PPA5xx/15xx communications manual
1-7
1.4 Data format
Non integer results are sent as ASCII characters in a
scientific format consisting of 5 or 6 digit mantissa plus
exponent:
+1.2345+E00
+1.23456+E00
For higher speed transfer a proprietary binary format can
be selected which compresses the data into 4 bytes, each
of which is sent with the msb set to distinguish them from
ASCII control characters. The data is sent as a 7 bit signed
exponent, a mantissa sign, and a 20 bit mantissa:
The value is coded as a binary fraction between 0.5 and
0.9999…, a multiplier of 2^n and a sign ie:
Value = (mantissa / 2^20) x 2^exponent x -1^sign
Any valid number would have the msb of the mantissa set;
any number without the msb of the mantissa set is zero.