Tektronix 3 Series Mixed Domain Oscilloscope User manual

3SeriesMDO

ZZZ

Oscilloscopes

Programmer Manual

*P077149801*

077-1498-01

3SeriesMDO

ZZZ

Oscilloscopes

Programmer Manual

www.tek.com

077-1498-01

Copyright © Tektronix. All rights reserved. Licensed software products are owned by Tektronix or its subsidiaries or suppliers, and are protected by national copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

Tektronix products are covered by U.S. and foreign patents, issued and pending. Information in this publication supersedes that in all previously published material. Speciﬁcations and price change privileges reserved.

TEKTRONIX and TEK are registered trademarks of Tektronix, Inc.

Contacting

Tektronix, Inc. 14150 SW Karl Braun Drive P.O. Box 5 0 Beaverton, OR 97077 USA

For product information, sales, service, and technical support:

In North America, call 1-800-833-9200. Worl dwi

Tektronix

de, visit www.tek.com to ﬁnd contacts in your area.

Table of Contents

Getting Started

Getting Started .. ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . .... 1-1

Setting Up Remote Communications Hardware ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . ... . . ..... . ..... . ... . . 1-1

Ethernet .................................................................................................. 1-1

USB....................................................................................................... 1-2

GPIB...................................................................................................... 1-3

Setting Up Remote Communications Software ..... . ..... . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . 1-4

Using VISA..................... ................................ ................................ ......... 1-4

Using the LXI Web Page and e*Scope .. .................................. ........................... 1-5

Using a Socket Server .................................................................................. 1-6

Documentation ................. .................................. ................................ ....... 1-8

Syntax and Commands

Command Syntax................................ ................................ ................................ . 2-1

Command and Query Structure ............................................................................ 2-1

Clearing the oscilloscope ... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... 2-3

Command Entry.............................................................................................. 2-3

Constructed Mnemonics .................................................................................... 2-5

Argument Types............................. ................................ ................................. 2-7

Command Groups .............................................................................................. 2-11

Acquisition Command Group .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . 2-11

AFG Command Group .................................................................................... 2-12

Alias Command Group....................................... .................................. ........... 2-12

ARB Command Group............................. ................................ ....................... 2-13

Bus Command Group ..................................................................................... 2-14

Calibration and Diagnostic Command Group .......................................................... 2-17

Conﬁguration Command Group.......................................................................... 2-19

Cursor Command Group. .................................. ................................ ............... 2-21

Display Command Group................................................................................. 2-22

DVM Command Group ...................... .................................. ........................... 2-23

Email Command Group ................................................................................... 2-24

Ethernet Command Group................................................................................ 2-25

File System Command Group ..................... ................................ ....................... 2-25

Hard Copy Command Group........................ ................................ ..................... 2-27

Horizontal Command Group ................ ................................ ............................. 2-27

Mark Command Group........................................... ................................ ......... 2-28

Math Command Group....................... ................................ ............................. 2-29

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual i

Table of Contents

Measurement Co

Miscellaneous Command Gro

Power Command Group .................................................................................. 2-34

RF Command Group ...................................................................................... 2-41

Save and Recall Command Group ....................................................................... 2-49

Search Command Group. ................................ .................................. ............... 2-51

Status and Error Command Group.................................... .................................. . 2-61

Trigger Command Group .................... ................................ ............................. 2-62

Vertical Command Group.......... ................................ .................................. ..... 2-74

Video Picture Command Group.......................................................................... 2-77

Waveform Transfer Command Group ...... ................................ ............................. 2-78

Transferring a Waveform from an Oscilloscope to a Computer . . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ...... . 2-79

Transferring a Waveform from a Computer to an Oscilloscope’s Internal Reference

Memory ................ ................................ ................................ ........... 2-82

Scaling Waveform Data ........... ................................ .................................. . 2-83

Further Explanation of the Digital Collection ..................................................... 2-85

Zoom Command Group ...................... ................................ ............................. 2-92

Commands Listed in Alphabetical Order. ................................ ................................ ... 2-93

Status and Events

mmand Group ........................... ................................ ............... 2-30

up ........................ ................................ ................. 2-32

Status and Events ................................................................................................. 3-1

Registers ............. .................................. ................................ ....................... 3-1

Queues ........................................................................................................ 3-4

Event Handling Sequence................................................................................... 3-5

Synchronization Methods.................................. ................................ ................. 3-7

Appendices

Appendix A: Character Set ..................................................................................... A-1

Appendix B: Reserved Words.................................................................................. B-1

Appendix C: Factory Defaults ................................................................................. C-1

Default Setup ........................ ................................ ................................ ........ C-1

Appendix D: Waveform Transfer (WFMOutpre and CURVe Query) Examples ......................... D-1

