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2606B System SourceMeter® Instrument Reference Manual
Section 2: General operation
2606B-901-01 Rev. B / May 2018
2-9
Remote interface connections
The remote interface connections are on the front panel. Each module has its own set of connections.
Figure 6: Remote interface connections
Output queue
Response messages, such as those generated from print commands, are placed in the output queue.
All remote command interfaces share the same output queue.
The output queue sets the message available (MAV) bit in the status model.
The data in the output queue is cleared by the
*CLS
command.
USB communications
To use the front-panel USB port, you must install the Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA)
layer on the host computer. See
How to install the Keithley I/O Layer
(on page 2-27) for more
information.
VISA contains a USB-class driver for the USB Test and Measurement Class (USBTMC) protocol that,
once installed, allows the Microsoft Windows operating system to recognize the instrument.
When you connect a USB device that implements the USBTMC or USBTMC-USB488 protocol to the
computer, the VISA driver automatically detects the device. Note that the VISA driver only
automatically recognizes USBTMC and USBTMC-USB488 devices. It does not recognize other USB
devices, such as printers, scanners, and storage devices.
In this section, "USB instruments" refers to devices that implement the USBTMC or
USBTMC-USB488 protocol.
Communicate with the instrument
To communicate with the USB device, you need to use NI-VISA
TM
. VISA requires a resource string in
the following format to connect to the correct USB instrument:
USB[board]::manufacturer ID::model code::serial number[::USB interface
number][::INSTR]
This requires that you determine the parameters. You can gather this information by running a utility
that automatically detects all instruments connected to the computer.
If you installed the Keithley I/O Layer, the Keithley Configuration Panel is available from the
Microsoft
®
Windows
®
Start menu in the Keithley Instruments menu.