Agilent Technologies N5980A Operating instructions

Agilent
3.125 Gb/s Serial BERT
N5980A
Programming Guide

2 N5980A Programming Guide
Notices
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cturing_BERT
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A CAUTION notice denotes a hazard.
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procedure, practice, or the like that, if
not correctly performed or adhered to,
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CAUTION
WARNING

Safety Summary
General Safety Precautions
The following general safety
precautions must be observed
during all phases of operation of
this instrument. Failure to
comply with these precautions
or with specific warnings
elsewhere in this manual
violates safety standards of
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intended use of the instrument.
Agilent Technologies Inc.
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customer's failure to comply
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Before operation, review the
instrument and manual for
safety markings and
instructions. You must follow
these to ensure safe operation
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in safe condition.
General
This product is a Safety Class 1
instrument (provided with a
protective earth terminal). The
protective features of this
product may be impaired if it is
used in a manner not specified
in the operation instructions.
All Light Emitting Diodes
(LEDs) used in this product are
Class 1 LEDs as per IEC 60825-
1.
Environment Conditions
This instrument is intended for
indoor use in an installation
category II, pollution degree 2
environment. It is designed to
operate at a maximum relative
humidity of 95% and at altitudes
of up to 2000 meters.
Refer to the specifications tables
for the ac mains voltage
requirements and ambient
operating temperature range.
Before Applying Power
Verify that all safety precautions
are taken. The power cable inlet
of the instrument serves as a
device to disconnect from the
mains in case of hazard. The
instrument must be positioned
so that the operator can easily
access the power cable inlet.
When the instrument is rack
mounted the rack must be
provided with an easily
accessible mains switch.
Ground the Instrument
To minimize shock hazard, the
instrument chassis and cover
must be connected to an
electrical protective earth
ground. The instrument must be
connected to the ac power mains
through a grounded power cable,
with the ground wire firmly
connected to an electrical
ground (safety ground) at the
power outlet. Any interruption
of the protective (grounding)
conductor or disconnection of
the protective earth terminal will
cause a potential shock hazard
that could result in personal
injury.
Do Not Operate in an
Explosive Atmosphere
Do not operate the instrument in
the presence of flammable gases
or fumes.
Do Not Remove the
Instrument Cover
Operating personnel must not
remove instrument covers.
Component replacement and
internal adjustments must be
made only by qualified
personnel.
Instruments that appear
damaged or defective should be
made inoperative and secured
against unintended operation
until they can be repaired by
qualified service personnel.

4 N5980A Programming Guide
Safety Symbols on
Instruments
Indicates warning or caution. If
you see this symbol on a product,
you must refer to the manuals for
specific Warning or Caution
information to avoid personal
injury or damage to the product.
Safety requirements for electrical
equipment for measurement,
control, and laboratory use
CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 1010.1
(1993) UL 3101, 3111 (First
Editions). This equipment has
also been evaluated to IEC 61010
edition 1 including amendments
1 and 2.
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This product complies with the
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plastic parts used in the product.
Environmental Information

Introduction
N5980A Programming Guide 5
Contents
Contents 5
1Introduction 6
2Programming Basics 8
3Setting Up The Environment 10
4A Typical Remote Program 13
5SCPI Command Reference 18
6Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 21

6 N5980A Programming Guide
1 Introduction
Introduction This document provides the information you need for remote programming
the N5980A Serial BERT.
Communication
Overview
To communicate with the N5980A Serial BERT from a remote computer, you
have to connect the USB port on the rear of the instrument to a USB port of
your PC.
Figure 1: N5980A Serial BERT setup diagram
Note: the N5980A Serial BERT does not have a LAN or a GPIB interface.
Controller PC
USB

Introduction
N5980A Programming Guide 7
Agilent I/O
Libraries
To communicate with the N5980A Serial BERT, you do not need the Agilent
I/O Libraries! The communication with the instrument is not done using the
VISA libraries.
The remote access can only be done by directly using Windows Sockets.
The N5980A Serial BERT is not visible with the Agilent Connection Expert,
i.e. it does not provide USB API programming through or with the Agilent IO
Libraries!
Because the N5980A Serial BERT does not use the Agilent IO Library
infrastructure you cannot use e.g. the VISA Assistant or the Interactive IO
program to send SCPI commands to the instrument.
Please refer to the Sample Code in the enclosed examples to control the
N5980A from within a remote program.

