SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) is a standard that defines a language for communicating with instruments based on messages. The majority of the GPIB instruments use the SCPI but also RS-232, Ethernet, VXI, PXI may use it. Several measurement instrument manufacturers have adopted this standard as HP / Agilent for example, allowing some communication uniformity between several devices.
Some examples of SCPI commands:
- Instrument identification querry: *IDN?
- Instrument reset: RST
- Measure querry: MES?