Example 1: Analog Waveform (Channels 1–4) ............. ................................ ............ D-1

Example 2: Digital Waveform (Channels DO-D15).................................................... D-3

Example 3: The Digital Collection with 4 Bytes Per Point and MagniVu Off....................... D-5

Example 4: The Digital Collection with 8 Bytes Per Point and MagniVu Off....................... D-7

Example 5: The Digital Collection with 4 Bytes Per Point and MagniVu On..................... D-10

Example 6: The Digital Collection with 8 Bytes Per Point and MagniVu On..................... D-12

Example 7: RF Frequency Domain Waveform.......................................... .............. D-14

ii 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Table of Contents

Appendix E: Mas

Example 1: Creating custom masks .......... ................................ ............................ E-1

Example 2: Creating a limit (template) mask ........................................................... E-2

Appendix F: Search and Trigger Command Sequence Examples.......................... ................ F-1

Example 1: Single Threshold Edge Search.......... ................................ .................... F-1

Example 2: Single Threshold Edge Trigger ....... ................................ ...................... F-2

Example 3: D

Example 4: Single Threshold Logic Search on Three Waveforms.................................... F-3

Appendix G: Option-enabled Commands......... ................................ ............................ G-1

Appendix H: List of Beta Commands and Features ......................................................... H-1

Legal Disclaimers........................................................................................... H-1

Command List................... ................................ .................................. .......... H-2

Beta Com

k/Limit Command Sequence Examples ...... ................................ ............ E-1

ual Threshold Runt Search .................. .................................. ............ F-2

mands Listed in Alphabetical Order ................. .................................. ...... H-2

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual iii

Table of Contents

List of Figure

Figure 3-1: The Standard Event Status Register (SESR) ... . ..... . ..... . ..... ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . .. 3-1

Figure 3-2:

Figure 3-3: The Device Event Status Enable Register (DESER) .. . . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . .... . . .... . .... 3-3

Figure 3-4: The Event Status Enable Register (ESER) . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . . .... . ..... . 3-3

Figure 3-5: The Service Request Enable Register (SRER) ................... ............................... 3-4

Figure 3-6: Status and Event Handling Process............................................................... 3-6

Figure 3-7: Command Processing Without Using Synchronization ....................... ................. 3-9

Figure 3-

The Status Byte Register (SBR) .................................................................. 3-2

8: Processing Sequence With Synchronization................................................... 3-10

iv 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

List of Tables

Table 1-1: USB Device Parameters ............................................................................ 1-2

Table 2-1: Symbols for Backus-Naur Form .................. ................................ ................. 2-1

Table 2-2: Command Message Elements ...................................................................... 2-2

Table 2-3: Comparison of Header Off and Header On Responses....... ................................ ... 2-3

Table 2-4: End of Message Terminator ........................................................................ 2-5

Table 2-5: Channel Mnemonics................................................................................. 2-6

Table 2-6: Cursor Mnemonics .................................................................................. 2-6

Table 2-7: Math Speciﬁer Mnemonics ......................................................................... 2-

Table 2-8: Measurement Speciﬁer Mnemonics ............................................................... 2-6

Table 2-9: Reference Waveform Mnemonics .................. .................................. ............. 2-6

Table 2-10: Numeric Arguments................................................................................ 2-7

Table 2-11: Quoted String Argument .......................................................................... 2-7

Table 2-12: Block Argument ................. ................................ ................................ ... 2-8

Table 2-13: Acquisition Commands. ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . .... . . .... . . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . .. 2-11

Table 2-14: AFG Commands.................................................................................. 2-12

Table 2-15: Alias Commands ................................................................................. 2-13

Table 2-16: ARB Commands ................................................................................. 2-13

Table 2-17: Bus Commands ................................................................................... 2-14

Table 2-18: Calibration and Diagnostic Commands........................................................ 2-17

Table 2 -19: Conﬁguration Commands .......................... .................................. ........... 2-19

Table 2-20: Cursor Commands ............ ................................ ................................ ... 2-21

Table 2-21: Display Commands ....................... ................................ ....................... 2-23

Table 2-22: DVM Commands.......... ................................ .................................. ..... 2-24

Table 2-23: EmailCommands ................................................................................. 2-24

Table 2-24: Ethernet Commands ........................ ................................ ..................... 2-25

Table 2-25: File System Commands ........ ................................ ................................. 2-26

Table 2-26: Hard Co

Table 2-27: Horizontal Commands ...................... .................................. ................... 2-27

Table 2-28: Mark Commands .................................. ................................ ............... 2-28

Table 2-29: Math Commands .............. ................................ ................................ ... 2-29

Table 2-30: Measurement Commands .............. .................................. ....................... 2-30

