Fluke PM6685R, PM6681R manual What is SCPI?, Reason for SCPI, Compatibility

Introduction to SCPI

What is SCPI?

SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) is a standard- ized set of commands used to remotely control programmable test and measure- ment instruments. The CNT-8X firmware contains the SCPI. It defines the syntax and semantics that the controller must use to communicate with the instrument.

This chapter is an overview of SCPI and shows how SCPI is used in Fluke Fre- quency Counters and Timer/Counters.

SCPI is based on IEEE-488.2 to which it owes much of its structure and syntax. SCPI can, however, be used with any of the standard interfaces, such as GPIB (=IEC625/IEEE-488), VXI and RS-232.

Reason for SCPI

For each instrument function, SCPI de- fines a specific command set. The advan- tage of SCPI is that programming an instrument is only function dependent and no longer instrument dependent. Sev- eral different types of instruments, for ex- ample an oscilloscope, a counter and a multimeter, can carry out the same func- tion, such as frequency measurement. If these instruments are SCPI compatible, you can use the same commands to mea- sure the frequency on all three instru- ments, although there may be differences in accuracy, resolution, speed, etc.

Compatibility

SCPI provides two types of compatibil- ity: Vertical and horizontal.

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AC

AC

Figure 3-1 Vertical

This means that all instruments of the same type have i´dentical controls. For eample, oscilloscopes will have the same controls for timebase, triggers and voltage settings

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Figure 3-2 Hoizontal

This means that instruments of different types that performs the same functions have the same commands. For exam- ple, a DMM, an oscilloscope, and a counter can all measure frequency with the same commands

3-2 What is SCPI?