Simulating a Power Supply or SMU

Simulate a power supply or SMU using NI-DCPower or Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) to develop, modify, and/or test an application without hardware. Using a simulated device to test an application eliminates the risk of hardware damage. Additionally, you can use a simulated power supply or SMU to evaluate an NI product for which you do not have hardware.

Tip  As with any installed and configured power supply or SMU, you can use the NI-DCPower Soft Front Panel to test the basic functionality of the device.

NI-DCPower

Complete the following steps to create and configure a simulated power supply or SMU using NI-DCPower.

1. Run the niDCPower Initialize With Options VI or the niDCPower_InitWithOptions function.
2. Set the option string parameter. The option string parameter is composed of the Simulate and Driver Setup keywords, as illustrated in the following example:
   
   Simulate=1, DriverSetup=Model:<model number>; BoardType:<type>

The DriverSetup keyword is set using the driver setup string—the device model number and board type. When you specify the driver setup string, NI-DCPower ignores the resource name parameter. If you do not specify the driver setup string, NI-DCPower simulates the device specified in the resource name parameter. If you specify neither the driver setup string nor the resource name parameter, NI-DCPower simulates an NI PXI-4110 by default.

Example

When simulating an NI PXI-4110, use the following option string parameter:

Simulate=1, DriverSetup=Model:4110; BoardType:PXI

MAX

Complete the following steps to create and configure a simulated power supply in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX).

1. Launch MAX.
2. Right-click Devices and Interfaces in the MAX configuration tree, and select Create New. The Create New dialog box opens.
3. Select NI-DAQmx Simulated Device, and click Finish. The Choose Device dialog box opens.
4. Expand Power Supplies, and select the power supply to simulate.
5. Click OK. The power supply appears in the MAX configuration tree with a yellow icon to indicate that it is a simulated device.

Refer to the NI-DAQmx Simulated Devices topic in the Measurement & Automation Explorer Help for NI-DAQmx for more detailed information about simulating NI-DAQmx devices.