Table 2-31: Miscellaneous Commands . ................................ .................................. ... 2-32

Table 2-32: Power Commands..... ................................ .................................. ......... 2-35

Table 2-33: RF Commands............................. ................................ ....................... 2-43

Table 2-34: Save and Recall Commands ................................... ................................ . 2-50

Table 2-35: Search Commands ...... ................................ .................................. ....... 2-52

Table 2-36: Status and Error Commands .................................................................... 2-62

Table 2-37: Trigger Commands.............................. .................................. ............... 2-65

Table of Contents

py Commands .......................................................................... 2-27

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual v

Table of Contents

Table 2- 38: Ver

Table 2-39: Video Picture Commands ...................... ................................ ................. 2-77

Table 2-40: Example Command Sequence for Transferring Waveform Data from Oscilloscope to

Computer .... ................................ ................................ ............................... 2-80

Table 2-41: Example Command Sequence for Transferring Waveform Data from Computer to

Oscilloscope ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . .. 2-82

Table 2- 42:

Table 2-43: Digital Collection: 8 Byte Data................................................................. 2-86

Table 2-44: Waveform Transfer Commands...................................... ........................... 2-87

Table 2-45: Zoom Commands ................................................................................ 2-92

Table 2-46: Supported display formats...................................................................... 2-147

Table 2-47: Channel Offset Range .......................................................................... 2-193

Table 2-

Table 2-49: FPAnel:PRESS arguments ..................................................................... 2-296

Table 2-50: FPAnel:TURN arguments ................................ ................................ ...... 2-298

Table 2-51: Math expression elements.................................. ................................ .... 2-331

Table 2-52: Available HDTV formats....................................................................... 2-766

Table 2-53: Waveform Sufﬁxes.............................................................................. 2-814

Table

Table 3-2: SBR Bit Functions.................................... .................................. ............. 3-2

Table 3-3: Oscilloscope operations that can generate OPC.. . ..... . ... . . . .... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . ..... . 3-8

Table 3-4: No Event Messages........................................... ................................ ..... 3-14

Table 3-5: Command Error Messages (CME Bit 5)........................................................ 3-14

Table 3-6: Execution Error Messages (EXE Bit 4) ......................................................... 3-15

Table 3-8: System Event Messages...................... ................................ ..................... 3-17

Table 3-9: Execution Warning Messages (EXE Bit 4) ..................................................... 3-18

Table 3-10: Execution Warning Messages (EXE Bit 4). .................................. ................. 3-18

Table 3-11: Internal Warning Messages...................................................................... 3-19

Table C-1: Default Values ............ ................................ .................................. ........ C-1

Table H-1: Presently Available Beta Commands ...... ................................ ...................... H-2

48: DATa and WFMOutpre Parameter Settings ...................... ............................ 2-244

3-1: SESR Bit Functions . . .... . ..... . ..... . .... . ..... . ..... . .... . . .... . ..... . ..... . .... . ..... . ..... . ... . . 3-2

ble 3-7: Device Error Messages (DDE Bit 3) ............................................................ 3-17

tical Commands .............................................................................. 2-75

Digital Collection: 4 Byte Data................................................................. 2-85

vi 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Getting Started

This manual explains the use of commands for remotely controlling your oscilloscope. With this information, you can write computer programs to perform func performing statistical calculations, and exporting data for use in other programs.

Familiarity with the User Manual for your oscilloscope is assumed. You can download the User Manual from the Tektronix website at www.tektronix.com.

NOTE. Most examples in this document assume that both HEADer|:HDR and

VERBose are set to ON.

SettingUpRemoteCommunicationsHardware

You can remotely control communications between your oscilloscope and a PC via Ethernet, USB, or GPIB cables.

tions, such as setting the front-panel controls, taking measurements,

Ethernet

If you are using Ethernet, start by conne Ethernet port (RJ-45 connector) on the rear panel of your oscilloscope. This connects the oscilloscope to a 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX local area network.

To change the Ethernet settings on your oscilloscope, do the following:

1. On the front panel, push Utility.

2. Push Utility Page.

3. Select I/O with the Multipurpose knob.

4. Push Network Conﬁguration.

cting an appropriate Ethernet cable to the

5. On the side menu, if you are on a DHCP Ethernet network and using a through cable, push Automatic (DHCP & Auto-IP).

6. If you are using a cross-over cable, push Manual,andpressSet IP Addresses Manually to set a hard coded TCP/IP address.

