How can I use third-party IVI drivers in FDCS?

Symptoms / Solutions:     

If you do not see an instrument as a selection in FDCS, then you have the option to use a third-party IVI driver. This function is available starting in FDCS version 2.4. It is only available for the following instrument types: DC Power Supply, Multimeter, Power Meter, Signal Generator and Spectrum Analyzer (not for EVM).

Installation procedure

1. Download IVI Compliance Package. You can download it from National Instruments website at the following address: ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/2589/lang/en

2. Launch the installer and follow the installation steps

3. When selecting the features to install, make sure that at least the following items are selected (default settings should be fine):

– IVI Shared Components
– IVI Class Drivers

4. Once the Ni IVI compliance package installed you must register the Focus Microwaves IVI DLLs. These files will allow load pull explorer to support IVI drivers. The relevant files are located in <DVD>:\IVI\Focus IVI Drivers These files should be copied to the installed directory of LPEx (default C:\Program Files\Focus Microwaves\Load Pull Explorer or C:\Program Files (x86)\Focus Microwaves\Load Pull Explorer for 64-bit operating systems). There are five files to copy and register:

– FMWIviDCPowerSupply.dll
– FMWIviMultiMeter.dll
– FMWIviPowerMeter.dll
– FMWIviSignalGenerator.dll
– FMWIviSpectrumAnalyzer.dll

5. To register the files, open Focus Microwaves Driver Registration Utility. To open the Utility, click Start->All Programs->Focus Microwaves Inc->Load Pull Explorer->Driver Registration Utility. In the Utility, click Register dll files… and browse for the 5 files to register. Select them all and click Open. If the IVI Shared Components were correctly installed, the windows shown below will appear and you are now ready to install IVI drivers.

6. Download and Install IVI driver

FDCS supports five classes of IVI drivers: IviDCPwr for DC power supplies, IviDmm for digital multimeters, IviPwrMeter for power meters, IviRFSigGen for (RF) signal generators and

IviSpecAn for spectrum analyzers.

The list of all available IVI drivers can be found at: www.ivifoundation.org/registered_drivers/driver_registry.aspx.

Alternatively, you can find IVI drivers directly on the website of instrument manufacturer.

If the installation is successful, you are now ready to use the IVI driver from Load Pull Explorer.

7. Using an IVI driver in FDCS

Run IVI Driver Configuration Utility from Load pull explorer. The IVI Driver Configuration Utility can be launched either from the Instrument Manager dialog box or from the Utilities menu in Load Pull Explorer.

Select the instrument category you want:

Configure the new instrument.

Once an instrument has been configured using an IVI driver, you can access its proprieties the same way as with any Focus Microwaves drivers. Simply right-click the instrument string on the Instrument Manager dialog-box and click Proprieties to open the IVI Driver Configuration Utility (Figure 3-6). The Utility will launch with the same information as when it was last saved.

The detailed procedure as well as the examples are described in IVI.Drivers.Install.And.Use.In.LPEx.pdf document located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Focus Microwaves\Load Pull Explorer\IVI.

Keywords: FDCS, Instrumentation, IVI drivers,

Last date modified: March 31, 2017