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Instrument Control Toolbox

Control test and measurement instruments and communicate with computer peripherals

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 GPIB, VISA, TCP/IP, and UDP. You can also control and 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.

What Is Instrument Control Toolbox?

Webinar

Acquiring Data from Sensors and Instruments Using MATLAB

Watch webinar (48:48)

Test 5G and LTE Signals

Send out and acquire wireless waveforms over the air using RF test equipment.

Acquire and Output Signals

Use an RF signal generator to output 5G, LTE, WLAN, and custom wireless signals that you have designed in MATLAB; acquire data over the air from RF signal and spectrum analyzers for further analysis in MATLAB.

MATLAB for Wireless Communications

Generate and Transmit 5G Waveforms Using Test and Measurement Equipment

5G NR Waveform Generation and Over-the-Air Testing with MATLAB

Verifying 802.11ax Wireless Signals Over the Air Using MATLAB and Test and Measurement Equipment

Build Test Applications

Automate test sequences and build graphical applications (UIs).

Automate and Deploy Tests

Use Instrument Control Toolbox to connect to your test equipment; use App Designer to build UIs that automate your design verification and production test procedures. Use MATLAB Compiler™ to deploy your test application to multiple test stations.

Verification of High-Efficiency Power Amplifier Performance at Nujira

Oscilloscope App Example Using App Designer

App to acquire data and adjust scope settings.

Interact with Instruments

Use apps and functions to interact with a wide variety of instruments, such as oscilloscopes, signal analyzers, RF signal generators, network analyzers, and power supplies. Send out RF signals over the air and acquire RF signals for further analysis.

Quick-Control Interfaces

Quick-control interfaces provide the most common functions needed to control oscilloscopes, function generators, and RF signal generators. Read waveforms, adjust offset and coupling on scopes, and download arbitrary waveforms to signal generators.

Reading Waveforms from an Oscilloscope Using a Quick-Control Oscilloscope Object

Simplified Programming of Function Generators Using the Quick Control Interface (5:14)

LTE Waveform Generation and Transmission Using Quick-Control RF Signal Generator

Spectrum of LTE signal to be output by signal generator.

Spectrum of LTE signal to be output by instrument.

Instrument Control Apps

Use the VISA Explorer and Instrument Control Apps to communicate with and configure instruments without writing code. The apps automatically generate MATLAB code from an instrument control session that you can incorporate into other automated test programs.

VISA Explorer App Overview

Connecting to Instruments Without Writing Code (4:20)

Test & Measurement Tool Overview

Connecting to Instruments Without Writing Code

Text-Based Instrument Control

Communicate with instruments using text-based SCPI commands over interfaces, such as VISA, GPIB, USB, TCP/IP, and Serial. Use IVI, VXIplug&play, and MATLAB instrument drivers to simplify programming of your instruments.

Reading Inphase and Quadrature (IQ) Data from a Signal Analyzer

Waveform Generation and Transmission Using LTE Toolbox with Test and Measurement Equipment

Power spectral density of acquired IQ data.

Use Instrument Drivers

Use IVI, VXIplug&play, and MATLAB instrument drivers directly.

Use IVI and VXIplug&play Instrument Drivers

Use instrument drivers to communicate with instruments independently of device protocols. Directly use vendor-provided IVI and VXIplug&play instrument drivers. Many drivers can be used directly after installing the Instrument Control Toolbox Support Package for IVI and VXIplug&play Drivers.

Communicate with Instruments using IVI and VXIplug&play Drivers

Acquire Signal Spectrum on Rohde & Schwarz Spectrum Analyzer Using IVI-C Driver

Configure Output Signal on Keysight RF Signal Generator Using IVI-C Driver

Find an Instrument Driver with the Instrument Driver Search Tool

Web tool to find instrument drivers.

I2C, SPI, and Bluetooth

Use apps and functions to acquire data from I2C sensors, SPI sensors, and Bluetooth sensors.

Connect to Digital Sensors

Open connections with individual I2C or SPI sensors on your circuit board, and read and write data from these devices. Transfer data to or from any Bluetooth device that supports Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP).

I2C Interface Support from Instrument Control Toolbox

SPI Interface Support from Instrument Control Toolbox

Tap Detection with ADXL345 Accelerometer Chip Using the NI USB 8451 Adaptor

Read data from a digital accelerometer using I2C.

TCP/IP and UDP Communication

Send and receive data over TCP/IP and UDP protocols.

Connect to Networked Devices

Interface with test equipment and other networked devices over TCP/IP and UDP from both MATLAB and Simulink^®. Send data from a Simulink model to a remote computer over UDP.

Reading Inphase and Quadrature (IQ) Data from a Signal Analyzer Over TCP/IP

Basic UDP Communication from Simulink

UDP Explorer App

Plot of acquired IQ (inphase/quadrature) signals.

Supported Hardware

Build test systems using a variety of instruments, including oscilloscopes, signal analyzers, signal generators, network analyzers, power supplies, and power meters.

Supported Hardware and Standards

Multiple manufacturers of benchtop and modular instruments are supported, including Keysight™, Rohde & Schwarz, Tektronix^®, and National Instruments^®. VISA, GPIB, SCPI, IVI, VXIplug&play, LXI, PXI, and AXIe standards are supported. See link for details:

Hardware Support from Instrument Control Toolbox