What Is Instrument Control Toolbox?
Instrument Control Toolbox™ lets you connect MATLAB® directly to instruments such as oscilloscopes, function generators, signal analyzers, power supplies, and analytical instruments. The toolbox connects to your instruments via instrument drivers such as IVI and VXIplug&play or via text-based SCPI commands over commonly used communication protocols such as VISA, GPIB, TCP/IP, and UDP. The toolbox includes the Instrument Explorer and VISA Explorer apps, which let you acquire data from test equipment without writing code. With Instrument Control Toolbox, you can generate data in MATLAB to send out to an instrument or read data into MATLAB for analysis and visualization. You can automate tests, verify hardware designs, and build test systems based on LXI, PXI, and AXIe standards. The toolbox provides built-in support for TCP/IP, UDP, I2C, SPI, and Bluetooth® serial protocols for remote communication with other computers and printed circuit boards (PCBs) from MATLAB.
The toolbox enables many workflows common in wireless communications. For example, you can use an RF signal generator to output 5G, LTE, Bluetooth, and other signals designed in MATLAB. You can acquire data over the air from RF signal and spectrum analyzers and analyze the data in MATLAB. Using test equipment, you can also output WLAN signals over the air and acquire IQ data. You can test radar systems, and test satellite components by acquiring data from RF signal analyzers.
You can also use Instrument Control Toolbox together with App Designer to build custom applications (UIs) that automate your design verification and production test procedures and with MATLAB Compiler™ to deploy your test application to multiple test stations.
Published: 14 Mar 2024
The Instrument Control Toolbox provides functions and apps for communicating directly with test equipment. Together with MATLAB, you can interface with a variety of instruments to verify hardware designs and automate test systems.
Instrument Control Toolbox makes it easy to verify hardware designs for WLAN, 5G, and LTE systems. You can send a waveform that you created in MATLAB over the air through an R signal generator. And you can read the signal from a signal analyzer back into MATLAB. Once the received data is in MATLAB, you can analyze the received waveform to verify the quality of your signal.
The Toolbox lets you configure and receive measured data from test instruments, such as oscilloscopes, function generators, network analyzers, and more. The Toolbox supports text-based communication using SCPI commands through common hardware interfaces, such as serial, GPIB, TCP/IP, and VISA. Devices conforming to LXI, PXI, and AXIe standards are also supported.
The Toolbox also supports industry-standard device specific drivers, such as IVI and VXI Plug&Play. These drivers can be integrated with the quick control interface to provide ease of use when communicating with oscilloscopes, function generators, and R signal generators.
Instrument Control Toolbox offers apps which allow you to control devices without having to write MATLAB Code. You can use the Visa Explorer app to send text based SCPI commands to connected devices, configure instrument parameters, and acquire data. With the MATLAB Code log, you can convert any workflow from the tool into a MATLAB Script. The Instrument Explorer app lets you connect to instruments that have IVI drivers. You can browse IVI driver functions and properties, communicate with your instrument using the driver, and log the automatically generated MATLAB code associated with your actions in the app.
Alongside direct instrument communication, the Instrument Control Toolbox supports interfacing with control chips, circuit boards, and sensors, using I2C or SPI protocols. After designing your instrument control script, you can build graphical interfaces which automate communication with test equipment. Using the MATLAB Compiler, you can deploy your custom interface onto computers that don't have MATLAB.
To learn more, explore the product page for a closer look at features, videos, and examples.
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