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 1-1

Getting Started

USB

If you are using

USB, start by connecting the appropriate USB cable to the USB

2.0 high-speed (HS) device port on the rear panel of your oscilloscope. This port requires that the cable connected from the port to the host computer meets the USB 2.0 speciﬁcation for high speed connections. Typically, such cables should be 3 feet or shorter in length, but this is determined by the quality of the cable and, with higher quality cables, this length can be extended. (It is also dependent u

pon the drive capability of the host USB port to which the instrument is connected.) The use of high quality short cables is recommended to avoid USB connection problems.

With USB, the system automatically conﬁgures itself. To verify that the USB is enabled:

1. On the front panel, push Utility.

2. Push Utility Page.

3. Select I/O with the Multipurpose knob.

4. Push USB, and verify that USB is enabled.

5. If USB is disabled, push Connect to Computer on the side menu.

After connection, the host, with appropriate software, can list the oscilloscope as a USB device with the following parameters: (See Table 1-1.)

Table 1-1: USB Device Parameters

Parameter Value

Manufacturer ID 0x0699 (decimal 1689)

Product ID

The product id varies by m odel number as follows:

(You can send the USBTMC:PRODUCTID:HEXadecimal? query to read the value)

Serial number Serial number

MDO3000 (all) 0x408 (decimal 1032)

1-2 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Table 1-1: USB Device Parameters (cont.)

Parameter Value

Manufacturer description

Interface d escription “USBTMC-USB488”

“Tektronix”

Getting Started

GPIB

To use GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus), start by connecting an appropriate USB cable to the USB 2.0 high-speed (HS) device port on the rear panel of your oscilloscope. Connect the other end to the TEK-USB-488 Adapter host port. Then connect a GPIB cable from the TEK-USB-488 Adapter to your PC.

Supply power to the Adapter in either of these two ways:

1. Use the optional 5 V

power adapter connected to the 5 VDCpower input

on the Adapter.

2. Use an appropriate USB cable connected to a powered USB host port on your PC and the Device port on the TEK-USB-488 Adapter.

The oscilloscope has a USB 2.0 high-speed (HS) device port to control the oscilloscope through USBTMC or GPIB with a TEK-USB-488 Adapter. The USBTMC protocol allows USB devices to communicate using IEEE488 style messages. This lets you run your GPIB software applications on USB hardware.

Before setting up the oscilloscope for remote communication using the electronic (physical) GPIB interface, you should familiarize yourself with the following GPIB requirements:

A unique device address must be assigned to e ach device on the bus. No two devices can share the same device address.

No more than 15 devices can be connected to any one line.

One device should be connected for every 6 feet (2 meters) of cable used.

No more than 65 feet (20 meters) of cable should be used to connect devices to a bus.

At least two-thirds of the d evices on the network should be powered on while using the network.

Connect the devices on the network in a sta r or linear conﬁguration. Do

not

use loop or parallel conﬁgurations.

To function correctly, your oscilloscope must have a unique device address. The default setting for the GPIB conﬁguration is GPIB Address 1.

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 1-3

Getting Started

To change the GP

1. On the front panel, push Utility.

2. Push Utility Page.

3. Select I/O with the Multipurpose knob.

4. Push GPI B.

5. Enter the GPIB address on the side menu, using the multipurpose knob. This

will set the GPIB address on an attached TEK-USB-488 Adapter.

The oscilloscope is now set up for bidirectional communication with your controller.

IB address settings, do the following:

Setting Up Remote Communications Software

Connect your oscilloscope directly to a computer to let the PC a nalyze your data, collect screen images, or to control the oscilloscope using a program of your own creation. Three ways to connect your oscilloscope to a computer are through the VISA drivers, the e*Scope Web-enabled tools, or via a socket server.

Using

VISA

VISA lets you use your MS-Windows computer to acquire data from your oscilloscope for use in an analysis package that runs on your PC, such as Microsoft Excel, National Instruments LabVIEW, Tektronix OpenChoice Desktop

ware, or your own custom software. You can use a common communications

soft connection, such as USB, Ethernet, or GPIB, to connect the computer to the oscilloscope.

To set up VISA communications between your oscilloscope and a computer:

1-4 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Getting Started

1. Load the VISA dr as OpenChoice Desktop. You will ﬁnd the drivers and OpenChoice Desktop software on the appropriate CD that comes with your oscilloscope or at the Tektronix software ﬁnder Web page (www.tektronix.com\downloads).

2. Connect the oscilloscope to your computer with the appropriate USB or Ethernet cable. To communicate between the oscilloscope and a GPIB system, connect the oscilloscope to the TEK-USB-488 GPIB-to-USB Adapter with a USB cable. Then connect the adapter to your GPIB system with a GPIB cable. Cycle the power on the oscilloscope.

3. Push Utility.

4. Push Utility Page.

5. Turn multipurpose knob a and select I/O.

6. If you are using U SB, the system sets itself up automatically for you, if USB is

enabled. Check USB on the lower menu to be sure that USB is enabled. If it is not enabled, push USB. Then push Connect to Computer on the side menu.

