AR488
AR488 GPIB to UART/USB
The AR488 is an Arduino based GPIB to serial port adaptor. The firmware runs on UNO (and thus Nano) as well as Mega boards. The PC sees a USB or RS232 attached COM port, transmit data is sent to the device, the device's response is seen as receive data. Out of band commands prefixed by ++ can control the adaptor's behaviour. The AR488 is accessible to interactive sessions in a terminal program, as well as can serve as a SCPI over serial "cable".
Hardware
- Arduino Uno or Nano (ATmega328p based) or Mega (ATmega2560)
- Centronics 24pin connector
See the AR488-manual.pdf for schematics. Wires run from the Arduino board to the Centronics connector, no driver chips are involved. This keeps the component count low, the wiring simple, and the mechanical construction compact (especially with Nano boards which can execute the Uno firmware). In theory any bare serially attached ATmega chip would do, but the firmware happens to be written in the Arduino IDE's language (uses libraries and build support, won't work outside of the IDE without modifications).
The primary goal of the project is to enable quick access to GPIB attached devices. Typical use is to have one adapter per device (it's rather low cost, so that's not an issue). The lack of proper drivers means that the adapter cannot handle a full bus, the limit is said to be somewhere around three or four devices, before signals go out of spec and communication need not work reliably any longer. For larger setups with many devices a proper full-blown adapter with appropriate driving capabilities is recommended.
Protocol
The AR488 firmware passes the PC's transmit data to GPIB, and GPIB data to the PC. Commands start with the ++ prefix. Macros (both executed at runtime as well as at firmware start) are supported.
Use with sigrok:
- Create a startup macro (built into the AR488 firmware, compile time option), specify "++addr N" and "++auto 1" and optionally "++read" (adjust the device address).
- Specify SCPI over serial like so: sigrok-cli -d scpi-dmm:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0:serialcomm=115200/8n1 --scan