Simulating an Instrument with NI-DCPower

Complete the following steps to create and configure a simulated instrument using NI-DCPower.
  1. Run NI-DCPower Initialize With Independent Channels.
  2. Regardless of whether you want to simulate a single-instrument or multi-instrument session, set both the resource name and option string parameters. The option string parameter is composed of the Simulate and Driver Setup keywords, as illustrated in the following example.
    For a single-instrument session, use the following:
    ParameterSyntax
    resource name

    For single-instrument sessions:

    <resource name>

    For multi-instrument sessions:

    <resource name 1>, <resource name 2>

    Where resource name is either an instrument name (PXI1Slot2), a fully qualified channel name (PXI1Slot2/0), or a fully qualified channel range (PXI1Slot2/0-3).
    option string

    For single-instrument sessions:

    Simulate=1,DriverSetup=Model:<model number>;BoardType:<bus connector>

    For multi-instrument sessions:

    Simulate=1,DriverSetup=ResourceName:<resource name 1>;Model:<model number>;BoardType:<bus connector>&ResourceName:<resource name 2>;Model:<model number>;BoardType:<bus connector>
    Note The ResourceName entry of the option string may contain a single instrument names only (PXI1Slot2) and may contain only a single instrument name per ResourceName entry.

Simulation Examples

To simulate a single PXI-4110, use the following option string syntax: Simulate=1,DriverSetup=Model:4110;BoardType:PXI

You can also simulate a subset of channels for a single instrument using the resource name parameter of the Initialize With Independent Channels VI.

To simulate a multi-instrument session with a PXI-4110 and PXIe-4163, use the following syntax:

  • resource name: PXI1Slot2/0-2,PXI1Slot3/0-23
  • option string: Simulate=1,DriverSetup=ResourceName:PXI1Slot2;Model:4110;BoardType:PXI&ResourceName:PXI1Slot3;Model:4163;BoardType:PXIe

To simulate a multi-instrument session with these instruments that includes only a subset of their channels, use the following syntax:

  • resource name: PXI1Slot2/0,PXI1Slot3/0,PXI1Slot3/2,PXI1Slot3/4,PXI1Slot3/6,PXI1Slot3/8,PXI1Slot3/12
  • option string: Simulate=1,DriverSetup=ResourceName:PXI1Slot2;Model:4110;BoardType:PXI&ResourceName:PXI1Slot3;Model:4163;BoardType:PXIe

Only those channels that you explicitly include are simulated.