User manual

MAUI Oscilloscopes Remote Control and Automation Manual
COMMUNICATION Commands and Queries
COMM_FORMAT, CFMT
Description
The COMM_FORMAT command selects the format the oscilloscope uses to send waveform data. The
available options allow the block format, the data type and the encoding mode to be modified from the
default settings.
Initial settings (after power-on) are: block format DEF9; data type WORD; encoding BIN.
The COMM_FORMAT? query returns the currently selected waveform data format.
Command Syntax
COMM_FORMAT <block_format>,<data_type>,<encoding>
<block_format>:= {DEF9, OFF}
<data_type>:= {BYTE, WORD}
<encoding>:= {BIN}
Block Format
The IEEE 488.2 definite length arbitrary block response data format is specified using DEF. The digit 9
indicates that the byte count consists of 9 digits. The data block directly follows the byte count field.
For example, a data block consisting of three data bytes would be sent as:
WF DAT1,#9000000003<DAB><DAB><DAB><NL^END>
<DAB> represents an eight-bit binary data byte.
<NL^END> (new line with EOI) signifies the block transmission has ended.
Note: The block format OFF does not conform to the IEEE 488.2 standard and is only provided for
special applications where the absolute minimum of data transfer may be important.
Data Type
BYTE transmits the waveform data as 8-bit signed integers (one byte).
WORD transmits the waveform data as 16-bit signed integers (two bytes).
Note: The data type BYTE transmits only the high-order bits of the internal 16-bit representation.
The precision contained in the low-order bits is lost.
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