Agilent Technologies E1445A, User'S Manual And Scpi Programming Manual

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Note
The extraction levers will not seat and unseat the backplane connectors on older
Agilent VXIbus mainframes and non-Agilent mainframes. You must manually
seat the connectors by pushing the module into the mainframe until the front
panel is flush with the front of the mainframe. The extraction levers may be
used to guide or remove the module.
Instrument Language (SCPI)
The Agilent E1445A AFG uses the Standard Commands for Programmable
Instruments (called SCPI) as the instrument control language. The programs
shown in this manual are written in BASIC which uses the SCPI commands for
instrument controls. These programs, and also programs in other languages,
are contained on the CD that came with the instrument
(see “Program Languages” on page 29 for more information).
SCPI Programming
SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) is an ASCII-based
instrument command language designed for test and measurement instruments.
The message-based AFG has an on-board microprocessor which interprets the
ASCII command strings and returns ASCII formatted results.
SCPI Command
Structure
The Agilent E1445A SCPI command set is found in Chapter 8. SCPI
commands are based on a hierarchical structure, also known as a tree system.
In this system, associated commands are grouped together under a common
node or root, thus, forming subtrees or subsystems. An example is the
Agilent E1445’s
ARM subsystem shown below.
ARM
[:STARt|:SEQuence[1]]
[:LAYer[1]]
:COUNt < number >
:LAYer2
:COUNt < number >
[:IMMediate] [no query]
:SLOPe <
edge
>
:SOURce <
source
>
:SWEep|:SEQuence3
:COUNt <
number
>
[:IMMediate] [no query]
:LINK <
link
>
:SOURce <
source
>
ARM is the root keyword of the command, [:STARt|:SEQuence[1]] and
:SWEep|:SEQuence3 are second-level keywords, [:LAYer[1]] and :LAYer2
26 Getting Started Chapter 1