Automated test systems can live a long time. I often work with engineers who are supporting test systems that were designed and built a decade or more earlier. In many cases, the engineer wasn’t even part of the development of the system. As a test and measurement manufacturer, at some point, instruments become too expensive or even impossible to build – usually due to scarcity of parts. And since our engineers are always working to advance our technology, test engineers naturally want to replace older instruments with newer ones. Yet, retrofitting new instruments into existing test systems can be challenging. A new Programming Interface Translator built into our 5 and 6 Series MSOs oscilloscopes can help.

Any automated test system implementation requires knowledge of the unique capabilities and commands associated with the instrumentation in the system. Many test equipment vendors follow the conventions of Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI or “skippy”), yet most instruments have a unique command set that reflects their distinct character.  Writing the code that utilizes these commands takes time and expertise of its own.  Once an automation scheme is developed, it is often used for years.  But what happens when an instrument becomes obsolete, or the performance requirements of a test change, necessitating an upgrade? Returning to old code can be time-consuming and expensive. This can be compounded if the person who wrote that code is no longer with the company, or if a script uses an extremely old programming language. In some cases, like when the automation is contained in a compiled application and the source code is no longer available, it may be impossible to update.

Figure 1. A customizable text file is used to translate commands developed for older scopes into commands for the 5 and 6 Series MSOs.