Command Groups
Data Formats All data points for DPO and MSO models are signed integer format only. Valid
data widths for CH1-CH4, MATH,REF1-REF4 and D0-D15 are 1 and 2-byte
widths. The valid data widths for the digital collection is either 4 or 8-byte widths.
The oscilloscope can transfer waveform data in either ASCII or binary format.
Youspecify the format with the DATa:ENCdg command.
ASCII Data. ASCII data is represented by signed integer values. The range of the
values depends on the byte width specified. One byte wide data ranges from -128
to 127. Two byte wide data ranges from -32768 to 32767.
Each data value requires two to seven characters. This includes one to five
characters to represent the value, another character, if the value is negative, to
represent a minus sign, and a comma to separate the data points.
An example ASCII waveform data string may look like this:
CURVE<space>-110,-109,-110,-110,-109,-107,-109,-107,-106,
-105,-103,-100,-97,-90,-84,-80
NOTE. Youcan use ASCII to obtain a readable and easier to format output than
binary. However,the oscilloscope may require bytes to send the same values with
ASCII than with binary, reducingtransmission speed.
The use of ASCII for waveform data transfer is inefficient. ASCII-formatted
Waveform (WAVFRM?) and Curve (CURVE?) queries, exceeding 1 M points,
are not supported.
Binary Data. Binary data is represented by signed integer or positive integer
values. The range of the values depends on the byte width specified. When the
byte width is one, signed integer data ranges from -128 to 127, and positive
integer values range from 0 to 255. When the byte width is two, the values range
from -32768 to 32767. and positive integer values range from 0 to 65,535.
Table 2-33: Binary data ranges
Byte width Signed integer range Positive integer range
1 -128 to 127 0 to 255
2 32,768 to 32,767 0 to 65,535
The defined binary formats also specify the order in which the bytes are
transferred. The four binary formats are RIBinary, RPBinary, SRIbinary, and
SRPbinary.
RIBinary is signed integer where the most significant byte is transferred first, and
RPBinary is positive integer where the most significant byte is transferred first.
SRIbinary and SRPbinary correspond to RIBinary and RPBinary respectively but
2-62 MSO4000 and DPO4000 Series Programmer Manual