Programming the 2000 Series Oscilloscopes4
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2 Programming the 2000 Series Oscilloscopes
2.1
General procedure
The ps2000.dll library in your PicoScope installation directory allows you to program
a PicoScope 2000 Series oscilloscope using standard C function calls.
A typical program for capturing data consists of the following steps:
Open the oscilloscope.
Set up the input channels with the required voltage ranges and coupling mode.
Set up triggering.
Start capturing data. (See Sampling modes, where programming is discussed in
more detail.)
Wait until the oscilloscope is ready.
Copy data to a buffer.
Stop capturing data.
Close the oscilloscope.
Numerous sample programs are included in the SDK. These show how to use the
functions of the driver software in each of the modes available.
2.2
Driver
Your application will communicate with a PicoScope 2000 API driver called
ps2000.dll, which is supplied in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The driver exports the
ps2000 function definitions in standard C format, but this does not limit you to
programming in C. You can use the API with any programming language that supports
standard C calls.
The API driver depends on a low-level driver called WinUsb.sys (supplied in 32-bit
and 64-bit versions), which is installed by the SDK and configured when you plug the
oscilloscope into each USB port for the first time. Your application does not call this
driver directly.
2.3
Voltage ranges
You can set the gain for each channel with the ps2000_set_channel function. The
input voltage ranges available depend on the oscilloscope model.
The driver scales all readings to 16 bits, regardless of the voltage range the
oscilloscope is set to. The following table shows the relationship between the reading
from the driver and the signal level.
Indicates a buffer overrun in fast
streaming mode.
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