7. To use Ethernet, push Ethernet & LXI on the lower menu. Use the side menu buttons to adjust your network settings, as needed. For more information, see the e*Scope setup information below.

8. If you want to change socket server parameters, push Socket Server and enter new values through the resulting side menu.

ivers on your computer. Also, load your applic ation, such

Quick Tips

Using the LXI Web Page

and e*Scope

9. If you are using GPIB, push GPIB. Enter the GPIB address on the side menu, using multipurpose knob a. This will set the GPIB address on an attached TEK-USB-488 Adapter.

10. Run your application software on your computer.

Your oscilloscope shipped with a CD containing a variety of Windows-based software tools for efﬁcient connectivity between your oscilloscope and your computer. These include toolbars that speed connectivity with Microsoft Excel and Word. There are also two standalone acquisition programs called NI LabVIEW SignalExpress™, Tektronix Edition and Tektronix OpenChoice Desktop.

The rear-panel USB 2.0 high-speed (HS) device port is the correct USB port for computer connectivity. Use the rear- and front-panel USB 2.0 host ports to connect your oscilloscope to USB ﬂash drives, hard drives, printers and keyboards. Use the USB Device port to connect your oscilloscope to a PC or a PictBridge printer.

With e*Scope, you can access any Internet-connected 3 Series MDO oscilloscope from a web browser. To set up e*Scope communications between your oscilloscope and a Web browser running on a remote computer:

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 1-5

Getting Started

1. Connect the osc Ethernet cable.

2. Push Utility.

3. Push Utility Page.

4. Turn multipurpose knob a and select I/O.

5. Push Ethernet & LXI.

6. On top of the side menu, there is an indicator light which turns green for

good status and red if the device detects a fault. Look at it to determine the condition of the LAN.

7. Push LAN Settings to display the network parameters conﬁgured on your oscilloscope.

8. Push LAN Reset to restore the LAN defaults to your oscilloscope.

9. Push Test Connection to check if y

network.

10. Push More to se e another page of side-menu items.

11. Push Change Names to change the n ame of the oscilloscope, the network

domain, or the service name.

illoscope to your computer network with an appropriate

our oscilloscope can ﬁnd an attached

Using a Socket Server

12. Push Change Ethernet & LXI Password to use the LXI password to also protect your oscilloscope from changes made to LAN settings from a Web browser.

13. Start your browser on your remote computer. In the browser address line, enter the host name, a dot, and the domain name together. Alternatively, just enter the IP address of the instrument. Either way, you should then see the LXI Welcome page on your Web browser on your computer screen.

14. Click “Network Conﬁguration” to view and edit the network conﬁguration settings. If you are using a password and changing your settings, you need to know that the default user name is “lxiuser”.

15. For e*Scope, click the Instrument Control (e*Scope) link on the left side of the LXI Welcome page. You should then see a new tab (or window) open in your browser with e*Scope running.

A socket server provides two-way communication over an Internet Protocol-based computer network. You can use your oscilloscope’s socket server feature to let your oscilloscope talk to a remote-terminal device or computer.

To set up and use a socket server between your oscilloscope and a remote terminal or computer:

1. Connect the oscilloscope to your computer network with an appropriate Ethernet cable.

1-6 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Getting Started

2. Push Utility.

3. Push Utility Page.

4. Turn multipurpose knob a and select I/O.

5. Push Socket Server.

6. On the resulting Socket Server side menu, push the top entry to highlight Enabled.

7. Choose whether the protocol should be None or Te rmin a l. A communication

session run by a human at a keyboard typically uses a terminal protocol. An automated session might handle its own communications without using such a protocol.

8. If required, change the port number by rotating multipurpose knob a.

9. If required, p ress OK to set the new port number.

10. After setting up the socket server para meters, you can now have the computer

“talk” to the oscilloscope. If you are running an MS Windows PC, you could run its default client with its command-like interface. One way to do this is by typing “

Telnet ” in the Run window. The Telnet window will open on

the PC.

NOTE. On MS Windows, you must ﬁrst

enable Telnet in order for it to work.

11. Start a terminal session between your computer and your oscilloscope by typing in an open command with t

he oscilloscope's LAN address and port #. You can obtain the LAN address by pushing the Ethernet & LXI bottom menu item and the resulting LAN Settings side menu item to v iew the resulting Ethernet and LXI Setting screen. You can obtain the port # by pushing the Socket Server bottom menu item and viewing the Current Port side menu item.

