Starting a New Measurement Cycle (Triggering)

• Triggering System

• Starting a Measurement Cycle (Triggering the Instrument)

Other topics about Starting Measurement Cycle (Triggering) and Detecting End of Measurement

Triggering System

The trigger system detects the start of a measurement cycle (triggering) and controls the pre-measurement delay time. As shown in the figure below, the trigger system has three states: Idle, Waiting for Trigger, and Measurement.

Trigger System

The following subsections describe each state and how the trigger system switches among the three states.

Idle state

The trigger system is in Idle state (arrow e in the Trigger System figure above) when you power ON the instrument or issue one of the following commands:

• *RST

• :ABOR

The trigger system is in Waiting for Trigger state (arrow a in the Trigger System figure above) when you activate it with one of the following commands:

• :INIT

• :INIT:CONT(“ON” specified)

Waiting for Trigger State (Trigger Event Detect state)

The trigger system is in Measurement state (arrow b in the Trigger System figure above) after the elapse of the trigger delay time (set with the :TRIG:DEL command) if the instrument is triggered (a trigger is detected) or the :TRIG command is issued while the trigger system is in Waiting for Trigger state.

As shown in the table below, how the instrument is triggered differs depending on which trigger source is specified. To specify the trigger source, use the :TRIG:SOUR.

Transition from Waiting for Trigger state to Measurement state

Measurement state (sequence operation state)

In Measurement state, the trigger system waits until the measurement point delay time (set with the :TRIG:SEQ2:DEL command) elapses and then starts measurement for each measurement point.

When the instrument has finished measuring the DUT at the single specified point (for single-point measurement) or at all the points defined in the active table (for list measurement), the trigger system switches to either Idle or Waiting for Trigger state depending on whether continuous activation is OFF or ON (set with the :INIT:CONT command):

If continuous activation is OFF:

Switches to Idle state (arrow c in the Trigger System figure above).

If continuous activation is ON:

Switches to Waiting for Trigger state (arrow d in the Trigger System figure above).

Starting a Measurement Cycle (Triggering the Instrument)

Configuring the instrument to automatically perform continuous measurement (initial setting):

1. Issue the :TRIG:SOUR command to set the trigger source to Internal trigger.

2. If the trigger system is in Idle state (that is, it is not currently active), issue the :INIT:CONT command to turn ON continuous activation of the trigger system.

Starting measurement on demand:

1. To trigger the instrument on demand, follow the steps below.

1. Issue the :TRIG:SOUR  command to set the trigger source to GPIB/USB/LAN trigger.

2. If the trigger system is in Idle state (that is, it is not currently active), issue the :INIT:CONT command to turn ON continuous activation of the trigger system.

3. Trigger the instrument whenever you want to perform measurement. An external controller can trigger the instrument with one of the following two commands:

   Command	Query response	Applicable trigger source
   *TRG	Yes (returns measurement results)	GPIB/USB/LAN trigger
   :TRIG	No	All

4. To start the next measurement cycle, repeat step 3.

2. To activate the trigger system on demand, follow the steps below.

1. If the trigger system is active (that is, not in Idle state), issue the :ABOR command to stop the trigger system.

2. Issue the :TRIG:SOUR command to set the trigger source to Internal trigger.

3. You can activate the trigger system using the :INIT command at any time. Consequently, the instrument will be automatically triggered by Internal trigger and perform one measurement cycle.

4. To start the next measurement cycle, repeat step 3.
   

Sample Program

See Using SRQ to Detect End of Measurement