Help me with Microcontroller to GPIB (Arduino or similar)

[pashlit]

Hello folks,
I really need some help here. I am working on a big project but have limited knowledge about interfacing microcontrollers with GPIB. The final project goal is to use a smartphone to control GPIB analyzer, but my current task is just to connect a microcontroller (probably based on Arduiono board) to the instrument and fetch a couple of measurements so I could transfer them via bluetooth module to a smartphone. I am not looking into graphs or any other complicated data for now. Smth, like "Voltage" value should be sufficient. I researched the web till my eyes get burned and still is very confused how to proceed and what to start with. I read about GPIB connector, studied handshaking procedure, but how can I program my controller to actually send a command via GPIB and get the data back? I guess I can not just connect Microcontroller lines to GPIB lines. I assume I might need some kind of logic in between.
Like, for instance if I want to measure voltage, I guess I should send smth like:
: MEASure:VOLTage:AC? 12, 0.001

But how can I implement that line in microcontroller? I just want to understand how I can send a particular command to an instrument and get the data back.
Sorry for asking such a noob question. I am very new to all that stuff but can pick up rather quickly.
I ll be more specific next time once I get a bit of knowledge how all that stuff works. May be some kind of example would help dramatically.
Thanks a lot,
Paul

 

[Analog Ground]

GPIB can be a bit complicated and imposing at first. One idea is to start with a "ready made", RS-232 serial to GPIB product to quickly connect your microcontroller to the GPIB instrument. Search "serial to GPIB" to find a number of products. Now, I have to ask. GPIB is getting old. Many instruments have switched over to network interfaces. Are you committed to GPIB?

 

[pashlit]

GPIB can be a bit complicated and imposing at first. One idea is to start with a "ready made", RS-232 serial to GPIB product to quickly connect your microcontroller to the GPIB instrument. Search "serial to GPIB" to find a number of products. Now, I have to ask. GPIB is getting old. Many instruments have switched over to network interfaces. Are you committed to GPIB?

I am not a big fan of GPIB, but thats the only choice I have. Another option I was thinking about was to connect the instrument via GPIB-USB adaptor, but this looks even harder, since I dont even have an idea on how lets say Arduino board will work (if it works at all) in such a configuration. Basically we are using this adapter already with PC, but the main idea is to be able to get those readings on a smartphone.

 

[Analog Ground]

At least one group has gone down this road. Search "Performance Characterization of a Wireless Instrumentation Bus" for one paper bridging GPIB to BT. Looks like they built some custom hardware instead of chaining together some off-the-shelf stuff. PIC based.

 

[pashlit]

At least one group has gone down this road. Search "Performance Characterization of a Wireless Instrumentation Bus" for one paper bridging GPIB to BT. Looks like they built some custom hardware instead of chaining together some off-the-shelf stuff. PIC based.

Thanks, that's a nice article. But it basically just gives an idea. There are no codes, diagrams, etc.. Is it a copyrighted project? I d love to build smth. like that. It might serve our needs perfectly I think.

 

[Analog Ground]

Thanks, that's a nice article. But it basically just gives an idea. There are no codes, diagrams, etc.. Is it a copyrighted project? I d love to build smth. like that. It might serve our needs perfectly I think.

A quick search of "smartphone data acquisition using bluetooth" seems to reveal a small explosion in BT connectivity to smartphones for data acquisition, etc. For example, ST Microelectronics (www.st.com) makes BT modules for general use in connecting to phones. I suggest an intensive web search. Now, getting from the BT interface to your GPIB is another matter but I know there are microcontroller designs out there that do this. Perhaps other forum members can give specific examples. Looks like an interesting project!

 

[FvM]

Although GPIB is dropping out of use with recent instruments, it's often the only option when interfacing older devices. There are many GPIB interface projects on the internet like this **broken link removed** (just one of the first hits I experienced at Google).

It's a simplified interface, not even using a dedicated GPIB bus driver or bidirectional buffer. So it doesn't exactly keep the GPIB specifications, but it surely works for one (or probably a few) instrument(s) on the bus.

I remember that likewise we used to control GPIB instruments by a CBM 3000 computer's parallel port during my study.

 

[pashlit]

Although GPIB is dropping out of use with recent instruments, it's often the only option when interfacing older devices. There are many GPIB interface projects on the internet like this **broken link removed** (just one of the first hits I experienced at Google).

It's a simplified interface, not even using a dedicated GPIB bus driver or bidirectional buffer. So it doesn't exactly keep the GPIB specifications, but it surely works for one (or probably a few) instrument(s) on the bus.

I remember that likewise we used to control GPIB instruments by a CBM 3000 computer's parallel port during my study.

Thanks! It has schematic. The simpler the better for me now. I am wondering If I could use that schematic with Arduino board. Arduino already has a bluetooth model implemented, so I could use it for now. I am not looking for anything complicated now, since i dont really have much time. I just want a very simple basic interface that will fetch a measurement from one or two instruments and transfers it to a smartphone. Once I grasp the idea and figure out how everything works I will try to build a more sophisticated device with decent interface and decent phone app. Yeah, the final goal is to control that GPIB device with the phone, but that's another story.

It's nice.

 

[Analog Ground]

Although GPIB is dropping out of use with recent instruments, it's often the only option when interfacing older devices. There are many GPIB interface projects on the internet like this **broken link removed** (just one of the first hits I experienced at Google).

It's a simplified interface, not even using a dedicated GPIB bus driver or bidirectional buffer. So it doesn't exactly keep the GPIB specifications, but it surely works for one (or probably a few) instrument(s) on the bus.

I remember that likewise we used to control GPIB instruments by a CBM 3000 computer's parallel port during my study.

The CBM 3000 had a IEEE-488 interface which is the same as GPIB (or HPIB). This was a useful curiosity for those in the university and research fields. I am feeling old now. I have to go lie down.

 

[FvM]

The CBM 3000 had a IEEE-488 interface which is the same as GPIB (or HPIB). This was a useful curiosity for those in the university and research fields. I am feeling old now. I have to go lie down.

You are right, the CBM 3000 had real IEEE-488 bus drivers as I see from the schematic. I forgot this detail, but no reason for me to feel old, though.

Cheers,
Frank