RFmx SpecAn Python API Documentation

About

The nirfmx-python repository generates Python bindings (Application Programming Interface) for interacting with the NI-RFmx drivers.

nirfmx-python follows Python Software Foundation support policy for different versions.

Operating System Support

nirfmxspecan supports Windows systems where the supported drivers are installed. Refer to NI Hardware and Operating System Compatibility for which versions of the driver support your hardware on a given operating system.

Installation

You can use pip to download nirfmxspecan and install it.

$ python -m pip install nirfmxspecan

Support and Feedback

For support with Python API, hardware, the driver runtime or any other questions, please visit NI Community Forums.

Example:

import nirfmxinstr
import nirfmxspecan
import numpy

instr_session = None
specan = None

try:
  # Open a RFmx Session
  instr_session = nirfmxinstr.Session(resource_name="RFSA", option_string="")

  # Configure RFmx Session
  instr_session.configure_frequency_reference(selector_string="",
    frequency_reference_source="OnboardClock", frequency_reference_frequency=10.0e+6)

  # Create SpecAn Signal
  specan = instr_session.get_specan_signal_configuration()

  # Configure SpecAn Signal
  specan.set_selected_ports(selector_string="", value="")
  specan.configure_frequency(selector_string="", center_frequency=1e+9)
  specan.configure_reference_level(selector_string="", reference_level=0.0)
  specan.configure_external_attenuation(selector_string="", external_attenuation=0.0)

  # Select Spectrum Measurement
  specan.select_measurements(selector_string="",
    measurements=nirfmxspecan.MeasurementTypes.SPECTRUM, enable_all_traces=True)

  # Configure Spectrum Measurement
  specan.spectrum.configuration.configure_span(selector_string="", span=1.0e+6)
  specan.spectrum.configuration.configure_measurement_method(selector_string="",
    measurement_method=nirfmxspecan.SpectrumMeasurementMethod.NORMAL)

  specan.initiate(selector_string="", result_name="")

  # Retrieve Results
  spectrum = numpy.empty(0, dtype=numpy.float32)
  x0, dx, _ = specan.spectrum.results.fetch_spectrum(selector_string="", timeout=10.0,
    spectrum=spectrum)
  peak_amplitude, peak_frequency, frequency_resolution, error_code = (
    specan.spectrum.results.fetch_measurement(selector_string="", timeout=10.0))

  # Print Results
  print(f"Peak Amplitude (dBm)             {peak_amplitude}")
  print(f"Peak Frequency (Hz)              {peak_frequency}")

except nirfmxinstr.RFmxError as e:
  print("ERROR: " + str(e.description))

finally:
  # Dispose Signal & Session
  if specan is not None:
      specan.dispose()
      specan = None
  if instr_session is not None:
      instr_session.close()
      instr_session = None

Additional Documentation

Refer to the NI-RFmx User Manual for an overview of NI-RFmx, system requirements, troubleshooting, key concepts, etc.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. While the source code is not publicly released, the license permits binary distribution with attribution.

Note: This Python driver depends on several third-party components that are subject to separate commercial licenses. Users are responsible for ensuring they have the appropriate rights and licenses to use those dependencies in their environments.

gRPC Features

For driver APIs that support it, passing a GrpcSessionOptions instance as a parameter to nirfmxinstr.Session.__init__() is subject to the NI General Purpose EULA.

SSL/TLS Support

The server supports both server-side TLS and mutual TLS. Security configuration is accomplished by setting the server_cert, server_key and root_cert values in the server’s configuration file. The server expects the certificate files specified in the configuration file to exist in a certs folder that is located in the same directory as the configuration file being used by the server. For more detailed information on SSL/TLS support refer to the [Server Security Support wiki page](https://github.com/ni/grpc-device/wiki/Server-Security-Support).