General purpose commands for the MA245xxA Power Master are used to set/read the general settings of the Power Master. These commands are not mode or trigger dependent. The following considerations must also be observed:
• Command arguments presented in this document are enclosed in angle brackets: <argument>. The angle brackets are not included as part of the actual argument.
• Only SCPI commands that contain a question mark (?) called queries will return a value. No response should be expected for non-query commands.
:ABORt
Title
Abort
Description
Resets the trigger system. This has the effect of aborting the sweep or any measurement that is currently in progress. Additionally, any pending operation flags that were set by initiation of the trigger system will be set to false. If :INITiate:CONTinuous is OFF (i.e. the instrument is in single sweep mode), send the command :INITiate[:IMMediate] to trigger the next sweep. If :INITiate:CONTinuous is ON (i.e. the instrument is in continuous sweep mode) a new sweep will start immediately.
:CALCulate:CWMax:COUNt <integer>
:CALCulate:CWMax:COUNt?
Title
Peak Count.
Description
The desired number of measured signals to be reported by :FETC:CWMax? query.
Parameters
<integer>
Query Output
<integer>
Default Value
1
Range
1 to 6
:CALCulate:CWMax:THReshold <numeric_value>{DBM}
:CALCulate:CWMax:THReshold?
Title
CW Max Threshold Level
Description
Sets the threshold level which measured power must exceed to be reported by :FETC:CWMax? query.
Parameters
<numeric_value> {DBM}
Query Output
<NR2> Returns value in dBm
Default Value
0 dBm
Default unit
dBm
Range
–150 dBm to 30 dBm
:CALCulate:CWMax:THReshold:STATe <0|1|ON|OFF>
:CALCulate:CWMax:THReshold:STATe?
Title
CW Max Threshold State
Description
Turn ON|OFF the threshold that the power must exceed to be reported by a :FETch:CWMax? query.
Parameters
<0|1|ON|OFF>
Query Output
0|1
Default Value
OFF
:FETCh:CWMax?
Title
Fetch CW Max Power
Description
Returns the most recent CW max power measurement result. If the instrument is not sweeping and the current data is not valid, it will return error –230. This could occur if there was a *RST immediately before the :FETChCWMax? or if a measurement parameter was changed without an :INITiate, and the query will return the string "nan".
Parameters
N/A
Query Output
<NR2> returns a comma-delimited list of CW Max power measurement result pairs as <frequency in Hz, power in dBm>
Default Value
0
:FETCh:POWer?
Title
Fetch Channel Power
Description
Returns the most recent integrated power measurement result. If the instrument is measuring, it will not return until the measurement is complete. If the instrument is not measuring and the current data is not valid it will return error –230. This could occur if there was a *RST immediately before the :FETCh? or if a measurement parameter was changed without an :INITiate. If the measurement is not enabled with [:SENSe]:CHPower:STATe then, the instrument will indicate error –400 and return the string "nan"
Parameters
N/A
Query Output
<NR2> Returns the most recent integrated power measurement result in dBm.
:INITiate:CONTinuous <0|1|ON|OFF>
:INITiate:CONTinuous?
Title
Sweep Type
Description
Specifies whether the sweep/measurement is triggered continuously. If the value is set to ON or 1, another sweep/measurement is triggered as soon as the current one completes. If continuous is set to OFF or 0, the instrument remains initiated until the current sweep/measurement completes, then enters the “idle” state and waits for the :INITiate[:IMMediate] command or for :INITiate:CONTinuous ON. If :INITiate:CONTinuous is changed to ON before the current sweep/measurement completes, a new sweep/measurement will be continuously triggered as soon as the current sweep/measurement completes. If :INITiate[:IMMediate] is received before the current sweep/measurement completes, it will be ignored. Clients must either wait for the current sweep/measurement to complete before triggering a 'single sweep', or :ABORt the sweep/measurement after setting :INITiate:CONTinuous to OFF (which will cause the instrument to immediately enter the idle state where it can accept new triggers).
