Technical data

Agilent Signal Generators Programming Guide 159
4 Programming the Status Register System
This chapter provides the following major sections:
• Overview on page 159
• Status Register Bit Values on page 168
• Accessing Status Register Information on page 169
• Status Byte Group on page 175
• Status Groups on page 177
Overview
NOTE Some of the status bits and register groups only apply to select signal generators with
certain options. For more specific information on each exception, refer to the following:
• Standard Operation Condition Register bits (see Table 4- 6 on page 181)
• Baseband Operation Status Group (see page 183)
• Data Questionable Condition Register bits (see Table 4- 8 on page 187)
• Data Questionable Power Condition Register bits (see Table 4- 9 on page 190)
• Data Questionable Frequency Condition Register bits (see Table 4- 10 on page 193)
• Data Questionable Modulation Condition Register bits (see Table 4- 11 on page 196)
• Data Questionable Calibration Condition Register bit (see Table 4- 12 on page 199)
• Data Questionable Bert Status Group (see page 201)
During remote operation, you may need to monitor the status of the signal generator for error
conditions or status changes. You can use the signal generator’s status register system to monitor
error conditions, or condition changes, or both. In general, the error queue is easier to use than the
status registers, but the status registers provide some additional information not found in the error
queue. For more information on using the signal generator’s SCPI commands to query the signal
generator’s error queue, refer to the SCPI Command Reference.
The signal generator’s status register system provides two major advantages:
• You can monitor the settling of the signal generator using the settling bit of the Standard
Operation Status Group’s condition register.
• You can use the service request (SRQ) interrupt technique to avoid status polling, therefore giving
a speed advantage.
The signal generator’s instrument status system provides complete SCPI compliant data structures for
reporting instrument status using the register model.
The SCPI register model of the status system has multiple registers that are arranged in a
hierarchical order. The lower- priority status registers propagate their data to the higher- priority
registers using summary bits. The Status Byte Register is at the top of the hierarchy and contains the
status information for lower level registers. The lower level registers monitor specific events or