3-1
3
3
Programming Instructions
3.1
INTRODUCTION
This section describes the operation of the 4863 and 2363, its IEEE 488.2
Status Structure, 488.2 Commands, SCPI commands, Programming Guide-
lines and Serial Interface. Functional descriptions of the 4863 apply to the
2363 unless otherwise stated.
3.2
GENERAL OPERATION
3.2.1
All Units
The 4863 and 2363's digital interface is user configurable as inputs or
outputs in eight bit bytes. Interface configuration and data transfer is done
by commands received from the GPIB bus or Serial interface. The digital
interface configuration, data formats and transfer protocol can be saved in
Flash and are automatically recalled at power turn-on or when the unit is
reset.
Data transfer between the computer and the 4863 and 2363's digital
interface can be by a combination of individual bits, by bytes or as strings
of data values to multiple bytes.
• Bit commands set or reset specific bits in a byte or query a bit’s status.
• Byte commands set all 8 bits in a specific byte or read data from a byte.
• String transfer commands send strings of data characters to one or more
output bytes to make a multi-byte output word or read a string of data from
one or more input bytes. The user designates these bytes as inputs or outputs
when he configures the board. By using a second GPIB address, the 4863
can transparently transfer data as strings of formatted data characters or as
binary bytes.
