HP 8753D - The CITifile Data Format and Keyword Reference; The CITIfile Data Format

A
The
CITIle Data
Format
and K
eyword
Reference
This appendix
contains
the
following
information:
The CITIle
Data
F
ormat
Description and
Overview
Denition
Of
CITIle
T
erms
CITIle
Examples
The
CITIle
Keyword
Reference
.
The
CITIle
Data
F
ormat
Description
and
Overview
CITIle
is
a
standardized
data
format,
used
for
exchanging
data
between
dierent
computers
and
instruments
.
CITIle
is
an
abbreviation
for
\Common
Instrumentation
Transfer
and
Interchange
le".
This
standard
has
been
a
group
eort
between
instrument
designers
and
designers of
computer-aided
design
programs
.
As
much
as
possible
,
CITIle
meets
current
needs
for
data
transfer
,
and
it
was
designed
to
be
expandable
so
it
can
meet
future
needs
.
CITIle
denes
how
the
data
inside
an
ASCII
package
is
formatted.
Since
it
is
not
tied
to
any
particular
disk
or
transfer
format,
it
can
be
used
with
any
operating
system
(B
ASIC,
DOS,
UNIX,
etc
.),
with
any
disk
format
(LIF
,
DOS,
1,
etc
.),
or
with
any transfer
mechanism (disk,
LAN,
GPIB
,
etc
.).
By
careful
implementation
of
the
standard,
instruments
and
software
packages using
CITIle
are
able
to
load
and
work
with
data
created
on another
instrument or
computer.
It is
possible
,
for
example
,
for
a
network
analyzer
to
directly
load and
display data
measured on
a scalar
analyzer
,
or
for
a
software
package
running on
a computer
to read
data measured
on the
network
analyzer
.
Data Formats
There are two main types of data formats: binary and ASCII. CITIle uses the ASCII text
format. While this format does take up more bytes of space than a binary format, ASCII data
is a transportable
, standard
type of format which is supported by all operating systems
.In
addition, the ASCII format is accepted
by most text editors
. This allows les to be created,
examined, and edited easily
, making CITIle
easier to test and debug.
File and Operating System Formats
CITIle was designed to be independent of the data storage mechanism, and therefore may
be implemented for any le system. However transfer between le systems may sometimes
be necessary. Any commercially available software that has the ability to transfer ASCII les
between systems may be used to transfer CITIle data.
The CITIle Data Format and Keyword Reference A-1