Technical data

Programming Fundamentals 28
Agilent N8201A Performance Downconverter Synthetic Instrument Module, 250 kHz to 26.5 GHz 587
SCPI Termination and Separator Syntax
All binary trace and response data is terminated with <NL><END>, as defined in Section
8.5 of IEEE Standard 488.2-1992, IEEE Standard Codes, Formats, Protocols and Common
Commands for Use with ANSI/IEEE Std 488.1-1987. New York, NY, 1992. (Although one
intent of SCPI is to be interface independent, <END> is only defined for IEEE 488 operation.)
The following are some examples of good and bad commands. The examples are created
from a theoretical instrument with the simple set of commands indicated below:
[:SENSe]
:POWer
[:RF]
:ATTenuation 40dB
:TRIGger
[:SEQuence]
:EXTernal [1]
:SLOPe
POSitive
[:SENSe]
:FREQuency
:STARt
:POWer
[:RF]
:MIXer
:RANGe
[:UPPer]
Bad Command Good Command
PWR:ATT 40dB POW:ATT 40dB
The short form of POWER is POW, not PWR.
FREQ:STAR 30MHz;MIX:RANG -20dBm FREQ:STAR 30MHz;POW:MIX:RANG
-20dBm
The MIX:RANG command is in the same :SENSE subsystem as FREQ, but executing the
FREQ command puts you back at the SENSE level. You must specify POW to get to the
MIX:RANG command.
FREQ:STAR 30MHz;POW:MIX RANG -20dBm FREQ:STAR 30MHz;POW:MIX:RANG
-20dBm
MIX and RANG require a colon to separate them.
:POW:ATT 40dB;TRIG:FREQ:STAR 2.3GHz :POW:ATT 40dB;:FREQ:STAR 2.3GHz
:FREQ:STAR is in the :SENSE subsystem, not the :TRIGGER subsystem.
:POW:ATT?:FREQ:STAR? :POW:ATT?;:FREQ:STAR?