Bode Analyzer Suite

With the Bode Analyzer Suite (BAS) you have full control over the Bode 100 vector network analyzer.

BAS is an easy-to-use and intuitive user interface running on your Windows PC. BAS helps you to quickly measure and analyze your device under test. It offers great functions to save, document and share your measurement results.

Bode Analyzer Suite is free of charge, so feel free to  download it!

Bode Analyzer Suite makes frequency sweep measurements an easy task.
Impedance, Reflection, Admittance, Group Delay, Gain and Phase can be measured from 1Hz to 50MHz.
Define start frequency, stop frequency and number of points to generate linear or logarithmic frequency sweeps. Cursors help you to find resonance frequencies or zero crossings in the measured curves.

Results can be displayed in various formats such as Magnitude, Magnitude (dB), Phase (rad), Phase (°), Real, Imaginary, etc...
Besides normal x-y diagrams, Bode Analyzer Suite also offers Polar, Nyquist and Smith diagrams. All diagrams support full cursor and zooming functionality.

Besides frequency sweep measurements Bode Analyzer Suite also offers fixed-frequency measurements. The result can be displayed in either cartesian or polar form. Series and parallel equivalent circuit parameters are calculated during measurement and updated immediately.

Use the one-click memory curves to display the change of your DUT in one single graph! Memory curves can be renamed and re-styled according to your needs. Cursors can be attached to a memory curve to read the values of the memory traces.

Use the startup screen to quickly set-up the Bode 100 according to your needs. All supported measurements are listed in the startup screen. To learn more about the measurements that can be performed with Bode 100, check out the next tab on this page...

Pre-defined measurement modes make measurements simpler and ensure correct device setup and connection setup. The Bode Analyzer Suite offers a high variety of measurement modes to perform Transmission/Reflection, Gain and Impedance measurements using the Bode 100.

Vector Network Analysis

​​​​​​​Transmission/Reflection Measurement

Measure S-Parameters S11 and S21 in the 50 Ω domain or Gain with 1 MΩ impedance.

Gain/Phase Measurement

Measure Gain/Phase respectively voltage transfer function using two input ports. Input port impedance is software-selectable (1 MΩ or 50 Ω).

External Coupler Measurement

Measure reflection/impedance using an external amplifier in conjunction with an external coupler.

Impedance Analysis

One-Port Impedance Measurement

Measure reflection/impedance of a one-port DUT connected to the output port of Bode 100.

Impedance Adapter Measurement

Measure impedance of passive THT or SMD components using the impedance test fixtures B-WIC or B-SMC.

Shunt-Thru Measurement

A measurement configuration very sensitive for low impedance values and therefore suitable to analyze low-impedance devices such as ESR of ceramic capacitors.

Series-Thru Measurement

A measurement configuration very sensitive to high-impedance. Suitable for high-impedance measurements such as piezo-element characterization.

Voltage/Current Measurement

Voltage/Current equals Impedance. This setup is very flexible and especially suitable to measure input impedance and output impedance of active circuits such as DC/DC converters.

Configure Bode 100 according to your needs! The hardware setup helps you to configure the device hardware and connection setup correctly. You can switch the input impedance from 50 Ω to 1 MΩ and enter external probe factors or adjust the receiver attenuation/range.

With the Bode Analyzer Suite it is easy for you to create a one-click pdf report on your measurement, including all relevant device settings and measurement curves.
You can also copy and paste the diagrams directly into a word processor like Microsoft Office Word. Furthermore all measurement values can be exported to a .csv file or .xslx file for further processing in any spreadsheet application or math program.
In addition Bode Analyzer Suite 3.0 or newer support direct Touchstone file export.
Note: You can save every measurement to a .bode3 file. It contains all measurement data, calibration and device settings for archiving and/or sharing measurements. Bode-files can be analyzed with the Bode Analyzer Suite even if no Bode 100 hardware is connected.

Bode Analyzer Suite features an interactive user interface with cursors and cursor grid that show cursor values and special calculation results. Use the cursors to find minima and maxima in the curves or any specific values.All diagrams can be zoomed and optimized to automatically adjust the axis scaling to the measurement results.

