TDK-Lambda Genesys Series, Technical Manual

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6. REMOTE PROGRAMMING USING COMMANDS
6.1. OVERVIEW
How to communicate with test and automation systems, called the programmatic interface, is
described in this section
This method uses a computer’s LAN connection to send text commands to the power supply,
and to read text responses back. The format of the text messages is called SCPI. A driver
layer between the user’s program and the LAN protocol is called VISA. The VISA drivers are
compatible with the VXI-11 standards for instrumentation
The Genesys™ LAN option is compatible with VISA drivers, but any other RPC and Portmapper
software stacks may be used
6.2. VXI-11 COMPATIBILITY
VXI-11 is a protocol that allows communications between a computer port and an instrument.
The protocol includes port management functions. The Genesys™ power supply is compatible
with all VXI-11 protocols, including:
•
VXI–11 Device_link Open link to instrument
•
VXI–11 Device_write Write text to the instrument
•
VXI–11 Device_read Read text from an instrument
•
VXI–11 Destroy_link Close link to instrument
6.3. VISA COMPATIBLITY
Test and automation programs may easily be written if they use the VISA libraries. The
supported VISA functions include Open, Read and Write
The Genesys™ LAN power supply must be registered as a VISA resource by using an
instrumentation program such as the National Instruments “Measurement and Automation
Explorer” (MAX) or the Agilent “I/O Assistant”
The VISA resource descriptor is used to describe a particular supply. For a Genesys™ LAN
power supply, the 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 Genesys™ power supply with LAN are:
Format:
TCPIP[board]::host address[::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
TCPIP::169.254.57.10::INSTR
TCPIP1::GEN60-25-470::INSTR
See the sample programs, section 8, for examples
6.4. SCPI COMPATIBILITY
The ”Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments” is a standard structure of commands
written as text. The commands are organized as a hierarchical structure, beginning with a few
classes of instrument functions and branching to sub-functions like a tree
The Genesys™ power supply is compatible with the SCPI 1999 Standards. See the next section
for details