For example, if the oscilloscope IP address was # was the default of

4000, you could open a session by writing into the MS

123.45.67.89 and the port

Windows Telnet screen:

o 12 3.45.67.89 4000

The oscilloscope will send a help screen to the computer when it is done connecting.

12. You can now type in a standard query, as found in the programmer manual, such as

*idn?

The Telnet session window will respond by displaying a character string describing your instrument. You can type in more queries and view more results on this Telnet session window. You can ﬁnd the syntax for relevant queries and related status codes in other sections of this manual.

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 1-7

Getting Started

Documen

tation

NOTE. Do not use

session with the oscilloscope.

Socket Server Terminal Protocol Mode Commands. Following are Tektronix Instrument C

!t <timeout> : set the response timeout in milliseconds.

!d : send device clear to the instrument.

!r : read response from instrument.

!h : print this usage info.

NOTE. Commands containing a ? are treated as queries, and the responses are

read automatically.

The following documents are available for download at www.tektronix.com:

3 Series Mixed Domain Oscilloscopes User Manual. Information about installing and operating the oscilloscope.

3 Series Mixed Domain Oscilloscopes Speciﬁcations and Performance Veriﬁcation Technical Reference. Oscilloscope speciﬁcations and a performance

veriﬁcation procedure.

the computer’s backspace key during an MS Windows' Telnet

ontrol Terminal Session Control commands:

Getting Started with OpenChoice ™ Solutions Manual. Options for getting data from your oscilloscope into a ny one of several available analysis tools.

TekVISA Programmer Manual. Description of TekVISA, the Tektronix implementation of the VISA Application Programming Interface (API). TekVISA is industry-compliant software for writing interoperable oscilloscope drivers in a

riety of Application Development Environments (ADEs).

1-8 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Syntax and Commands

Command Syntax

You can control the operations and functions of the oscilloscope through the Ethernet port or the USB 2.0 high-speed (HS) device port using commands and queries. The and queries. The topics also describe the conventions that the oscilloscope uses to process them. See the Command Groups topic in the table of contents for a listing of the commands by command group, or use the index to locate a speciﬁc command.

related topics listed below describe the syntax of these commands

Backus-Naur Form

Notation

This documentation describes the commands and queries using Backus-Naur Form (BNF) notation. Refer to the following table for the symbols that are used.

Table 2-1: Symbols for Backus-Naur Form

Symbol Meaning

| Exclusive OR

{ } Group; one element is required

[] .. .

Command and Query Structure

Commands consist of set commands and query commands (usually called commands and queries). Commands modify oscilloscope settings or tell the oscilloscope to perform a speciﬁc action. Queries cause the oscilloscope t o return data and status information.

Most commands have both a set form and a query form. The query form of the command differs from the set form by its question mark at the end. For example, the set command commands have both a set and a query form. Some commands have set only and some have query only.

Deﬁned element

Is deﬁned as

Optional; can be omitted

Previous element(s) may be repeated

ACQuire:MODe has a query form ACQuire:MODe?.Notall

Messages

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 2-1

A command message is a command or query name followed by any information the oscilloscope n eeds to execute the command or query. Command messages may contain ﬁve element type s, deﬁned in the following table.

Command Syntax

Commands

Table 2-2: Comm

Symbol Meaning

<Argument

<Comma> A single c

<Space>

Comman

ds cause the oscilloscope to perform a speciﬁc function or change one of

and Message Elements

This is the basic command name. If the header ends with a question mark, the command is a query. The header may begin with a colon (:) c haracte the beginning colon is required. Never use the beginning colon with command headers beginning with a star (*).

This is a header subfunction. Some command headers have only one mnemonic. I character always separates them from each other.

This is a qu Some commands have no arguments while others have multiple arguments. A <space> separates arguments from the header. A <comma> se

commands. Optionally, there may be white space characters before and after the comma.

A white space character is used between a command header and the related argument. O ptionally, a white space may consist of multiple white sp

r. If the c ommand is concatenated with other commands,

f a command header has multiple mnemonics, a colon (:)

antity, quality, restriction, or limit associated with the header.

parates arguments from each other.

omma is used between arguments of multiple-argument

ace c haracters.

the settings. Commands have the structure:

eader>[<Space><Argument>[<Comma> <Argument>]...]

[:]<H

A command header consists of one or more mnemonics arranged in a hierarchical

ee structure. The ﬁrst mnemonic is the base or root of the tree and each

or tr subsequent mnemonic is a level or branch off the previous one. Commands at a higher level in the tree may affect those at a lower level. The leading colon (:) always returns you to the base of the command tree.

2-2 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Command Syntax

Queries

Headers

Queries cause t have the structure:

[:]<Header>

[:]<Header>[<Space><Argument> [<Comma><Argument>]...]

