Connect to Instrument Panel

The BenchVue application uses Keysight Connection Expert, which is part of the Keysight IO Libraries Suite, to automatically configure your instrument IO and populate the BenchVue Instrument Panel. Connection Expert displays the status of your instruments as determined by the Keysight Instrument Discovery Service, which loads whenever your computer is running with IO Libraries Suite installed. Most instruments are automatically discovered by the Instrument Discovery Service and you will see those instruments in the BenchVue Instrument Panel. In some cases, however, you may need to launch Connection Expert to manually add an instrument to your configuration.

If an instrument you are expecting to see is not shown in the BenchVue Instrument Panel, launch Connection Expert to manually add that instrument to your configuration – usually for serial (RS-232) instruments and LAN instruments that are not on your local subnet or are older LAN-based instruments. Note that if one of your instruments was discovered at an earlier time but communication can no longer be established with that instrument, it will not be shown in Connection Expert. In most cases, this means that the instrument has been disconnected or turned off. If you are experiencing connection issues with an instrument, be sure to verify that the instrument is turned on and is properly connected to the selected interface. Then try refreshing the instrument list in BenchVue by clicking the Refresh button at the bottom right corner of the Instrument Panel.

Note: In order for BenchVue to recognize and communicate with a PXI modular instrument, you must first enable the HiSLIP interface from the instrument's Soft Front Panel (SFP). For more information, see Connecting to PXI Modular Instruments.

The connection status of each instrument is shown on the Instrument Panel:

	This instrument was discovered by the software and is currently available for use.
	This instrument was discovered but is not currently available. The instrument may not be operating properly or there may be a problem with the instrument connection. For more information, see Troubleshoot Instrument Connections.

If desired, you can change the order of the icons shown in the Instrument Panel using a drag-and-drop operation.

Right-click on an instrument icon to see more details including the serial number, links to firmware updates, etc.

Favorite Instruments

Click the My Instruments button to toggle the list of "favorite" instruments on or off (not available in the Demo Mode). "My Instruments" are those instruments that you plan to use frequently and you have marked them with a gold star in Connection Expert. From BenchVue, a blue star indicates that the instrument list is currently being filtered based on the selected "favorites"; a gray star indicates that all discovered instruments are currently shown in the instrument list.

When an instrument is added to the Instruments view as a "favorite" in Connection Expert:

By default, instruments on all interfaces except LAN are marked as favorites. When a non-LAN instrument is either auto-discovered or manually added, it is marked as a favorite (gold star). You turn off an instrument's Favorite status at any time by clicking the icon (gray star).
By default, auto-discovered LAN instruments are not favorites because such instruments may be added to your subnet without your knowledge, and may not be relevant to your system. When a LAN instrument is auto-discovered, its Favorite icon is not selected (gray star). You turn on an instrument's Favorite status at any time by clicking the icon (gold star).
By default, manually-added LAN instruments are favorites. When a LAN instrument is manually added, its Favorite icon is enabled (gold star). You turn off an instrument's Favorite status at any time by clicking the icon (gray star).

Note: For more information on using Connection Expert, see the Connection Expert Help.