Chapter 8
SCPI
Syntax and notation
332
4460 GSM System Option and 4468 EDGE System Option
Version 12.20
Compound commands
Compound commands are always referred to as
commands
throughout this
chapter.
– Any compound command is built in a hierarchical way. The single command
elements are separated by colons (:).
– A command usually starts with a colon (:). However, the colon
must be
omitted
when the subsequent command continues on the same hierarchical
level (see examples below).
– The first command element always is the name of the subsystem like
CONFigure
or
MEASure
.
– Then follows one of the commands available for that subsystem like
GSM
or
RFTX
.
– The subsequent command element(s) may now be one or more subcom-
mand(s) and/or one or more parameter term(s) (e.g.
BS:ID:BCC 5
).
– A SCPI program line may contain more than one command. In this case, the
single commands have to be separated by a semicolon (;).
– There is also a short form for every command. This is usually formed of the
first four letters (
CONF
instead of
CONFIGURE
). When the fourth letter is a
vowel (a,e,i,o,u), only the first three letters are used (
RFG
instead of
RFGen-
erator
).
– Throughout this manual, the short form is always written in capitals to make
it easy to identify it. However, the SCPI system of the 4400 is not case-
sensitive.
Examples
– The complete SCPI command to set the base station color code (i.e. the
training sequence) to 5 would be:
:CONFigure:GSM:BS:ID:BCC 5
. The
short form
:CONF:GSM:BS:ID:BCC 5
is completely identical.
–
:RFGenerator:STATe ON
is identical with
:RFG:STAT ON
. However,
the long version of the commands is – especially in the beginning – easier to
work with.
–
:RFGenerator:STATe ON; LEVel 20
is a valid two-command state-
ment.
STATe ON
and
LEVel
are both commands of the
RFGenerator
subsystem. Both are working on the same hierarchical level. Therefore, the
colon in front of
LEVel 20
has to be omitted.
An alternative with the identical meaning would be:
:RFGener-
ator:STATe ON; :RFGenerator:LEVel 20
. The form
:RFGener-
ator:STATe ON; :LEVel 20
would be
in
valid, because
LEVel
is no
subsystem of the 4400.
–
:RFGenerator:MODulation:STATe ON
is
in
valid.
STATe ON
is no
subcommand of the
:RFG:MOD
level.
–
:RFGenerator:MODulation ON; FREQuency 850.2
In this case, the
first part up to the semicolon(;) is valid. The second part is invalid as
FREQ
is
no subcommand of the
:RFG:MOD
level.
The correct command would be:
:RFGenerator:MODulation ON;
:RFGenerator:FREQuency 850.2
.