1 Overview of Keysight Software and Programming Tools
1. 2. 2 Keysight M3601A Hard Virtual Instrument (HVI)
Design Environment Software
Keysight M3201A/M3202A PXIe AWGs and M3100A/M3102A
PXIe digitizer must have Option HV1 to use Keysight M3601A
software; Option HV1 is only available at time of purchase.
The following section is only an overview of the Keysight M3601A
software; To learn how to use Keysight M3601A software, refer to
the User's Guide for the [3] Keysight M3601A Hard Virtual
Instrument (HVI) Design Environment Software.
1. 2. 2. 1 HVI Programming
Keysight’s HVI technology provides the capability to create time-deterministic
execution sequences that are executed by the Keysight M3201A/M3202A PXIe AWGs
and M3100A/M3102A PXIe digitizers with Option HV1. HVIs are programmed with
Keysight M3601A, an HVI design environment with a user-friendly flowchart-style
interface.
1. 2. 2. 2 HVI Functions
Keysight’s HVI Technology uses the same programming instructions that are
available in the Keysight SD1 Programming Libraries, with the difference that in an
HVI, those instructions are executed by the hardware modules in hard real-time, not
by the embeded controller or desktop computer.
Virtual Instrumentation is the use of customizable software and modular hardware to
create user-defined measurement systems, called Virtual Instruments (VIs). Thus, a
Virtual Instrument is based on a software which is executed by a computer, and
therefore its real-time performance (speed, latency, etc.) is limited by the computer
and by its operating system. In many cases, this real-time performance might not be
enough for the application, even with a real-time operating system. In addition, many
modern applications require tight triggering and precise intermodule synchronization,
making the development of final systems very complex and time consuming. For all
these applications, Keysight has developed an exclusive technology called Hard
Virtual Instrumentation. In a hard virtual instrument (HVI), the user application is
executed by the hardware modules independently of the computer, which stays free
for other VI tasks, like visualization.
HVIs vs. VIs: Virtual Instrumentation is fully supported making use
of the Keysight SD1 Programming Libraries. On the other hand,
Keysight’s exclusive Hard Virtual Instrumentation (HVI)
technology provides the capability to create time-deterministic
4
Keysight M3100A/M3102A PXIe Digitizer User's Guide
