Technical data

102 Agilent N8211A/N8212A Performance Upconverter Synthetic Instrument Module, 250 kHz to 20 / 40 GHz
4 Programming the Status Register System
Accessing Status Register Information
1 Determine which register contains the bit that reports the condition. Refer to Figure 6 on
page 99 and Figure 7 on page 100 for register location and names.
2 Send the unique SCPI query that reads that register.
3 Examine the bit to see if the condition has changed.
Determining What to Monitor
You can monitor the following conditions:
• current N8211A/N8212A hardware and firmware status
• whether a particular condition (bit) has occurred
Monitoring Current N8211A/N8212A Hardware and Firmware Status
To monitor the N8211A/N8212A’s operating status, you can query the condition registers.
These registers represent the current state of the N8211A/N8212A and are updated in real
time. When the condition monitored by a particular bit becomes true, the bit sets to 1.
When the condition becomes false, the bit resets to 0.
Monitoring Whether a Condition (Bit) has Changed
The transition registers determine which bit transition (condition change) should be
recorded as an event. The transitions can be positive to negative, negative to positive, or
both. To monitor a certain condition, enable the bit associated with the condition in the
associated positive and negative registers.
Once you have enabled a bit via the transition registers, the N8211A/N8212A monitors it
for a change in its condition. If this change in condition occurs, the corresponding bit in the
event register will be set to 1. When a bit becomes true (set to 1) in the event register, it
stays set until the event register is read or is cleared. You can thus query the event register
for a condition even if that condition no longer exists.
To clear the event register, query its contents or send the *CLS command, which clears all
event registers.
Monitoring When a Condition (Bit) Changes
Once you enable a bit, the N8211A/N8212A monitors it for a change in its condition. The
transition registers are preset to register positive transitions (a change going from 0 to 1).
This can be changed so the selected bit is detected if it goes from true to false (negative
transition), or if either transition occurs.
Deciding How to Monitor
You can use either of two methods described below to access the information in status
registers (both methods allow you to monitor one or more conditions).