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VISA and SCPI Commands and Functions

SenseTalk allows you to communicate with and control test and measurement devices, such as power supplies and oscilloscopes. SenseTalk uses:

  • The Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA) protocol to connect to a device.
  • Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) commands to control these devices.

SenseTalk also includes a conversion layer that lets you write SCPI commands in a more English-like style to make your scripts more readable and maintainable.

Important

The VISA and SCPI support is currently only available on Windows systems. To use this functionality, you must first install the Keysight IO Libraries on your machine.

The specific SenseTalk properties, commands and functions used for accessing, controlling, and communicating with test and measurement devices are described in this section:

VISA Functions: Use these functions to verify that the correct software is loaded on your Windows machine and to open a connection to your test and measurement device.

VisaDevice Properties: Use these properties to control certain settings on your device and to access information on it. For example, you can set a default channel and identifier for the device.

SCPI Commands and Functions: Use these commands and functions to communicate with and perform actions on your device.

Debugging Commands and Functions: Use these commands and functions to log information about the commands you send to a device and to test commands strings before you.

There is also an example SCPI script with line-by-line analysis to help you to write your own scripts.