TTR-500-2x8-Switch-Automation

Python and Matlab commands to automate a low-noise commercial switch on 64-bit computer

Matlab

The first step is to make sure that you have the "Instrument Control" toolbox. Like all matlab toolboxes, its pricey, so hopefully you already have it or your school/company can get it for you. A student license would also be pretty doable.

Once that's installed, download the .NET dll from the mini circuits website. As of today it's https://www.minicircuits.com/softwaredownload/ztvx.html. For your 64-bit computer, place MCL_ZTVX_64.dll in /windows/sysWOW64.

Next you can start setting it up in matlab. First initialize it:

SWITCH_USB = NET.addAssembly('C:\Windows\SysWOW64\MCL_ZTVX_64.dll');
MY_SWITCH = MCL_ZTVX_64.USB_Control;

if MY_SWITCH.Connect()==0;
    error("Switch is not turned on")
end

The if statement isn't necessary, it's just nice to check if the switch was turned on or not.
Now you can try to do a simple switching command. The lights on the device indicate its current position.

retSTR = '';  %dummy variable for the switch
[status, retSTR] = MY_SWITCH.Send_SCPI(':PATH:A1:N2',retSTR);
[status, retSTR] = MY_SWITCH.Send_SCPI(':PATH:A2:N3',retSTR);

As a final function, here is a useful loop in case you would like to iterate through every single possible switch combination. This assumes that you are using symmetry. For example, if you have A1=N2 and A2=N5, you don't need A1=N5 and A2=N2. There are 28 possible combinations.

for i=1:7 %For an 8-port switch, to go through every single combination
	port1command = strcat(':PATH:A1:N',num2str(i));
	[status, retSTR] = MY_SWITCH.Send_SCPI(port1command,retSTR);
	for j=(i+1):8 
		port2command = strcat(':PATH:A2:N',num2str(j));
		[status, retSTR] = MY_SWITCH.Send_SCPI(port2command,retSTR);
	end
 end