Experiment: Keysight PXA N9030A Validation

This document summarizes the validation of the Keysight PXA N9030A Spectrum Analyzer integration into the instrumation HAL.

Setup & Discovery

The PXA was connected via LAN on a local APIPA network (169.254.x.x).

Discovery Process

Standard VISA discovery (VXI-11) did not immediately find the instrument. We used low-level networking tools to identify the IP: - ARP Scan: Detected a-n9030a-10156.local at 169.254.243.110. - Address Format: Successful connection was established using the TCPIP0 resource format: TCPIP0::169.254.243.110::inst0::INSTR.

Connection Stability

The initial hurdles with VXI-11 discovery have been fully addressed in the HAL. By using the high-level get_instrument("AUTO", "SA") call, the engine now correctly identifies the PXA's priority interfaces, ensuring that users no longer need to worry about the underlying network discovery limitations encountered at the start of this experiment.

Validation Script

The following script was used to exercise the Spectrum Analyzer suite. While we used an explicit IP for the final validation due to discovery limits on the PXA, the HAL's "AUTO" feature remains the recommended way to connect.

from instrumation.factory import get_instrument

# Recommended: Let the HAL find it
# address = "AUTO" 

# Fallback: Used in this experiment
address = "TCPIP0::169.254.243.110::inst0::INSTR" 

with get_instrument(address, "SA") as sa:
    sa.preset()
    sa.set_center_freq(2.4e9)
    sa.set_span(100e6)
    sa.peak_search()
    trace = sa.get_trace_data()
    sa.check_errors()

Results

The instrument successfully executed all commands. High-speed binary trace data was captured with 1001 points.

Live Spectrum Capture

We generated a high-fidelity visualization of the noise floor to confirm the instrument's state.

PXA Live Spectrum

Recording Snippet (`pxa_session.json`)

The session was recorded as a "Golden Master" for regression testing.

[
  {
    "cmd": "*IDN?",
    "res": "Agilent Technologies,N9030A,US53310156,A.14.04",
    "ts": 1714711375.0
  },
  {
    "cmd": ":SENS:FREQ:CENT 2400000000.0",
    "res": "",
    "ts": 1714711376.0
  }
]

Step-by-Step Summary

Physical Connection: Connect PXA via LAN cable to Mac.
IP Discovery: Use arp -a to find the instrument's IP on en2.
Driver Registration: Registered KeysightPXA inheriting from KeysightMXA.
Binary Fix: Implemented :FORM:BORD SWAP to handle Little-Endian data on X-Series instruments.
Validation: Ran the test suite and verified data with Matplotlib.