HP E4418B Programming Manual page 139

MEASurement Instructions
MEASurement Instructions
MEASurement Instructions
The purpose of the MEASure group of instructions is to acquire data using
a set of high level instructions.
The MEASure group of commands are structured to allow you to trade off
interchangeability with fine control of the measurement process.
MEASure? provides a complete capability where the power meter is
configured, a measurement taken, and results returned in one operation.
Often, more precise control of the measurement is required. Therefore,
MEASure? is complemented by providing two commands, CONFigure and
READ?. CONFigure performs the configuration portion of the
measurement and READ? performs the data acquisition, postprocessing,
and data output portions of the measurement. This allows you to perform
a generic configuration of the measurement through CONFigure and then
customize the measurement by changing particular power meter
functions. The READ? then completes the measurement process.
READ?, in turn, is broken down into two additional commands,
INITiate[:IMMediate] and FETCh?. INITiate[:IMMediate]
performs the data acquisition. FETCh? performs the postprocessing
function and returns the data. This allows you to perform several different
FETCh? functions on a single set of acquired data.
The HP E4418B/E4419B power meters have several command extensions
to the SCPI standard. These are the RELative and DIFFerence nodes.
The numeric suffixes of the CONFigure, FETCh, READ and MEASure?
program mnemonics in the MEASure group of commands refers to
windows, that is CONFigure1 and CONFigure2 represent the upper and
lower windows respectively.
2-2 HP E4418B/E4419B Programming Guide