BNC 835-3 Programmer Manual - Manual (Page 12)

Berkeley Nucleonics
www.Berkeley Nucleonics.com
835-3
Programmer’s Manual v1.0
Page 12 of 37
of SCPI, considerable efficiency gains can be achieved during control program
development, independent of the control program language selected.
A key to consistent programming is the reduction of multiple ways to control similar
instrument functions. The philosophy of SCPI is for the same instrument functions to be
controlled by the same SCPI commands. To simplify learning, SCPI uses industry-
standard names and terms that are manufacturer and customer supported.
The advantage of SCPI for the ATE system programmer is reducing the time learning how
to program new SCPI instruments after programming their first SCPI instrument.
Programmers who use programming languages such as BASIC, C, FORTRAN, etc., to
send instrument commands to instruments will benefit from SCPI. Also, programmers
who implement instrument device drivers for ATE program generators and/or software
instrument front panels will benefit by SCPI’s advantages. SCPI defines instrument
commands, parameters, data, and status. It is not an application package, programming
language, or software intended for instrument front panel control.
SCPI is designed to be layered on top of the hardware-independent portion of IEEE
488.2.
SCPI Command Types
SCPI commands, which are also referred to as SCPI instructions, are messages to the
instrument to perform specific tasks. The BNC MODEL 835-3 command set includes:
•
“Common” commands (IEE488.2 mandated commands)
•
SCPI required commands
• SCPI optional commands (per SCPI 1999.0)
• SCPI compliant commands that are unique to the BNC MODEL 835-3. Not all of
the commands supported by the instrument are taken from the SCPI standard,
however, their syntax follows SCPI rules.
SCPI Command Syntax
Typical SCPI commands consist of one or more keywords, parameters, and punctuation.
SCPI command keywords can be a mixture of upper and lower case characters. Except
for common commands, each keyword has a long and a short form. In this manual, the
long form is presented with the short form in upper case and the remainder in lower
case. Unrecognized versions of long form or short form commands, or improper syntax,
will generate an error.