New Ethernet/LAN and USB instrument drivers

8 February 2006 Test & Measurement

Engineers and scientists now can use new National Instruments' LabVIEW instrument drivers to control a wide range of instruments through the standard connectivity methods of Ethernet/LAN and USB.

Included are instrument drivers to control LeCroy's latest line of high-performance oscilloscopes, such as the WaveMaster, WavePro, WaveRunner and WaveSurfer via Ethernet/LAN, as well as the Tektronix AFG3000 Series arbitrary/function generators via USB, Ethernet/LAN and GPIB.

"The NI certified plug-and-play instrument driver for the very popular NI LabVIEW development environment helps our customers quickly develop their applications," said Kevin Fitzgerald, of LeCroy North America. "Using LabVIEW to control our new high-performance oscilloscopes across Ethernet/LAN helps our customers get up and running as quickly as possible while still taking advantage of the most advanced functionality in our instruments."

While GPIB remains the most widely used bus for instrument-to-PC connectivity, the ubiquitous nature of Ethernet/LAN and USB ports on today's PCs attracts many instrument vendors and engineers to these new connectivity options. NI's software platforms, including the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, NI-VISA I/O library and NI certified instruments drivers on the NI Instrument Driver Network, are able to provide seamless integration and connectivity between the PC and Ethernet/LAN or USB instruments.

Engineers can use the widely-adopted NI-VISA I/O library to create applications that communicate with standalone instruments across any bus, including Ethernet/LAN, USB, GPIB, serial and FireWire, without requiring any future modifications to their software if they change bus options.

The Instrument Driver Network (www.ni.com/idnet) is the industry's largest source for LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI instrument drivers. The site offers access to more than 4000 drivers from more than 200 vendors.

For more information contact NI South Africa, 0800 203 199.

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