Using Multiple 34980A/34970A M

Introduction
For many datalogging applications, you can use the
Agilent 34980A multifunction switch/measure unit or the
Agilent 34970A data acquisition/switch unit mainframes
and choose from a variety of measurement and switching
modules to meet your needs. If you need more speed or
more channels for scanning than these instruments pro-
vide, you can use multiple 34980A or 34970A mainframes
to achieve both objectives. For example, with ten 34970As,
you can measure 480 channels in less than 1 second.
1
Using multiple mainframes to perform simultaneous
data logging (also called parallel processing) is possible
because each 34980A and 34970A mainframe has its
own DMM and control circuitry.
This application note explains how to use multiprocess-
ing with the 34980A and the 34970A to increase channel
count and increase scanning speed.