Reactor Measurement System Incorporates High-Resolution ZTEC PXI Oscilloscopes
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and PrimeCore Systems have developed a pulse diagnostic measurement system for the SNL Annular Core Research Reactor based on PXI instrumentation and leveraging ZTEC ZT410 PXI modular oscilloscopes. The power and flexibility of the PXI platform and the ZT410 PXI 16-bit, 400 MS/sec instrument enabled SNL and PrimeCore to replace and decidedly improve an aging system based on 8-bit benchtop scopes, amplifiers, and long cable runs.
Figure 1. Sandia National Laboratories Annular Core Research Reactor
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New Software Interface and Instrument Drivers Support all ZTEC C-Class Oscilloscopes
May 14, 2007 – ZTEC Instruments is pleased to announce new software for their C-Class modular oscilloscopes. Included in this release is a new ZScope C-Class application and consolidated C-Class instrument drivers supporting both stand-alone and automated operation.
For stand-alone oscilloscope operation, ZScope C-Class allows users to easily control any ZTEC C-Class modular oscilloscope like a familiar benchtop instrument. For automated operation, The C-Class instrument drivers enable control using LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, MATLAB, Visual Studio, and Visual Basic.
A key feature of both the new ZScope C-Class and the C-Class instrument drivers is the universal interface to all C-Class instruments. This universal interface allows users to easily switch between any C-Class instrument without changing software. For a complete list of C-Class modular oscilloscopes, please see Table I or visit the ZTEC software page at www.ztecinstruments.com/software.
Table I: C-Class modular oscilloscopes include performance, precision, and economy models
Ease-of-use and familiarity for benchtop scope users were the main goals when designing the new ZScope C-Class. Users will notice that the new ZScope has dedicated ‘knobs’ for changing instrument settings as well as buttons and menus that are very similar to those found on benchtop scopes. Most functions in ZScope can be accessed with two, or less, mouse clicks so users can easily find the right function when performing any scope task. As shown in Figure I, all C-Class oscilloscopes are controlled using a single ZScope application.
Figure I: ZScope C-Class controls all C-Class modular oscilloscopesThe highlight of the new instrument drivers is the class-level application programming interfaces (APIs). The new COM API can be used with most common 3rd party software programming environments, including Visual Studio, Visual Basic, and MATLAB. Class-level drivers are also available for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and C. The class-level APIs are universal and can be used to control any ZTEC C-Class modular oscilloscope.
In addition to the class-level drivers, this new software release also provides an instrument specific API for each C-Class oscilloscope. Finally, users can even program at the lowest level using the new ZBind Unified Primitives API. ZBind supports PCI, PXI and VXI and provides an intuitive API to send and receive low level word serial and register-level commands to a C-Class oscilloscope.
Figure II shows the various instrument control options now available for the ZTEC C-Class oscilloscopes.
Figure II: The C-Class instrument drivers provide flexible instrument control options.
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