Firewire vs. GPIB vs. MXI-2 vs. VXI Embedded PC

Application: Agilent E1445A outputs 5 kHz square waveform, Agilent E1428A digital scope digitizes waveform
Controller: 200 MHz Processor

Results: The system using the Agilent E6235A embedded PC was fastest -- 2% faster than MXI-2, 3% faster than the Agilent E8491B, and 5% faster than the Agilent E1406A.

Results: Test system using the Agilent E6235A embedded PC was fastest - 2% faster than MXI-2, 3% faster than the Agilent E8491B and 5% faster than Agilent E1406A GPIB command module. No change from Agilent E8491A to Agilent E8491B.

Agilent E8491B IEEE 1394 (FireWire) PC to VXI Link

Agilent E8491A IEEE 1394 (FireWire) PC to VXI Link

Agilent E1406A GPIB Command Module

NI VME-PCI8015 MXI-2

Agilent E6235A Embedded VXI PC 200 MHz

Agilent E1445A 5 kHz square wave download

14.66

14.66

14.39

5.83

8.56

Agilent E1445A setup and output (ms) 4-segments, 100 points @ 1 MHz rate

452.87

452.87

451.92

406.92

413.88

Agilent E1428A setup (ms)

1989.62

1989.62

1982.97

2029.60

1994.59

Agilent E1428A digitize waveform (0.3 ms range and 10 volt range)

332.44

332.44

387.65

337.20

331.33

Output data through I/O (ms)

98.08

98.08

103.12

78.30

45.21

Total Time (ms)

2887.67

2887.67

2940.05

2857.85

2793.57