You can specify a query command at any level within the command tree unless otherwise noted. These branch queries return information about all the mnemonics below the speciﬁed branch or level.

Use the HEADer command to control whether the oscilloscope returns headers as part of the query response. If header is on, the query response returns command headers, then formats itself as a valid set command. When header is off, the response includes only the values. This may make it easier to parse and extract the information from the response. The table below shows the difference in responses.

Table 2-3: Comparison of Header Off and Header On Responses

Query Header Off Header On

TIME?

ACQuire:NUMAVg?

he oscilloscope to return status or setting information. Queries

14:30:00 :TIME “14:30:00”

100

:ACQUIRE:NUMAVG 100

Clearing the oscilloscope

You can clear the Output Queue and reset the oscilloscope to accept a new command or query by using the selected Device Clear (DCL) function.

Command Entry

The following rules apply when entering commands:

You can enter commands in upper or lower case.

You can precede any command with white space characters. White space characters include any combination of the ASCII control characters 00 through 09 and 0B through 20 hexadecimal (0 through 9 and 11 through 32 decimal).

The oscilloscope ignores commands consisting of any combination of white space characters and line feeds.

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 2-3

Command Syntax

Abbreviating

Concatenating

You can abbrevi

ate many oscilloscope commands. Each command in this documentation shows the minimum acceptable abbreviations in capitals. For example, you can enter the command

ACQuire:NUMAvg simply as ACQ:NUMA

or acq:numa.

Abbreviation rules may change over time as new oscilloscope models are introduced. Thus, for the most robust code, use the full spelling.

If you use the HEADer command to have command headers included as part of query responses, you can further control whether the returned headers are abbreviated or are full-length with the

VERBose command.

You can concatenate any combination of set commands and queries using a semicolon (;). The oscilloscope exe cutes concatenated commands in the order received.

When concatenating commands and queries, you must follow these rules:

1. Separate completely different headers by a semicolon and by the beginning

colon on all commands except the ﬁrst one. For example, the commands

TRIGger:MODe NORMal and ACQuire:NUMAVg 8, can be concatenated

into the following single command:

TRIGger:MODe NORMal;:ACQuire:NUMAVg 8

2. If concatenated commands have headers that differ by only the last mnemonic,

you can abbreviate the second command and eliminate the beginning colon. For example, you can concatenate the commands

ACQuire:MODe ENVelope

and ACQuire:NUMAVg 8 into a single command:

ACQuire:MODe ENVelope; NUMAVg 8

The longer version works equally well:

ACQuire:MODe ENVelope;:ACQuire:NUMAVg 8

3. Never precede a star (*) command with a colon:

ACQuire:STATE 1;*OPC

Any commands that follow will be processed as if the star command was not there so the commands,

ACQuire:MODe ENVel

ope;*OPC;NUMAVg 8

will set the acquisition mode to envelope and set the number of acquisitions for averaging to 8.

4. When you concat enate queries, the responses to all the queries are

concatenated into a single response message. For example, if the display graticule is set to Full and the display style is set to dotsonly, the concatenated query

DISplay:GRAticule?;STYle:DOTsonly? will return the following.

If the header is on:

DISPLAY:GRATICULE FULL;:DISPLAY:STYLE:DOTSONLY 1

2-4 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Command Syntax

If the header is

FULL;1

off:

1. Set commands and queries may be concatenated in the same message. For example,

ACQuire:MODe SAMple;NUMAVg?;STATE?

is a valid message that sets the acquisition mode to sample. The message then queries the number of acquisitions for averaging and the acquisition state. Concatenated commands and queries are executed in the order received.

Here are some invalid concatenations:

DISPlay:STYle:DOTsonly OFF;ACQuire:NUMAVg 8 (no colon before ACQuire)

DISPlay:GRAticule FULL;:STYle:DOTSONLY OFF (extra colon before STYle.

DISPlay:GRAticule FULL;:*TRG (colon before a star (*) command)

MATH:HORizontal:SCAle 1.0e-1;HORizontal:POSition 5.0el

(levels of the mnemonics are different; either remove the second use of

HORizontal: or place :MATH in front of HORizontal:POSition)

Terminating

This documentation uses <EOM> (End of Message) to represent a message terminator.

Table 2-4: End of Message Terminator

Sym

The end-of-message terminator must be the END message (EOI asserted concurrently with the last data byte). The last data byte may be an ASCII line feed (LF) character.

This oscilloscope does not support ASCII LF only message termination. The oscilloscope always terminates outgoing messages with LF and EOI.

