H TBa sic GPI B Tu t oria l

This t ut orial describes t he I EEE- 488, HP- I B or GPI B inst rum ent at ion bus.
Bus Hist or y
I EEE- 488 Ov er view
Syst em Cont r oller and Act ive Cont r oller
List ener s, Talkers and Cont rollers
I nt erface Signals
Dat a Lines
Handshak e Lines
Handshaking
I nt erface Managem ent Lines
Device Addresses
Physical Charact erist ics
Sum m ary

Bus H ist or y
The I EEE- 488 bus was dev eloped t o connect and cont r ol program m able inst rum ent s,
and t o pr ovide a st andard int erface for com m unicat ion bet ween inst rum ent s from
different sour ces. Hewlet t - Packard originally developed t he int erfacing t echnique,
and called it HP- I B. The int erface quickly gained popularit y in t he com put er indust ry.
Because t he int erface w as so v ersat ile, t he I EEE com m it t ee r enam ed it GPI B
( General Purpose int erface Bus) .
I EEE- 4 8 8 Ove r v ie w
Alm ost any inst rum ent can be used wit h t he I EEE- 488 specificat ion, because it says
not hing about t he funct ion of t he inst rum ent it self, or about t he form of t he
inst rum ent s dat a. I nst ead t he specificat ion defines a separat e com ponent , t he
int erface, t hat can be added t o t he inst rum ent . The signals passing int o t he int erface
from t he I EEE- 488 bus and from t he inst rum ent are defined in t he st andard. The
inst rum ent does not have com plet e cont rol ov er t he int erface. Oft en t he bus
cont r oller t ells t he int erface what t o do. The Act ive Cont r oller perform s t he bus
cont r ol funct ions for all t he bus inst rum ent s.
Syst e m Cont r olle r a n d Act ive Cont r olle r
At power- up t im e, t he I EEE- 488 int erface t hat is pr ogram m ed t o be t he Syst em
Cont roller becom es t he Act ive Cont r oller in charge. The Syst em Cont roller has
sev eral unique capabilit ies including t he abilit y t o send I nt erface Clear ( I FC) and
Rem ot e Enable ( REN) com m ands. I FC clear s all device int erfaces and r et urns cont r ol
t o t he Syst em Cont roller. REN allows devices t o r espond t o bus dat a once t hey are
addressed t o list en. The Syst em Cont roller m ay opt ionally Pass Cont r ol t o anot her
cont r oller, which t hen becom es Act ive Cont r oller.
List e ne r s, Ta lk e r s a n d Cont r olle r s
Ther e ar e 3 t ypes of devices t hat can be connect ed t o t he I EEE- 488 bus ( List eners,
Talkers, and Cont rollers) . Som e devices include m ore t han one of t hese funct ions.
The st andard allows a m axim um of 15 devices t o be connect ed on t he sam e bus. A
m inim um syst em consist s of one Cont r oller and one Talker or List ener device ( i.e.,
an HP 700 wit h an I EEE- 488 int erface and a v olt m et er) .

I t is possible t o have several Cont rollers on t he bus but only one m ay be act ive at
any given t im e. The Act ive Cont r oller m ay pass cont r ol t o anot her cont r oller which in
t urn can pass it back or on t o anot her cont r oller. A List ener is a device t hat can
receive dat a fr om t he bus when inst ruct ed by t he cont roller and a Talk er t ransm it s
dat a on t o t he bus when inst ruct ed. The Cont roller can set up a t alker and a group of
list eners so t hat it is possible t o send dat a bet w een groups of devices as w ell.

I nt e r fa ce Signa ls
The I EEE- 488 int erface syst em consist s of 16 signal lines and 8 ground lines. The 16
signal lines are divided int o 3 gr oups ( 8 dat a lines, 3 handshak e lines, and 5
int erface m anagem ent lines) .
D a t a Line s
The lines DI O1 t hr ough DI O8 are used t o t ransfer addr esses, cont r ol inform at ion and
dat a. The form at s for addresses and cont r ol byt es are defined by t he I EEE 488
st andard. Dat a form at s are undefined and m ay be ASCI I ( wit h or wit hout parit y) or
binary. DI O1 is t he Least Significant Bit ( not e t hat t his will cor respond t o bit 0 on
m ost com put ers) .
H a ndsh a k e Lin e s
The t hr ee handshake lines ( NRFD, NDAC, DAV) cont r ol t he t ransfer of m essage byt es
am ong t he devices and for m t he m et hod for acknowledging t he t ransfer of dat a. This
handshaking process guarant ees t hat t he byt es on t he dat a lines are sent and
received wit hout any t ransm ission err or s and is one of t he unique feat ur es of t he
I EEE- 488 bus.
The NRFD ( Not Ready for Dat a) handshake line is assert ed by a List ener t o indicat e it
is not yet ready for t he next dat a or cont rol byt e. Not e t hat t he Cont r oller will not
see NRFD r eleased ( i.e., r eady for dat a) unt il all devices hav e r eleased it .
The NDAC ( Not Dat a Accept ed) handshake line is assert ed by a List ener t o indicat e it
has not y et accept ed t he dat a or cont rol byt e on t he dat a lines. Not e t hat t he
Cont roller will not see NDAC r eleased ( i.e., dat a accept ed) unt il all devices hav e
released it .
The DAV ( Dat a Valid) handshake line is assert ed by t he Talker t o indicat e t hat a dat a
or cont rol byt e has been placed on t he dat a lines and has had t he m inim um specified
st abilizing t im e. The byt e can now be safely accept ed by t he devices.

