NanoVNA Custom Software

[Kosmic]

Hey I got a stupid question. I'm trying to connect solver32 to my LiteVNA (FW 1.3.07) and it's not working. So I changed to port number in the "Setup/Diagnostics" tab.



When I click on "Link", I got an error



Is there anything else I should be doing ?

Thanks!

[joeqsmith]

...
I'm trying to connect solver32 to my LiteVNA (FW 1.3.07) and it's not working.
...

Obviously the software would have to be setup correctly
You checked control panel, device drivers and are sure you have selected the correct port
You have no other software using this port
You are working with a known good USB cable
You know the PC's port is good

I'm running that last version Dislord uploaded here to fix a small bug.  I doubt very much that firmware is the cause.   

***
Quick search on Google:
https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000P6v9SAC&l=en-US

You don't state what OS or version of VISA you are using and so I assume you used the installer rather than attempted to randomly download tools and are running it on 10.   

[Kosmic]

...
I'm trying to connect solver32 to my LiteVNA (FW 1.3.07) and it's not working.
...

Obviously the software would have to be setup correctly
You checked control panel, device drivers and are sure you have selected the correct port
You have no other software using this port
You are working with a known good USB cable
You know the PC's port is good

I'm running that last version Dislord uploaded here to fix a small bug.  I doubt very much that firmware is the cause.   

***
Quick search on Google:
https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000P6v9SAC&l=en-US

You don't state what OS or version of VISA you are using and so I assume you used the installer rather than attempted to randomly download tools and are running it on 10.

Yes the port is good. No other software are running when I try solver32. And other nanovna software are working fine.

Os is windows 10 and got Keysight IO libraries installed for VISA.

[Kosmic]

Look like I have VISA Shared Components 5.8.0 installed

I could try to update Keysight IO libraries. I just realized I have the 2018 version.

[Kosmic]

so I assume you used the installer rather than attempted to randomly download tools and are running it on 10.

You mean for VISA? or your software ?

If you have an installer available please let me know where I can find it. I just saw the binaries on github https://github.com/joeqsmith/Solver32-LiteVNA-V2Plus4/releases/tag/v3.13

[joeqsmith]

...
Os is windows 10 and got Keysight IO libraries installed for VISA.

That's fine.  I use their IO libraries to interface with my Agilent VNA.  Obviously nothing to do with controlling the LiteVNA.  What VISA are you using for that?

There are several links in the very first post of this thread.  Some cover the basic install.  Have you read them? 

[Kosmic]

...
Os is windows 10 and got Keysight IO libraries installed for VISA.

That's fine.  I use their IO libraries to interface with my Agilent VNA.  Obviously nothing to do with controlling the LiteVNA.  What VISA are you using for that?

There are several links in the very first post of this thread.  Some cover the basic install.  Have you read them?

Ok look like I failed to read everything and install the software correctly. My bad, will try again.

[Kosmic]

That's fine.  I use their IO libraries to interface with my Agilent VNA.  Obviously nothing to do with controlling the LiteVNA.  What VISA are you using for that?

IO Libraries include VISA drivers and IVI Fondation drivers. Should be compatible with NI stuff thought.

For my problem with solver32, since I installed the Labview runtime manually, I'm probably missing something.

[joeqsmith]

...I'm probably missing something.

Most likely. 

There have been a few people who posted that were able to manually get the environment setup successfully.  There are several examples of people struggling when using this approach in this thread.   My email is filled with them.     

...And other nanovna software are working fine. ...

Rather than wasting time on it, I suggest you will be better served staying with the software you have working.   My software isn't  really a good fit for the amateur radio antenna analyzer group and would require a fair bit of reading and research to use it.   Couple that with I no longer invest any time keeping the manual current.   

If there is some reason you feel running my software is worth your time, I suggest you start reading and follow the instructions.  Getting it running separates the boys from the men. 

