Q & A with Vaunix: Controlling Multiple Attenuators

In our Q & A blog series, we've addressed some of the most important and technical questions about our Lab Bricks. We hope these answers give you a better understanding of how our products work.

Q. If I plug four LDA-602N attenuators into four USB ports on a PC, can I address them with the attenuator software individually and change their attenuation separately as well as simultaneously?

A. There are three ways you can control multiple Lab Brick attenuators:

Method 1: Controlling multiple attenuators independently

To control four or more attenuators from one computer, simply open four windows of the user interface. Each one will automatically link with an available attenuator and display the controlled attenuator's serial number in the lower left corner of each window. Changes can then be made to each one.

Method 2: Simultaneously controlling up to eight attenuators

For this requirement Vaunix can provide a multi-attenuator user interface that allows up to eight units to be configured into one or two groups. You can set ramps or fixed attenuation levels that can be enabled simultaneously for each attenuator in a group.

Method 3: Writing your own attenuator control routines

Many customers choose to write their own programs to control multiple attenuators.  Vaunix provides various .dll files for this purpose and they are available from our FTP site.

If you have any questions about operating or programming Vaunix products or other topics, please contact our technical support team.