R&S PR100 User Manual
8 SCPI Interface
8.1 Document Outline
The SCPI standard describes an interface with which instruments can be
controlled. The idea behind SCPI is that it should not matter what kind of
instrument measures e.g. a voltage level, be it a multimeter or a radio scanner
measuring the voltage at the antenna output; the command should always be
the same. Although theoretically possible, in practice this goal in
unachievable. However, the goal of every instrument designer is to stay as
close to SCPI as possible.
The goal of every instrument designer is to stay as close to SCPI as possible.
In addition, the PR100 tries to be backward compatible with its predecessor,
the EB200 Miniport Receiver, when possible. In fact, this compatibility
requirement outweighs the SCPI compliance requirement. Therefore, the
SCPI interface for the PR100 is defined with the following rules:
1. If an EB200 SCPI command relates to functionality that is not
supported by the PR100, the command is not supported either.
2. If a function can be done via an existing EB200 SCPI command, that
command is supported.
3. If a function cannot be done via an existing EB200 SCPI command, but
a suitable SCPI compliant command is available, the SCPI compliant
command is supported.
4. Otherwise, a new SCPI-like command is added, specific for the PR100
Each command is described in detail in Chapter 11.
A command is rarely useful if no data can be retrieved to monitor its effect. In
SCPI, this is done via queries. Queries can be used to retrieve the settings of
an instrument. However, measurements can consist of large sets of data.
Outputting that over the SCPI interface could delay the reaction time to
commands, which is why the PR100 also offers the data in another format that
can be sent via the UDP/IP protocol (internet).
8.2 Legend
Abbreviations Used
Abbreviation Meaning
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