Solartron 1250 - Floating Point Format; Output Terminators and Separators

The RS423 and GPIB Ports. Remote Control 1250 Frequency Response Analyzer
13-24 AMK/1250/4
FLOATING POINT FORMAT (Continued).
Bytes 2, 3 and 4 contain the mantissa part of the floating point number. The mantissa
must always be less than unity, so the "binary point" is shown preceding the first bit of
Byte 2. The maximum decimal number that Byte 2 can contain is 255 : 256, for Byte 3
it is 255 : 256
2
etc.
Example. To convert a 4-byte binary number to decimal:
Suppose that Byte 1 contains 11111110
2
= 254
Byte 2 contains 10000000
2
= 128
Byte 3 contains 00000000
2
= 0
Byte 4 contains 00000000
2
= 0
The sign bit of Byte 1 is "1", therefore the number is negative. The exponent, from the
table above, is numerically equal to 2
-2
, i.e. 1/2
2
= a multiplying factor of 0.25. Therefore
the number represented is:
( )
− + +






= −1 0 25
128
256
0
256
0
256
0125
2 3
x x. .
13.12.6 OUTPUT TERMINATORS AND SEPARATORS
RS423 OUTPUT TERMINATOR
Each line of data that is sent from the 1250 via the RS423 port is automatically
terminated with cr (carriage return).
GPIB OUTPUT TERMINATORS AND SEPARATORS
Output Terminators. When the 1250 sends a line of data to the GPIB, the line must be
terminated by an Output Terminator character. The choice of character is determined
by the requirements of the external device. The 1250 automatically generates crlf
(carriage return line feed) as the default character, but others are available. To select
one of these from the Front Panel:
1. Press DATA OUTPUT key
2. Select [GPIB CONFIGURE]
3. Press soft key TERM (for Output Terminator)
4. Select from [crlf], [crlf + EOI, [cr], or [cr + EOI]
where EOI = End or Identify.
Output Separators. Each line of data may consist of several "fields", which require
Output Separator characters between them. The 1250 automatically generates
"comma", but to change this:
1. Press DATA OUTPUT key
2. Select [GPIB CONFIGURE]
3. Press soft key SEP (for Output Separator)
4. Select from [comma], or [terminator]
where "terminator" means that the same character is used for the Output Terminator
and Output Separator.
Remote Control. The Output Terminator and Separator characters can also be
selected remotely by using the Commands given in Section 13.7.16.