Internal Data Transfer between

Windows 3.1 / Excel

and
Vector Network Analyzer ZVR

Application Note 1EZ39_1E

Subject to change
22 January 1998, Albert Gleißner

Products:

ZVR
ZVRE
ZVRL
 The procedure is similar to DDE (Dynamic Data
1 Summary Exchange) that is normally used; in connection
This Application Note describes the internal with this application the term DDE is therefore
transfer of ZVR measurement data in Excel, car- used as well.
ried out on the PC option of the ZVR, and the The Excel macros are written in VisualBasic syn-
evaluation of the data in Excel tables. To start the tax. For access to the DLLs with the RSIB librar-
data transfers, macros are implemented under ies a list of the functions contained in the DLLs is
Excel. required. This list forms the header of the macros.

Windows ZVR
2 Introduction with
As a basic requirement, option ZVR-B15 which iRMX
Excel macro ↔ DLL (RSIB)
enhances the ZVR by a PC function must be fit-
ted. This option allows further processing of the
measured data in the ZVR under DOS or Win- Firmware
dows 3.1 programs. The ZVR is however con- DDE job
API (data
trolled under a realtime operating system. Due to management)
the complex hierarchy of the software compo-
nents involved, the method of data exchange is of IEC
Parser ↔ RSIB PC
particular interest.

3 Software Structure of ZVR (Fig. 1) Fig. 1: Interleaving and interplay of individual

software components
ZVR uses the realtime operating system iRMX.
The firmware is started upon booting the ZVR. In
addition to the ZVR control proper, the firmware The data exchange route is as follows:
also comprises the data management and a Windows/Excel macro ⇔ access to DLLs (RSIB)
parser which controls the communication via the
⇔ common memory (management by DDE job or
IEC/IEEE bus. The parser is able to control the
external IEC/IEEE bus and to process IEC/IEEE- macro) ⇔ parser (RSIB) ⇔ rest of firmware.
bus commands and data internally via RSIB func-
tions libraries. For the parser, communication via
external IEC/IEEE bus or internal IEC/IEEE com- 4 Description of Macro Functions
mands appears to be absolutely the same. In the The ddedemo2.xls file offers three macros with
case of internal data transfer the data are ex- different functionality - BFilHcopy, TraceExport,
changed via a common memory and not via a TraceRd. Upon opening ddedemo2.xls in Excel ,
bus. The memory is managed by the parser in a the macros can be viewed as follows: click on the
DDE job. pages Module1, Module2 or Module3 or click on
Note: The RSIB functions libraries have been Extras ⇒ Macro... ⇒ (mark one of the three mac-
developed by Rohde & Schwarz with a view to the ros) ⇒ Edit.
National Instruments GPIB libraries. Therefore,
the same function names are used (eg ibwrt) - 1. BFilHcopy
however with the prefix "RSDLL". This module automatically configures the ZVR
for measurement of the transmission coeff i-
Under iRMX it is possible to start cient and group delay on the demo bandpass
DOS/Windows3.1 and also Excel in one shell. To filter. A hardcopy of the displayed measure-
communicate with the firmware, the Excel macros ment results (traces) is then stored on the hard
in the ddedemo2.xls file also access the RSIB disk. This graphics file is read in by Excel. The
libraries which use the common memory. disadvantage of this macro is that the meas-
Through the transfer of pointer addresses to this urement results are not available in Windows.
memory, data exchange is enabled between Ex-
cel and the firmware. 2. TraceExport
Similar to BFilHcopy, but stores the traces in
ASCII format. Further processing eg under
Excel is then possible.

