Remote Control - Fundamentals R&S
NRP
1144.1400.12 5.12
E-3
Boolean
parameters
Boolean parameters represent two states. The ON state (logical true) is
represented by
ON
or a numeric value other than 0. The OFF state (logical
false) is represented by
OFF
or the numeric value 0. Queries yield 0 or 1.
Example
:
Command:
SENSe:POWer:BUFFered ON
Query:
SENSe:POWer:BUFFered?
Response:
1
Character data
Character data follows the syntax rules for keywords, i.e. it also has both a
short and a long form. They must be separated from the header by a white
space same as any parameter. A query returns the short form of the character
data.
Example
:
Command:
SENSe2:AVERage:TCONTrol MOVING
Query:
SENSe2:AVERage:TCONTrol?
Response:
MOV
Strings
Strings must always be indicated in single or double quotes.
Example
:
SENSe1:FUNCtion:ON "POWer:AVG"
or
SENSe1:FUNCtion:ON 'POWer:AVG'
Block data
The block data format is suitable for the transmission of large data volumes. A
command with a block data parameter has the following structure:
Example
:
DISPlay:PIXMap?
Response:
#49600xxxxxxxx.....
The ASCII character # denotes the beginning of the data block. The next
numeral specifies the number of subsequent digits defining the length of the
data block. In the example above, the four digits specify a length of 9600 bytes.
The data bytes follow next. During transmission of these data bytes, all
terminators and other control data are ignored.
Coupled commands
Setting one command influences the value of another command. According to
SCPI 1999, this should be avoided but it makes sense when user-friendly high-
level measurement commands are to be provided to configure an entire section
of the device at once. The high-level commands
CONF
,
FETCh
,
READ
and
MEASure
are therefore an exception to this rule.
