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8 – Language Dictionary
100
Measurement Commands
Measurement commands consist of format, measure, and sense commands.
Format commands specify the data formatting of all array queries. You can specify the data type, type
length, and byte order.
Measure commands measure the output voltage or current. Measurements are performed by digitizing
the instantaneous output voltage or current for a specified number of samples, storing the results in a
buffer, and calculating the measured result. Two types of measurement commands are available:
MEASure and FETCh. MEASure commands trigger the acquisition of new data before returning the
reading. Measurement overflows return a reading of 9.91E+37. FETCh commands return a reading
computed from previously acquired data. If you take a voltage measurement, you can fetch only voltage
data.
♦ Use MEASure when the measurement does not need to be synchronized with any other event.
♦ Use FETCh when it is important that the measurement be synchronized with either a trigger or with a
particular part of the output waveform.
Sense commands control the current measurement range, the bandwidth detector of the dc source, and
the data acquisition sequence.
FORMat
This command selects the data type and the type length for all array queries. Supported types are ASCII
and REAL. When ASCII is selected, the response format for these queries is NR3 Numeric Response
Data. This format is selected at *RST. The only valid argument for <length> is 0, which means that the
dc source selects the number of significant digits to be returned.
When REAL is selected, the array response format is Definite Length Arbitrary Block Response Data.
The data within the Arbitrary Block is coded as IEEE single precision floating point, with 4 bytes per
value. The second argument to the FORMat:DATA command specifies the number of bits in the
returned data. Only the value 32 is permitted in dc source instruments. The byte order within a single
value is determined by the FORMat:BORDer command. Definite Length Arbitrary Block Response Data
format begins with a header that describes the number of data bytes in the response. The header begins
with a pound sign, followed by a single non-zero digit that defines the number of digits in the block
length, followed by the digits contained in the block.
For example: The response to the query "MEAS:ARR:CURR:[DC]? 1" which returns 45 numeric values
would be as follows:
'#' '3' '1' '8' '0' <byte1> <byte2> ... <byte180> <newline>
Command Syntax
FORMat[:DATA] <type> [,length]
Parameters
ASCii | REAL
*RST Value
ASCii
Examples
FORM REAL
Query Syntax
FORMat?
Returned Parameters
<CRD>
Related Commands
FORM:BORD MEAS:ARR:CURR:DC? MEAS:ARR:VOLT:DC?