Agilent Technologies 4294A User manual

Agilent 4294A Precision Impedance Analyzer
4294A Data Transfer Program
Operation Manual
Rev.03.10
Oct. 2011

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Notices
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
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language without the prior written consent of Agilent Technologies.
Microsoft®, MS-DOS®, Windows®, Visual C++®, Visual Basic®, VBA®and Excel®are registered
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© Copyright 2011 Agilent Technologies
Sample Program
The customer shall have the personal, non-transferable rights to use, copy, or modify SAMPLE
PROGRAMS in this manual for the customer’s internal operations. The customer shall use the
SAMPLE PROGRAMS solely and exclusively for their own purpose and shall not license, lease,
market, or distribute the SAMPLE PROGRAMS or modification of any part thereof.
Agilent Technologies shall not be liable for the quality, performance, or behavior of the SAMPLE
PROGRAMS.Agilent Technologies especially disclaims any responsibility for the operation of
the SAMPLE PROGRAMS to be uninterrupted or error-free. The SAMPLE PROGRAMS are
provided AS IS.
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FORA PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Agilent Technologies shall not be liable for any infringement of any patent, trademark, copyright,
or other proprietary right by the SAMPLE PROGRAMS or their use. Agilent Technologies does
not warrant that the SAMPLE PROGRAMS are free from infringements of such rights of third
parties. However, Agilent Technologies will not knowingly infringe or deliver software that
infringes the patent, trademark, copyright, or other proprietary right of a third party.

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1. General information
Overview of the program
This program (a VBA macro for Microsoft Excel®) transfers the measurement data and the
display image from the 4294A to a PC.
Supported model and firmware
Model
Firmware
4294A Precision Impedance Analyzer
Rev. 1.11
Required equipment
• Personal computer
* Microsoft Excel® installed
* Agilent I/O Libraries Suite 15 or higher installed
• Connection cable (Use either one of the following cables)
1. Agilent 82357A or 82357B USB/GPIB interface
2. LAN cable (cross or straight cable depending on the connection method)
2. Connection configuration through Agilent Connection Expert
A. Connection using 82357A or 82357B USB/GPIG interface
1. Run Agilent Connection Expert by double-clicking the icon in the task tray
Double click
2. Connect the 4294A and the PC using the 82357A/B USB/GPIB interface. Then the
connection will be automatically configured. After the connection is properly configured, the
4294A appears on “Instrument I/O on this PC” pane of Agilent Connection Expert as shown
in the figure below.

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B. Connection using LAN cable
1. Run Agilent Connection Expert by double-clicking the icon in the task tray
Double click
2. Connect the 4294A and the PC using a LAN cable. The type of LAN cable depends on the
connection method.
- Straight LAN cable for:
Local connection using a hub
Network connection
- Cross over LAN cable for:
Direct local connection (without using a hub)

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3. Set the IP address, gateway, and subnet mask of the 4294A.
For local connection
- IP address
Set the 4294A’s IP address just off by 1 (or so) from the PC’s IP address.
For example, if the IP address of the PC is 100.100.10.10 then the 4294A’s IP address can
be set to 100.100.10.11.
- Gateway address
Enter the same value as the gateway of the PC.
- Subnet mask
Enter the same value as the subnet mask of the PC.
For network connection
Use the IP address, gateway, and subnet mask assigned by the IT department of your
facility.
The LAN setting is available under Local hardkey. After the setting is complete, reboot the
4294A. For more details, refer to “9 Setting/Using Control and Management Functions -
Setting/Checking the LAN” in the 4294A Operation Manual.
4. Select “LAN(TCPIP0)” then click “Add Instrument”on the Agilent Connection Expert.

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5. “Add LAN Instruments” dialog box appears then click “Add Address” button.
6. Enter the information as shown in the figure below.

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7. By clicking “Test Connection” in step 6, “The instrument is present” message appears when
the settings are all correct. Click “OK” button located at the lower right corner of the window.
If the setting are not correct, “Could not connect” message appears. In this case, check
whether each step was followed correctly.
8. After step 7, the 4294A appears under “LAN(TCIPI0)” in the “Instrument I/O on this PC”
pane. Select “TCPIP…” (the 4294A’s VISA address) and click “Change Properties…”
button.
9. Change the configurable properties of the 4294A as shown in the figure below.

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10. When the icon “ ” is shown, the connection configuration between the 4294A and the PC
is completed.

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3. How to use the program
1. Set the measurement conditions, then perform the compensation. The 4294A can sweep
frequency, oscillator level, or DC bias.
2. Perform the single trigger measurement with the DUT by pressing Trigger hardkey >
SINGLE softkey.
3. Open “4294A_DataTransfer_xxxx.xls” on the PC. Since this file contains macros, enable
“Macros”to boot the program, then follow the “Step-1”and the “Step-2”in the “Main”sheet.
4. Click “Get Data”and “Get Image”button to transfer the measurement data and the display
image. The image setting can be changed by pressing Copy hardkey > SETUP softkey then
selecting one of B&W, FIXED COLOR, or IMAGE COLOR.
5. Change X/Y-axis format for the graph if necessary (X/Y-axis are changed to Log format in
the example below).

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4. Alignment with 4294A IBASIC program
After making measurements using the 4294A IBASIC program such as the dielectric
constant measurement sample program, the measurement data and display image also
can be transferred to a PC using this VBA marco.
To show the IBASIC key labels on the display after running the VBA marco, press
System hardkey > IBASIC softkey > ON KEY LABELS softkey.
Revision History
Revision
Date
Description
01.00
2008/12/29
Initial revision
01.01
2009/02/13
Get Image function added
02.00
2009/04/23
LAN connection function added
03.00
2010/6/21
User interface changed
Graph added
Imaginary trace data added
Other minor changes
03.10
2011/10/07
A minor change for update
Verified for Compatibility with
Microsoft Windows XP Excel:
2010, Windows 7 Excel: 2007
and 2010