[joeqsmith]

Actually, there was a member on the LibreVNA groups.io that stated they were going to document the installation procedure and post it on the popular sites.   He was asking a lot of questions about my software which was upsetting others so we dropped the conversation and I left the group.  You can find it under the subject about converting from time back to frequency.   Maybe  contact them and work together to create something others could use.  He may already have it done.   Wouldn't hurt to ask. 

Here:
https://groups.io/g/LibreVNA-support/topic/eye_diagram_for_tdr/94118303?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,20,94118303,previd%3D1670800027915905569,nextid%3D1666762167099640731&previd=1670800027915905569&nextid=1666762167099640731

Search for a Kurt Poulsen.  Good luck.

[Kosmic]

Ok so my problem is related to Labview requiring the NI VISA driver to be installed in primary and not secondary driver. If I remove the Keysight one everything is working fine.

[joeqsmith]

...
IO Libraries include VISA drivers and IVI Fondation drivers. Should be compatible with NI stuff thought.
...

So not as compatible as originally thought.      Now that it runs, let's see what you can plan to do with it.

[Kosmic]

...
IO Libraries include VISA drivers and IVI Fondation drivers. Should be compatible with NI stuff thought.
...

So not as compatible as originally thought.      Now that it runs, let's see what you can plan to do with it.

Or Labview runtime is looking for some non standard functions in Visa32.dll ?

Anyway, look like everything is working well with Keysight as a secondary driver. Even for my other GPIB stuff.

[joeqsmith]

...
Or Labview runtime is looking for some non standard functions in Visa32.dll ?

Anyway, look like everything is working well with Keysight as a secondary driver. Even for my other GPIB stuff.

It's their software.  Why would you think they need to conform to any standard beyond their own?

Again, now that it runs, let's see what you can do with it.  Please, please please,  not another ham antenna tuning...   

[Kosmic]

It's their software.  Why would you think they need to conform to any standard beyond their own?

From Wikipedia:

Instrument drivers are specified by the IVI Foundation[1] and define an I/O abstraction layer using the virtual instrument software architecture (VISA). The VISA hardware abstraction layer provides an interface-independent communication channel to T&M instruments.

The goal of VISA is to provide a common abstraction and be provider agnostic. It's a shame it's not working 

Again, now that it runs, let's see what you can do with it.  Please, please please,  not another ham antenna tuning... 

I have nothing planned short term but will definitely try it out next time I need the LiteVNA. And BTW I'm not so much interested in antenna tuning and such.

[joeqsmith]

The goal of VISA is to provide a common abstraction and be provider agnostic. It's a shame it's not working 

Of course having a goal is not the same as a requirement.  There is a reason I provided an installer to get the known working tools installed.   You are certainly free to waste time as you see fit trying to mix and match vendor's code. Or even NIs own code for that matter.  Just don't expect me to jump in and offer a lot of help.   

I have nothing planned short term but will definitely try it out next time I need the LiteVNA. And BTW I'm not so much interested in antenna tuning and such.

Looking forward to it.  Beware, that software is not polished production code.  At best its an engineering tool for my own use.  Hams just whined non-stop and after a year I released it.   There are going to be unfinished features, missing features, bugs in features.....  In most cases, I won't care about them.  You may but don't expect me to address them.   

[joeqsmith]

Be aware too that LabView 2011 is more than a decade old and problems with the tools may have been addressed long ago!!  I'm surprised it runs at all on a modern OS and NI certainly doesn't support it on Windows 10. 

I did post how I ran into some problems with the newer CPUs.   At this time I have no plans to do anymore with NI.   Once their software no longer runs, it's done.   

[Kosmic]

The goal of VISA is to provide a common abstraction and be provider agnostic. It's a shame it's not working 

Of course having a goal is not the same as a requirement.  There is a reason I provided an installer to get the known working tools installed.   You are certainly free to waste time as you see fit trying to mix and match vendor's code. Or even NIs own code for that matter.  Just don't expect me to jump in and offer a lot of help.   

