R&S NRP2, User Manual

Page: 185 / 437

Remote Control Fundamentals
R&S
®
NRP2
167 User Manual 1173.9157.02 ─ 03
5 Remote Control Fundamentals
The Power Meter R&S NRP2 is equipped with various interfaces that can be connected
to a controller for remote control.
●
IEC/IEEE-bus interface (standard equipment) in line with the standards IEC 60625.1
(IEEE 488.1) and IEC 60625.2 (IEEE 488.2)
●
Ethernet 10/100 BASE T interface.
●
USB1.1 interface for remote control and firmware update.
Connectors are installed at the rear of the power meter. The interfaces support the SCPI
(Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) standard, version 1999.0 of May
1999. The SCPI standard is based on the IEEE 488.2 standard and defines a standar-
dized command language for controlling measuring and test instruments with functions
beyond the scope of the IEEE 488.2 standard. In addition to the commands, error han-
dling and status management are also described.
The present chapter explains the differences between remote control and manual control,
familiarizes the user with fundamentals of remote control and describes the status report-
ing system as well as the procedure for connecting a PC for remote control.
5.1 Differences between Remote Control and Manual Con-
trol
The manual control of the R&S NRP2 is designed for ergonomic operation. This means,
among other things, that certain parameters are assigned default values that cannot be
changed and that specific changes of device settings influence other settings. In the
remote control mode, all settings can be changed and the user has to make sure that the
device is correctly set for the measurement to be performed. We therefore recommend
performing a reset (
​
*RST
​
on page 196 or
​
SYSTem:
​
PRESet
​
on page 321) prior to a
remote control measurement so that the device is placed in a defined state.
5.1.1 Display
In the remote mode, the display of measured values can be disabled (set
​
SYS-
Tem:SPEed to
FAST
); the display is cleared except for a status line at the top of the
screen. Blanking of menu elements that need not be continually updated increases the
data processing speed. The display can be reactivated by setting the SCPI command
​
SYSTem:SPEed to
NORM
. The backlighting can also be completely switched off by setting
command
​
DISPlay:ILLumination to
OFF
, but this does not affect the speed.
In the remote mode, the menu line at the upper screen edge is blanked and replaced by
the indication "Remote Mode". The R&S
NRP2 is able to emulate different power meters
with alternative command sets. The currently used command set is indicated in the middle
of the status line. The SCPI error queue can be displayed using the topmost softkey
(labeled "Error List..."). If the
LLO
character is displayed in the upper status line, the
Differences between Remote Control and Manual Control