1EZ39_1E.DOC 2 29 May 1998

3. TraceRd hered to. To enhance the functionality, the
This macro allows the four S-parameters of ddedemo2.xls program can of course be ex-
the demo bandpass filter to be measured and panded. A list of all IEC/IEEE-bus commands is
displayed in Excel tables and graphs. The ad- included in the ZVR manual. An Application Note
vantage of this macro is that it allows further on the IEC/IEEE-bus control of the ZVR is also
processing of the measurement results that available.
are available as raw data. For the TraceRd
macro which serves for data transfer and cal-
culation and plotting in Excel the following 5 Installation and Execution
manual settings have to be made on ZVR:
The key combination Alt - Print can be used to
PRESET switch between display of measurement results
DISPLAY ⇒ QUAD CHAN QUAD SPLIT and PC mode.
SWEEP ⇒ COUPLED CHANNELS (on) • The three DLLs - vbrun300.dll, rsib.dll and
CENTER (2.22 GHz) rsdde.dll - should be available in the ZVR
SPAN (100 MHz) firmware in directory C:\RSIB. Should one of
SWEEP ⇒ NUMBER OF POINTS ⇒ 51 the files be missing, it must be read in from the
CH1 floppy disk. For the execution of a macro the
FORMAT ⇒ MAGNITUDE DLLs must be available in directory
MEAS ⇒ S11 C:\Windows\System.
SCALE ⇒ MAX VAL (0 dB) • Copy the ddedemo2.xls into any directory in
SCALE ⇒ MIN VAL (-20 dB) the C:\ partition on the hard disk.
CH2 • Start Excel, open ddedemo2.xls.
FORMAT ⇒ MAGNITUDE • For execution of the third macro ( TraceRd),
MEAS ⇒ S21 ZVR has to be configured manually first. The
SCALE ⇒ MAX VAL (0 dB) other two macros configure the ZVR automati-
SCALE ⇒ MIN VAL (-120 dB) cally.
CH3 • Open the menu in Excel
FORMAT ⇒ MAGNITUDE Extras ⇒ Macro... and click on one of the
MEAS ⇒ S12 three modules BFilHcopy, TraceExport, Trac-
SCALE ⇒ MAX VAL (0 dB) eRd and start it (Execute key).
SCALE ⇒ MIN VAL (-120 dB) ddedemo2.xls contains standard tables and
graphs for the third macro TraceRd. If another
CH4 macro is executed, the cursor first has to be
FORMAT ⇒ MAGNITUDE set into an empty table (tables 9 to 15) be-
MEAS ⇒ S22 cause of the preconfiguration. If TraceRd is to
SCALE ⇒ MAX VAL (0 dB) be executed next, the ZVR has to be reconfig-
SCALE ⇒ MIN VAL (-20 dB) ured.
Upon execution of the TraceRd macro, 51 val-
ues are read into four Excel tables (tables 1, 3,
5, 7) for each of the four channels. ZVR gives 6 List of the Required Files
the real and imaginary component of the ddedemo2.xls
measurement results, the desired parameters Excel table with values of the TraceRd macro and
being derived in Excel (in this example magni- the macros BFilHcopy, TraceExport, TraceRd.
tude of the S-parameters). The results are
graphically displayed in the next table (tables 1 rsdde.dll, rsib.dll, vbrun300.dll
to 8 contain existing values of the TraceRd DLLs with RSIB functions for communication via
macro as default values). All four graphs are the IEC/IEEE bus.
simultaneously shown in table 16 and output
on a printer. If there is no printer connected, Albert Gleißner
printout can be aborted or ends with an error Rohde & Schwarz, 1ESP
message. 22 January 1998
Measurement parameters such as center fre-
quency, span or number of points are fixed with
constant values in the Excel macros; the above
configuration on the ZVR therefore must be ad-

