Specifications

University of Hertfordshire
21
Figure 4.2 IEEE 488.1 Shake Hands (GPIB Tutorial, 2000)
4.2.5 Bus properties

Up to 15 instruments, called devices, can be connected to one computer, usually called
controller, because it is responsible for coordinating bus traffic.

Specified transfer rate: 1 MByte per second

Cable length: 20m between controller and one device or 2m between each device.
 Data transfer mode: 8 bit parallel

Handshake: so called 3-wire handshake, reception of each data byte is acknowledged.

Additional control lines for special needs exist:
SRQ: Service ReQuest is used for notification of the controller that a device needs
servicing.
IFC: InterFace Clear provides a reset function.
REN: Remote ENable disables the device's front-panel operation. Device is controlled by
controller.
EOI: End Or Identify is basically used as termination indicator in data transfers.
ATN: ATtentioN, is a means of the controller to distinguish between data transfer and
control messages. (GPIB Tutorial, 2000)
4.3 Communication between server and client
TCP/IP protocol suite establishes the technique foundation of the Internet (UDP is part of the
family). It allows that different computers, which use different Operating System and made by
different manufacturers can communicating with each other. Most of Internet applications use TCP
protocol, because its reliability.