You want to compensate the cables or the measurement setup? The Bode Analyzer Suite offers THRU calibration for the Gain/Phase measurements and OPEN SHORT LOAD calibration for impedance/reflection measurements. You can apply all necessary settings in the calibration window, the calibration state is shown graphically.

Some measurements have to be repeated over and over again ...

... therefore we added an Automation Interface to the Bode 100 right from the beginning. Today many customers are already using this Application Programming Interface (API) to build automated measurement setups involving the Bode 100. The Bode 100 can be controlled from any COM (OLE controller) compliant programming language such as:

  • MATLAB®
  • C#
  • VB.NET
  • Excel® with VBA
  • C++
  • TCL
  • Python®
  • Delphi®
  • etc...

Find out more about the Bode Automation Interface by having a look at the Automation Interface Reference. The Automation Interface is included in the Bode Analyzer Suite installer. Check out the Bode 100 download area.

In addition there is a LabVIEW® instrument driver available for download from www.ni.com.

Bode Analyzer Suite 3 or newer is compatible with Bode 100 Revision 1 and Revision 2 devices. Even without a Bode device, the Bode Analyzer Suite can be used to view measurement results and export measurement data.

PC Requirements

Bode Analyzer Suite can be installed on a PC that fulfills the following requirements:

CharacteristicMinimum Configuration
ProcessorIntel Core-I Dual-Core (or similar)
Memory (RAM)2 GB, 4 GB recommended
Graphics resolutionSuper VGA (1024x768)
higher resolution recommended
Graphics cardDirectX 11 with Direct2D support
USB interfaceUSB 2.0 or higher
Operating systemWindows 10 required for BAS 3.24 or newer
SoftwareBode Analyzer Suite 3.00 or newer

  V3.25 SR2 (2023-08-29)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.25 Service Release 2 brings some minor updates:

V3.25 SR1 (2022-05-18)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.25 Service Release 1 brings some useful improvement and fixes:

  • User-Right handling during and after installation has been improved
  • Correct handling of pre-installed ASP .net versions during installation
  • Firmware stability during programming of device improved
  • Improved loading of .bode files from 2013 or older
  • AI: Fixed GetSourceLevel() in Vrms format
  • Check out more in the Version Information

V3.25 (2021-12-21)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.25 brings a powerful new feature that allows you to:

  • Plot transfer functions over frequency as Bode plot or Nyquist plot etc.
  • Compare measurements with theoretical transfer functions using our new Expression Traces.
  • Evaluate complex mathematical expressions using measurement data and memory data
  • Benefit from several bugfixes (see: Version Information)

V3.24 (2021-02-10)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.24 brings several new features that allow you to:

  • Copy trace data from one measurement file to another using drag & drop
  • Paste trace data from a spreadsheet program into Bode Analyzer Suite
  • Use the improved stability margin calculation and Fres-Q calculation
  • Start the new experimental SCPI server to control the Bode Automation Interface using SCPI commands
  • Benefit from several bugfixes (see: Version Information)

Bode Automation Interface 3.24

  • Now comes with an experimental SCPI server that features the full Automation Interface functionality (no GUI functions)
  • With Bode Analyzer Suite 3.24 we have switched to the .NET Core framework which allows you to run the Automation Interface on Linux 

V3.23 (2020-02-20)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.23 brings some important bug-fixes:

Bode Automation Interface:

V3.22 (2019-12-04)

Bode Analyzer Suite 3.22 brings several new features that allow you to:

  • Use more than 2 cursors; add and remove cursors in the cursor table
  • Re-order cursors in the cursor table and add more than one delta-cursor
  • Copy the entire cursor table to the clipboard and paste it in e.g. a spreadsheet program
  • Use cursor tracking to automatically find a maximum, minimum or zero on a curve after every sweep has completed
  • Use Port-Extension to shift the reference plane mathematically along a transmission line during reflection measurement
  • Export calibration / correction data for the use in the Automation Interface
  • Recognize corrupted data due to overload and clipping via the improved overload warnings in the chart
  • See the influence of your calibration/correction on the measurement even after the measurement has been completed
  • Use the improved PDF reporting
  • Benefit from several bugfixes (see: Version Information)

Bode Automation Interface:

  • Changed the file-loading of calibration files
  • Added port-extension feature

V3.21 (2019-03-29)