8 N5980A Programming Guide
2 Programming Basics
SCPI Compatibility The SCPI commands represent the instrument’s advanced analysis, and
pattern generation features that can be controlled from within the remote
programs.
The N5980A Serial BERT is not is fully SCPI1997 standard compliant.
The remote programming language is close to SCPI. The instrument does
not have full featured SCPI parser.
The missing standard SCPI features are:
•Status handling/registers
No commands are available to query or set the status of the
instrument.
•Support of short and long form of SCPI commands
Commands may only sent in the exact format given below.
Example: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7
You may not use: :SOURce1:PATTern PRBS7
•There are no default suffixes
You always have to add the suffix to the command
Example: :SOUR1:PATT?
You may not omit the “1” in “SOUR1”.
•Multiple SCPI commands in one line
You always have to specify the full command.
SCPI standard allows: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7;EADD ONCE
N5980A needs: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7; :SOUR1:PATT:EADD ONCE
The commands must always be complete, even for the second
parameter that belongs to the same root node inside a transaction.
•Only a few of the standard SCPI commands are available,
e.g. *OPC is missing.
Please refer to the Sample Code in the enclosed examples to control the
N5980A from within a remote program.

Programming Basics
N5980A Programming Guide 9
Remote Access
Using Windows
Sockets
The N5980A Serial BERT does not use the Agilent IO Library infrastructure.
You therefore cannot send SCPI commands to the instrument using that
infrastructure (e.g. with the VISA Assistant or the Interactive IO program).
However, you can send the commands “directly”. You have to send them
directly to the IP address (and a certain port number) of the PC that is
controlling the N5980A Serial BERT.
The software controlling the N5980A Serial BERT will receive the commands
and forward them to the USB interface the Serial BERT is connected to.
In other words the N5980A Serial BERT software (running on the PC that is
controlling the instrument) acts as “gateway”: it receives the commands
over the network and forwards them to the Serial BERT via the USB
interface.
As a consequence the remote programming software needs to take the SCPI
commands and send them to the IP address (and a certain port number) of
the PC that is controlling the N5980A Serial BERT.
The remote programming software will do this using Windows Sockets.
The details will be shown in the examples below and in the Sample Code in
the enclosed examples.

10 N5980A Programming Guide
3 Setting Up The Environment
Introduction This section describes step by step the setup required to programmatically
access the N5980A Serial BERT.
Controller PC
Requirements
The N5980A Serial BERT software runs on a controller PC which is
connected to the instrument using an USB link.
The PC has to meet the following requirements:
•Pentium III with > 450 MHz
•Minimum RAM: 256 MB
•20 MB of free disk space
•Operating System:
oWindows 2000 SP4
oWindows XP SP2
•Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework
(If the .NET 2.0 Framework is not already installed, download it from
the Microsoft Download Center or alternatively execute the program
dotnetfx.exe that is included on the installation CD).

Setting Up The Environment
N5980A Programming Guide 11
Connect The
Instrument
Connect the Serial BERT:
•Connect the power cord at the rear panel Power In connector
•Connect the instrument to the controller PC via USB using the USB
connector at the rear panel as shown in the following picture
Check the green Power LED at the front panel.
Install User
Software
For a detailed description of the User Software installation please check the
N5980A User Guide (page12ff). The following list only is a brief summary:
•Insert the CD
•Start setup.exe
•The installer will guide you through the installation process.
•The installer checks the installation of the Microsoft .NET 2.0
Framework.
•By default the program will install to:
C:\Program Files\Agilent\N5980A\
Controller PC
USB

12 N5980A Programming Guide
Check The Setup Now verify your setup by starting the N5980A Serial BERT software:
•Launch the program (Go to Program File and click on N5980A as
described in the N5980A User Guide on page 14)
•The hardware initialization takes between 3 and 5 minutes. The
following picture is shown:
•Upon completion of Hardware Initialization, the User Interface starts
and the following window appears:
•Please also check the red USB Active LED at the front panel.
Please refer to the User Guide (page 16) on how to operate the N5980A User
Interface.

A Typical Remote Program
N5980A Programming Guide 13
4 A Typical Remote Program
Introduction This section shows and explains a typical remote program written in Visual
Basic 2005.
Before You Begin As already mentioned in chapter 2 Programming Basics” on page 8, the
User Software of the N5980A acts as “gateway” between the remote
program (LAN) and the instrument (USB). This implies the following:
•The User Software with the user interface on the controller PC must
be running if you want to do remote programming with the N5980A.
It acts as a gateway: it receives remote programming commands via
LAN and forwards them over USB.
N5980A Hardware
N59080A
GUI User Software
Remote
Program
Controller PC
LAN
USB
Figure 2: How does the remote program connect to the instrument?

14 N5980A Programming Guide
•Your remote program may be running on the controller PC, but it can
run on any other PC in the network. Therefore the following 2
principal setups are possible:
Figure 3: N5980A User Software and Remote Program run on the same PC
Figure 4: User Software and Remote Program run on different PCs
Controller PC
USB
LAN
PC for Remote
Program
Controller PC
USB

A Typical Remote Program
N5980A Programming Guide 15
Example Program On your CD in the directory Programming Examples\MyN5980AExample_VB
there is an example in Visual Basic 2005.
Figure 5: Visual Basic 2005 Example Program
At the top you can enter the IP address of the controller PC and press
Connect. You then can set that Data Rate and at the bottom you can press a
button to read settings of the N5980A.

