VTI Instruments EX1401, User Manual

Page: 48 / 114

VTI Instruments Corp.
48 EX1401 Basic Operation
•
Trigger Time Remaining: The amount of time remaining until the current trigger’s data
collection phase is complete. This is only displayed when Measurement State is Meas.
USB M
EMORY
D
EVICES
The EX1401 provides a single USB 2.0 port on its rear panel. Any USB 2.0 or earlier compatible
memory device can be attached. A USB hub may also be used to attach many USB memory devices
at the same time. For more information, related to standalone data logging and USB memory device
configuration, please refer to Operation of Data Logger in Section 6
Storage Devices APIs
The Instrument Driver includes a repeated capability exposing all attached USB memory devices at
Storage.Devices . If any devices are attached or removed after initializing the instrument driver, the
Storage.Devices.Update method will refresh the list. The Enabled parameter of each Storage Device
item controls whether data will be saved to the storage device during measurement. The other
properties allow querying information about the storage device and configuring the filename and
other parameters about how data is saved.
All data stored to USB storage devices is written in HDF5 format, identical to that used by the Disk
Streaming feature of the Instrument Driver. Files generated by either method can be read by the
same software in the same way.
Stored Configurations
The EX1401 has the ability to store its configuration parameters as a JSON file on any attached
USB memory device. This configuration file can then be loaded via the instrument driver at a later
date, in order to restore the precise configuration at the time of saving. This configuration file is
also used when a Data Logger measurement is performed via the instrument’s rear-panel LCD
display. Use the Instrument Driver’s
Configuration.SaveConfigurationToStorageDevice ,
Configuration.LoadConfigurationFromStorageDevice ,
Configuration.ClearConfigurationFromStorageDevice , and
Configuration.GetConfigurationDigestFromStorageDevice APIs to access the configuration file.
Each of these APIs takes the Storage Devices repeated capability name as an argument.
Data Logging
The Storage Devices APIs and Stored Configurations features, along with the rear-panel LCD
display, enable the EX1401 to act as a stand-alone Data Logger device.
To make use of stand-alone data logging with a USB memory device, the instrument should first be
configured using the Soft Front Panel or Instrument Driver for the desired measurement parameters.
This includes using the
Storage.Devices APIs to enabling saving data to the USB device, if desired.
The Configuration.SaveConfigurationToStorageDevice method should then be called to save the
desired measurement configuration to the USB device. The USB device can then be inserted into
any EX1401 and used to perform the configured measurement via the rear-panel LCD display. For
more information on using the LCD display for Data Logging, see Operation of Data Logger in
Section 6.