  • Updated USB driver for Bode 100 Revision 2 devices to latest version from manufacturer
  • Several minor bugfixes

Automation Interface:

  • Added "Remove(double frequency)" and "Clear()" to the Shaping functions to allow modifying shaped measurements

Bugfixes and details can be found in: Version information

V3.20 (2018-10-30)

  • Nichols chart shows open-loop to closed-loop relationship
  • Stability margin calculation automatically shows gain margin, phase margin and crossover frequency
  • Receiver level indicators bigger and shown during calibration
  • Dark-Theme introduced
  • Add more than 2 traces & re-order traces and memory traces using drag and drop
  • Configure your preferred default axis view in the options (one axis per chart)
  • Quick access toolbar offers access to start and stop on any ribbon
  • Management service is uninstalled and not used anymore
  • "Copy all trace data" is available in chart context menu
  • Faster file-loading and startup-time
  • Fres-Q feature can use phase to find a resonance
  • Trace “Eye-Icon” allows to quickly switch off the measurement data to show only memory curves

Automation Interface:

  • ConfigureCustomSweep(): Frequency points now by ref because of troubles with "VBA"
  • LabVIEW: ConfigureHardwareSetup.vi and GetHardwareSetup.vi offer only valid properties. Use <CTR+B> to "remove broken wires" after updating to 3.20
  • Improved stability when controlling multiple Bode devices in parallel

Bugfixes and details can be found in: Version information

V3.12 (2017-11-06)

  • Averaging feature
  • Smith-chart in fixed-frequency measurements
  • Several bug-fixes (see: Version information)

V3.11 (2017-08-14)

BAS 3.11 further improves BAS 3.00 and brings new features:

  • Automatic Resonance-frequency and Q-factor calculation
    (especially for RFID and NFC measurements)
  • Link cursors to evaluate e.g. Gain slope at crossover frequency
  • Long memory names are displayed via mouse-over
  • For a detailed list of improvements and known issues, see: Version information

V3.00 (2017-04-12)

BAS 3.00 is a completely new Bode Analyzer Suite that brings the following improvements and new features:

  • Measure up to 50 MHz with your existing Bode 100
  • Improved work-flow especially for memory curves
  • Predefined measurement modes fitting your measurement application
  • 7 Impedance measurement modes to measure impedance from mΩ to MΩ
  • Attach cursors to memories
  • Perform Shunt-Thru and Series-Thru measurements
  • De-embed connections, probes and mounts using Open, Short and Load calibration in all impedance measurement modes
  • Perform swept or fixed frequency measurements in all modes
  • Export CSV, Excel and Touchstone files
  • Save your measurement results as a PDF print-report
  • Use multiple Bode 100 devices on one PC
  • Completely new and improved Automation Interface with COM and .NET access

V2.43 SR1 (2014-11-27)

  • Fixed issue with Warm-Up (Automation Interface)
  • Improved reaction speed of new Advanced PM Calculation
  • Release information and details

V2.43  (2014-09-04)

  • Source On/Off changed in Automation Interface
  • New "Non-Invasive Phasemargin Calculation" method
  • BAS creates logfile for better customer support
  • Several performance improvements and bugfixes

V2.42  (2014-01)

  • Automatic optimizing of the sweep curve (Auto Optimize)
  • Drag & drop support for shaped level dialog
  • New bode file type with .bodex extension
  • Save and load of calibration in the Automation Interface
  • .boa file is no longer supported in the Automation Interface
  • New Automation Interface methods to increase measurement speed

V2.41 SR1  (2013-03)

  • Tg calculation to impedance/reflection measurements added
  • Unwrapped phase display improved
  • Memory trace csv export issue fixed
  • Minor bug fixes

V2.41 (2012-12)

  • Added chart annotations
  • Multiple memory traces added
  • Data+Memory, Data-Memory, Data*Memory calculation
  • Zipped bode file is now available (*.bodz)
  • Check online for updates of the BAS
  • Send bode file to support feature added
  • Possibility to clear the internal device calibration
  • Memory and trace styles can be changed in context menu
  • Trace markers can be enabled
  • Improved shaped level display
  • Enhanced cursor grid
  • Cosmetic bug fixes

V2.40  (2012-08)

