VNAView

Since I’m a LabVIEW guru, I couldn’t let the VNA project go without a good LabVIEW driver and application software. The current version requires the G8KBB USB interface. Because LabVIEW is platform-independent, there are some I/O driver options. Under Windows, you can use the G8KBB DLL as the driver. I personally run under LabVIEW 8.5 for Windows executing under VMWare on my MacBook. To run this software (or even look at it) you must have LabVIEW 7.0 or later. I’m pretty sure the Base version is sufficient, but it’s still over two grand... You can download an evaluation copy from National Instruments. If you have a student in the family, you can also purchase the LabVIEW Student Edition Software Suite ($80). It should work fine. Its only disadvantage is that it displays a greyed-out “student edition” over everything.

LabVIEW Software Support for the VNA

COMPILED VERSION. There is a compiled VNAView for Windows. That means you don’t need the LabVIEW development system to run it. The current version still has some cosmetic issues, but is otherwise pretty usable. Download from http://idisk.mac.com/gwj-Public. The download is very large because it contains the LabVIEW runtime engine installer. Eventually, I’ll post a version without the runtime engine, which will be better for upgrades.

The basic LabVIEW driver allows access to all VNA features including DDS setup, ADC acquisition, and setting digital output bits. Higher-level functions implement various VNA calibration algorithms including single-port reflection, reflection plus thru, and a full S-parameter test set. At the highest level is the full-featured VNAView application including calibration management, linear and log scanning, analysis and graphing of many computed parameters, Smith chart, RLC network fitting, and exporting data to tab-delimited text files. It’s roughly equivalent to MyVNA by G8KBB. And, since it’s LabVIEW, all the diagrams (source code) are there and you can instantly modify anything you want. Also, it’s easy to integrate the VNA application with other tests. VNAView_Screenshots.doc

If you’re interested in this software, download it from http://idisk.mac.com/gwj-Public Please contact me at [gwj] at [spamcop] dot [net] with any questions and comments.