VISA Resource of TPS 2024B (USB/RS232) in Signal Express

[mehmet.ali.anil]

I want to connect my oscilloscope, Tek TPS2024B to SignalExpress.

 

I followed through the procedures in the Connectivity Installation Manual, though, failed to succeed.


I am able to connect to my device and get its identification via Open Choice Instrument Manager. It is connected with the USB/RS232 cable supplied. The port is named as COM2 in the Device Manager. I can also get waveforms via OpenChoice.

I installed the "NI SignalExpress Tektronix Step Software", which introduced a step model visible in the menu within SignalExpress.

My main problem is: Whatever I select as the VISA Resource, "ASRL2::INSTR" , "ASRL2" , "COM2" I'm notified that it is an "Invalid VISA Resource". Autodetect doesn't work (As it is stated in serial connections), and the drop-down menu is greyed out. This is where I fail to continue with the instructions in the document.



As extra information, my IVI Drivers lack the Devices item that I have seen in many when I looked it up in this discussion board.

How can I set up my oscilloscope within SignalExpress?

Thanks,

Mehmet Ali Anil

[Jacob_R]

Thank you for the detailed post and all the corrections. Thanks to that I was able to see what software you had installed and I noticed that your Measurement and Automation Explorer was missing the Devices and Interfaces dropdown menu which would have all your serial and parallel devices listed. It seems like the installation did not work properly.

I might have you upgrade to the most recent version of NI-VISA to make sure that it gets installed correctly.

Let me know if that helps and please let me know if you see Devices and Interfaces in MAX after the installation.

[mehmet.ali.anil]

Jacob, thanks for your response.

I installed the software, right now I was able to advance, though, I faced another problem.

I will try to explain my recent state.

My measurement and automation software shows my COM2 poart, and I am able to set my Baud Rate and such.

I am able to connect to my ossiloscope via  Signal Express, 

But, When I try to add a signal to the Data View, and Run the whole system, the scope is set into Scanning Mode, but the signal is not shown in the Data View. Also, the Step Setup plot is empty.

I must say that my configuration is imported correctly, but no real time signal data is communicated, as I presume.

[Jacob_R]

Hello Mehmet,

Let me make sure of the order you are doing things; first you add a step for your Tektronix device, then you add a channel, and then you hit run continuously and nothing populates in the Step Setup or Data View?

Have you been able to communicate with the device from the VISA test panel in MAX? For example sending the *IDN?\n in the Input/Output tab?

Could you also send the screenshot of the software you have installed from MAX?

Thanks,

[mehmet.ali.anil]

Greetings,

"Let me make sure of the order you are doing things; first you add a step for your Tektronix device, then you add a channel, and then you hit run continuously and nothing populates in the Step Setup or Data View?"

Yes, when I run SignalExpress, I add a step for my device, TDS TPS 1K 2K, I set the VISA Resource Name as ASRL2::INSTR, and if it is able to communicate with the scope, the menu on the left lists 4 channels of the scope. Then I add a signal (I don't know the distinction between a channel and signal in the scope, but I do as I showed in the previous post. There is a channel view in which it states "No devices available", though) in the data view, and I hit run continously. Nothing populates in the Step Setup and Data View tabs.

Have you been able to communicate with the device from the VISA test panel in MAX? For example sending the *IDN?\n in the Input/Output tab?

Yes, when I send the scope *IDN\n it returns a string starting with TEKTRONIX, TPS 2024B, 0

Could you also send the screenshot of the software you have installed from MAX?

Sure. Following is the screenshot.

[Jacob_R]

Hello Mehmet,

It seems that most of the configuration is set properly. The signals that you add represent signals that are associated with a particular channel of the TDS TPS.

On which channels are the waveforms being generated in the Open Choice Instrument Manager? Have you seen no response from your device on any channel?

[mehmet.ali.anil]

Dear Jacob,

In Open Choice Instrument Manager I can only see the VISA References, and identify instruments. I don't see anything resembling channels. 

The Step communicates with the instrument, it is evident. It detects which channels are on, shows the list of channels that are on on the screen. It is also evident that it can dictate to the instrument, since we see that the time division is set to 5 seconds and the osilloscope switches mode to "Armed". Once communicated properly, we are unable to change the settings from the scope. We can't see any signal, though. 

I must note though, with the TekVISA installation that I had with the product was obsolete,  but then we were able to communicate Open Choice Desktop with TekVISA. Now, with the more recent version, we made progress in SignalExpress integration, but OpenChoiceDesktop is unable to communicate with the VISA installation. (The Configure VISA Button is greyed out, with "This feature works with TekVISA only" next to it. Should I reinstall OpenChoice Desktop?)

OpenChoice Desktop is not that important for us, I thought that this might be a clue.  

[JD_war_eagle]

Hi Mehmet,

SignalExpress Tektronix Edition has some known issues with TekVISA.  I would suggest uninstalling TekVISA completely and then reinstalling the latest version of NI-VISA on your system.  Hopefully this will fix this strange behavior.