  • Internal Device Calibration is stored to the PC to reduce startup time
  • Improved 1 Hz / 10 Hz start frequency behavior
  • Calibration is performed with the selected output level (inlcluding shaped level)
  • CSV export offers possibility to start an external program
  • Trace data can be copied to the clipboard
  • Phase gridlines can be selected to be multiples of 10, 30, 45 and pi
  • Open recently accessed files enabled
  • Drag and drop of *.bode files enabled
  • Calibration state is visible in status bar
  • Improved "Optimize" scaling algorithm
  • Copy chart to clipboard can include cursor table
  • Options dialog redesigned
  • Cursor color and style can be changed
  • Font size for documentation purpose can be changed
  • Improved 125% and 150% readability
  • Multiple instances of the Bode Analyzer Suite can be started
  • Toolbars can be switched on and off
  • Automation Interface structure redesigned
  • LabVIEW library adapted to the new Automation Interface structure
  • Minor Bug fixes

V2.33 SR5  (2012-07)

  • Internal Calibration is stored in the Automation Interface
  • Resolved impedance measurement issue from 5-20 kHz
  • Minor bug fixes

V2.33  (2012-03)

  • Cursor position stored in Bode file
  • Nyquist Diagram added
  • New Cursor functions Jump to Zero, Jump to Value and Jump to next Value added
  • Migration to .net Framework 4.0
  • Minor bug fixes

V2.32  (2011-07)

  • New commenting feature added for all measurement modes
  • Improved Calibration time out handling for low receiver bandwidths
  • Some cosmetic bug fixes

V2.31  (2011-01)

  • Phase Margin Calculation for non-invasive stability measurement of power supplies added
  • Logarithmic scaling and improved zoom possibilities for shaped level setup screen added
  • Improved visibility of gridlines
  • Minor bug fixing

V2.30 SR1  (2010-10)

  • Improved Clipboard Export (better grid, better curve separation between data and memory)
  • New manual added to CD-ROM in pdf Format
  • Minor bug fixes

V2.30  (2010-08)

  • Logarithmic scaling of Y axis added
  • New Impedance Adapter mode for the use with the B-WIC and B-SMC adapters
  • RLC Q Sweep to display capacitance, inductance and Q factor in the frequency sweep mode
  • Full Speed mode - quicker measurements ad low frequencies and low receiver bandwidths
  • Averaging, Min Hold, Max Hold trace functions added
  • Selective unwrapped phase function added
  • New charting software implemented
  • Improved control of the Bode output source (on/off/auto)

V2.23 (2010-01)

  • Improved Phase performance at low frequencies
  • Data/Memory function for impedance and admittance fixed
  • Enhanced CSV Export (more data exported)

V2.21 (2009-01)

  • Unwrapped Phase mode added
  • Bode File name now shown in print report
  • Automation Interface extension:
    • External Coupler Mode support
    • Possibility to Load/Save Bode Files via Automation Interface
    • Control of Shaped Level via Automation Interface
    • Activation of Unwrapped Phase in AI
    • VSWR Mode support
    • Definition of individual frequencies for sweep now possible

V2.2 (2007-12)

  • Print Reporting added (Print out measurement results & equipment settings)
  • Export measurement data to Clipboard including equipment settings added
  • External Coupler mode for impedance measurements added
  • Shaped Level function for stability analysis of control loops added
  • Measurement Range extended down to 1 Hz
  • VSWR Mode added
  • Windows support extended to: Vista, Vista x64, Win XP x64
  • Jump to Min/Max Cursor Function added
  • some cosmetic surgeries done (Wiring Pictures, About Dialog, …)

V2.01a (2006-10)

  • OLE compatible automation interface for the integration of Bode 100 into automatic measurement setups
  • Two calibration methods:
    • User Calibration - to reach highest accuracy by calibrating every single frequency point
    • Probe Calibration - for flexible operation; allows change of frequency settings without the need of re-calibration
  • Store & retrieve Bode 100's settings, measurement results and calibration in *.Bode (XML) file format
  • Export measurement data in CSV format allows easy data processing with tools like Excel™ and MatLAB™
  • Serial and parallel equivalent circuits displayed in the impedance measurement mode
    up to 16501 measurement points supported frequency sweep mode

V1.0  (2005-03)

The historic initial version of the Bode Analyzer Suite.