| Channel |
An input/output (I/O) connection on the switch module that a user can access. What constitutes a channel is defined by the vendor, but the channel must be a point that you can connect to one or more other channels of the switch module through a path. In addition, it is the connection point to the switch module. Notice that a channel does not indicate the number of wires. A channel may consist of 1, 2, 3 or 4 wires, for example. |
| Channel Pair |
Two channel names separated by the "->" symbol. |
| Common |
The name of the output channel in a multiplexer switch module. |
| Configuration Channel |
A channel that is not directly accessible to you through the IviSwtch class driver, or a channel that you mark as a configuration channel to reserve it for the path creation. The driver uses a configuration channel to create paths between the channels, connect or disconnect to an analog bus, and so on. This gives the driver more flexibility in creating paths at the expense of losing channels. Mark a column in a matrix as a configuration channel when you want to allow the matrix to connect a row to a row. |
| Matrix Switch Module |
A switch module that is configured to have multiple inputs and outputs that form a standard matrix organization such that any row can be connected to any column. Notice that some, but not all matrices support row-to-row and column-to-column connections. Refer to Configuration Channel. |
| Multiplexer Switch Module |
A switch module that is configured to have multiple input channels but only a single output channels. Other names for the multiplexer switch module are a tree, and a 1 × n matrix. |
| Path |
The connection (electrical, optical, and so on) between the two channels. You create a path with operations defined in the IviSwtch class. The end-point channels define such a connection. Notice that it is up to the switch module to know what paths are valid, invalid or in use. |
| Scanner Switch Module |
An IviSwtch switch module with the capability to scan channels. |
| Source Channel |
A channel directly accessible to you through the IviSwtch class driver. Typically, the driver marks a channel as a source channel to allow for external connection. |
| Switch Module |
The vendor-defined device that the instrument driver session can communicate with and control. The channels of such a device define a switch module. Notice that on a physical switch device there may be multiple switch modules. In addition, a switch module may be on multiple switch devices. The concept is to have a single black box with external connections and have the software find the necessary paths. Notice that this does not remove the need of the application programmer to understand the underlying switch structure for issues such as sending the correct signals through the correct switches (for example, RF signals through RF paths only). |