PCI 1428 trigger specificaitons

[nemi]

Hi Everyone, I've searched the manual , data sheet and NI site and forums but I can't locate timing specifications for the PCI 1428 board external and internal trigger lines.

Does any one know the sample rate / timing resolutions / latencies of the external , internal and external->internal mapping of trigger lines?

I.e.

What is the shortest software configurable internal trigger line pulse width? what is the max?

What is the shortest software configurable trigger delay? what is the max?

Same questions for the external trigger lines?

Also what is the latency and jitter for mapping of external TTL triggers to the internal pins? Is there sampling ? what is the sample rate? (this imposes a limit on minimum pulse time)

Many thanks,

Peter

[Spicy_Mystery]

Hi nemi,

You've asked some good questions - I am going to research this and get back to you soon, when I have found more information.

In the meantime, I'm curious about your overall application - what are you trying to do?  What is your hardware setup?  What are the criteria you need met?

And what trigger lines are you talking about - the CameraLink lines, or the RTSI lines?

[nemi]

Primarily the camera link lines using internal (1428) card generation and perhaps later routing of external trigger lines.

For one of the exposure methods I need to pulse high for 1ms, then low for 39ms (or 79ms) and then high for 1ms again to set a 40ms (or 80ms) exposure.

I just have no idea of max/min pulse durations , jitter, and  latency (routing external triggers through to the camera). I'm assuming these are useable pulse durations and accuracy is much better than 1ms but it would be nice to have a spec sheet for the card.

Thank you in advance for your research. I'd suggest these timing resolution / accuracy data be placed on the next rev. of the spec sheet / manual.

[Spicy_Mystery]

Hi nemi,

These mainly seem like things specified in the CameraLink standard.  I haven't been able to find a copy of it online, but I'm guessing that will answer more of these questions.

Jitter, for example, is something specified in the CamerLink standard.  I found this article that states the worst-case for jitter in a CameraLink system was found to be 1.2ms.  http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/print/volume-16/issue-1/departments/technology-trends/system-...

Lastly, a lot of the things you are asking for are going to be limited by the camera you have.  The frequency at which you can capture an image will be much slower than what you can pulse with a 1428.  This is something that will be in your camera manual (minimum exposure time and minimum delay between exposures).

[nemi]

On a related note:

I do not see "Camera control Lines Source" option in MAX for my camera / PCI 1428.

I'm now seeing from this document:

 http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/49A701F932DA43818625716A001B4D1B

...that the PCI 1428 doesn't support software pulsing over CClines 1-4  ?

and it also doesn't support routing of an external trigger soource to the CC1-4 lines etiher?

Is there any way to control signals on CC1-4 for the PCI 1428? 

Many thanks,

Peter

[nemi]

Well to partially answer some of my own questions i found this thread:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/Machine-Vision/Pulse-generation-using-PCI-1428-to-CC1/td-p/1126653

which indicates that the PCI 1428 can do internal/software pulsing to the CC1-4 lines and the timing resolution is 40ns (50MHz clock).

However, even modifying my camera file in the "NI camera file generator" to have pulsing on line 0 (CC1) of 1ms high, 39 ms low AND creating an attribute that does the same pulse behavior I still see no pulsing on CC1 with an oscilloscope probe on my camera hardware.

I'm getting the feeling I'm missing something very basic but not obvious (yet).....

[Spicy_Mystery]

Hi nemi,

I've found a couple KnowledgeBase articles that seem related to this .  The first shows the steps to take to pulse the control lines in your frame grabber through the Camera File Generator: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/29FE0FC4D319F66D862572D0000D2F60

Double check that what you are doing corresponds to the steps in this article.

Then the second shows another way to do it - configure the output lines in MAX and then send it IMAQ commands in LabVIEW:  http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4FC0695C6489E11C8625716A0024AF4D?OpenDocument

Let me know if these are helpful.

[nemi]

---

@Spicy_Mystery wrote:

Hi nemi,

I've found a couple KnowledgeBase articles that seem related to this .  The first shows the steps to take to pulse the control lines in your frame grabber through the Camera File Generator: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/29FE0FC4D319F66D862572D0000D2F60

Double check that what you are doing corresponds to the steps in this article.

Then the second shows another way to do it - configure the output lines in MAX and then send it IMAQ commands in LabVIEW:  http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4FC0695C6489E11C8625716A0024AF4D?OpenDocument

Let me know if these are helpful.

---

Thanks, I already tried the 1st approach with the camera generator and did not see any pulses on my OSC probing the CC line on the camera.

2nd approach is not possible/ has-me-stumped as the "Camera Control Lines Source" attributes on the  "Camera Attributes" tab do not exist (blank pane area) in my latest version of MAX (VAS_2014_02) with the PCI 1428 card.

Is this due to a setting in MAX thing ? a setting in the camera file? or a PCI 1428 specific omission?

(see screenshot)

[Spicy_Mystery]

nemi,

You are correct - it's my mistake.  It seems that the 1428 in particular doesn't have those - it's related to this KB from before http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/49A701F932DA43818625716A001B4D1B

Could you upload your camera file?  I can play around with it and see if I can figure things out.  From what I can tell, setting your CC source won't be an option, but the camera file method should work fine.

[nemi]

Thank you. I have sent you a PM with my email, or pelase let me know your emial so I can uplaod hte camera file privately.

Kind regards,

Peter