DCPower

It consists of three modules:

1. A windows driver which is responsible for the communication and device abstraction
2. A DLL with NI TestStand Test Steps which allows easy integration in automated production environments
3. A standalone executable which simplifies debugging and setup of test sequences

This architecture allows an open communication channel from multiple instances to the same device. This is important when, for example, two channels of a power supply are used in two independent applications.

As shown in the basic example above, it is easy to use the DCPower DLL from different applications or directly use the DCPower TestStand test steps to access the power supplies. As the complete communication is managed by the driver, there is no need to take care of the communication protocols. Just mix e.g.: a power supply that uses TCP/IP and another with GPIB in one application. To simplify application setup or if it’s only required to manually control a power supply from a PC the DCPower Standalone application allows to control all basic power supply functions and measure the voltage and current. To keep the functionality of the tool as simple as possible, special device functions such as waveform generation or fuse linking are not directly supported. Those functions can be realized using the implemented low-level communication functionality.

‍