H a ndsh a k in g
The handshaking process is out lined as follows. When t he Cont r oller or a Talker
wishes t o t ransm it dat a on t he bus, it set s t he DAV line high ( dat a not valid) , and
checks t o see t hat t he NRFD and NDAC lines are bot h low, and t hen it put s t he dat a
on t he dat a lines.
When all t he devices t hat can r eceive t he dat a are r eady, each r eleases it s NRFD
( not r eady for dat a) line. When t he last r eceiver r eleases NRFD, and it goes high, t he
Cont roller or Talker t ak es DAV low indicat ing t hat valid dat a is now on t he bus.

I n response each r eceiver t akes NRFD low again t o indicat e it is busy and releases
NDAC ( not dat a accept ed) when it has received t he dat a. When t he last receiver has
accept ed t he dat a, NDAC will go high and t he Cont roller or Talker can set DAV high
again t o t ransm it t he next byt e of dat a.
Not e t hat if aft er set t ing t he DAV line high, t he Cont roller or Talker senses t hat bot h
NRFD and NDAC ar e high, an err or will occur. Also if any device fails t o perform it s
part of t he handshak e and releases eit her NDAC or NRFD, dat a cannot be
t ransm it t ed ov er t he bus. Ev ent ually a t im eout er ror will be generat ed.
The speed of t he dat a t r ansfer is cont rolled by t he r esponse of t he slow est device on
t he bus, for t his reason it is difficult t o est im at e dat a t ransfer rat es on t he I EEE- 488
bus as t hey are always device dependent .

I nt e r fa ce M a n a ge m e nt Line s
The five int erface m anagem ent lines ( ATN, EOI , I FC, REN, SRQ) m anage t he flow of
cont r ol and dat a byt es acr oss t he int erface.
The ATN ( At t ent ion) signal is assert ed by t he Cont roller t o indicat e t hat it is placing
an address or cont r ol byt e on t he dat a bus. ATN is released t o allow t he assigned
Talker t o place st at us or dat a on t he dat a bus. The Cont roller r egains cont rol by
reassert ing ATN; t his is norm ally done synchronously wit h t he handshake t o av oid
confusion bet w een cont rol and dat a byt es.
The EOI ( End or I dent ify) signal has t wo uses. A Talker m ay assert EOI
sim ult aneously wit h t he last byt e of dat a t o indicat e end- of- dat a. The Cont roller m ay
assert EOI along wit h ATN t o init iat e a parallel poll. Alt hough m any devices do not
use parallel poll, all devices should use EOI t o end t ransfer s ( m any curr ent ly
available ones do not ) .
The I FC ( I nt er face Clear ) signal is assert ed only by t he Syst em Cont roller in order t o
init ialize all device int erfaces t o a known st at e. Aft er r eleasing I FC, t he Syst em
Cont roller is t he Act ive Cont roller.
The REN ( Rem ot e Enable) signal is assert ed only by t he Syst em Cont r oller. I t s
assert ion does not place devices int o rem ot e cont rol m ode; REN only enables a
device t o go int o rem ot e m ode when addressed t o list en. When in rem ot e m ode, a
device should ignore it s local front panel cont r ols.
The SRQ ( Service Request ) line is like an int errupt : it m ay be assert ed by any device
t o r equest t he Cont r oller t o t ake som e act ion. The Cont roller m ust det erm ine which
device is assert ing SRQ by conduct ing a serial poll. The request ing device r eleases
SRQ when it is polled.

D e vice Addr e sse s

The I EEE- 488 st andard allows up t o 15 devices t o be int erconnect ed on one bus.
Each device is assigned a unique prim ary addr ess, ranging from 0- 30, by set t ing t he
address swit ches on t he device. A secondar y address m ay also be specified,ranging

from 0- 30. See t he device docum ent at ion for m or e inform at ion on how t o set t he
device prim ary and opt ional secondary addr ess.
Physica l Ch a r a ct e r ist ics
You can link devices in eit her a linear, st ar or com binat ion configurat ion using a
shielded 24- conduct or cable. The st andard I EEE- 488 cable has bot h a plug and
recept acle connect or on bot h ends. This connect or is t he Am phenol CHAMP or Cinch
Series 57 MI CRO RI BBON t ype. Special adapt ers and non- st andard cables ar e
available for special int erconnect applicat ions.
The I EEE- 488 bus specifies a m axim um t ot al cable lengt h of 20 m et ers wit h no m ore
t han 20 devices connect ed t o t he bus and at least t wo- t hirds of t he devices pow ered
on. A m axim um separat ion of 4 m et ers bet w een devices and an av erage separat ion
of 2 m et er s over t he full bus should be followed. Bus ext ender s and expanders ar e
available t o overcom e t hese sy st em lim it s.
The bus uses st andard TTL lev el negat ive logic. When NRFD is t rue for exam ple it is
a TTL low level, and when NRFD is false, it is a TTL high level.

Sum m a r y
The I EEE- 488.1 st andar d great ly sim plified t he int erconnect ion of pr ogr am m able
inst rum ent s by clearly defining m echanical, hardware, and elect rical prot ocol
specificat ions. For t he first t im e, inst rum ent s fr om different m anufact ures w er e
connect ed by a st andar d cable. This st andard does not addr ess dat a for m at s, st at us
report ing, m essage exchange prot ocol, com m on configurat ion com m ands, or device
specific com m ands.
The I EEE- 488.2 st andar d enhances and st rengt hens t he I EEE- 488.1 st andard by
specifying dat a form at s, st at us r eport ing, er r or handling, cont roller funct ionalit y, and
com m on inst rum ent s com m ands. I t focuses m ainly on t he soft war e prot ocol issues
and t hus m aint ains com pat ibilit y wit h t he hardw are- orient ed I EEE- 488.1 st andard.
I EEE- 488.2 sy st em s t end t o be m or e com pat ible and reliable.