Constructed Mnemonics

Some header mnemonics specify one of a range of mnemonics. For example, a channel mnemonic can be CH1, CH2, CH3, or CH4. You use these mnemonics in the command just as you do any other mnemonic. For example, there is a

CH1:POSition command, and there is also a CH2:POSition command. In the

command descriptions, this list of choices is abbreviated as CH<x>.

bol

OM>

ning

Mea

Message terminator

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 2-5

Command Syntax

Math Spe

Cursor Position

Mnemonics

ciﬁer Mnemonics

When cursors ar

e displayed, commands may specify which cursor of the pair to

use.

Table 2-5: Channel Mnemonics

Symbol Meaning

CH<x> A channel speciﬁer; <x> is 1 through 4.

Table 2-6: Cursor Mnemonics

Symbol Meaning

CURSOR<x>

POSITION<x>

HPOS<x>

A cursor selector; <x> is either 1 or 2.

Commands can specify the mathematical waveform to use as a mnemonic in the header.

Table 2-7: Math Speciﬁer Mnemonics

Symbol Meaning

Math<x>

A math waveform speciﬁer; <x> is 1.

Measurement Speciﬁer

Mnemonics

hannel Mnemonics

Reference Waveform

Mnemonics

Commands can specify which measurement to set or query as a mnemonic in the header. Up to eight automated measurements may be displayed.

Table 2-8: Measurement Speciﬁer Mnemonics

Symbol Meaning

MEAS<x> A measurement speciﬁer; <x> is 1 through 8.

Commands specify the channel to use as a mnemonic in the header.

Commands can specify the reference waveform to use as a mnemonic in the header.

Table 2-9: Reference Waveform Mnemonics

Symbol Meaning

REF<x>

A reference waveform speciﬁer; <x> is 1, 2, 3, or 4 for 4-channel oscilloscopes and 1 or 2 for 2-channel oscilloscopes.

2-6 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

Argument Types

Command Syntax

Commands use arguments such as enumeration, numeric, quoted string and block. Each of these arguments are listed in detail below.

Enumeration

Numeric

Enter these arguments as unquoted text words. Like key words, enumeration arguments follow the same convention where the portion indicated in uppercase is required and that in lowercase is optional.

For example:

Many osci

SAVe:WAVEform:FILEFormat INTERNal

lloscope commands require numeric arguments. The syntax shows the format that the oscilloscope returns in response to a query. This is also the preferred format when sending the command to the oscilloscope, though any of the formats will be accepted. This documentation represents these arguments as described below.

Table 2-10: Numeric Arguments

Symbol Meaning

<NR1>

<NR2> Floating point value without an exponent

<NR3> Floating point value with an exponent

<bin>

Signed integer value

Signed or unsigned integer in binary format

Most numeric arguments will be automatically forced to a valid setting, by either rounding or truncating, when an invalid number is input, unless otherwise noted

the command description.

Quoted String

Some commands accept or return data in the form of a quoted string, which is simply a group of ASCII characters enclosed by a single quote (') or double quote

"). The following is an example of a quoted string:

(

string"

. This documentation represents these arguments as follows:

"This is a quoted

Table 2-11: Quoted String Argument

Symbol Meaning

<QString> Quoted string of ASCII text

3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual 2-7

Command Syntax

A quoted string

can include any character deﬁned in the 7-bit ASCII character

set. Follow these rules when you use quoted strings:

1. Use the same ty example:

2. You can mix q previous rule. For example:

3. You c an i ncl example:

4. Strings ca

pe of quote character to open and close the string. For

"this is a valid string".

uotation marks within a string as long as you follow the

"this is an 'acceptable' string".

ude a quote character within a string by repeating the quote. For

"here is a "" mark ".

n have u pper or lower case characters.

5. If you use a GPIB network, you cannot terminate a quoted string with the END messa

ge before the closing delimiter.

6. A carriage return or line feed embedded in a quoted string does not terminate

ng. The return is treated as another c haracter in the string.

the stri

7. The maximum length of a quoted string returned from a query is 1000

ters.

charac

Here are some invalid strings:

"Invalid string argument' (quotes are not of the same type)

Block

"test<EOI>" (termination character is embedded in the string)

Several oscilloscope commands use a block argument form, as deﬁned in the table below.

Table 2-12: Block Argument

Symbol Meaning

<NZDig>

<Dig>

<DChar> A character with the hexadecimal equivalent of 00 through FF (0

<Block>

A nonzero digit character in the range of 1–9

A digit character, in the range of 0–9

through 255 decimal)

A block of data bytes deﬁned as: <Block> ::= {#<NZDig><Dig>[<Dig>...][<DChar>...] |#0[<D Char>...]<term inator>}

<NZDig> speciﬁes the number of <Dig> elements that follow. Taken together, the <NZDig> and <Dig> elements form a decimal integer that speciﬁes how many <DChar> elements follow.

2-8 3 Series MDO Oscilloscopes Programmer Manual

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