Windows 7 was released on Oct. 22nd.  ETS-Lindgren has had a corporate partner copy for internal testing of enterprise applications but we have not done compatibility checks with TILE! and 7 yet. 

We do know that as of this writing it does not appear to be compatible.  The Windows XP compatibility release candidate was released but there is a warning not to use it yet. 

That said, we will be testing it in the next week and should have a resolution soon.  In the meantime we are suggesting to stay with earlier Windows versions until we can test it.

Joe Tannehill

If you want to add two ranges such as two antenna ranges together you can use the max(x,y) equation.  This is typically used to find the highest level of two similar ranges.  However, it is not restricted to similar ranges, therefor you can add dis-similar ranges.  If there is a frequency overlap or duplicate, it will return the highest amplitude of the two.

Example:

To add a log periodic range to a bicon range you would do max(bicon,log).

This is easier than storing the files, then transferring them back with the ‘append’ feature.

Joe Tannehill

Until today there was a feature in TILE! that we did not realize was there.  It is in the Log Options GUI under the "Prompt" column.  If you select all of the boxes beneath it, it will allow you to perform any action line-by-line so you can see what TILE! is doing.  This will allow you to catch the command that is of concern.  The log file is good to capture the hard copy, but this will be great to use over the phone and email.

Thanks to Wes Smith of Woodward Governor for pointing this out!

Joe Tannehill

Tile! 4.1 Release Notes

Yes!  This was sent in from Charlie Rankin at Motorola. 

C:\tile\TILE.exe C:\tile\foldername\profilename.TIL /Start

There is a space between TIL and /.  Start can be changed to any named action in the profile.

Joe Tannehill

It appears there maybe some issues with the ortho-axis controller for GTEM’s.  The issues may be associated with the mechanical installation of the controller.  To level set TILE! users for the proper setup you can reference the 5407 GTEM manual (link below) to see if you are connected correctly.  If you are still having trouble contact us.

http://www.ets-lindgren.com/manuals/5407.pdf

Joe Tannehill

These are some tips for debugging GPIB commands with TILE! 4. It assumes you are using a National Instruments GPIB interface.First, start NI MAX, then start NI Spy. Set it to monitoring mode. Start by checking the GPIB connection.  You can test it by using “Communicate with Instrument” in MAX when you find the device in your MAX’s device tree.
Second, go to Tile menu File->Options->GPIB. In that tab, you should see “nigpib32” or “nigpib” in the text box. Click the “Browse” button, and search for nigpib.dll file in your Tile4 default directory. Load it.
 
Then, close TILE! and restart it.
 
Fourth, try to connect your NI GPIB to a device that you have a driver for. Load the driver in your instrument window. Make sure give the device a name and the GPIB address must be consistent with NI MAX’s finding.
 
Finally, use “GPIB” tool in your TILE! tool bar (it looks like a hand with pen), connecting to the driver you connected, and send “*IDN?” by clicking “Write” button; then click “Read” to see what you get in return. You can watch your NI Spy for the status of the communication.

When ETS-Lindgren took over TILE! support, we started issuing ‘incident numbers’ against user issues.  These were generated by a database that ETS-L uses for all support functions.

This is database is a great tool and we will continue to use it, but… For some reason my laptop does not like to discuss TILE! issues with that tool.  It is a third party application that works for everyone but me.  Currently when I log into the tool it will give me about 20 seconds of attention then it vanishes off of my screen and is nowhere to be found in my task list.  It will not re-start. 

So I have been using a spreadsheet and TILEsupports inbox to try to keep up on issues.

We have a crack staff of IT guys but I have not had the oppportunity to hand over my machine so they can check the 7th pfetzer valve.

Hopefully this has been transparent to you but you just don’t have a tracking number. 

By the way.  I challenge you to come up with a better subject line than "tile issue" when you submit something to us.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing from ya’ll at the EMC Symposium this year!

Joe Tannehill

Since we have enabled the FTP access, the only problem we have found with connections seems to be the firewall blocking of FTP sites on the user side. 

We suggest that you use another domain to access the FTP site.

Sometimes users try to use the web browser to connect to the FTP.  That will not work.  You must use the ‘Windows Explorer’ window.  This is the same window that you would look for files on your computer.

1.  Resolution above 1 GHz – The new TILE4! supports 12 decimal places, where the old version only allowed 6, which should maintain 1 Hz minimum accuracy until 100 GHz. This is significant in both emissions and immunity. This is probably one of the most extreme improvements, requiring the rewrite of the whole entire code base. But it has a significant impact upon the future.

2. Import – Import of settings from other actions will allow a function similar to Cut-Paste. This will make editing flowcharts much easier, especially when you need to insure different steps have the exact same measurement parameters.

3.   Assume you are going to define three measurement steps, using different antennas, but with the same RBW, VBW, Sweep time, etc. With the new version you would place the three actions on the flowchart. Setup the first action with the appropriate information. Now edit the remaining two actions and just import the settings from the first action. The only restriction on importing is that you can NEVER import the output data elements. This is done to prevent accidental loss of information – a critical data integrity issue. Data integrity is the primary reason that Cut-and-Paste has never been an option.

4.   Bookmarks – In the current version of TILE!, the primary output is graphs and tables. You can export data also, but for report writing purposes, graphs and tables were the sole output. They could be cut/pasted into a word processor (or exported and imported). But TILE4! profiles can have an immense amount of technical information that the user would want in his or her report. The ‘Bookmark’ feature is a way to define linkages between a TILE4! profile and specific parts of a document. This information can then be imported and inserted directly into the document, saving untold hours of editing. This information can be specific information (such as Resolution Bandwidth, Start Frequency, etc) or it could be graphs and tables (which you can automatically export and import now). Utilization of this feature will require some knowledge of the Macro functions in the word processing software, but we are supplying a working sample of a TILE4! profile transferring data to a Word document.

5. Graph Refresh – In all emissions and most immunity steps, we are adding the capability to associate a math step(s) to a measurement step. Now when a measurement step is executing the math function will update data at regular intervals. This will allow graphs and tables to be updated as the test runs, in place of the current method where math is only executed after completion of the test. This will let your engineers or customers see nearly life presentations of the data from the test.

6. Instrument Driver Structure – The basic structure of instrument drivers (specifically true receivers) has also been changed. This will allow us to put the same immediate update capabilities into play for these types of instrument in the future. With this change, old instrument drivers will not work. The instrument driver library is being rewritten to place all drivers are at a 4.0 level.

7. Updated Manual – The new manual is available and included in the download. It covers all the new features of TILE4!, but will also be applicable to those using the current release of TILE!.

There are certain updates that will be made to the file structure for a profile, so when an existing profile is opened and saved in TILE4!, its format will be modified. It will no longer be readable by version 3.4 and prior versions. But contrary to previous releases of TILE!, you will be able to install the Version 4 and run it in parallel with the new version. You just need to be very careful not to ‘update’ a profile that you expect to go back to run in a previous version. It will be as simple as creating a copy of the profile in the Version 4 directory (or some other intermediate directory).