1EZ39_1E.DOC 3 29 May 1998

7 Further Application Notes 8 Ordering Information

[1] O. Ostwald: 3-Port Measurements with Vector Order designation Type Frequency Order No.
Network Analyzer ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ26_1E.
range
[2] H.-G. Krekels: Automatic Calibration of Vector Vector Network Analyzers (test sets included) *
Network Analyzer ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ30_1E. 3-channel, unidirectional, ZVRL 9 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.0009.41
50 Ω, passive
[3] O. Ostwald: 4-Port Measurements with Vector 3-channel, bidirectional, ZVRE 9 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.0009.51
Network Analyzer ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ25_1E. 50 Ω, passive
3-channel, bidirectional, ZVRE 300 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.0009.52
50 Ω, active
[4] T. Bednorz: Measurement Uncertainties for
4-channel, bidirectional, ZVR 9 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.0009.61
Vector Network Analysis, Appl. Note 1EZ29_1E. 50 Ω, passive
4-channel, bidirectional, ZVR 300 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.0009.62
[5] P. Kraus: Measurements on Frequency- 50 Ω, active
Converting DUTs using Vector Network Analyzer 3-channel, bidirectional, ZVCE 20 kHz to 8 GHz 1106.9020.50
ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ32_1E. 50 Ω, active
4-channel, bidirectional, ZVC 20 kHz to 8 GHz 1106.9020.60
[6] J. Ganzert: Accessing Measurement Data and 50 Ω, active
Controlling the Vector Network Analyzer via DDE,
Appl. Note 1EZ33_1E. Alternative Test Sets *
75 Ω SWR Bridge for ZVRL (instead of 50 Ω) 1)
[7] J. Ganzert: File Transfer between Analyzers FSE 75 Ω, passive ZVR-A71 9 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.7690.18
or ZVR and PC using MS-DOS Interlink, Appl. 75 Ω SWR Bridge Pairs for ZVRE and ZVR (instead of 50 Ω) 1)
Note 1EZ34_1E. 75 Ω, passive ZVR-A75 9 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.7755.28
75 Ω, active ZVR-A76 300 kHz to 4 GHz 1043.7755.29
[8] O. Ostwald: Group and Phase Delay Mea-
surements with Vector Network Analyzer ZVR, Options
Appl. Note 1EZ35_1E. AutoKal ZVR-B1 0 to 8 GHz 1044.0625.02
Time Domain ZVR-B2 same as analyzer 1044.1009.02
[9] O. Ostwald: Multiport Measurements using Vec- Mixer Measurements 2) ZVR-B4 same as analyzer 1044.1215.02
tor Network Analyzer, Appl. Note 1EZ37_1E. Reference Channel Ports ZVR-B6 same as analyzer 1044.1415.02
Power Calibration 3) ZVR-B7 same as analyzer 1044.1544.02
3-Port Adapter ZVR-B8 0 to 4 GHz 1086.0000.02
[10] O. Ostwald: Frequently Asked Questions about
Virtual Embedding Net- ZVR-K9 same as analyzer 1106.8830.02
Vector Network Analyzer ZVR, Appl. Note works 4)
1EZ38_3E. 4-Port Adapter (2xSPDT) ZVR-B14 0 to 4 GHz 1106.7510.02
4-Port Adapter (SP3T) ZVR-B14 0 to 4 GHz 1106.7510.03
[11] A. Gleißner: Internal Data Transfer between
Windows 3.1 / Excel and Vector Network An a- Controller (German) 5) ZVR-B15 - 1044.0290.02
Controller (English) 5) ZVR-B15 - 1044.0290.03
lyzer ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ39_1E.
Ethernet BNC for ZVR-B15 FSE-B16 - 1073.5973.02
Ethernet AUI for ZVR-B15 FSE-B16 - 1073.5973.03
[12] A. Gleißner: Power Calibration of Vector Network IEC/IEEE-Bus Interface for FSE-B17 - 1066.4017.02
Analyzer ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ41_2E ZVR-B15

[13] O. Ostwald: Pulsed Measurements on GSM Generator Step Attenuator ZVR-B21 same as analyzer 1044.0025.11
PORT 1
Amplifier SMD ICs with Vector Analyzer ZVR,
Generator Step Attenuator ZVR-B22 same as analyzer 1044.0025.21
Appl. Note 1EZ42_1E. PORT 2 6)
Receiver Step Attenuator ZVR-B23 same as analyzer 1044.0025.12
[14] O. Ostwald: Zeitbereichsmessungen mit dem PORT 1
Netzwerkanalysator ZVR, Appl. Note 1EZ44_1D. Receiver Step Attenuator ZVR-B24 same as analyzer 1044.0025.22
PORT 2
External Measurements, ZVR-B25 10 Hz to 4 GHz 1044.0460.02
50 Ω
7)
(ZVR/E/L)
20 kHz to 8 GHz
(ZVC/E)

1)
To be ordered together with the analyzer.
2)
Harmonics measurements included.
3)
Power meter and sensor required.
4)
Only for ZVR or ZVC with ZVR-B15.
5)
DOS, Windows 3.11, keyboard and mouse included.
6)
For ZVR or ZVC only.
7)
Step attenuators required.

* Note:
Active test sets, in contrast to passive test sets, comprise internal bias networks,
eg to supply DUTs.

1EZ39_1E.DOC 4 29 May 1998