The default value is ON. That is, sending :INIT:CONT is equivalent to sending :INIT:CONT ON. The query version of the command returns a 1 if the instrument is continuously sweeping/measuring and returns a 0 if the instrument is in single sweep/measurement mode.
Parameters
<0|1|ON|OFF>
Query Output
0|1
Default Value
ON
:INITiate[:IMMediate]
Title
Initiate measurement
Description
Triggers a measurement
:STATus:OPERation[:EVENt]?
Title
Get Operation Status
Description
This command requests information about the current status of the instrument. Each bit of the return value represents some operation. Only a subset of the bits are implemented for each application. The number returned is the decimal representation of the bit-wise OR of the enabled bits:
Bit
Decimal
Value Description
0
1
Not implemented
1
2
Not implemented
2
4
Not implemented
3
8
Not implemented
4
16
Not implemented
5
32
Not implemented
6
64
Not implemented
7
128
Not implemented
8
256
Sweep Complete
The Sweep Complete bit is set to 0 when the command :INITiate[:IMMediate] is sent to trigger a sweep. It will have a value of 1 when the sweep has completed.
Query Output
<NR1> Returns value 0 to 256
[:SENSe]:AVERage:COUNt <numeric_value>
[:SENSe]:AVERage:COUNt?
Title
Sense Average Count
Description
Sets the effective number of averages.
Parameters
<numeric_value>
Query Output
<NR2>
Default Value
10
Range
2 to 1000
[:SENSe]:AVERage:STATe <0|1|ON|OFF>
[:SENSe]:AVERage:STATe?
Title
Sense Average State
Description
Specifies whether successive power readings are averaged or not. Turning average state to ON will cause the measured power value to be the average of the last <integer> measured values where <integer> is set by [:SENSe]:AVERage:COUNt. This setting only applies when the [:SENSe]:CHPower:STATe is also ON.
Parameters
<0|1|ON|OFF>
Query Output
0|1
Default Value
OFF
[:SENSe]:CHPower:STATe <0|1|ON|OFF>
[:SENSe]:CHPower:STATe?
Title
Channel Power State
Description
Sets the state of the channel power measurement, ON or OFF.
Sets the center frequency. Note that changing the value of the center frequency will change the value of the coupled parameters Start Frequency and Stop Frequency. It may also change the value of the span.
Sets the channel width for power measurements. The measured channel is centered around the [:SENSe]:FREQuency:CENTer value. The center frequency plus half the channel width may not exceed the maximum measuring frequency of the instrument.
Parameters
<numeric_value> HZ|KHZ|MHZ|GHZ
Query Output
<NR2> Returns frequency value in Hz
Default Value
69999991000
Default Unit
Hz
Range
1000 Hz to 69999991000 Hz
[:SENSe]:POWer:RELative <0|1|ON|OFF>
[:SENSe]:POWer:RELative?
Title
Relative Power Mode
Description
When the user enables Relative Mode the software begins to give power readings relative to the most recent power read before the command was sent. When Relative Power Mode is ON, all results returned by the :FETCh:POWer? and :FETCh:CWMax? queries are in units of dB as opposed to dBm.
Parameters
<0|1|ON|OFF>
Query Output
0|1
Default Value
OFF
[:SENSe]:POWer:RF:GAIN:STATe <0|1|ON|OFF>
[:SENSe]:POWer:RF:GAIN:STATe?
Title
Preamp
Description
Sets the state of the internal amplifier for improved accuracy when measuring low-power signals.
Parameters
<0|1|ON|OFF>
Query Output
0|1
Default Value
OFF
[:SENSe]:RESolution HIGH|MEDium|LOW
[:SENSe]:RESolution?
Title
Power Resolution Mode
Description
Specifies the resolution of the power measurement in CW max mode only. The resolution determines the relative precision of the frequency reported when getting the CW max power results with the :FETCh:CWMax? query. There is a trade-off between measurement speed and resolution so HIGH resolution will produce fewer measurements per unit time than LOW resolution.