General Purpose Automatic Microwave Measurements

Abstract

The general purpose features required for automatic microwave measurements will be described. These features include calibration, measurement, storage of test procedures and output of date. The calibration would have different features for specific analyzers, but the other features would be dependent only upon the controller used. In addition to storing the calibration, the ability to recall the calibrating parameters from a file for restoring the internal calibration is featured. A feature to analyze the calibrating error terms with a printout asures the instrument is performing satisfactorily. The input and output devices and directories should be reassignable at the operator's desire. A general purpose subroutine called Set_drives assigns three different directories/devices for the keys to control the output later on in the program. These three keys are labelled [PROGRAM] [DATA] [ALTERNATE]. Whenever there is a choice, these three keys will be displayed with an optional key called [OTHER]. The "OTHER" key will reassign the keys to these keys to a new directory or device. The directory system for the SRM is handled such that if a directory is given, the device "REMOTE" is assumed and is not displayed under the keys. This subroutine works on all Hewlett Packerd Controllers. In addition to checking for the validity of a file name by parsing it from its directory and device assignments, the program also checks to see if the data file type is appropriate.