3458a software setup

[alanambrose]

Hi,

Anyone care to comment what they've found the most useful software setup for making and visualizing longer term measurements with a 3458a? I'm looking at 0.1-10 Hz voltage noise & DCV stability measurements on the 10V range over days/weeks. Also, any hints and tips on the best triggering / NPLCs / digitization vs. standard measurements etc. I've run up the C# examples and I'm a capable software guy - so those work for me. But is there a better way?

Matlab? Labview? Roll your own? Agilent library/utility?

TIA, Alan

[alanambrose]

ps Also - which switch system is good for this kind of thing?

[Dr. Frank]

Hi, if you are able to program in C#, and have a GPIB card, that's the best way to do it.
Any other programs like BenchView either are limited in possibilities, when it comes to processing data life, or using several instruments, or these programs cost a fortune... Same goes for BenchView, if you want unlimited time logging.

I'm doing all my long time data logging in Turbo Pascal, so I have maximum access to hardware.
I got a GPIB adapter from National Instruments, which comes with appropriate SW interface for all languages.

(I'm too lazy to switch my library to C)

You may get the old HP3488 switching system on low budget , base unit and a few switching cards for under 100 bucks, it's also GPIB based, anyhow.


You did not tell, which DUT you want to measure for noise / stability.

There's the DMM project of TiN, for determining the noise figures of different meters, including the 3458A..

There you can see, what is the DMMs intrinsic noise, depending on NPLC..
So you can chose NPLC for needed zero input noise; 3458A currently is one of the best meters you can get for that purpose.

If you have a DC voltage source as DUT, you might get some ideas about the order of noise levels in the Ultra LTZ1000 reference thread.
Somewhere from page 16 onwards, I published my noise and stability figures for this reference acquired with my 3458A (order of 0.1ppm of 10V ~ 1..2 µV noise).

For (long-term) stability measurements, it's mandatory to have absolutely stable room temperature during measurement.
It's <= 0.2°C in my basement.

Frank

[joeqsmith]

I use Labview.  Effort to set up a test is nothing.   

[mimmus78]

A very appreciated way is to use a raspberry or any other small SBC where you can run Linux, this will have also advantage of small power consumption.
A user here (TiN) has made some Python scripts public on his site xdevs.com you can start reading at this and modify those scripts at your needs.
TiN used some Javascript library to chart live data directly from a static page hosted on raspberry.

I personally like a charting tool called gnuplot.
You can script it to read data from many csv files, do some limited math on the data and plot chart to your display or pdf or png.
I decided to use this as it's "easy" to script and you always need different charts for data analysis.

[plesa]

I'm using Raspberry Pi2 with NI USB-GPIB HS. BenchVue does not support 3458A, Labview is OK, same like Matlab, but require PC which is potential source of EMI.
So ended with Python and D3.js.
We are working on one platform based on RPi
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/raspberry-pi23-logging-platform-for-voltnuts/