importing it into another application, such as Microsoft Excel, to create an algorithm for analysis. This process can be tedious and often results in a delay between the time you acquire and measure the data to the time you calculate results.
SignalExpress Tektronix Edition provides more than 200 different measurement, processing, analysis, and reporting operations that you can apply to live data as you acquire it, so you can perform distortion, tone, transition, and many other measurements interactively and see results instantly. When you need post-analysis or documentation of the results, SignalExpress Tektronix Edition can automate saving the data to file, or you can simply drag and drop the data into Microsoft Excel, Word, and other applications.
Benchtop Connectivity and Control
Connecting and controlling multiple instruments from one PC user interface is nearly impossible without programming a custom application. Freeware tools from instrument vendors typically work with only a few instrument models and therefore require learning and running multiple applications to control an entire benchtop.
SignalExpress Tektronix Edition remedies this challenge with built-in compatibility with the Tektronix TDS3000 and DPO4000 oscilloscopes and AFG3000 arbitrary/function generator, as well as with NI plug-in hardware and more than 300 common stand-alone instruments. This compatibility removes the guesswork involved in connecting instruments to a PC and facilitates increased measurement productivity by creating a virtual benchtop for interactive, PC-based instrument control, acquisition, analysis, and documentation.
Learn more about SignalExpress Tektronix Edition by viewing a short product demonstration video.
This article appeared in the Q1 2006 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.
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