Building your bench

A bench is a folder shaped like this:

mi_banco/
├── banco.yaml             ← which instruments there are and on which port
└── perfiles/
    ├── fuente_xyz.yaml    ← one profile per instrument MODEL
    └── dmm_abc.yaml

Start by copying the example

The quickest way is to start from the example bench and change it:

• Linux:

  $ cp -r /usr/share/crucible/banco ~/mi_banco
  $ cd ~/mi_banco
  

• Windows: Start menu → Crucible → Abrir carpeta del banco, and edit it there or copy the folder somewhere else.

From that folder, crucible with no arguments starts your bench: it is the first place it looks.

banco.yaml

This is the example’s (its comments are in Spanish; the text below explains every field):

# Banco de ejemplo de Crucible.
#
# Un banco es la lista de instrumentos que se simulan a la vez. Cada uno apunta
# a su perfil (qué instrumento es y cómo responde) y dice en qué puerto escucha.
#
# Para tu banco: copia esta carpeta, añade un perfil por cada modelo de
# instrumento y una entrada por cada unidad física. Dos unidades del mismo
# modelo comparten perfil, pero cada una necesita su propio puerto.
#
# Comprueba el banco sin arrancarlo:   crucible --validar banco.yaml
# Arráncalo:                           crucible banco.yaml

banco:
  nombre: banco-de-ejemplo
  dispositivos:
    - id: fuente
      perfil: perfiles/fuente_dc.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5025 }

    - id: multimetro
      perfil: perfiles/multimetro.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5026 }
      # Se puede cambiar el estado de arranque de una unidad sin tocar su perfil.
      estado_inicial:
        tension_entrada: 3.3

    - id: smu
      perfil: perfiles/keithley_2400_demo.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5027 }

Each entry under dispositivos is one unit:

Two units of the same model share a profile and use different ports, and, if needed, a different estado_inicial:

    - id: dmm_entrada
      perfil: perfiles/dmm_abc.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5026 }

    - id: dmm_salida
      perfil: perfiles/dmm_abc.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5027 }
      estado_inicial:
        tension_entrada: 12.0

Validate before starting

$ crucible --validar banco.yaml
banco.yaml es válido:

  ID          MODELO         RECURSO VISA
  fuente      FUENTE-DC      TCPIP0::127.0.0.1::5025::SOCKET
  multimetro  MULTIMETRO     TCPIP0::127.0.0.1::5026::SOCKET
  smu         KEITHLEY-2400  TCPIP0::127.0.0.1::5027::SOCKET

--validar loads the bench and all its profiles, checks patterns, formulas and ports, and shows the resource table without opening any port, so you can use it while the bench is running. Do it every time you edit a YAML file: the errors say which file, which command and what is wrong.

Each instrument needs its own port. With this bench, which repeats 5025:

banco:
  nombre: dos-fuentes
  dispositivos:
    - id: fuente_a
      perfil: perfiles/fuente_dc.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5025 }

    - id: fuente_b
      perfil: perfiles/fuente_dc.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5025 }

$ crucible --validar puerto_repetido.yaml

error: 'fuente_a' y 'fuente_b' usan los dos 127.0.0.1:5025; cada instrumento necesita su puerto

The error says both devices use 127.0.0.1:5025 and each instrument needs its own port.

Three rules worth knowing

If one profile has an error, the whole bench does not start. On purpose: a bench missing an instrument would give false results without anyone noticing.

*RST returns the unit to the profile’s values, not to estado_inicial. The example multimeter starts with 3.3 V on its terminals, but after *RST it reads 0 V (you will see it in chapter 8). If your software sends *RST at the start, set the value in the profile or set it again over SCPI afterwards.

A misspelled variable in estado_inicial is not an error. Here tension_entarda does not exist in the multimeter profile, and still:

banco:
  nombre: errata
  dispositivos:
    - id: dmm
      perfil: perfiles/multimetro.yaml
      transporte: { tipo: tcp, puerto: 5030 }
      estado_inicial:
        tension_entarda: 12.0

$ crucible --validar errata.yaml
errata.yaml es válido:

  ID   MODELO      RECURSO VISA
  dmm  MULTIMETRO  TCPIP0::127.0.0.1::5030::SOCKET

(es válido means is valid.) The multimeter will start reading 0 V. If a unit does not start with the value you expected, check the spelling first.