Agilent Technologies E4406A VSA manual FORMat Subsystem, Byte Order, Numeric Data format

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FORMat Subsystem

FORMat Subsystem

The FORMat subsystem sets a data format for transferring numeric and array information.

Byte Order

:FORMat:BORDer NORMalSWAPped

:FORMat:BORDer?

Selects the binary data byte order for numeric data transfer. In normal mode the most significant byte is sent first. In swapped mode the least significant byte is first. (PCs use the swapped order.) Binary data byte order functionality does not apply to ASCII.

Factory Preset
and *RST:	Normal

Numeric Data format

:FORMat[:DATA] ASCiiREAL,32REAL,64

:FORMat[:DATA]?

This command controls the format of data output, that is, data transfer across any remote port. The REAL and ASCII formats will format trace data in the current amplitude units.

The format of state data cannot be changed. It is always in a machine readable format only.

ASCII - Amplitude values are in ASCII, in amplitude units, separated by commas. ASCII format requires more memory than the binary formats. Therefore, handling large amounts of this type of data, will take more time and storage space.

Real,32 (or 64) - Binary 32-bit, or 64-bit, real values in amplitude unit, in a definite length block. Transfers of real data are done in a binary block format.

A definite length block of data starts with an ASCII header that begins with # and indicates how many additional data points are following in the block. Suppose the header is #512320.

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