User`s guide

Chapter 7 107
Reading/Writing Measurement Data
Data Transfer Format
7. Reading/Writing Measurement Data
IEEE 32-bit floating point format
When you select the IEEE 32-bit floating point binary transfer format as the data transfer
format, numbers are transferred in the format shown in Figure 7-5.
Figure 7-5 IEEE 32-bit floating point binary transfer format
This data transfer format uses a header that consists of a sharp character (#), a number of 6
(which indicates the byte size of the <number of bytes transferred> part), and the <number
of bytes transferred> part in this order. The header is followed by the binary data (each
number consists of 4 bytes and the total is the byte size indicated by <number of bytes
transferred>) and the message terminator <new line>^END.
The binary data is expressed in the IEEE 754 32-bit floating-point number format shown in
Figure 7-6.
Figure 7-6 32-bit floating point data
Byte order
When you opt to perform binary transfer, you can configure the instrument to transfer the
bytes of the data in one of the following two byte orders:
NORMal Transfer begins with the byte that contains the MSB (most significant
bit); that is, the leftmost byte in Figure 7-4 and Figure 7-6.
SWAPped Transfer begins with the byte that contains the LSB (least significant
bit); that is, the rightmost byte in Figure 7-4 and Figure 7-6.
To set the byte order, use the following command:
• :FORM:BORD on page 337
NOTE Executing the :SYST:PRES command on page 479 or *RST command on page 199 does
not affect the current setting of the byte order.