Operating instructions

R&S ESCI Status Reporting System
1166.6004.12 5.21 E-1
Description of the Status Registers
Status Byte (STB) and Service Request Enable Register (SRE)
The STB is already defined in IEEE 488.2. It provides a rough overview of the instrument status by
collecting the pieces of information of the lower registers. It can thus be compared with the CONDition
part of an SCPI register and assumes the highest level within the SCPI hierarchy. A special feature is
that bit 6 acts as the sum bit of the remaining bits of the status byte.
The STATUS BYTE is read out using the command "*STB?" or a serial poll.
The STB implies the SRE. It corresponds to the ENABle part of the SCPI registers as to its function.
Each bit of the STB is assigned a bit in the SRE. Bit 6 of the SRE is ignored. If a bit is set in the SRE
and the associated bit in the STB changes from 0 to 1, a Service Request (SRQ) is generated on the
IEC bus, which triggers an interrupt in the controller if this is appropriately configured and can be further
processed there.
The SRE can be set using command "*SRE" and read using "*SRE?".
Table 5-2 Meaning of the bits in the status byte
Bit No. Meaning
2
Error Queue not empty
The bit is set when an entry is made in the error queue.
If this bit is enabled by the SRE, each entry of the error queue generates a Service Request. Thus an error can
be recognized and specified in greater detail by polling the error queue. The poll provides an informative error
message. This procedure is to be recommended since it considerably reduces the problems involved with IEC-
bus control.
3
QUEStionable status sum bit
The bit is set if an EVENt bit is set in the QUEStionable: status register and the associated ENABle bit is set
to 1.
A set bit indicates a questionable instrument status, which can be specified in greater detail by polling the
QUEStionable status register.
4
MAV bit (message available)
The bit is set if a message is available in the output buffer which can be read.
This bit can be used to enable data to be automatically read from the instrument to the controller (cf. Chapter 7,
program examples).
5
ESB bit
Sum bit of the event status register. It is set if one of the bits in the event status register is set and enabled in
the event status enable register.
Setting of this bit implies an error or an event which can be specified in greater detail by polling the event status
register.
6
MSS bit (master status summary bit)
The bit is set if the instrument triggers a service request. This is the case if one of the other bits of this registers
is set together with its mask bit in the service request enable register SRE.
7
OPERation status register sum bit
The bit is set if an EVENt bit is set in the OPERation-Status register and the associated ENABle bit is set to 1.
A set bit indicates that the instrument is just performing an action. The type of action can be determined by
polling the OPERation-status register.