HP 8712C, User Manual, Page: 291 / 559

Automating Measurements
Configuring Your Test System
When connecting more than one analyzer to one computer using HP-IB, you
can connect up to 10 analyzers and achieve maximum
bus speed. The
standard states that the bus can achieve a data rate of 500
per second for buses up to 20 meters in length, with up to one device per
2 meters of cable.
provides for 31 unique addresses (0 through however it
restricts the number of devices on the bus to 15. Due to this restriction,
you may need to add more computers as you add more analyzers. Set each
analyzer’s address via the
(
SYSTEM OPTIONS
]
menu.
If you have Option installed in your analyzer, you can overcome the
physical limitations of HP-IB cabling and create large systems with hundreds
of analyzers.
LAN provides a theoretical bandwidth of close
to 1 MByte/second, although in practice, throughput will be slower due
to overhead and turn-around-time. See your
Option User’s Guide
Supplement
for more information.
When considering the throughput of the system configuration, contributing
factors are:
operator interaction time
l
measurement speed
l
data transfer speed
l
computation speed (when applicable)
Each system should be evaluated for throughput based on the sums of these
four factors.
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