Network and Remote Operation
R&S
®
FSPN
253
User Manual 1179.4363.02 ─ 01
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Queries
cause data to be provided for remote control, e.g. for identification of
the instrument or polling a parameter value. Queries are formed by directly
appending a question mark to the command header.
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According to their definition in standards:
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Common commands
: their function and syntax are precisely defined in stan-
dard IEEE 488.2. They are employed identically on all instruments (if imple-
mented). They refer to functions such as management of the standardized sta-
tus registers, reset and self-test.
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Instrument control commands
refer to functions depending on the features of
the instrument such as frequency settings. Many of these commands have also
been standardized by the SCPI committee. These commands are marked as
"SCPI confirmed" in the command reference chapters. Commands without this
SCPI label are instrument-specific; however, their syntax follows SCPI rules as
permitted by the standard.
Instrument responses
Instrument responses (response messages and service requests) are messages the
instrument sends to the controller after a query. They can contain measurement
results, instrument settings and information on the instrument status.
10.1.5
SCPI Command Structure
SCPI commands consist of a header and, usually, one or more parameters. The head-
ers may consist of several mnemonics (keywords). Queries are formed by appending a
question mark directly to the header.
The commands can be either instrument-specific or instrument-independent (common
commands). Common and instrument-specific commands differ in their syntax.
10.1.5.1
Syntax for Common Commands
Common (= instrument-independent) commands consist of a header preceded by an
asterisk (*), and possibly one or more parameters.
Table 10-2: Examples of common commands
*RST
RESET
Resets the instrument.
*ESE
EVENT STATUS ENABLE
Sets the bits of the event status enable registers.
*ESR?
EVENT STATUS QUERY
Queries the contents of the event status register.
*IDN?
IDENTIFICATION QUERY
Queries the instrument identification string.
Remote Control Basics
