Specifications

B&K Components Device Interface Protocol (BKC-DIP) Specification
Version 2.01.00
Updated 01/24/07
Page 6 of 54
Introduction
Overview
The following is the specification and implementation details of the B&K Components Device
Interface Protocol, BKC-DIP. BKC-DIP is an ASCII text based serial protocol. The electrical
specification is RS-232, thus B&K Components' devices may be controlled by standard "COM"
ports or similar serial devices. Through the use of Receive and Transmit IDs, multiple B&K
Components units may be controlled on a common serial bus.
Document Conventions
All numbers are assumed to be hexadecimal. Hexadecimal (or Hex for short) characters range
from 0 to F.
For example:
The number 19 is the hexadecimal number 19 which is (1 x 16
1
) + (9 x 16
0
) or
25 decimal. Similarly, EA is the hexadecimal number EA which is (14 x 16
1
) +
(10 x 16
0
) or 234 decimal. For clarity, some descriptions regarding numbers
may use the xxh notation to remind the reader that the number is implicitly
hexadecimal where xx are the hexadecimal characters 0 - F. Thus the previous
examples would be 19h and EAh respectively, the "h" indicating hexadecimal.
Italics indicate a non-literal string.
For example:
(00,G, P00, 0;cs16)
cs16 indicates the calculated checksum and does NOT literally appear in the
data stream.
Important concepts are denoted by NOTE:
Product Specific Appendices
Although all RS-232 capable B&K Components’ devices support the BKC-DIP protocol,
implementation details vary according to product family. The examples used in this document are
based on the CT 610 and REF 30 products. Make sure to consult the product specific appendices
for the specific B&K Components’ unit being controlled.
Supported RS-232 Settings
The currently supported baud rates are:
1200, 2400, 9600, 14400, 19200, 28800, 38400, 57600, and 115200
The currently supported serial settings are N-8-1:
N, no parity
8, eight bit data
1, one stop bit
Hardware flow control is not supported.
Basic Protocol Syntax
The B&K Components Device Interface Protocol (BKC-DIP) is an ASCII text based serial
protocol. All commands follow the same basic format: