Occam and the art of microwave maintenance-software architecture of a transputer-based instrument

There are many ways in which the control software for an instrument could be realised. The approach described was developed over a number of years by the Microwave Measurements Group at Marconi Instruments, and used in its most recent product, the 6200 series Microwave Test Set (MTS). The MTS is a new type of instrument, combining the functionality of a four-input scalar network analyser, a synthesised microwave source, a power meter and a frequency counter. It is also the first test and measurement instrument to use transputers. The author briefly describes the MTS and then describes a general-purpose instrument software architecture developed to assist in design of a complex instrument such as the MTS. The author discusses the Occam model, the design of the measurement subsystem and its operational parameters, and the realisation of the system architecture.<>