7.1 VISA Description
In the test and measurement industry, Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA) is a popular
framework that includes hardware drivers, configuration utilities and connection managers.
A variety of communication busses are supported. VISA drivers are available from several instrument
vendors. Any programming language that supports Windows COM or DLL libraries can call the
VISA functions.
7.2 VXI-11 Compatibility
VXI-11 is a protocol that allows communications between a computer port and an instrument. VISA
is built upon the VXI-11 specification. The Z
•
VXI–11 Device_link
•
VXI–11 Device_write Write text to the instrument
•
VXI–11 Device_read
•
VXI–11 Destroy_link
7.3 Opening the VISA Connection
Test and automation programs may easily be written if they use the VISA libraries. The supported
VISA functions include Open, Read, Write and Close
A VISA resource descriptor is used to describe a particular supply. For a Z
descriptors are found on the supply's Home web page. The VISA resource may use the supply's
IP address or hostname.
Example VISA resource descriptors for the Z
Format: TCPIP[board]::IP address/Host Name[::LAN device name][::INSTR]
[board] is the LAN card number, zero is optional
[::LAN device name] is by default "inst0"
[::INSTR] is optional
Examples: TCPIP::10.225.26.60::inst0::INSTR
TCPIP1::Z10-40-001::INSTR
7.4 Communicating Using VISA
The VISA Write function will send SCPI commands to the power supply, the VISA read will read
the response returned from a SCPI query.
7 PROGRAMMING USING VISA DRIVERS
+
power supply is compatible with the VXI-11 protocols:
Open link to instrument
Read text from an instrument
Close link to instrument
+
power supply with LAN are:
24
+
LAN power supply, the
Need help?
Do you have a question about the Z+ series and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers