New Firmware Available for the N6700B, N6701A, and N6702A Modular Power System Frames.

Hello everybody!

I recently posted a new firmware file for the N6700B, N6701A, and N6702A mainframes to the Agilent website.  You can access the new firmware at: https://www.agilent.com/find/N6700firmware.  The latest firmware revision is D.01.09.  There are two new measurement features that I wanted to highlight. s These two new features are External Datalogging and Power Measurements. 

External Datalogging (ELOG for short) is a feature that we have had in the N6705 DC Power Analyzer for some time now that we have just added to the modular power mainframes.  This feature allows you to take averaged measurements at a specified time interval for however long you want (be careful though, you can fill your hard drive).  The time interval can be anywhere from 102.4 us to 60 s depending on the number of parameters being logged.  You can take those measurements and store them in whatever format you want (I usually store everything in a CSV file).  You can only access ELOG using a SCPI program (you cannot ELOG from the front panel).  I plan on writing more about ELOG in the future but here is a quick peek of what the SCPI commands to set up and execute an ELOG look like:

SENS:ELOG:FUNC:CURR ON,(@2)                     !Turn current logging on

SENS:ELOG:FUNC:CURR:MINM ON,(@2)        !Turn current min/max logging on

SENS:ELOG:FUNC:VOLT ON,(@2)                     !Turn voltage logging on

SENS:ELOG:FUNC:VOLT:MINM ON,(@2)        !Turn voltage min/max logging on

SENS:ELOG:PER 0.0007,(@2)                            !Sets an integration time of 700 us

TRIG:ELOG:SOUR BUS,(@2)                              !The ELOG will start when there is a bus trigger

INIT:ELOG (@2)                                                   !Tell the unit to wait for a trigger

*TRG                                                                      !Trigger

This is an example of how you would read back the logged data:

while current time<the time you want to log for

FETC:ELOG? 4096 ,(@2)                                    !Read back a maximum of 4096 ELOG records

store into a file

loop

This command kills the ELOG:

ABOR:ELOG (@2)                                              !Return the unit to its normal state

Stay tuned to this blog for more information.

The other feature that we added to a few of our modules was the ability to measure power.  We can now measure power on the N676xA, N6781A, N6782A, and N6784A modules.  Why is it only on these few modules you ask?  That is because these modules have two measurement digitizers that allow it to measure both voltage and current at the same time.  Since power = voltage * current, you need to have a simultaneous voltage and current measurement to get an accurate power measurement. 

That is all I have for today.  If you have any questions, please just let us know.