16 N5980A Programming Guide
Program Structure Besides the code that is handling the buttons and fields of the form in
Figure 5 there are the following core methods:
•Connect
This method connects the remote program to the User Software on
the control PC. Key parameters are the IP address and the port
number (Default: 5025).
•Disconnect
This method closes the network connection.
•SendCommand
This method takes a SCPI command that is contained in the input
parameter “scpi_string” and sends it over the network stream to
the User Software running on the Controller PC.
In case the SCPI command is query then the method picks up the
response and returns it to the caller.
A Visual Basic 2005 program needs the following references:
Figure 6: Required References of a Visual Basic 2005 Program

A Typical Remote Program
N5980A Programming Guide 17
Other Example
Programs
There are further example programs included on your CD:
•C#: directory:
Programming Examples\MyN5980AExample_Csharp
•VB: directory:
Programming Examples\MyN5980AExample_VB
•LabVIEW directory:
Programming Examples\MyN5980AExample_LabVIEW
•Agilent VEE directory:
Programming Examples\MyN5980AExample_VEE

18 N5980A Programming Guide
5 SCPI Command Reference
Introduction Please refer to the N5980A User Guide for the complete SCPI command
reference of the N5980A. In this document there is only a very brief
summary.
The SCPI commands can be subdivided into the following command sets:
•SCPI Common Commands
This is a common command set. It contains general housekeeping
commands. The common commands are always headed by an
asterisk. A typical example is the reset command: *RST. The
standard command set also contains query commands. Query
commands always end with a question mark.
Note: The N5980A is not fully SCPI1997 Standard compliant! Only a
subset of the required command set is supported.
•SCPI Instrument Control Commands
The N5980A does not feature a fully standard compliant SCPI
parsers. Therefore a number of restrictions apply:
oStatus handling/registers
No commands are available to query or set the status of the
instrument.
oSupport of short and long form of SCPI commands
Commands may only sent in the exact format given below.
Example: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7
You may not use: :SOURce1:PATTern PRBS7
oThere are no default suffixes
You always have to add the suffix to the command
Example: :SOUR1:PATT?
You may not omit the “1” in “SOUR1”.
oMultiple SCPI commands in one line
You always have to specify the full command.
SCPI standard allows: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7;EADD ONCE
N5980A needs: :SOUR1:PATT PRBS7; :SOUR1:PATT:EADD
ONCE
The commands must always be complete, even for the

SCPI Command Reference
N5980A Programming Guide 19
second parameter that belongs to the same root node
inside a transaction.
oOnly a few of the standard SCPI commands are available,
e.g. *OPC is missing.
Brief Summary Of
SCPI Common
Commands
The following common commands are supported by the N5980A:
•Read identification string from the instrument
o*IDN?
•Returns 1 when all pending commands have been executed.
o*OPC?
•Reports all instrument options.
o*OPT?
•Resets the instrument to factory default settings
o*RST
•Performs the instrument self test.
o*TST?
For further details please refer to the N5980A User Guide.
Brief Summary Of
SCPI Instrument
Commands
The following common commands are supported by the N5980A:
•Setting of the Data Rate
o:FREQ?
o:FREQ
•Storing and recalling instrument setting
o:MMEM:STOR:STAT
o:MMEM:LOAD:STAT
•Read the error queue
o:SYST:ERR?
•SMA Output (Electrical Generator):
o:SOUR1:PATT

20 N5980A Programming Guide
o:SOUR1:PATT?
o:SOUR1:PATT:EADD
o:SOUR1:PATT:EADD:RATE?
o:SOUR1:PATT:EADD:RATE
o:SOUR1:VOLT
o:SOUR1:VOLT?
•SFP Output (Optical Generator)
o:SOUR2:PATT
o:SOUR2:PATT?
o:SOUR2:PATT:EADD
o:SOUR2:PATT:EADD:RATE
o:SOUR2:PATT:EADD:RATE?
•Trigger Output
o:SOUR3:PATT?
o:SOUR3:PATT
•Error Detector
o:SENS1:SYNC:TYPE
o:SENS1:SYNC:TYPE?
o:SENS1:PATT?
o:SENS1:GATE:PER
o:SENS1:GATE:PER?
o:SENS1:FETC:ECO?
o:SENS1:FETC:ECO:DELT?
o:SENS1:FETC:ERAT?
o:SENS1:FETC:ERAT:DELT?
o:SENS1:INP :SENS1:INP?
o:SENS1:GATE:STAT
o:SENS1:GATE:STAT?