I mean, the shame is on NI and/or Keysight for not being able to implement the standard correctly. Nothing you and I can do about it.

You are already helping a lot and I thank you for that.

[joeqsmith]

Looking forward to seeing what you can do with it.

[joeqsmith]

Changes beyond what has been released include:

3.14
Add grid / mesh select for post processing 3D
Change labels on 3D graph
Turn on light source 1
When using lower sideband, reverse Touchstone order
Correct average function
3.15
Allow loading 2D antenna plots and saving to memory
Allow indexing through the elevation in 2D plots

[joeqsmith]

Planning to do some comparisons of printed antennas and needed a way to plot the date.  I could save the data and load it back into a 3D graph but not overlay 2D graphs.

For example, this is a homemade waveguide horn being rotated 360 degrees.  Yellow is looking at the top of the horn, red at the bottom.  Blue is how we would normally use the antenna.  You can slice the data set at any elevation and save it, or overlay more than one antenna.   I'll demo some of the changes in the next video.

[joeqsmith]

Dislord,

I attempted to load your recent post with V1.3.12.bin just to see what the performance is above the current 9.3GHz limit.   If I turn it on with no connection to the PC, it starts to sweep as normal.  Attempting to connect with the PC, it will not form a link.  Did something else change in the protocol?

[joeqsmith]

With much thanks to Dislord, I now have a working version of firmware.   I don't think any of us are expecting anything from the LiteVNA at these higher frequencies and I think we all agree that limiting it was a good choice.  However, I was a bit surprised and it performs better than I was expecting.

8G_12G_Leakage_SO_10dB: 
Showing a thru (yellow) and open (violet) after calibration. I want to be clear, this is still the ideal model using the same standards provided with the V2Plus4 with the sorted load.  Also, this is my unmodified LiteVNA right from the factory but with my cables.   My software accounts for the leakage term and it is being used for these tests.   A 10dB attenuator was then measured.   We can see is starts to go off the tracks a bit over 9GHz but settles back down around 10.5GHz. 

8G_12G_Leakage_SO_20dB: 
Same as above but with a 20dB attenuator.

I have been experimenting with some waveguides using the LiteVNA.  Most of this testing has been above 7GHz.   To work around the limitations of the LiteVNA, I use it below 4GHz and then up convert to 8GHz then back down.  This setup allows me to take advantage of the Lite's higher performance range.    test14_MWM_0_50dB_11GHz shows the Lite with the Extender sweeping from 11.0 to 11.9GHz and inserting a series of attenuators from 0 down to 50dB. 

8G_12G_Leakage_10GHzBP_WR90:
Showing the Lite directly measuring a 10GHz waveguide BP filter I put together.  The last plot was measuring this same filter with the LiteVNA plus the frequency extender.   I don't have the equipment needed to test this filter.  The PNA is limited to 9GHz or I would use it for a comparison.   

I'm impressed, we can actually see something!   Pretty cool for something that cost $120 and fits in my shirt pocket.   

[MathWizard]

Do these normally come with the connectors and accessories? Or do u buy them separate ? I'm guess they aren't cheap either.

[joeqsmith]

Do these normally come with the connectors and accessories? Or do u buy them separate ? I'm guess they aren't cheap either.

The low cost VNAs I have all came with some sort of short, open, load, thru and two coaxial cables.  Some came with a touch pointer and some came with a USB cable.  The original NanoVNA I have came without a housing.  The other have been enclosed with metal or plastic. 

Any other accessories or connectors, you would need to purchase.  Also, if you felt you required better standards and cables you would need to buy them as well.   There are many photos of what is included.  Do your homework.  Here is some for the LiteVNA: 

https://store2.rlham.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=142&products_id=75669&osCsid=4dbrs4qrfmmbte7pdr5v7ecrc7